July 1936


The following events occurred in July 1936:

[July 1], 1936 (Wednesday)

  • Salvador Dalí gave a lecture at the London International Surrealist Exhibition titled "Authentic Paranoiac Fantasies". He brought two Russian wolfhounds on leashes and wore a deep-sea diving suit to symbolize descending to the depths of the subconscious, but found it impossible to breathe inside the diving helmet. Dalí nearly suffocated before his companions realized something was wrong and freed him, which the audience enjoyed immensely in the belief that it was all part of the act.
  • An amalgamation of Australian air carriers called Australian National Airways began operations.

[July 2], 1936 (Thursday)

[July 3], 1936 (Friday)

[July 4], 1936 (Saturday)

[July 5], 1936 (Sunday)

[July 6], 1936 (Monday)

  • Ethiopian Minister to the United Kingdom Workneh Eshete appealed to the British public for at least £2 million to continue the fight in Ethiopia.
  • Ethiopian guerrilla fighters attacked a railway line 30 miles from Addis Ababa.

[July 7], 1936 (Tuesday)

[July 8], 1936 (Wednesday)

  • An explosion at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich killed 5 people.
  • The British government announced that German airships would no longer be allowed to fly over Britain except in cases of emergency due to weather. The decision was made after the Hindenburg chose a course over England during a recent flight to the United States and back, drawing concerns that German officers aboard could be studying military bases and learning government secrets.
  • Died: Thomas Meighan, 57, American film actor

[July 9], 1936 (Thursday)

[July 10], 1936 (Friday)

[July 11], 1936 (Saturday)

[July 12], 1936 (Sunday)

[July 13], 1936 (Monday)

[July 14], 1936 (Tuesday)

  • Bastille Day celebrations along the Champs-Élysées were marred by further riots by right wing demonstrators.
  • The British government announced plans to mass-produce gas masks with the goal of one for every citizen. The masks would be stockpiled in centers around the country and then issued free of charge when the government deemed it necessary.

[July 15], 1936 (Wednesday)

[July 16], 1936 (Thursday)

  • An apparent attempt to assassinate Edward VIII was foiled on Constitution Hill. As the king's horse passed the crowd while returning to Buckingham Palace from a colours ceremony in Hyde Park, a man raised a revolver. A woman grabbed the man's arm and shouted, alerting a constable who knocked the weapon from his hand. The man, identified as George Andrew McMahon, told police he had no intention of harming the king and was only making a protest. Adolf Hitler sent Edward a telegram offering his "heartiest congratulations" on his escape.
  • Italy lifted its wartime restrictions on meat and nightlife curfews.
  • Father Charles Coughlin aligned himself with Francis Townsend and denounced President Roosevelt as a "great betrayer and liar", saying, "He who promised to drive the money changers from the temple has built up the greatest public debt in the nation's history. Is that driving the money changers from the temple?"
  • Born: Yasuo Fukuda, 91st Prime Minister of Japan, in Takasaki, Gunma, Japan; Buddy Merrill, guitarist and musician, in Torrey, Utah
  • Died: Alan Crosland, 41, American actor and film director

[July 17], 1936 (Friday)

[July 18], 1936 (Saturday)

[July 19], 1936 (Sunday)

[July 20], 1936 (Monday)

[July 21], 1936 (Tuesday)

[July 22], 1936 (Wednesday)

  • British authorities warned Spanish warships that if shells continued to fall on Gibraltar, British artillery would return fire.
  • Charles Lindbergh and wife Anne arrived in Berlin. Although ostensibly a goodwill visit, the American Embassy had invited Lindbergh in the hope that the German Air Ministry would try to impress him by inviting him to inspect their planes and air bases. That way, Lindbergh could take notes on the Luftwaffe's capabilities and report back to the U.S. government. As it turned out, that is exactly what happened.

[July 23], 1936 (Thursday)

  • Alf Landon formally accepted the Republican nomination for president before a crowd of 80,000 in Topeka, Kansas. "If I am elected chief executive of this nation, I propose to restore our government to an efficient as well as constitutional basis", Landon declared.
  • The Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War set up a government in Burgos.
  • White Terror: The Nationalists took over Granada and began killing anyone suspected of Republican leanings.
  • The French government decided to aid the Spanish Republic in the Civil War.
  • Three MPs were ejected from the House of Commons during an incident of grave disorder in the 27th hour of a marathon session. On the topic of the government's unemployment assistance program, Home Secretary John Simon spoke of the responsibility of children to support their parents when John McGovern broke in with, "Why does the king not support his mother? He must be a despicable individual." George Buchanan then accused Simon of lying and refused to withdraw the charge. His colleague Campbell Stephen then stood and called the government "robbers and murderers of the working class" and Simon a "lying scoundrel". Following a 15-minute recess, votes were taken and Buchanan, Stephen and McGovern were all suspended from the House.
  • Eleanor Holm was suspended from the U.S. Olympic swimming team for attending drinking parties while aboard the SS Manhattan transporting the athletes to Germany.
  • Born: Don Drysdale, baseball player, in Van Nuys, California

[July 24], 1936 (Friday)

[July 25], 1936 (Saturday)

  • Germany became the first country to recognize Italian rule of Ethiopia by abolishing its legation in Addis Ababa and replacing it with a general consulate.
  • Emilio Mola was formally designated commander of Nationalist operations in the north, and Francisco Franco the commander of the south.
  • The French government announced it had decided not to sell aircraft to Spain at the moment.

[July 26], 1936 (Sunday)

[July 27], 1936 (Monday)

[July 28], 1936 (Tuesday)

  • The Burgos Junta declared total martial law in all Nationalist-held parts of Spain.
  • The Spanish Republic confiscated all church property in Spain to consolidate its resources to fight the uprising.
  • German aircraft arrived in Morocco to assist the Nationalist side.
  • Francisco Franco granted an interview to Jay Allen of the Chicago Tribune in which he claimed that his government was neither monarchist nor fascist, but "Nationalist Spanish", and that he had launched the rebellion to save Spain from communism. When asked what form his government would take, Franco replied it would be a "military dictatorship" with a plebiscite later on "for the nation to decide what it wanted."
  • The Lindberghs met Hermann and Emmy Göring at a luncheon.
  • Born: Russ Jackson, Canadian football player, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

[July 29], 1936 (Wednesday)

  • The Nationalists captured Huelva.
  • The Berliner Tageblatt revealed that Germany had begun to refortify Heligoland, contradicting its denial of July 13. The matter came up again in the House of Commons where Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden expressed the government's feeling that "individual matters of this kind, though they cannot pass unobserved, should not be raised at a moment and in a manner which might react unfavourably" on negotiations underway for a new European peace settlement.
  • The epic costume drama film Anthony Adverse starring Fredric March premiered in Los Angeles.
  • Born: Elizabeth Dole, politician, in Salisbury, North Carolina
  • Died: Frank Gavan Duffy, 84, Australian judge

[July 30], 1936 (Thursday)

[July 31], 1936 (Friday)