June 1911

June 1, 1911 (Thursday)

• The Senate voted 48-20 to reopen the investigation of U.S. Senator William Lorimer of Illinois, after voting against his expulsion on March 1.
• Chiang Kai-shek first reached national prominence when he delivered a stirring public lecture advocating a socialist government for China, which he would eventually govern.

  June 2, 1911 (Friday)

• The city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was incorporated.
• Francisco I. Madero departed from El Paso, Texas on a Southern Pacific train at 1:30 am to make his journey back to Mexico City, to meet with interim President de la Barra. He stopped first at Spofford Junction, Texas, where he then crossed the border to board another train on June 2.
• Born: Hsiao Hung, Chinese female novelist; in Hulan, Heilongjiang province.
• Died:
• *Axel Olof Freudenthal, 74, Swedish philologist and politician.
• *Jose Domingo Brindis, 59, black violinist.

  June 3, 1911 (Saturday)

• L. Frank Baum filed for bankruptcy in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles after having incurred $12,600 in debts. He died in 1919 and never saw any more royalties from The Wizard of Oz, the publishing rights to which would remain with a trustee until 1932.
• Born:
• *Ellen Corby, American actress and winner of three Emmy awards for her portrayal of the grandmother on The Waltons; in Racine, Wisconsin.
• *Paulette Goddard, American film actress; as Pauline Levy; in Queens, New York.
• Died: Edward Der-Pault, who had overcome the handicap of losing both legs and became a high diver at amusement parks, was killed in Bayonne, New Jersey before a crowd of several hundred people. Jumping from a high ladder into a tank of water, Der-Pault had miscalculated the distance and struck the edge of the tank.

  June 4, 1911 (Sunday)

• On the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy, a crowd of one million people turned out in Rome to watch the unveiling of the Altare della Patria, a 250-foot-high monument in honor of King Victor Emmanuel II.
• Born: Billy Fiske, American athlete who won gold medals in bobsledding in 1928 and 1932; in Brooklyn.
• Died: Colonel T.M. Locke, 87, who had led the secession of Texas in 1861.

  June 5, 1911 (Monday)

• Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire began his journey to "Rumeli," the Turkish name for the Empire's European provinces in the Balkans.

  June 6, 1911 (Tuesday)

• Tazzia, the Moorish pretender to the throne of Morocco, was defeated at Alcazarquivir. Spanish troops landed at Larache two days later.
• A volcano in the Mexican state of Colima had its most violent eruption since 1869, which preceded a deadly earthquake in the region by 24 hours.
• Died: Edward Harrigan, 65, American comedian.

  June 7, 1911 (Wednesday)

• An earthquake in Mexico killed more than 1,200 people. In Zapotlán, 500 people were killed. The first shock was felt at 4:36 am and lasted for more than a minute. Francisco I. Madero made a triumphant entry into Mexico City on the same day.
• Died: Maurice Rouvier, 69, former Premier of France.

  June 8, 1911 (Thursday)

• The U.S. State Department gave permission for at least 1,500 Mexican soldiers to cross into the United States so that a rebellion in Baja California could be suppressed. The troops would be disarmed as soon as they crossed into Arizona, and their weapons and ammunition would be returned to them after they crossed from California back into Mexico.
• Frans Schollaert, the Prime Minister of Belgium, resigned after the defeat of his proposed education bill.
• Hiram Bingham III departed for Peru on the SS Marta to search for Vilcabamba.

  June 9, 1911 (Friday)

• Former Congressman Charles D. Haines of New York founded the "Guardians of Liberty," an anti-Catholic and anti-Black organization that declared itself to be a "non-religious, non-partisan, non-racial moral force to promote patriotism and a sacred regard for the welfare of our country."
• Died: Carrie Nation, 64, American temperance activist.

  June 10, 1911 (Saturday)

• The German battleship SMS Friedrich der Grosse was launched from Hamburg.
• The American battleship fleet arrived at Kronstadt in Russia.
• At Rouen, France, the 1,000th anniversary of the arrival of the Normans was observed. The Kensington Runestone, purporting to be a record of the arrival of Norsemen in Minnesota in 1362, was loaned for the celebration by the Minnesota Historical Society.

  June 11, 1911 (Sunday)

• For the first time, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to have its members elected directly by the people, rather than by state legislatures. The 64-24 approval of the proposed Seventeenth Amendment, which changed the requirement of Article I, Section 3, was on an altered version of what had passed the House of Representatives. Voting on the "Bristow Amendment", which added the language that "Congress may at any time by law make or alter" the date upon which the states voted on U.S. Senators, had ended in a 44–44 tie, which was broken by U.S. Vice-president James S. Sherman.
• The Chamizal dispute was resolved when the International Boundary Commission, consisting of representatives from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, made its decision in a dispute over a 600-acre piece of land known as El Chamizal, which had been south of the Rio Grande in 1848, until the river's course was shifted by a major flood in 1864 and El Chamizal north of the border. The Commission ruled that 437 of the acres should be returned to Mexico. The U.S. refused to abide by the ruling. On October 28, 1967, the 1911 ruling was finally certified by a new treaty between the two nations, a concrete channel was constructed to prevent further shifting of the Rio Grande, the 5,000 American residents were moved out, and El Chamizal was returned to Mexico.
• The Sixth Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance opened in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Born: Norman Malcolm, American philosopher; in Selden, Kansas.

  June 12, 1911 (Monday)

• By a margin of 64-24, the U.S. Senate passed the House resolution for a constitutional amendment to permit direct election of U.S. Senators. At the time, the state legislatures elected their representatives in the Senate. An amendment to the House bill, providing for federal supervision of Senate elections, was tied 44-44, and Vice-president Sherman broke the tie in favor of the Senate bill. The House finally accepted the amended version, 238–39, on May 12, 1912, sending the Seventeenth Amendment to the states for ratification. On April 8, 1913, Connecticut became the 36th of the 48 states to ratify the addition to the United States Constitution.
• Sultan Mehmed V of Turkey offered terms of peace for the Albanians within the Ottoman Empire, granting amnesty to Albanian insurgents who surrendered their weapons, and lifting the ban on Albanian-language schools.
• Born: Milovan Djilas, Yugoslavian and Montenegrin Marxist; in Mojkovac, Kingdom of Montenegro.

  June 13, 1911 (Tuesday)

• Igor Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka, choreographed by Michel Fokine, was premiered by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with Vaslav Nijinsky in the lead. Design was by Alexandre Benois.
• The Majlis, Parliament of Persia gave newly appointed Treasurer-General W. Morgan Shuster, an American financier, full control over Iranian finances, empowering him "to establish whatever departments and appoint all staffs that he considers necessary." Shuster's decrees would lead to a change in government and his firing on January 11, 1912.
• Born:
• *Prince Aly Khan, Imam of Ismaili Shi'a Islam and Pakistani playboy; in Turin, Italy.
• *Luis W. Alvarez, American physicist, inventor, and 1968 Nobel Prize laureate; in San Francisco.

  June 14, 1911 (Wednesday)

• Dwight David Eisenhower, age 20, of Abilene, Kansas, took the oath of allegiance and began his military career at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, as one of 265 cadets. Eisenhower had been an alternate candidate for the academy, finishing behind another applicant in the qualifying exams, but gained admission after the other man failed a physical examination. In the years that followed his big break, he would graduate 61st in a class of 164, rise in the ranks of the United States Army to five-star general and commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II, and, in 1953, the 34th President of the United States.
• RMS Olympic departed from Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage, carrying with it 1,316 passengers and 850 crew. It picked up additional fares at Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland, before arriving at New York City on June 21st. At its launch, the White Star Line's "floating hotel" was the largest ship ever, 883 feet in length.

  June 15, 1911 (Thursday)

• At Pristina, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V signed a general amnesty for all participants in the 1910 and 1911 rebellions against the Turks.
• Born: Wilbert Awdry, English clergyman and children's writer whose The Railway Series books were adapted to the popular TV series Thomas the Tank Engine; in Romsey, Hampshire.

  June 16, 1911 (Friday)

• The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was incorporated in the State of New York. On February 14, 1924, it would change its name to International Business Machines, more commonly known as IBM and grow in size to become, at one time, the largest manufacturer of electric typewriters and, later, computers.
• Halley's Comet was photographed for the last time in more than 70 years, as it moved on out of the Solar System. It would not be seen again from Earth until October 16, 1982.