1924 Explained

Year 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1924

January

• January 10 - The British submarine L-34 sinks in the English Channel; 43 are killed.
• January 12 - Gopinath Saha shoots a man he erroneously thinks is the police commissioner of Calcutta (Charles Augustus Tegart); he is arrested soon after.
• January 21 - Vladimir Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin begins to purge his rivals to clear the way for his leadership.
• January 22 - Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister.
• January 23 - The Soviet Union officially declares that Lenin died January 21.
• January 25 - The 1924 Winter Olympics open in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps).
• January 26 - Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) is renamed Leningrad.
• January 27 - Lenin is buried in a mausoleum (Lenin's Tomb) in Moscow's Red Square.

February

• February 1 - The United Kingdom recognizes the Soviet Union.
• February 4 - Mohandas Gandhi is released prematurely on medical grounds.
• February 5 - GMT: A radio time signal is broadcast for the first time from the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
• February 7 - Death penalty: The first state execution using gas in the United States takes place in Nevada.
• February 12 - Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin, is first performed in New York City at Aeolian Hall.
• February 14 - IBM is founded in New York State.
• February 16-February 26 - Dock strikes break out in various U.S. harbors.
• February 22 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.

March

• Adolf Hitler begins dictating his book Mein Kampf (or in English, My Struggle), while imprisoned in Bavaria.
• March 1 - Diana Vreeland, fashion editor and columnist, marries Thomas Reed Vreeland at St. Thomas' Church in New York.
• March 3 - The 1,400-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished when Caliph Abdul Mejid II of the Ottoman Empire is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of President Kemal Atatürk.
• March 8 - The Castle Gate mine disaster kills 172 coal miners in Utah, United States.
• March 9 - Italy annexes Fiume.
• March 25 - Greece proclaims itself a republic.
• March 29 - The Third Ministry of Raymond Poincaré starts in France.

April

• April 1
  • Adolf Hitler is sentenced to 5 years in jail for his participation in the Beer Hall Putsch (he serves only 9 months).
  • The first revenue flight for Belgium's SABENA Airlines takes place.
• April 6 - Fascists win the elections in Italy with a ⅔ majority.
• April 13 - A referendum in Greece favors the formation of the Hellenic Republic.
• April 13 - The A.E.K. is founded in Greece.
• April 16 - American media company Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) is founded in Los Angeles, California.
• April 26 - Harry Grindell Matthews demonstrates his "death ray" in London but fails to convince the British War Office.
• April 27 - A group of Alawites kill some Christian nuns in Syria; French troops march against them.

May

• May 3 - The Aleph Zadik Aleph, the oldest Jewish youth fraternity, is founded in Omaha, Nebraska.
• May 4 - The 1924 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies are held in Paris, France.
• May 10 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• May 11 - Mercedes-Benz is formed by the merging companies owned by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz.
• May 21 - University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a thrill killing.

June

• June 1 - Harry Grindell Matthews returns from Paris to London; he tries to use a Pathe film to demonstrate that his death ray works.
• June 2 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
• June 5 - Ernst Alexanderson sends the first facsimile across the Atlantic Ocean (to his father in Sweden).
• June 8 - George Mallory and Andrew Irvine are last seen "going strong for the top" of Mount Everest by teammate Noel Odell at 12:50 P.M. The two mountaineers are never seen alive again.
• June 10 - Fascists kidnap and kill Italian socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti in Rome.
• June 12 - Rondout Heist: Six men of the Egan's Rats gang rob a mail train in Rondout, Illinois; the robbery is later found to have been an inside job.
• June 16 - Whampoa Military Academy is founded in China.
• June 23 - American airman Russell L. Maughan flies from New York to San Francisco in 21 hours and 48 minutes on a dawn-to-dusk flight in a Curtiss pursuit.

July

• July 17 - Voting in federal elections becomes compulsory in Australia, after a private member's bill proposed by Tasmanian Nationalist senator Herbert Payne results in the passing of the Commonwealth Electoral (Compulsory Voting) Act 1924.
• July 20 - The Soviet sports newspaper Sovetskiy Sport is founded.

August

• August - Dawes Plan is accepted.
• August 18 - France begins to withdraw its troops from Germany.
• August 28 - Georgia rises against the Soviet Union in an abortive rebellion, in which several thousands die.

September

• September 9
  • The Hanapepe Massacre occurs on Kauai, Hawaii.
  • The 8-hour work day is introduced in Belgium.
• September 9 - 11 - The 1924 Kohat riots break out in India.

October

• October 2 - The Geneva Protocol is adopted as a means to strengthen the League of Nations.
• October 10 - The Alpha Delta Gamma Fraternity is founded at the Lake Shore Campus of Loyola University, Chicago.
• October 19 - Abdul Azis declares himself protector of holy places in Mecca.
• October 22 - The Toastmasters Club is founded.
• October 24
  • The British Foreign Office publishes the Zinoviev Letter.
  • Dixie Dean scores a hat-trick for the Tranmere Rovers to become the youngest ever player to score three goals for The Superwhites.
• October 25 - British authorities in India arrest Subhas Chandra Bose and jail him for the next 2 1/2 years.
• October 27 - The Uzbek SSR joins the Soviet Union.

November

• November 4
  • Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected as the first woman governor in the United States.
  • U.S. presidential election, 1924

Republican Calvin Coolidge defeats Democrat John W. Davis and Progressive Robert M. LaFollette, Sr.

• November 19 - In Los Angeles, California, famous silent film director Thomas Ince ("The Father of the Western") dies, reportedly of a heart attack, in his bed (rumors soon surface that he was shot dead by publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst).
• November 27 - In New York City the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held.

December

• December 1
  • A communist coup attempt fails in Estonia.
  • George Gershwin's Lady Be Good and Fascinating Rhythm (book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, lyrics by Ira Gershwin) premiere in New York, NY.
• December 19 - German serial killer Fritz Haarmann is sentenced to death for a series of murders.
• December 24
  • An air crash at Croydon Air Field in London kills 8.
  • Albania becomes a republic.

Undated

• The powerful opiate hydromorphone is developed in Germany.
• Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and makes rodeo's first one-hand bareback rigging at Stirling, Alberta Canada.
• Alice Vanderbilt Morris, a wealthy heiress, founds the International Auxiliary Language Association in New York
• André Breton defines surrealism as "pure psychic automatism" in the first Surrealist Manifesto.
• U.S. bootleggers begin to use Thompson submachine guns.
• The Earth Inductor Compass is invented in New York City.

Births

January-February

• January 1 - Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet
• January 3 - Hank Stram, American football coach and broadcaster (d. 2005)
• January 4 - Walter Ris, American freestyle swimmer
• January 6 - Earl Scruggs, American musician (The Beverly Hillbillies)
• January 10 - Max Roach, American percussionist, drummer, and composer (d. 2007)
• January 11
  • Roger Guillemin, French neuroendocrinologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Sam B. Hall, American politician (d. 1994)
  • Slim Harpo, American musician (d. 1970)
• January 12 - Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver (d. 1998)
• January 13 - Roland Petit, French choreographer/dancer
• January 16 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
• January 19 - Jean-Francois Revel, French author (d. 2006)
• January 26 - Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1998)
• January 27 - Sabu, Indian actor (d. 1963)
• January 29 - Luigi Nono, Italian composer (d. 1990)
• January 30 - Lloyd Alexander, American writer (d. 2007)
• February 2 - Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-born producer and musician (d. 2007)
• February 7 - Hattie Jacques, English star of the Carry On films (d. 1980)
• February 9 - George Guest, Welsh choral conductor (d. 2002)
• February 17 - Margaret Truman, American novelist and only child of U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Bess Truman (d. 2008)
• February 19 - Lee Marvin, American actor (The Dirty Dozen) (d. 1987)
• February 20
  • Gerson Goldhaber, American particle physicist and astrophysicist
  • Gloria Vanderbilt, American cosmetics entrepreneur
• February 21 - Robert Mugabe, first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
• February 23 - Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1998)
• February 29 - Al Rosen, American baseball player

March-April

• March 1 - Deke Slayton, American astronaut (d. 1993)
• March 2 - Wendell Wise Mayes, Jr., first recipient of the first Wendell Mayes, Jr. Medal in 1986 (named by The Diabetes Association in his honor, the highest award given to non-medical professional volunteers)
• March 3 - John Woodnutt, British actor (d. 2006)
• March 3 - Lilian Velez, Filipino actress (d. 1948)
• March 4 - Kenneth O'Donnell, aide to U.S. President John F. Kennedy (d. 1977)
• March 7 - Kōbō Abe, Japanese novelist (d. 1993)
• March 15 - Walter Gotell, German actor (d. 1997)
• March 27 - Sarah Vaughan, American jazz singer (d. 1990)
• March 28 - Freddie Bartholomew, British actor (d. 1992)
• March 30 - Alan Davidson, British author (d. 2003)
• April 1 - Brendan Byrne, Governor of New Jersey
• April 3
  • Marlon Brando, American actor (The Godfather) (d. 2004)
  • Errol Brathwaite, New Zealand author (d. 2005)
  • Doris Day, American actress
• April 4 - Gil Hodges, American baseball player (d. 1972)
• April 6 - Jimmy Roberts, American singer (The Lawrence Welk Show) (d. 1999)
• April 7 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (d. 2009)
• April 12 - Raymond Barre, French politician and Prime Minister (d. 2007)
• April 15 - Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor and violinist
• April 16 - Henry Mancini, American composer and arranger (d. 1994)
• April 18
  • Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American blues musician (d. 2005)
  • Henry Hyde, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois (d. 2007)
• April 19 - Al Balding, Canadian golfer (d. 2006)
• April 23 - Bobby Rosengarden, American jazz drummer (d. 2007)
• April 24 - Clement Freud, British writer, radio personality, and politician

May-June

• May 1 - Art Fleming, American actor, game show host (Jeopardy!) (d. 1995)
• May 2 - Jamal Abro, Sindhi writer (d. 2004)
• May 11 - Antony Hewish, English radio astronomer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics
• May 12 - Tony Hancock, English comedian (d. 1968)
• May 18 - Priscilla Pointer, American actress
• May 19 - Sandy Wilson, British composer
• May 22 - Charles Aznavour, French singer, actor, and songwriter
• May 24
  • Vincent Cronin, British historical writer and biographer
  • Maria Koepcke, German ornithologist (d. 1971)
• May 29 - Lars Bo, Danish artist and writer (d. 1999)
• June 1 - Dr. William Sloane Coffin, American clergyman (d. 2006)
• June 2 - June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author & social activist (d. 2007)
• June 3
  • Ted Mallie, American radio and television announcer (d. 1999)
  • Torsten Wiesel, Swedish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Herk Harvey, American film director (d. 1996)
• June 4 - Dennis Weaver, American actor (McCloud) (d. 2006)
• June 12 - George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President of the United States
• June 15 - Ezer Weizman, 7th President of Israel (d. 2005)
• June 18 - George Mikan, American basketball player (d. 2005)
• June 20
  • Chet Atkins, American country guitar player and producer (d. 2001)
  • Audie Murphy, American World War II hero and actor (d. 1971)
• June 24
  • Kurt Furgler, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 2008)
  • Brian Bevan, Australian rugby league footballer (d. 1991)
• June 27 - Bob Appleyard, English cricketer
• June 29
  • Flo Sandon's, Italian singer (d. 2006)
  • Ezra Laderman, American composer

July-August

• July 3 - S. R. Nathan, 6th president of Singapore
• July 4 - Eva Marie Saint, American actress
• July 5
  • Niels Jannasch, Canadian historian and museum curator (d. 2001)
  • Osman Lins, Brazilian novelist (d. 1978)
  • János Starker, Hungarian cellist
• July 11
  • Brett Somers, Canadian-born actress (d. 2007)
  • Charlie Tully, Northern Irish footballer (d. 1971)
• July 13
  • Carlo Bergonzi, Italian tenor
  • Johnny Gilbert, American game show announcer
• July 14 - James W. Black, Scottish pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• July 15 - Makhmud Esambayev, Chechen dancer (d. 2000)
• July 19 - Stanley K. Hathaway, American politician (d. 2005)
• July 20 - Lola Albright, American actress (Peter Gunn)
• July 21 - Don Knotts, American actor (The Andy Griffith Show) 2006)
• July 28 - Anne Braden, American civil rights activist (d. 2006)
• July 29 - Elizabeth Short, American actress (The Black Dahlia) (d. 1947)
• August 1
  • Georges Charpak, Ukrainian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
• August 2 - Carroll O'Connor, American actor (All In The Family) (d. 2001)
• August 3 - Leon Uris, American writer (Exodus) (d. 2003)
• August 7 - Kenneth Kendall, British newsreader and presenter
• August 12
  • Derek Shackleton, English cricketer (d. 2007)
  • Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (d. 1988)
• August 15 - Robert Bolt, English writer (d. 1995)
• August 23 - Robert Solow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• August 28 - Peggy Ryan, American actress (d. 2004)
• August 29 - Consuelo Velázquez, Mexican songwriter (d. 2005)
• August 30 - Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer (d. 2004)
• August 31 - Buddy Hackett, American comedian and actor (The Love Bug) (d. 2003)

September-October

• September 2 - Daniel arap Moi, President of Kenya
• September 4
  • Joan Aiken, English writer (d. 2004)
  • Anita Snellman, Finnish painter (d. 2006)
• September 5 - Paul Dietzel, College football coach
• September 8 - Mimi Parent, Canadian painter (d. 2005)
• September 9 - Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (d. 2003)
• September 11
  • Tom Landry, American football player and coach (d. 2000)
  • Rudolf Vrba, escapee from Auschwitz (d. 2006)
• September 14 - Abioseh Nicol, Sierra Leonean diplomat and author (d. 1994)
• September 15 - Bobby Short, American entertainer (d. 2005)
• September 16 - Lauren Bacall, American actress
• September 19 - Don Harron, Canadian entertainer
• September 20 - Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1957)
• September 22
  • Charles Keeping, English illustrator (d. 1988)
  • Rosamunde Pilcher, English novelist
• September 26 - Nina Bocharova, Soviet gymnast
• September 27 - Bernard Waber, American children's author
• September 30 - Truman Capote, American author (d. 1984)
• October 1
  • Jimmy Carter, President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 2005)
• October 8 - Alphons Egli, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• October 10
  • Margaret Fulton, Australian food writer
  • Ed Wood, American filmmaker (Plan 9 From Outer Space) (d. 1978)
• October 11 - Mal Whitfield, American athlete
• October 14 - Robert Webber, American actor (d. 1989)
• October 15 - Mark Lenard, American actor (d. 1996)
• October 21 - Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (d. 2003)
• October 24 - Christine Glanville, English puppeteer (d. 1999)

November-December

• November 6 - Jeanette Schmid, famous German whistler (d. 2005)
• November 10 - Russell Johnson, American actor (Gilligan's Island)
• November 13 - Motoo Kimura, Japanese population geneticist (d. 1994)
• November 19 - William Russell, British actor
• November 20 - Benoît Mandelbrot, Polish-born mathematician
• November 23 - Anita Linda, Filipino actress
• November 24 - Mel Patton, American athlete
• November 25 - Takaaki Yoshimoto, Japanese poet, critic, and philosopher.
• November 28 - Dennis Brutus, South African poet and anti-Apartheid activist
• December 2 - Alexander M. Haig, Jr., American politician and former U.S. Secretary of State
• December 3 - Francisco Sionil José, Filipino novelist, Philippine National Artist for Literature
• December 6 - Wally Cox, television and motion picture actor (Mr. Peepers)(d. 1973)
• December 12 - Ed Koch, Mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989
• December 24 - Mohammed Rafi, Indian playback singer (d. 1980)
• December 25
  • Rod Serling, American television screenwriter (The Twilight Zone) (d. 1975)
  • Atal Behari Vajpayee, tenth Prime Minister of India
  • Moktar Ould Daddah, first President of Mauritania (d. 2003)
• December 28 - Milton Obote, President of Uganda (d. 2005)
• December 31
  • Taylor Mead, American actor
  • Frank J. Kelley, 50^th Michigan Attorney General

Deaths

January - June

• January 2 - Sabine Baring-Gould, English composer and novelist (b. 1834)
• January 4 - John Peters, American 19th century baseball player (b. 1850)
• January 13 - Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist (b. 1834)
• January 16 - Licerio Gerónimo, Filipino military leader (b. 1855)
• January 21 - Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary and first Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1870)
• January 24 - Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1894)
• February 3 - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1856)
• March 9
  • Panagiotis Danglis, Greek military leader and politician (b. 1853)
  • Daniel Ridgway Knight, American artist (b. 1839)
• March 24 - Prince Kwacho Hirotada of Japan (b. 1902)
• March 29 - Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer, resident in England (b. 1852)
• April 14 - Louis Sullivan, American architect (b. 1856)
• April 21 - Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (b. 1858)
• May 4 - E. Nesbit, English author (b. 1858)
• May 15 - Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1852)
• May 24 - Victor Herbert, Irish dramatist (b. 1859)
• June 3 - Franz Kafka, Austrian author (The Trial) (b. 1883)
• June 9 - George Mallory, English mountain climber (lost on Mount Everest) (b. 1886)
• June 9 - Andrew Irvine, English mountain climber (lost on Mount Everest) (b. 1902)
• June 11 - Théodore Dubois, French composer and teacher (b. 1837)

July - December

• July 14 - Isabella Stewart Gardner, American art collector and philanthropist (b. 1840)
• July 23 - Frank Frost Abbott, American classical scholar (b. 1860)
• July 27 - Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1866)
• August 3 - Joseph Conrad, Polish-born author (b. 1857)
• August 7 - Bruce Grit, ex-slave and African-American historian
• August 17 - Pavel Urysohn, Russian mathematician (b. 1898)
• August 25 - Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general (b. 1818)
• August 31 - Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1881)
• September 6 - Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria (b. 1868)
• September 15 - Frank Chance, baseball player and manager (b. 1877)
• October 12 - Anatole France, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
• October 29 - John Marden, Australian headmaster and pioneer of women's education (b. 1855)
• November 4 - Gabriel Fauré, French composer (b. 1845)
• November 10 - Sir Archibald Geikie, Scottish geologist (b. 1835)
• November 29 - Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (b. 1858)
• December 2 - Kazimieras Būga, Lithuanian linguist (b. 1879)
• December 6 - Gene Stratton-Porter, American author, screenwriter and naturalist (b. 1863)
• December 29 - Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
• December 31 - Sir Samuel William Knaggs, British civil servant (b. 1856)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Manne Siegbahn
• Chemistry - Not awarded
• Physiology or Medicine - Willem Einthoven
• Literature - Władysław Stanisław Reymont
• Peace - Not awarded