February 1932

February 1, 1932 (Monday)

• Japanese warships bombarded the city of Nanjing.
• Born: Sir John Nott, British Defence Secretary 1981 to 1983; in Bideford, Devon

  February 2, 1932 (Tuesday)

• In Geneva, a disarmament conference attended by representatives of 60 nations opened.
• Chicago mobster Terry Druggan was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and fined $5,000 for tax fraud.
• Duke Ellington and his orchestra first recorded the jazz tune "It Don't Mean a Thing ".
• World War flying ace Wop May was hired to assist in the manhunt for the fugitive Albert Johnson in Northern Canada. It was the first time a plane had ever been used in Canadian law enforcement.

  February 3, 1932 (Wednesday)

• It came to light that Adolf Hitler may be a German citizen after all, which would make him eligible to run for president. It was revealed that in 1930, Thuringian Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick had appointed Hitler as police commissioner of the town of Hildburghausen. According to law, a German official automatically became a citizen. Hitler downplayed the revelation, saying he had refused the appointment and that "these are not the means by which I expect to become a German citizen."
• Born: Peggy Ann Garner, American child actress in film; in Canton, Ohio

  February 4, 1932 (Thursday)

• The III Olympic Winter Games opened in Lake Placid, New York, with seventeen nations participating.
• Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain introduced the Import Duties Bill, a 10% tariff on imports, with exceptions for concessions for the Empire.
• The Aldous Huxley dystopian science fiction novel Brave New World was published, with a setting more than 600 years in the future.
• Born: Gordon Brown, Scottish footballer; in Dunfermline, Fife

  February 5, 1932 (Friday)

• Latvia and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact.
• Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel, along with a few other items, were seized by the government for nonpayment of taxes.
• In Indian River, Florida, Garfield Wood set a new boat speed record of 111.72 mph in the Miss America IX.
• Died: Barney Dreyfuss, 66, German-born American baseball executive and owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates; in 1903, he negotiated the agreement that made peace between the National League and the rival American League, with agreements not to raid each other's teams, and creating a post season World Series; enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame 2008

  February 6, 1932 (Saturday)

• American soldiers arrived in Shanghai.
• The comedy film The Passionate Plumber starring Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante was released.
• Born: François Truffaut, French film director; in Paris
• Died: Augusto B. Leguía, 68, President of Peru 1908 to 1912 and 1919 to 1930, died while in confinement following his 1930 overthrow.

  February 7, 1932 (Sunday)

• Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the Oslo Convention, an economic cooperation plan.
• Al Smith announced he was running for President of the United States again.
• Born: Gay Talese, American freelance journalist; in Ocean City, New Jersey

  February 8, 1932 (Monday)

• The Bulgarian government officially announced that it would not make any more war reparations payments.
• The jury in the Winnie Ruth Judd case found her guilty of first degree murder and voted for the death penalty.
• Born:
• *John Williams, American filmscore composer and conductor, winner of 25 Grammy Awards and five Academy Awards; in Queens, New York
• *Jean Innes Saunders, English romance novelist who wrote under her own name and under numerous pen names, including "Rowena Summers"; in London ;
• Died:
• *Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, 23, Irish-born American gangster, was shot to death by a rival gang while in a phone booth in Manhattan.
• *Yordan Milanov, 64, Bulgarian architect

  February 9, 1932 (Tuesday)

• A member of the Ketsumeidan, a Japanese extremist group, shot and killed former Finance Minister Junnosuke Inoue. Inoue had stepped from his car in the evening, preparing to walk into the Hongo Komamoto Primary School where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, when Shō Onuma walked up, pressed a pistol to Inoue's abdomen, and fired three shots.
• The right-wing Army Comrades Association, more commonly referred to as the Blueshirts, was formed in Ireland.
• Born: Gerhard Richter, German artist; in Dresden

  February 10, 1932 (Wednesday)

• Winter Legends for piano and orchestra by Arnold Bax was performed for the first time, at Queen's Hall in London.
• Died: Edgar Wallace, 56, English journalist and screenwriter, from complications of diabetes and pleural pneumonia

  February 11, 1932 (Thursday)

• On a holiday marking the third anniversary of the Lateran Treaty, Benito Mussolini went to the Vatican and met with Pope Pius XI for the first time. The visit was only expected to last for a few minutes but the two spoke for an hour.
• Born:
• *Margit Carlqvist, Swedish film actress; in Stockholm
• *Jerome Lowenthal, American classical pianist, in Philadelphia
• *Dennis Skinner, British coal-miner who became a Socialist politician, known for 49 years in the House of Commons as the Beast of Bolsover; in Clay Cross, Derbyshire

  February 12, 1932 (Friday)

• Pope Pius XI marked the tenth anniversary of his coronation with a speech before thousands in St. Peter's Basilica. He said he hoped that all would be with him in prayers that "the Supreme Lord of all things earthly should cause peace to return to the earth."
• The film Shanghai Express starring Marlene Dietrich was released.
• Born: Julian Simon, U.S. economist and author, known for winning the Simon–Ehrlich wager against Paul R. Ehrlich; in Chevy Chase, Maryland

  February 13, 1932 (Saturday)

• Mount Hinks, Mount Marsden and the Rouse Islands in Antarctica were discovered by the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition led by Sir Douglas Mawson.
• Born: Susan Oliver, American TV actress; in New York City

  February 14, 1932 (Sunday)

• Irish parliament representative Patrick Reynolds and his bodyguard, detective Patrick McGeehan, were both shot when Reynolds was walking door-to-door to campaign for the upcoming election. Reynolds got into an argument with the occupant of one house he visited, Joseph Leddy, a former Royal Irish Constabulary officer, who produced a double-barreled gun and fatally wounded both of them. McGeehan died at the scene and Reynolds died a month later.
• Born: Alexander Kluge, German author and film director; in Halberstadt

  February 15, 1932 (Monday)

• At the age of 84, Paul von Hindenburg agreed to run again for President of Germany in the March 13 election. "The appeal to stand for re-election came to me not from a party but from the broad masses of people", Hindenburg said. "Therefore, I recognize it as my duty to stand."
• The Winter Olympics in Lake Placid closed. The United States won the medal count with 6 gold medals and 12 overall.
• The U.S. Supreme Court decided Blackmer v. United States, holding that U.S. jurisdiction applies overseas to a U.S. citizen who has failed to appear at an American court. The Court upheld a $30,000 fine levied against Harry M. Blackmer, who had been living in France when he was subpoenaed to appear at a federal trial.
• Died: Minnie Maddern Fiske, 66, American stage actress

  February 16, 1932 (Tuesday)

• The Fianna Fáil party, led by Éamon de Valera, won the Irish general election, winning control of the Irish Free State's parliament, the 153-seat Dáil Éireann, by capturing 72 seats. The Cumann na nGaedheal, led by W. T. Cosgrave, had a narrow 65 to 57 seats lead over Fianna Fáil prior to the election and lost 8 of their seats, forcing Cosgrave to step down as leader of the government. The victory would mark the start of almost 80 years of control of the government by Fianna Fáil, lasting until 2011
• Born:
• *Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1997 and 1998 to 2007; in Pendembu
• *Harry Goz, American musical theater actor known for starring in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway; in St. Louis
• *Antonio Ordóñez, Spanish bullfighter; in Ronda
• *Gretchen Wyler, American stage actress and animal protection advocate; in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Died:
• *Ferdinand Buisson, 90, French academic, pacifist and politician, 1927 Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• *Edgar Speyer, 69, American-born British financier and philanthropist

  February 17, 1932 (Wednesday)

• Over a month after the manhunt for Albert Johnson, "The Mad Trapper", began, the posse caught up with him and finally killed him in a shootout. An officer was seriously wounded, but survived. The case thrilled the public and popularized the saying "the Mounties always get their man".

  February 18, 1932 (Thursday)

• Following its invasion and occupation of Manchuria, Japan proclaimed the creation of a puppet state, the Republic of Manchukuo out of the three provinces of northeastern China that comprised Manchuria. A month later, Japan would install former Emperor of China Aisin-Gioro Puyi as the new republic's head of state in the Manchukoan capital, Changchun, in the Jilin Province and rename the city "Xinjing".
• Born: Miloš Forman, Czech-American film director, 1976 Academy Award winner for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; in Čáslav
• Died: Frederick Augustus III, 66, the last King of Saxony. His second son, Friedrich Christian, became the new head of the House of Wettin and revived the title of Margrave of Meissen for himself, though not making a claim of to a throne.