Calles rejected foreign mediation which had been offered in hopes of resolving the crises brought about by the Calles Law.
Spain, led by the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, and Italy, led by dictator Benito Mussolini, signed a Treaty of Friendship.
The first British Grand Prix was held.
It was a Saturday.
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The Liga Nacional Defensora de la Libertad Religiosa commenced an uprising in Mexico, although appreciating it as such was probably not evident to anyone at the time. 400 armed faithful barricaded themselves in the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Fighting continued until they ran out of ammunition. 18 people were killed and 40 wounded.
On this day, the Diocese of San Antonio was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese. It'd become a place of refuge for fleeing faithful and clergy from Mexico.
Italy banned parades, ceremonies and public demonstrations that were not authorized as "effectively useful".
London's first traffic lights went into operation.
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The fascist government of Italy prevented 2,000 Italian pilgrims from visiting the church of Madonna del Sasso in Locarno, Switzerland, on the basis that Italians should spend their money in Italy.
It was the first time the pilgrimage had been disrupted in 400 years.
Sounds like something the Orange Mussolini would do today.
The Convention and Statute on the International Régime of Maritime Ports providing freedom of access to maritime ports without regard to a ship's nationality or maritime flag, went into effect. Sounds like something the Orange Mussolini would oppose today.
Al Capone was freed after having spent a night in jail after being arrested on charges arising from the April 27 murder of assistant State's Attorney William McSwiggin and two friends, James J. Doherty, and Thomas "Red" Duffy. The new assistant State's Attorney, George E. Gorman, stated that evidence was insufficient for the charge.
Still living Polish literary and anti communist figure, after having been a communist, Jacek Bocheński was born in Lwow, which is now in Ukraine.
King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy took a boy who had just been hit by a train into his auto and rushed the boy to the hospital. The poor boy later died.
Yes, it's not a big thing, but then again, it is.
Major General Littleton Waller, USMC, died at age 69.
Waller had a long career with a lot of combat action. His career survived his being being court-martialed for the disastrous Samar expedition in the Philippine Insurrection and the summary execution of 11 Filipino civilian porters at Lanang for mutiny in 1902. He'd retired in 1920.
Ethel Hays repeated a common myth.
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Italian born Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was canonized by Pope Pius XII, the first American citizen to receive the same.
She was the founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She is the Patron Saint of Immigrants. She founded 67 orphanages, schools and hospitals throughout the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean region, and in Europe during her lifetime.
The Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Church, at that time probably the wealthiest church in the United States and the Church of the wealthy to some extent, announced they would merge, an odd announcement given their real theological differences.
Not too surprisingly, the merger did not in fact occur.
U.S. Navy Ensign Jimmy Carter married Rosalynn Smith in Plains, Georgia. They'd be married for 75 years.
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The Allied powers agreed to withdraw their troops from Italy and Bulgaria.
Fred M. Vinson was confirmed Chief Justice of the United States.
Wanrong (婉容), wife and empress consort of Puyi, the last emperor of China, died a prisoner of the Chinese Communist from malnutrition and opium withdrawal. Her fate was unknown to the outside world at the time.
As the Chinese Imperial household was polygamist, her husband remained married in spite of her death, of which he was unaware. Two of his prior spouses had divorced, but he remained married at the time to Li Yuqin, who was also a prisoner and would divorce the former emperor, Puyi (溥儀) in 1957, although she commenced visiting him in 1955. Puyi would remarry in 1962.
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Italians abolished the Italian monarchy and elected seats to the Constituent Assembly in a nationwide vote, the same being the first in which women were allowed to vote.
The Christian Democracy party won 207 out of 556 seats and formed a coalition government with the Socialists (115) and Communist (104) parties. The CD would lead successive Italian governments until 1981. The party was dissolved in 1994 with the successor party being the Italian People's Party ( Partito Popolare Italiano)
In French parliamentary elections, the French Communist Party lost its plurality (from 159 to 153), the Popular Republican Movement (MRP) gained 16 seats (from 150 to 166) and the Socialist Party dropped from 146 to 128. No one party had a majority.
Carrie Ingalls of her sister Laura's Little House on the Prairie fame died.
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Violet Gibson shot Benito Mussolini, but only grazed his nose. The attack seems to have been a lone wolf type event with Gibson not being mentally well.
On the same day, although unrelated, three staffers of anti-Fascist newspapers were murdered in the country and journalist Giovanni Amendola died from injuries sustained nearly a year earlier.
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The Italian Senate banned all non-Fascist labor unions and declared all strikes and lockouts to be unlawful, with compulsory arbitration before special labor magistrates to resolve any disagreements between labor and industry. Premier Benito Mussolini declared that the bill was "the most courageous, most audacious, most radical and most revolutionary reform yet proposed by the Fascist government in its 40 months of office.
Sort of like the Wyoming Freedom Caucus dominated 2026 legislature banning union dues from being automatically deducted from state employee paychecks.
Well, to some people, freedom's just another name for everything you'll lose.
Éamon de Valera resigned as the leader of Sinn Féin after the Ard Fheis general assembly failed to approve, by five votes (218 to 223) his motion for the party to have representation in both the Oireachtas (the bicameral parliament of the Irish Free State) and the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
The Council of the League of Nations voted to approve the award of most of the former Ottoman Empire's Mosul province, to the British Mandate of Iraq and to extend the British mandate an additional 25 years.
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Germany applied to join the League of Nations and indicated that it would submit the South Tyrol dispute to the body.
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Stalin in an "election" speech carried on Soviet radio, stated another war was inevitable due to the "capitalist development of the world economy", and that the USSR needed to plan accordingly.
The Chairman:
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin has the floor.
(Comrade Stalin’s appearance in the rostrum was greeted by the voters with loud cheers lasting several minutes. The entire audience in the Bolshoi Theatre rose to its feet to greet Comrade Stalin. There were continuous cries of “Cheers for great Stalin!” “Long live great Stalin, Hurrah!” “Cheers for our beloved Stalin!” )
Comrade Stalin:
Comrades!
Eight years have passed since the last elections to the Supreme Soviet. This has been a period replete with events of a decisive nature. The first four years were years of intense labour on the part of Soviet people in carrying out the Third Five- Year Plan. The second four years covered the events of the war against the German and Japanese aggressors — the events of the Second World War. Undoubtedly, the war was the main event during the past period.
It would be wrong to think that the Second World War broke out accidentally, or as a result of blunders committed by certain statesmen, although blunders were certainly committed. As a matter of fact, the war broke out as the inevitable result of the development of world economic and political forces on the basis of present-day monopolistic capitalism. Marxists have more than once stated that the capitalist system of world economy contains the elements of a general crisis and military conflicts, that, in view of that, the development of world capitalism in our times does not proceed smoothly and evenly, but through crises and catastrophic wars. The point is that the uneven development of capitalist countries usually leads, in the course of time, to a sharp disturbance of the equilibrium within the world system of capitalism, and that group of capitalist countries regards itself as being less securely provides with raw materials and markets usually attempts to change the situation and to redistribute “spheres of influence” in its own favour — by employing armed force. As a result of this, the capitalist world is split into two hostile camps, and war breaks out between them . . .
And so, how should our victory [in World War II] be interpreted? What can this victory signify from the point of view of the state and the development of the internal forces of our country?
Our victory signifies, first of all, that our Soviet social system was victorious, that the Soviet social system successfully passed the test of fire in the war and proved that it is fully viable.
As we know, the foreign press on more than one occasion asserted that the Soviet social system was a “dangerous experiment” that was doomed to failure . . . [but] now we can say that the war has refuted all these assertions of the foreign press and has proved them to have been groundless. The war proved that the Soviet social system is a genuinely people’s system, which grew up from the ranks of the people and enjoys their powerful| support; that the Soviet social system is fully viable and stable form of organization of society . . .
Now a few words about the Communist Party’s plans of work for the immediate future. As you know, these plans are formulated in the new five-year plan, which is to be adopted in the very near future. The main tasks of the new five-year plan are to rehabilitate the devastated regions of our country, to restore industry and agriculture to the prewar level, and then to exceed that level to a more or less considerable extent. Apart from the fact that the rationing system is to be abolished in the very near future (loud and prolonged applause), special attention will be devoted to the expansion of the production of consumers’ goods, to raising the standard of living of the working people by steadily reducing the prices of all commodities (loud and prolonged applause), and to the extensive organization of scientific research institutes of every kind (applause) capable of giving the fullest scope to our scientific forces. (Loud applause.)
I have no doubt that if we give our scientists proper assistance they will be able in the very near future not only to overtake but even outstrip the achievements of science beyond the borders of our country. (Prolonged applause.)
As regards long-term plans, our Party intends to organize another powerful upswing of our national economy that will enable us to raise our industry to a level, say, three times as high as that of prewar industry. We must see to it that our industry shall be able to produce annually up to 50,000,000 tons of pig iron (prolonged applause ), up to 60,000,000 tons of steel (prolonged applause ), up to 500,000,000 tons of coal (prolonged applause ) and up to 60,000,000 tons of oil (prolonged applause ). Only when we succeed in doing that can we be sure that our Motherland will be insured against all contingencies. (Loud applause.) This will need, perhaps, another three five-year plans, if, not more. But it can be done, and we must do it. (Loud applause) . .
In conclusion, permit me to express my thanks for the confidence which you have shown me (loud and prolonged applause. A voice: “Cheers for the great leader of all our victories, Comrade Stalin! “) by nominating me as a candidate for the Supreme Soviet. You need have no doubt that will do my best to justify your confidence. (All rise. Loud and prolonged applause rising to an ovation. Voices in different parts of the hall: “Long live great Stalin, Hurrah!” “Cheers for the great leader of the peoples!” “Glory to great Stalin!” “Long live Comrade Stalin, the candidate of the entire people!” “Glory to the creator of all our victories, Comrade Stalin! “
Charles "Lucky" Luciano was deported to his native Italy where he'd spend the rest of his life, dying in 1962 at age 64.
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African-American historian Carter G. Woodson initiated "Negro History Week", the precursor of Black History Month. This is considerably earlier than I would have guessed this occured.
The Italian army took the Libyan city of Jaghbub, the home of the Senussi movement.
The village is actually much closer to Egypt than to any settlement in Libya.
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Pancho Villa's skull was stolen by grave robbers. It's whereabouts remain unknown.
Mussolini delivered a defiant speech about the fascist program of Italianization of South Tyrol, which had an ethnic German majority.
The Italians and Germans managed to put this aside after the rise of Hitler, but had the Germans won the second World War, they certainly would have turned on Italy over this issue. As late as the 1990s, if not later, there was still Italian support for the fascist decrees on the topic.
It was a Saturday.
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Mexican troops fired on demonstrators in León, Mexico, killing at least 40.
The U.S. Army lifted a ban on U.S. servicemen marrying enemy nationals, save for Germans. The lift, therefore, applied to Austrians and Italians, as well as perhaps Hungarians and Romanians.
On Corregidor twenty Japanese soldiers, who had just learned of Japan's surrender from a newspaper, surrendered themselves to a solitary Army soldier.
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Italy brought to an end a rebellion in Italian Somaliland.
Turkey passed a law bringing in the Gregorian calendar as of January 1.
Richard "Pegleg" Lonergan, of New York City's White Hand Gang, was killed along with Aaron Hyams and Neal J. Perry, after arriving drunk at the Adonis Social Club in what was basically an armed bar fight. Al Capone was the hitman.
The Communist Party of India was organized.
The East-West Shrine Game, collegiate footballs first all start game, was played at Ewing Field in San Francisco.
It was a Saturday.
Leyendecker offered a Christmas theme for his Saturday Evening Post illustration.
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