January 1933

The following events occurred in January 1933:

January 1, 1933 (Sunday) The Soviet Union began its second Five-Year Plan with the goal of more than doubling the gross national product, from 43 billion rubles to 93 billion, by December 31, 1937.George Vernadsky, A History of Russia (Volume 5, Part 1) (Yale University Press, 1961), p. 374 Capital punishment was abolished in Denmark by amendment of the 1866 Criminal Code. After the passage of the Code, 70 convicted criminals received death sentences, but only four were actually executed.Lars Bo Langsted, et al., Criminal Law in Denmark (Kluwer Law International, 2010), p. 24 Juan Bautista Sacasa was sworn in as President of Nicaragua, bringing an end to the American occupation there. General Mathews, the U.S. commander of the Nicaraguan National Guard, turned over his authority to Nicaraguan General Anastasio Somoza García, and President Sacasa began immediate negotiations to end the war with the Sandinista rebels.Manzar Foroohar, The Catholic Church and Social Change in Nicaragua (SUNY Press, 1989), p. 23 Archaeologists and fortune hunters Jerry van Graan and Ernst van Graan began excavations of the ancestral graveyard of the Kings of Mapungubwe in South Africa, undisturbed since the 13th Century, after being tipped off by a local resident.David Fleminger, Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape (30° South Publishers, 2008), pp. 84–5

January 2, 1933 (Monday) After a seven-year occupation of Nicaragua, the last 910 U.S. Marines and sailors withdrew, departing from the port of Corinto. American forces sustained 47 killed in combat, and 66 wounded during the campaign. Two days earlier, 8 Marines had been killed in an ambush.Benjamin R. Beede, The War of 1898, and U.S. interventions, 1898-1934: an encyclopedia (Taylor & Francis, 1994), p. 379 Franklin D. Roosevelt completed his term as the 44th Governor of New York, two months before he would take office as the 32nd President of the United States on March 4. Herbert H. Lehman became the new Governor."Lehman Takes Office Today as Governor", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 2, 1933, p. 2 The USC Trojans (9-0-0) and the Pittsburgh Panthers (8-0-2), both unbeaten during the 1932 college football season, met in the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, with USC winning 35–0."TROJANS EASILY DEFEAT PANTHERS BY 35 TO 0", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 3, 1933, p. 1 Born: Morimura Seiichi, Japanese novelist and author, in Kumagaya (d. 2023) Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education 1993–2001, in Greenville, South Carolina Died: Kid Gleason, 66, former baseball manager of the Chicago White Sox during the "Black Sox scandal" of 1919 Belle Moskowitz, 55, political adviser to American politician Al Smith Sutton Griggs, 60, African-America poet Irving O'Dunn, 34, American vaudeville actor."Actor Plunges to His Death", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 2, 1933, p. 1

January 3, 1933 (Tuesday) Striking from the puppet state of Manchukuo, Japan launched Operation Nekka, its takeover of China's Jehol Province, attacking the port town of Shanhaiguan (through a gap in the Great Wall of China), killing hundreds of Chinese soldiers and civilians. On February 24, Japan would begin its takeover of the rest of the province with 31,000 troops, and would expand its territory.Michael Brecher and Jonathan Wilkenfeld, A Study of Crisis (University of Michigan Press, 1997), p. 156; "Japanese Take Town in China", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 3, 1933, p. 1 Ireland's Prime Minister Éamon de Valera ordered a general election to be held on January 24.Dermot Keogh, Ireland and the Vatican: The Politics and Diplomacy of Church-State Relations, 1922-1960 (Cork University Press, 1995), p. 101; "Irish Political Conflict Begins", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 3, 1933, p. 2 General Douglas MacArthur, the U. S. Army Chief of Staff, issued an order requiring the U.S. Army Air Corps (forerunner of the U.S. Air Force) "to conduct the land-based air operations in defense of the United States and its overseas possessions".Robert Frank Futrell, Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine: Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force (Volume 1) (Air University Press, 1989), p. 66 The Institute of British Geographers was created as part of the London School of Economics.Gary S. Dunbar, Geography: Discipline, Profession, and Subject since 1870: An International Survey (Springer, 2001), p. 100 Died: Wilhelm Cuno, 56, former Chancellor of Germany from 1922 to 1923. Cuno collapsed on the doorstep of his home in Hamburg as he and his wife were preparing to leave for a vacation."Cuno Falls Dead on Steps of Home", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 3, 1933, p. 3 Jack Pickford, 36, Canadian-American actor.

January 4, 1933 (Wednesday) After a ban against African-American enlistments that had begun on August 4, 1919, the United States Navy allowed Negroes to join, though only in the steward's department, in food service and as servants for officers. At the time, 0.5% of the enlisted men were black. The reversal was not prompted by racial enlightenment, but by concerns that the number of available Filipino domestic help would be dwindling.Robert J. Schneller, Jr., Breaking the Color Barrier: The U.S. Naval Academy's First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality (NYU Press, 2005), p. 55 Political enemies, Nazi Party Chairman Adolf Hitler and former German Chancellor Franz von Papen, united only by their enmity with Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, met in Cologne at the home of banker Kurt von Schröder, with the goal of forcing Schleicher from office. As a result of the negotiations, Papen would support Hitler to be named as the new Chancellor of Germany by the end of the month.Anthony Read, The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle (W. W. Norton & Company, 2004), pp. 262-3 The French Line luxury ocean liner L'Atlantique caught fire while traveling, without passengers, to Le Havre for routine maintenance. Nineteen of the crew of 225 died, and the ship was destroyed. Had the fire broken out when the ship was carrying a full load of passengers, hundreds would have died.Kit Bonner and Carolyn Bonner, Great Ship Disasters (Zenith Imprint, 2003) pp87-91: "More Than 30 Feared Dead as Ship Burns in Channel", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 5, 1933, p. 1 Dr. V. Gregory Burtan (aka Valentine G. Burtan, aka William Gregory Burtan), a respected New York cardiologist and member of the Communist Party of the United States of America, was arrested as operator of a counterfeiting operation that had lasted more than five years. Starting in 1927, in an operation approved by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, tens of millions of dollars' worth of realistic-looking but bogus U.S. currency had been printed and put into circulation in the United States, Europe, and China. Burtan was sentenced to 15 years in prison but would be paroled after ten years.Roman Brackman, The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life (Taylor & Francis, 2003), p. 190; John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 166-7; "Physician Seized as Counterfeiter", New York Times, January 5, 1933 The 531 members of the electoral college, who had been selected by American voters in the presidential election on November 8, 1932, met in their respective state capitals to formally cast their ballots for Franklin Roosevelt or Herbert Hoover. The results, in favor of Roosevelt 472–59, would be made official on February 8."Electors Will Vote for Roosevelt Today; Congress Is Slated for Joint Session Feb. 8 to Certify Presidential Choice", New York Times, January 4, 1933 Born: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, American children's author best known for Shiloh, in Anderson, Indiana René Guajardo, Mexican professional wrestler and lucha libre; in Villa Mainero, Tamaulipas state (d. 1992). Died: Charles H. Jones, 77, American industrialist, best known as founder of the Commonwealth Shoe and Leather Company, and creator of the popular "Bostonian" shoe; in Weston, Massachusetts.

January 5, 1933 (Thursday) The Soviet Union began requiring every citizen over the age of 16 to carry an internal passport. A propiska, the official stamp on the passport issued by the NKVD, governed where a person could reside, and restricted who could live or work in designated "closed cities" (Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Kharkov, Vladivostok and Rostov-on-Don). By the end of the year, 27 million passports were issued. Another 420,000 persons who failed a background check were expelled from their homes."The Russian Card: The Propiska", by Nicholas Werth, in National Identification Systems: Essays in Opposition (McFarland, 2004), p. 117 Distribution of the new passports began on January 20."'Leisure Class' to Be Driven Out of Soviet Cities Soon", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 16, 1933, p. 3 Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began, beginning with the anchorage for the tower at Marin, on the north side of the San Francisco Bay. The project was funded by a $35 million bond issue and by the Federal Works Progress Administration. Chief Engineer Joseph Strauss introduced several safety measures for the construction workers, including head, eye and skin protection, and a safety net below the bridge, which would save 19 men from death. The bridge would be opened to the public on May 27, 1937.Mick Sinclair, San Francisco: A Cultural and Literary History (Interlink Books, 2004), pp. 131-2; Rand Richards, Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide (Heritage House Publishers, 2007), p. 202 Died: Calvin Coolidge, 60, the 30th President of the United States, died at his home in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was the only living ex-president at the time.Ruth Tenzer Feldman, Calvin Coolidge (Twenty-First Century Books, 2006), p. 96; Paul B. Wice,Presidents in Retirement: Alone and Out of Office (Lexington Books, 2009), p. 159; "Coolidge Dies From Heart Attack; Body Is Found in Home By His Wife", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 1933, p. 1 Zinaida Volkova, 31, daughter of Leon Trotsky, in Germany.Dmitri Volkogonov, Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary (Simon and Schuster, 1996), p. 351

January 6, 1933 (Friday) Notorious American gangster Clyde Barrow killed Malcolm Davis, a Deputy Sheriff for Tarrant County, Texas, in West Dallas, after which Bonnie and Clyde attracted the attention of the American press, which would follow their crimes until they were both killed on May 23, 1934.William B. Breuer,J. Edgar Hoover and His G-men (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995), p. 61 The South Bend News-Times, local paper for the University of Notre Dame, published a copyrighted story that the March 31, 1931, airplane crash, that killed Notre Dame Coach Knute Rockne, had been caused by a time-bomb placed in the plane. According to the story, the intent was to kill the Reverend John Reynolds, to keep him from testifying in the Jake Lingle murder trial. Father Reynolds had given up his seat on the airplane in favor of Rockne, but had already testified at the trial of Leo Brothers four days earlier."Bomb Killed Rockne, Claim", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 7, 1933, p. 1 The investigation of the crash, however, concluded that it was an accident caused by either turbulence or the buildup of ice on the wings.George Bibel, Beyond the Black Box: The Forensics of Airplane Crashes (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010) The drama film The Bitter Tea of General Yen, directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, became the first film to play at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Born: Oleg G. Makarov, Soviet cosmonaut on five Soyuz missions between 1973 and 1980, in Udomlya, RSFSR (d. 2003) Emil Steinberger, Swiss comedian, director, and writer, in Lucerne. Died: Vladimir de Pachmann, 84, renowned Russian pianist."Famed Pianist Buried With Simplest Rites", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 9, 1933, p. 2

January 7, 1933 (Saturday)