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August 1923

Month of 1923 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

August 1923
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The following events occurred in August 1923:

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August 2, 1923: U.S. President Warren G. Harding (far left) dies suddenly at San Francisco hotel, Vice President Calvin Coolidge sworn in the next day
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August 1, 1923 (Wednesday)

  • A medical bulletin from President Harding's physicians reported from San Francisco that there was a "slight improvement in the lung condition" but no change otherwise.[1] A followup report said that he had eaten two soft-boiled eggs for breakfast and had "a slight and only slight attack of indigestion" that "was more than overbalanced by the decline of the President's temperature to normal for the first time."[2] At the same time, committees in San Francisco and Los Angeles agreed to turn over the remaining expenses associated with entertainment during Harding's tour "to a state fund to provide everything necessary for the comfort of President Harding" during his convalescence, including the lease of a private home "in the cool and bracing atmosphere close to San Francisco" during August.[3]
  • A parade of the Ku Klux Klan drew a crowd of 100,000 people in Lima, Ohio.[citation needed]
  • The silent historical drama Little Old New York, based on a play of the same name, was released by Goldwyn Pictures,[citation needed] and cast Marion Davies and Harrison Ford (a star of the 1920s and no relation to the more successful star of later decades) as a daughter and a stepson competing for a large inheritance. Produced by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, the film was one of the 10 most popular in 1923.
  • The wife of film comedian Al St. John was granted a divorce in Los Angeles court. "He started drinking in October 1917, and I haven't seen him sober since that time", she testified.[4]
  • Born:
  • Died: Alexander Y. Malcomson, 58, U.S. businessman who provided the initial financing for the launch of the Ford Motor Company, died of pneumonia
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August 2, 1923 (Thursday)

  • United States President Warren G. Harding died at 7:30 p.m. San Francisco time (10:30 Washington time). At 7:51, a statement of "the saddest news that telegraph wires can carry" was sent across the nation, signed by his five physicians: "The President died instantaneously and without warning and while conversing with members of his family at 7:30 p.m. Death was apparently due to some brain involvement, probably due to an apopleptic stroke. During the day he had been free from discomfort, and there was every justification for anticipating a prompt recovery."[5] While the cause of death was officially said at the time to have been from a stroke, it is now more commonly believed to have been from heart failure.[6]
  • Konstantin Päts became the Riigivanem or "State Elder" of Estonia for the second time, succeeding Juhan Kukk as the Baltic nation's head of state and head of government.
  • The military and economic alliance of France and Poland, signed on February 21, 1921, took effect upon ratification by both nations.[citation needed]
  • British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told the House of Commons that "If the British people feel that the wounds of Europe were being kept open instead of being healed," by the collection of large reparations from Germany, "there might then easily ensue the last thing in the world that I would like to see," while Ramsay MacDonald said "It is perfectly clear that France is in the Ruhr not for the purpose of getting reparations," but "an attempt to continue war after formal peace has been declared."[7]
  • Born:
    • Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel 1977, 1984 to 1986, and 1995 to 1998, then President 2007 to 2014; as Szymon Perski, in Wiszniew, Poland (now Vishnyeva, Belarus) (d. 2016)
    • Ike Williams, American boxer and world lightweight champion, 1945 to 1951; in Brunswick, Georgia (d. 1994)
  • Died:
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August 3, 1923 (Friday)

  • The inauguration of Calvin Coolidge as 30th President of the United States was held at the family home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont at 2:47 a.m.[8] Coolidge took the oath of office from his father John Calvin Coolidge, Sr., the local notary public, by the light of a kerosene lamp.[9]
  • President Coolidge took a train to Washington and arrived in the nation's capital at 9:10 p.m. after having been driven from Plymouth Notch to Rutland, Vermont, where he boarded a private car at the station and traveled to New York City's Grand Central Station and departing at 4:15 p.m. local time for a nonstop trip to Washington in less than six hours. He then was taken from the Pennsylvania Avenue terminal in a private car.[10] President Coolidge and his wife then went to their suite at the Willard Hotel in Washington, where he had lived since becoming vice president, until the White House could be readied for his arrival.[11]
  • The Irish Free State passed the "Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act", to create "an armed force to be called Oglaigh na hEireann (hereinafter referred to as the Forces) consisting of such number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men as may from time to time be provided" by the parliament.[12] A more permanent force would be established on October 1, 1924.[13]
  • The Palacio de las Garzas, the official residence of the president of Panama, was inaugurated with President Belisario Porras Barahona and his family as the first person to live there.[citation needed]
  • Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis released a statement which read, "It is the sentiment throughout baseball that no games be played either today nor on the day of the funeral for the late President, and as a further mark of respect for his memory, flags at ball parks will be displayed at half mast until after the burial."[14]
  • Born:
  • Died: Laura Ratcliffe, 87, spy and agent for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War
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August 4, 1923 (Saturday)

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August 5, 1923 (Sunday)

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August 6, 1923 (Monday)

  • Manuel Teixeira Gomes was elected President of Portugal by the 194 members of the Congresso da República in a joint session of the Senado and the Câmara dos Deputados on the third ballot. Requiring at least two-thirds of the votes cast, Gomes had 108 of 187 votes (57%) split among five candidates, with former president Bernardino Machado receiving 73. On the next ballot, Gomes had 117 of 200 votes cast (58%) to 71 for Machado. The final ballot was between Gomes and Machado only, with 68 of Machado's supporters casting blank votes and Gomes receiving 121 of the 126 cast.
  • Henry Sullivan became the first American to swim the English Channel, accomplishing the feat in 27 hours and 25 minutes.[20]
  • The United States and Turkey signed treaties of commerce and extradition.[21]
  • Born:
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August 7, 1923 (Tuesday)

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August 8, 1923 (Wednesday)

August 9, 1923 (Thursday)

August 10, 1923 (Friday)

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August 11, 1923 (Saturday)

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August 12, 1923 (Sunday)

August 13, 1923 (Monday)

August 14, 1923 (Tuesday)

August 15, 1923 (Wednesday)

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"Baby Rose Marie" in 1930

August 16, 1923 (Thursday)

  • Viscount Jellicoe, the Governor-General of New Zealand was designated as the Governor of the Ross Dependency in Antarctica with the publication in New Zealand's government gazette of the British government's July 30 Order in Council. Jellicoe subsequently extended New Zealand law to the Antarctic territory.[citation needed]
  • At the annual amateur bullfight in the French resort of Arles, four people were killed and 25 injured when an angry bull leaped over a barrier and charged at young men wishing to demonstrate their skill. A panicked crowd ran upward into the grandstand, which then collapsed under their weight.[47]
  • The leader of 70,000 workers in the Braunschweig region of Germany threatened to seize the government if their demands were not met.[32][48]
  • Born:

August 17, 1923 (Friday)

August 18, 1923 (Saturday)

  • A typhoon killed more than 200 people at Macao, Portugal's colony on the mainland of China, with boats being capsized in the Macao harbor and buildings collapsing in the city from high winds and waves.[55]
  • At least 12 people were killed in the collapse of a church in the Spanish village of Navarredonda de la Rinconada, and 30 more were injured. The dead and injured were part of a crowd of 100 people who had climbed on top of the church roof to watch a bullfight in a bullring near the church.[56]
  • Czechoslovakia and France signed a new trade pact.[57]
  • Helen Wills won the U.S. national tennis championship at the U.S. National, beating defending U.S. champion Molla Mallory in straight sets at Forest Hills, New York, 6-2 and 6–1.[58]
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Sports superstar Mary Lines

August 19, 1923 (Sunday)

  • The ordeal of Ada Delutuk Blackjack, the last survivor of five people who had been marooned on Wrangel Island above the Arctic Circle since September 15, 1921, ended as a rescue team arrived and returned her to Alaska. Harold Noice, leading the rescue expedition on the schooner Donaldson, reached the island after starting on August 2.[60] Blackjack had been the only Iñupiat (Alaskan native) on the expedition, hired as a cook for four men who were sent by Vilhjalmur Stefansson to claim Wrangel Island for Canada. Three of the men (Milton Galle, Fred Maurer and Allan Crawford) had departed on January 28 in an attempt to get supplies from Siberia, leaving Lorne Knight and Blackjack behind. Galle, Maurer and Crawford were never seen again, and Knight died on June 23.[61][62] The island is now part of the territory of Russia.
  • German electrical engineer Charles Proteus Steinmetz said that by 2023, electricity would be doing all the hard work and people would not have to toil for more than four hours a day. Steinmetz also envisioned cities free of pollution and litter in a century's time.[63]
  • Eight people died in forest fires along the French Riviera.[64]
  • Lord Rothermere, in an editorial in his Sunday Pictorial, entreated Britain to preserve the Entente with France. "Europe without an entente is bound to mean an immense growth in armaments", he wrote. "We will have to resort at once to conscription without waiting for the outbreak of hostilities."[65]
  • Born:
  • Died: Vilfredo Pareto, 75, French-born Italian economist known for the Pareto distribution, the Pareto efficiency, the Pareto principle

August 20, 1923 (Monday)

August 21, 1923 (Tuesday)

August 22, 1923 (Wednesday)

August 23, 1923 (Thursday)

August 24, 1923 (Friday)

  • Katō Tomosaburō, 62, Prime Minister of Japan since June 12, 1922, died after a short illness.[87] Viscount Uchida Kōsai, the Foreign Minister, served as acting premier until a permanent prime minister could form a new cabinet of ministers.[88] Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyōe was selected by the Prince Regent Hirohito to attempt formation of a new cabinet.[89]
  • The Reichsministerium für die besetzten Gebiete (Ministry for Occupied Territories) was created in Germany by President Friedrich Ebert to administer the portion of the Ruhr Valley occupied by French and Belgium troops, with Johannes Fuchs serving as the Minister under Chancellor Gustav Stresemann. On the same day, Stresemann offered France a share in German industry in exchange for ending the occupation of territory.[90]
  • Right fielder Jackie Gallagher and pitcher Johnson Fry, both of whom had a career batting average of 1.000 in Major League Baseball, both appeared for the Cleveland Indians in a 20 to 8 loss at home to the Washington Senators. Fry and Gallagher were among 17 players put into the game by Cleveland, which used five pitchers in the game.[91] For both men, the event was their only MLB game and each got a hit the only at-bat in their careers, for a perfect batting average.
  • Born:
  • Died:

August 25, 1923 (Saturday)

August 26, 1923 (Sunday)

August 27, 1923 (Monday)

August 28, 1923 (Tuesday)

  • Germany's government offered to end their passive resistance campaign in the Ruhr in exchange for the release of deportees and prisoners and a guarantee of the "safety of life and subsistence of the Ruhr population."[104]
  • U.S. Army pilots Lowell Smith and John Richter broke aviation endurance records by staying in the air for 37 consecutive hours over Rockwell Field in San Diego. Mid-air refueling was used to accomplish the feat.[105]
  • Japan's Crown Prince Hirohito moved into the Akasaka Palace,[citation needed] intending to stay only temporarily, but would remain there for five years until two months before his coronation, because the Tokyo earthquake leveled available housing four days later on September 1.
  • Groundbreaking was held to start construction of the Parliament House of Australia in Canberra.[106]
  • Ex-Pennsylvania governor William Cameron Sproul suggested that Prohibition hastened the death of Warren G. Harding. "I think President Harding's death was accelerated by the fact that he thought it was his duty, because of Prohibition, to set a public example and abstain", Sproul said. "He was accustomed to an occasional drink of scotch. I was his personal friend and I know, and in that laborious task of a trip to Alaska, I'm sure he missed it."[107]
  • The trademark for Lincoln Logs, the notched wooden toys patented by John Lloyd Wright on August 31, 1920, was registered.[108]
  • Died:
    • Nathan Kaplan, 32, American gangster known as "Kid Dropper", was shot to death by hit man Louis Cohen while being transferred by a police car in New York City after his arrest.[109][110]
    • Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy, 60, Hungarian-born American portrait painter, who signed her work as "Princess Lwoff-Parlaghy" based on her brief marriage to Russian Prince Georgy Lvov, died in her New York City apartment hours before a deputy sheriff arrived to seize her paintings to satisfy a court judgment. An Associated Press reporter wrote, "Death today saved Princess Lwoff-Parlaghy from the ordeal of seeing her priceless art treasures seized to satisfy judgments against her for $212,000."[111]

August 29, 1923 (Wednesday)

  • Italy delivered a seven-point ultimatum to Greece demanding satisfaction over the recent murder of Italy's General Tellini, with the Greek government given 24 hours to agree to pay 50 million lire reparations, a full inquiry, execution of the killers, an official apology, and a funeral and military honors for the victims.[112] The next day, Greece replied with a four-point counterproposal refusing to pay the indemnity, but agreeing to an expression of sorrow, a memorial service and honors to the victims remains.[103]
  • The 12,807 feet (3,904 m) high Granite Peak in the U.S. state of Montana was scaled for the first time, with Elers Koch, James C. Whitham, and R.T. Ferguson making the ascent.[113]
  • The 12,519 feet (3,816 m) high South Teton mountain in the U.S. state of Wyoming was scaled for the first time, with mountain climbers Albert R. Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis making the first ascent. Later in the day, Ellingwood became the first person to climb the 12,809 feet (3,904 m) high Middle Teton mountain.[114]
  • Junior featherweight boxing champion Jack "Kid" Wolfe lost his world title in a 15-round decision against Carl Duane in a bout at Queensboro Stadium in New York City.[115]
  • Born:
  • Died:
    • Bernard Durning, 30, American silent film director, died of typhoid fever after drinking contaminate water while in Brooklyn.
    • Princess Anastasia, 45, American-born heiress who went from May Stewart of Zanesville, Ohio to a member of royalty upon her 1920 marriage to Prince Christopher of Greece, died of cancer.[117]

August 30, 1923 (Thursday)

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Chaney as Quasimodo, with Patsy Ruth Miller as co-star

August 31, 1923 (Friday)

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