January 1922

January 1, 1922 (Sunday)

• A delegation of the Far Eastern Republic in Washington, D.C. revealed what it claimed to be secret documents revealing a military alliance between France and Japan, seeking to secure Japanese domination of Siberia in exchange for stabilization of French interests in Russia. France and Japan both denounced the documents as forgeries.
• Belgium officially instituted bilingualism, with documents to be printed in both French and Dutch.
• Born: Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, American politician, U.S. Senator for South Carolina from 1966 to 2005; in Charleston, South Carolina
• Died: István Kühár, 34, Slovene Roman Catholic priest, writer, and politician

  January 2, 1922 (Monday)

• In the Rose Bowl, two of college football's undefeated and untied teams, the Washington & Jefferson Presidents and the California Golden Bears played to a 0 to 0 tie in Pasadena, California. The Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book lists both teams as the unofficial champion of the 1921 college football season.
• In the other major postseason college game, the once-beaten Aggies of Texas A&M defeated the previously undefeated and untied Praying Colonels of Centre College, 22 to 14, at Dallas, Texas. The game was also notable for the introduction of the "12th Man" tradition of Texas A&M, when a student spectator is called to be ready to enter the game.
• The Soviet government published statistical data showing that 1,766,118 people had been executed since the October Revolution.
• The value of the German mark fell to 1/32,000th of the British pound or 133rd of a British penny. With an exchange rate of $4.86 to the British pound, the U.S. dollar was worth 6,600 German marks, and American banks refused to accept the mark for payment of debts.
• Died: Suddha Dibyaratana, 44, Princess of Rattanakosin, and member of Thai royalty as the daughter of King Chulalongkorn; died of tuberculosis

  January 3, 1922 (Tuesday)

• American inventor Hiram A. Farrand was granted U.S. Patent #1,402,589 for his creation of the "concave-convex" steel tape, flexible and slightly curved for ease of extension and retraction, setting the standard now used for the pocket tape measure. The "Farrand Rapid Rule" design, marketed in the 1920s by the Brown Company, set the standard still used in metallic tape measures.
• The "Peace dollar", the new design for the American silver dollar by the United States Mint, was put into circulation six days after the striking of the first coins on December 28.
• In compliance with the Treaty of Ankara, signed on October 20, France began the withdrawal of its occupation forces from Turkey, starting with the departure of French Army troops in the Mersin Province.
• Romania and Latvia established diplomatic relations.
• Born: Sunwoo Hwi, South Korean novelist; in Chongju, Korea

  January 4, 1922 (Wednesday)

• In India, the massive tall Asian Elephant Guruvayur Keshavan was donated to the Guruvayur Temple by royal family of Nilambur. Keshavan, about 10-years old at the time of his capture, would serve at the temple for almost 55 years until his death on December 2, 1976.
• Representatives of Belgium, France and Great Britain met at Cannes for a conference on Germany's inability to make reparations payments.
• Born: Tian Jiaying, Chinese teacher, served as the personal secretary for Mao Zedong from 1948 until his suicide at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution; in Chengdu, Sichuan, Republic of China

  January 5, 1922 (Thursday)

• London Times correspondent A.B. Kay was kidnapped by armed members of the Irish Republican Army. Kay had been having lunch in a pub across from the Dáil Éireann when three men with revolvers burst in and abducted him, angry over a story he'd written regarding public opinion in Cork over the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Kay was released that same night.
• The Washington Naval Conference adopted a declaration outlawing submarine warfare against merchant ships.
• Occupational troops of the French Army the French Armenian Legion withdrew their occupational forces from the Turkish city of Adana after three years of enforcement against further actions against the Turkish Armenian minority.
• Died:
• *Ernest Shackleton, 47, Anglo-Irish polar explorer who led 3 British expeditions to the Antarctic; died from a heart attack caused by the blockage of his coronary artery by atheroma plaque
• *Alfred Dolge, 73, German-born American inventor, industrialist and reformer

  January 6, 1922 (Friday)

• Éamon de Valera offered his resignation as President of the Irish Republic, saying that he "could not carry on until I know if I have the support of this Dáil ... I appeal to this House to re-elect me, give me a vote of confidence so that I can stand on the rock of an independent Irish republic. If you want this treaty you can elect someone else."
• Construction began on the Delaware River Bridge between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, more than a century after the first discussions to link the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey by something other than the existing ferry services. Pennsylvania Governor William C. Sproul and New Jersey Governor Edward I. Edwards both participated in the groundbreaking ceremony, and the bridge would open to traffic on July 1, 1926.

  January 7, 1922 (Saturday)

• Following weeks of debate, the Dáil Éireann voted 64 to 57 to approve the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
• Dogsomyn Bodoo, the first Prime Minister of Mongolia since the nation's independence in April and a founder of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, resigned after six months after having become unpopular from his campaign to reform Mongolian traditions to fit Soviet Union norms, including the banning of long hair and women's jewelry. After forcing Bodoo's resignation, new Premier Sonomyn Damdinbazar accused him and other government ministers of corruption and treason, and had him arrested. Bodoo would be executed on August 31.
• U.S. Representative Alanson B. Houghton was appointed as the new U.S. Ambassador to Germany.
• The Washington Naval Conference agreed to outlaw the use of poison gas in warfare.
• Born:
• *Alvin Dark, American professional baseball player and manager; in Comanche, Oklahoma
• *Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flautist; in Marseille
• Died: Jørg Tofte Jebsen, 33, Norwegian theoretical physicist; died from an undisclosed illness

  January 8, 1922 (Sunday)

• A general election was held in the Republic of Central Lithuania. A majority of the inhabitants voted to remain part of Poland, but the Lithuanian government refused to recognize the vote.
• Éamon de Valera said that the Republic of Ireland still existed and that the previous day's resolution was "not ratification of that treaty and not a legal act. That will not be affected until the Irish people have disestablished the republic which they have set up by their own will."
• The Socialist Youth League of Norway was founded.
• Born: Jan Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter; as Johannes Theodorus Nieuwenhuijs, in Amsterdam
• Died: Charles Young, United States Army officer and National Park Service superintendent and the first Black soldier to achieve the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army; died of a kidney infection

  January 9, 1922 (Monday)

• By a margin of only two votes, Éamon de Valera was narrowly defeated for re-election as President of the Dáil Éireann, losing 60 to 58. After the vote was counted everyone in the assembly rose and cheered for him. "The re-election of de Valera would have been equivalent to rescinding of the treaty" creating the Irish Free State and ratified only two days earlier, by creating two governments for southern Ireland, The New York Times wrote; Three members of the Dáil— De Valera himself, an unidentified MP and Liam de Róiste— abstained from voting. De Róiste reportedly refused to vote, commenting that the motion was "calculated to throw the country into fratricidal strife." Arthur Griffith commented, after voting against the motion, "I want to say that this is not a vote taken against President De Valera. It is a vote to damn the treaty, and I want to say now there is no man I have met in my life whom I more respect and love."
• The Danish parliament approved 1.5 million kroner for relief against the Russian famine.
• The first elections were held for the newly established Supreme Muslim Council, a four-member body created to oversee religious courts and finances in British Palestine, and the Hajj Amin al-Husseini of Jerusalem was selected as the council's first leader. The other persons picked by the electoral college were Muhammad Murad, mufti of Haifa; 'Abd al-Latif Salah of Nablus; and Abdullah Dajani of Jaffa.
• The 1915 Leonid Andreyev play Tot, kto polučájet poščóčiny, translated from the Russian language by Gregory Zilboorg, received its first English language performance on Broadway. Adapted as He Who Gets Slapped, and starring actor Richard Bennett in the title role, the play had a successful run of 308 performances.
• Born:
• *Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinean political leade, served as President of Guinea from 1958 to 1984; in Faranah, French Guinea
• *Har Gobind Khorana, Indian-American biochemist; in Raipur, Punjab, British India
• *John H. Kennell, American pediatrician and researcher known for his work in maternal-infant bonding; in Reading, Pennsylvania
• Died: Maria Louise Baldwin, 65, American educator and the first Black principal of a predominantly white school in the United States; died of heart disease

  January 10, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Arthur Griffith was elected President of Dáil Éireann by the unanimous vote of all 64 deputies remaining after all 54 of Éamon de Valera's supporters walked out. The assembly then adjourned until February 14 to give his new government time to begin the organization of what would become the Irish Free State.
• The Sejm in Poland approved a bill introducing two-year compulsory military service.
• Germany inaugurated a new wireless telegraphy service, called "Blitzfunk" between Berlin and Hamburg, with the objective of higher priority in speedy delivery of the message. A message brought to the Berlin main office at 9:00 in the morning was transmitted to Hamburg at 9:03, where it was then transcribed and then "telephoned to the addressee at 9:10" before delivery of the telegram.
• Born:
• *Soedjatmoko, Indonesian diplomat, served as Ambassador to the United States and representative of Indonesia at the United Nations; as Soedjatmoko Mangoendiningrat, in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies
• *Terence Kilmartin, Irish-born literary translator and newspaper editor for The Observer; in the Irish Free State
• Died:
• *Ōkuma Shigenobu, 83, Japanese statesman, served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1914 to 1916
• *Frank Tudor, 55, Australian politician, Australian Labor Party chairman and Leader of the Opposition from 1917 until his death; died of heart disease
• *Hans Kronold, 49, Polish-born American cellist, first cello player to have an audio recording made of his work