March 1920

March 1, 1920 (Monday)

• Admiral Miklós Horthy, who had commanded the Austro-Hungarian Navy during World War I, then later led the Hungarian Army to defeat the dictatorship of Bela Kun, was elected as the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary. The National Assembly voted 131 to 9 to approve him until a permanent King of Hungary could be found. Horthy took the oath of regency immediately after the vote.
• The Battle of Tel Hai, the first military confrontation between Zionist Jews and Palestinian Arabs, took place when Shi'ite Muslims confronted European Jewish settlers in Northern Galilee in Palestine. Although the casualties were limited to eight Zionists and five Palestinians, the example of Tel Hai has become an example in Israeli culture of courage and sacrifice.
• At 12:01 a.m., the United States Railroad Administration returned control of American railroads to its constituent railroad companies. The railroads had been under federal control since 1918 during U.S. participation in World War I.
• France's nationwide railroad strike ended, after a compromise between the government and the Confederation Generale du Travail union that no striker would be penalized for disobeying a return-to-work order, and an increase in pay that would not include pay for time on strike.
• By a vote of 4 to 3, the United States Supreme Court decided that the United States Steel Corporation was not a monopoly subject to breakup under U.S. antitrust law. Justices Brandeis and McReynolds did not participate in the case because of a conflict of interest.
• By a margin of 2 to 1, the French Socialist Party convention in Strasbourg elected not to ally itself with the Soviet Communist Party.
• Born: Julian Samora, Mexican American sociologist, helped to pioneer Latino Studies
• Died:
• *John H. Bankhead, 77, American politician, U.S. Representative and Senator for Alabama, last surviving Confederate Army veteran to serve in Congress
• *Joseph Trumpeldor, 39, Russian Zionist activist, helped form the Zion Mule Corps to help Russians emigrate to Palestine; killed in the Battle of Tel Hai

  March 2, 1920 (Tuesday)

• China's Prime Minister Chin Yun-p'eng resigned after his party continued to insist on negotiating with Japan on rights to China's Shantung peninsula.
• In a city mayoral vote that attracted national attention because one of the two candidates had been a leader of the Seattle General Strike that saw a walkout of most of the U.S. city's labor force, Hugh M. Caldwell was elected Mayor of Seattle, defeating I.W.W. official James A. Duncan by a margin of 40,850 to 34,849. Conservative U.S. newspapers had characterized the vote as a question of "the most momentous issue ever brought to the polls here— that of sovietism."

  March 3, 1920 (Wednesday)

• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who had not ventured outside of the White House grounds since suffering a stroke in October, went out in public for the first time in 1920, in order to be chauffeured around Washington. President Wilson, accompanied by the First Lady, his physician Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson, a chauffeur and a pair of Secret Service agents, was driven through Washington, D.C., for about an hour
• The Progressive Party of Canada was founded by Thomas Crerar and 11 other Members of Parliament who were dissatisfied with the Unionist Party. In the 1921 election, the Progressives would win 58 of the 235 seats in the House of Commons. By 1930, the Progressive Party would disband after winning only three seats.
• Born:
• *James Doohan, Canadian-born American actor, best known for his role as Mr. Scott in the original Star Trek television series; in Vancouver, Canada
• *Ronald Searle, British cartoonist; in Cambridge, England
• Died: Theodor Philipsen, 79, Danish painter

  March 4, 1920 (Thursday)

• In London, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom and France agreed upon plans for the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
• Born:
• *Bai Yang, Chinese stage, film and TV actress, became one of the nation's most popular film stars; as Yang Chengfang, in Beijing, Republic of China
• *Morrie Yohai, American food company executive, creator of Cheez Doodles; in Harlem, New York City, United States
• *Alan MacNaughtan, Scottish stage, film and TV actor; in Bearsden, Scotland
• *Pavel Plotnikov, Soviet military pilot and twice Hero of the Soviet Union'; in Barnaul, RSFSR

  March 5, 1920 (Friday)

• South Korea's right-wing daily newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, was first published as a Korean nationalist publication in Japanese Korea.
• The Norwegian government dissolved the Metal Central of the State as the import and export crisis eased with the end of World War I. The agency controlled the limited supply of copper and other metals by Norwegian manufacturers during the war and the subsequent recovery.
• France announced its opposition to the Allied plan for rehabilitation of the German economy, on the grounds that the French economy was in greater need of aid because most of World War I had been fought in France rather than in Germany. A United Press reporter paraphrased the French explanation by noting that "France's greatest industrial cities were laid waste and her factories wrecked with typical Teuton thoroughness" while "Germany's industries were little affected by the war because German territory was not invaded extensively."
• Born:
• *Rachel Gurney, English stage, film and TV actress; in Eton, England
• *Del Latta, American lawyer and politician, served as the U.S. representative for Ohio for 30 consecutive years from 1959 to 1989; as Delbert Leroy Latt, in Weston, Ohio, United States
• *Leontine T. Kelly, American clergy, served as the United Methodist Bishop of San Francisco, first African American woman to become a bishop in a major Christian denomination; as Leontine Turpeau, in Washington, D.C., United States

  March 6, 1920 (Saturday)

• The Anti-Saloon League, which had successfully lobbied U.S. state legislators to pass the 18th Amendment for Prohibition, issued a statement asking that the federal government should buy the more than 60 million gallons of already-distilled whiskey that remained in bonded warehouses after it could no longer be sold without a prescription, in that "there is a constant temptation to devise ways and means of utilizing that liquor in spite of the law."
• Prime Minister Domingos Leite Pereira of Portugal and his government resigned. António Maria Baptista formed a new cabinet on March 8.
• The upper house of the Netherlands' States General of the Netherlands, the Eerste Kamer, voted 21 to 2 in favor of entry into the League of Nations, following up on the vote in favor cast by the Tweede Kamer on February 19.
• Born: Lewis Gilbert, British film director best known for three James Bond films; in London, England

  March 7, 1920 (Sunday)

• The First Polish Army was established to serve in the Polish–Soviet War.
• Died: Jaan Poska, 54, first Foreign Minister of Estonia

  March 8, 1920 (Monday)

• The Syrian National Congress proclaimed Syria independent, with Prince Faisal of Hejaz as king.
• Britain's Royal Navy was dispatched to Turkey in order to back up an Allied demand that the Turks cease their persecution of Armenians.
• British Prime Minister David Lloyd George stated in a session of the House of Commons that, despite rumors to the contrary, the British Empire had no intentions of ceding any part of the British West Indies to the United States in settlement of American loans made to the United Kingdom during World War I. By 1920, the British war debt to the U.S., compounded with interest ranging from 3.5% to 5%, was over $4,000,000,000 in United States dollars or almost £1.1 billion in British pounds sterling. The UK was not able to retire the debt for another 95 years, with final payment made on March 9, 2015 The British West Indies included The Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados, along with a current British Overseas Territory, the British Virgin Islands.
• Born:
• *Ingemar Hedberg, Swedish canoeist, won three gold medals at the 1950 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships; in Örebro, Sweden
• *Douglass Wallop, American novelist and playwright, winner of the 1956 Tony Award for Best Musical, for Damn Yankees; as John Douglass Wallop III, in Washington, D.C., United States

  March 9, 1920 (Tuesday)

• The New Hampshire primary was held, beginning the 1920 U.S. presidential election campaign, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff Leonard Wood was the top vote recipient among registered Republicans, while the largest number of registered Democrats favored Herbert Hoover, who would win the presidency as a Republican in 1928. Republican Warren G. Harding would win the general election in November 1920.
• Born:
• *Frank Llaneza, American cigar industry baron and tobacco blender; in Tampa, United States
• *Franjo Mihalić, Yugoslavian Croatian marathon runner, winner of the 1956 Boston Marathon; in Ludina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
• Died: Haralamb Lecca, 47, Romanian playwright and poet

  March 10, 1920 (Wednesday)

• The Canadian fishing trawler FV Jutland departed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a crew of 21 people. The next day, one body was found in a lifeboat. FV Jutland and the other 20 crew were never seen again.
• The world's first peaceful establishment of a social democratic government took place in Sweden, as Hjalmar Branting took over as Prime Minister when Nils Edén left office.
• West Virginia ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, permitting universal women's suffrage, by a vote of 16 to 13 in favor One week earlier, the state House of Delegates had approved ratification by a similarly narrow vote of 47 to 40.
• Born:
• *Boris Vian, French novelist, published under the pen-name Vernon Sullivan; in Ville-d'Avray, France
• *Alfred Peet, Dutch-born American entrepreneur, founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea; in Alkmaar, Netherlands