1928 in History

Events in History

• Jan 1 1st US air-conditioned office building opens, San Antonio
• Jan 1 Algemeene Vereeniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) begins broadcasting (Neth)

• Jan 17 1st fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented
• Jan 23 "The Adventure of the Good Soldier Schweik" premieres in Berlin
• Jan 28 Christopher Hornsrud chosen Prime Minister of Norway
• Jan 30 1st radio telephone connection between Netherlands & US
• Jan 30 Eugene O'Neill's "Strange Interlude" premieres in NYC
• Jan 31 Scotch tape 1st marketed by 3-M Company

• Feb 6 A woman dubbed Anna Anderson [possibly Franziska Schanzkowska] arrives in NYC, using the alias "Anastasia Tschaikovsky" claims to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II
• Feb 7 1st solo flight from England to Australia takes off from Croydon, piloted by Australian aviator Bert Hinkler (arrives 15 ½ days later)
• Feb 8 1st transatlantic TV image received, Hartsdale, NY


• Feb 19 Canadian hockey team wins 3rd consecutive gold medal
• Feb 22 1st solo flight from England to Australia lands in Darwin, 15 ½ days after take off, piloted by Australian aviator Bert Hinkler
• Mar 4 "Bunion Run" race from LA to NYC begins; It is won by Andy Payne
• Mar 5 Karl Zuckmayer's "Der Hauptmann von Köpenick" premieres in Berlin
• Mar 10 Christine Collins' son, Walter Collins, disappears in Los Angeles
• Mar 12 In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing over 600 people

• Mar 27 KGB-AM in San Diego CA begins radio transmissions
• Mar 29 Yeshiva College (now University) chartered (NYC)

• Apr 9 Eugene O'Neill's "Lazarus Laughed" premieres in Pasadena
• Apr 9 Turkey passes separation of church & state
• Apr 13 1st trans atlantic flight Europe-US (Fitzmaurice-von Hunefeld-Köhl)
• Apr 14 Maddus Airlines starts 1st regular passenger flights between SF & LA
• Apr 15 Alioto's on Fisherman's Wharf (San Francisco) forms
• Apr 19 Japanese troops occupies Sjantung-schiereiland
• Apr 19 The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
• Apr 24 Fathometer, which measures underwater depth, patented
• Apr 25 Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for a US citizen Morris Frank

• Apr 30 Cherkess Autonomous Region forms in RSFSR (until 1957)
• May 1 6 children die and 10 injured by hailstones in Klausenburg, Romania
• May 1 Drunken fascist Erich Wichman attacks VARA-radio transmitter
• May 1 Lei Day begun (a Hawaiian celebration)
• May 1 Pitcairn Airlines (later Eastern) begins service
• May 2 KPQ-AM in Wenatchee WA begins radio transmissions
• May 3 Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.
• May 7 The United Kingdom lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21

• May 11 General Electric opens 1st TV-station (Schenectady, NY)
• May 12 Benito Mussolini ends women's rights in Italy
• May 12 Second Opium Law introduced - international law to control drugs
• May 14 John McGraw is knocked down by a taxicab & suffers a broken leg
• May 19 "Firedamp" explodes in Mather coal mine, Pennsylvania, killing 195 of 273 miners
• May 19 51 frogs enter 1st annual "Frog Jumping Jubilee" (Angel's Camp, California)
• May 22 US Congress accept Jones-White Merchant Naval Act
• May 23 Bomb attack on Italian embassy in Buenos Aires, 22 die
• May 24 Umberto Nobile flies airship over North Pole again

• May 29 Fritz von Opel reaches 200 kph in experimental rocket car
• May 31 1st aerial crossing of Pacific takes off from Oakland
• Jun 2 Kraft, building on the original 1918 design, rolls out Velveeta cheese
• Jun 4 President of the Republic of China Zhang Zuolin is assassinated by Japanese agents
• Jun 8 1st US-to-Australia flight lands (Sir Charles Kingford)
• Jun 9 Charles Kingsford-Smith & Charles Ulm are 1st to fly across the Pacific when they end their flight from California to Brisbane

• Jun 18 American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the 1st woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean landing at Burry Port, Wales
• Jun 24 With declining business, the Great Gorge and International Railway begins using one-person crews on trolley operations in Canada
• Jun 25 NY Giant Fred Lindstrom ties record of 9 hits in a doubleheader

• Jun 28 Alfred E Smith (NY-Governor) nominated for US President at Democratic Convention
• Jun 28 Friedrich Schmiedl attempts rocket mail in Austria (unsuccessful)
• Jun 29 The Outerbridge Crossing and Goethals Bridge in Staten Island, New York both opened.
• Jun 30 Radio Service Bulletin lists radio stations call signs that are to be changed to conform with international standards
• Jul 2 British parliament reduces the age at women can vote to 21 - the same as men (Representation of the People Act 1928)
• Jul 6 1st all-talking motion picture shown in NY (Lights of NY)
• Jul 6 Largest recorded hailstone at the time 1.5 lbs (7 inches in diameter) falls in Potter, Nebraska

• Jul 10 Senator Milt Gaston hurls record tying 14-hit shutout
• Jul 19 King Fuad of Egypt seizes power and disbands parliament
• Jul 20 The government of Hungary issues a decree ordering Gypsies to end their nomadic ways, settle permanently in one place, subject themselves to the same laws and taxes as other Hungarians
• Jul 27 AVRO, General Vereniging Radio Omroep, forms

• Aug 2 Benito Mussolini signs peace treaty with Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
• Aug 13 Soviet Union Spartacan Games begins
• Aug 14 Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur's "Front Page," premieres in NYC
• Aug 27 16 die in a NYC subway's 2nd worst accident

• Sep 1 Albania becomes a kingdom, with Zogu I as king
• Sep 6 USSR signs Briand-Kellogg-pact
• Sep 7 Sophie Treadwell's "Machinal" premieres in NYC
• Sep 12 -17] Hurricane in Florida, kills 6,000
• Sep 13 KOH-AM in Reno NV begins radio transmissions
• Sep 15 400 kg Fournier-albums (forged postage stamps) burn in Geneva

• Sep 16 Hurricane hits West Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee Florida; 3,000 die
• Sep 17 Hurricane hits Lake Okeechobee Florida drowning 1,800-2500
• Sep 18 Juan de la Cierva flies 1st helicopter above Channel
• Sep 21 "My Weekly Reader" magazine made its debut
• Sep 27 The Nationalist Republic of China is recognised by the United States.
• Sep 28 1st recording session in Nashville (Warmack's Gully Jumpers)
• Sep 28 Juan de la Cierva makes 1st helicopter flight over English Channel

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Birthdays in History

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 328

• Jan 1 Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist (Edhi Foundation), born in Bantva, Gujarat (d. 2016)
• Jan 2 Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (Rep-D-Il, 1959-94), convicted of mail fraud, born in Chicago, Illinois (2010)
• Jan 2 Gerhard Amanshauser, writer
• Jan 2 Harry Hyams, English immovable goods owner (Center Point)
• Jan 2 Vaughn Beals, CEO (Harley Davidson motorcycle), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Jan 2 Avie Bennett, Canadian philanthropist
• Jan 2 Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese writer
• Jan 2 Oskar Rabin, Russian painter and dissident during Soviet era, born in Moscow, Soviet Union (d. 2018)

• Jan 5 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, 4th President and 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan, born in Ratodero Taluka, Pakistan (d. 1979)
• Jan 5 Qian Qichen, Chinese diplomat and vice premier, born in Tianjin (d. 2017)
• Jan 6 George H. Ross, American businessman, born in Brooklyn, New York
• Jan 8 Gaston Miron, Quebec poet & editor, born in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Canada (d. 1996)
• Jan 9 Fernand J St Germain, American politician (Rep-D-RI, 1961- ), born in Blackstone, Massachusetts (d. 2014)
• Jan 9 Judith Krantz, Jewish-American novelist (Scruples, Princess Daisy, Dazzle), born in NYC, New York
• Jan 10 Donald Brooks, American fashion designer (Emmy 1983), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 2005)
• Jan 10 Philip Levine, American poet, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2015)
• Jan 11 David L Wolper, producer (Devil's Brigade)
• Jan 14 Garry Winogrand, American photographer, born in NYC, New York (d. 1984)
• Jan 16 John William Fozard, aircraft designer
• Jan 16 William Kennedy, American writer

• Jan 19 Dainin Katagiri, Zen teacher, associate of Shunryu Suzuki, born in Osaka, Japan
• Jan 21 Reynaldo Bignone, Argentine politician and human rights violator, 41st President (1982–1983), born in Morón, Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 2018)
• Jan 22 Birch Bayh, American politician, Senator (D) Indiana (1963-81), wrote 2 amendments to US constitution, born in Terre Haute, Indiana
• Jan 22 Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historian (d. 2004)
• Jan 24 Desmond Morris, English zoologist (Human Ape, Body Language), born in Purton, United Kingdom

• Jan 25 Jérôme Choquette, Quebec lawyer and politician, born in Montreal, Quebec
• Jan 26 Gene Snyder, (Rep-R-KY, 1963-65, 67- )
• Jan 26 Roger Vadim, French director (And God Created Women, Barbarella)
• Jan 27 Hans Modrow, a German politician, premier of East Germany
• Jan 28 MG Falcon, CEO (Norwich Union Insurance Group)
• Jan 28 Martin Sinnatt, Major-General/secretary (Kennel Club)
• Jan 28 Slade Gorton, American politician (Sen-R-WA, 1981-87, 1989-2001), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2020)
• Jan 29 Marinus Peijnenburg, Dutch politician
• Jan 31 Eric Ash, rector (Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine)
• Jan 31 Richard Buckley, royal equerry
• Jan 31 Robert Clatworthy, English sculptor, born in Bridgwater, Somerset
• Jan 31 S. Newman Darby, American inventor of the sailboard, born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (d. 2016)
• Feb 1 Peter Gordon Dorrell, archaeologist and photographer
• Feb 1 Sir Samuel "Sam" Edwards, Welsh physicist (condensed matter physics), born in Swansea, Wales (d. 2015)
• Feb 1 Eric Evans, English dean of St Paul's, born in Tenby, Wales (d. 1996)
• Feb 1 Tom Lantos, (Rep-D-CA, 1981- )
• Feb 2 Luigi Ciriaco De Mita, Prime Minister of Italy (1988-89)
• Feb 5 Andrew M Greeley, author/reverend
• Feb 5 Pananayiotis Taki Vatikiotis, Middle Eastern scholar (d. 1997)
• Feb 8 Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, lawyer
• Feb 9 Rinus Michels, Dutch football coach (d. 2005)
• Feb 10 Gene Taylor, (Rep-D-St Louis, 1973- )
• Feb 11 Archibald Forster, CEO (Esso UK)
• Feb 14 Ben Garrido Blaz, (Rep-R-Guam, 1985- )
• Feb 14 Juan Garcia Hortelano, Spanish author (Tormenta de verano)
• Feb 20 Donald Longmore, British cardiac surgeon
• Feb 23 David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort, British peer
• Feb 23 Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev, Siberia USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 12, 18A)
• Feb 24 Michael Harrington, socialist/author (Fragments of Century), born in St. Louis, Missouri
• Feb 25 Keith Williamson, British RAF marshal
• Feb 25 Richard Stern, American writer
• Feb 26 Anatoli Vassilyevich Filipchenko, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz 7, 16)
• Feb 26 Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (2001-2006), born at Kfar Malal (d. 2014)
• Feb 29 Terry Lewis, Australian police commissioner
• Feb 29 Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer
• Mar 1 Seymour Papert, South African mathematician, born in Pretoria (d. 2016)
• Mar 2 Father John Romanides, Greek priest and professor (d. 2001)
• Mar 3 Gudrun Pausewang, Eastern Bohemia, German writer
• Mar 9 Gerald Bull, Canadian long range artillery designer and engineer, born in North Bay, Ontario (d. 1990)

• Mar 11 Peter Roger Hunt, director (Dr No), born in London, England

• Mar 12 Roland Moyle, British deputy chairman (Police Complaints Authority)
• Mar 12 Thérèse Lavoie-Roux, Quebec politician and senator

• Mar 17 William John McKeag, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
• Mar 18 Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and 12th President of the Philippines (1992-98), born in Lingayen, Pangasinan, Philippines
• Mar 18 Julia Mullock, Princess of Korea
• Mar 19 Hans Küng, Swiss theologian
• Mar 20 Anthony Blond, British publisher (The Publishing Game, Book Book), born in Sale, Cheshire (d. 2008)
• Mar 21 James W Kinnear, CEO (Texaco), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Mar 21 Peter Hacks, German playwright (Tie Windloch)
• Mar 22 Betty Callaway, figure skating trainer (coached Torvill and Dean), born in Reading, England (d. 2011)
• Mar 22 Bill Archer, American politician (Rep-R-TX, 1971-2001), born in Houston, Texas
• Mar 22 Dmitri Volkogonov, Russian historian (biographies of Stalin and Lenin) and colonel general, born in Chita, USSR (d. 1995)
• Mar 22 Carrie Donovan, American fashion editor (d. 2001)
• Mar 22 E.D. Hirsch. American social commentator, born in Memphis, Tennessee
• Mar 23 Alfred Morris, British MP
• Mar 25 James A. Lovell Jr, American astronaut (Gemini 7, 12, Apollo 8, 13), born in Cleveland, Ohio
• Mar 25 Hilton Kramer, American art critic, born in Gloucester, Massachusetts (d. 2012)
• Mar 26 G. Harry Stine, American science fiction writer (d. 1997)
• Mar 27 Douglas Applegate, American politician, U.S. House of Representative from Ohio, born in Steubenville, Ohio
• Mar 28 Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security advisor (Carter), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 2017)
• Mar 28 Alexander Grothendieck, German-French mathematician, born in Berlin (d. 2014)
• Mar 29 Vincent Gigante, Italian-American mafioso, born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2005)
• Mar 30 Richard Trant, British general
• Mar 30 Tom Sharpe, English historian/author (Riotous Assembly, Want), (d. 2013)
• Apr 1 Dimitri Frenkel Frank, Dutch writer/director (Hadimassa)
• Apr 2 Joseph Bernardin, American Cardinal of the Catholic Church, born in Columbia, South Carolina (d. 1996)
• Apr 5 Peter Moore, British academic (Professor of Statistics at London Business School) (d. 2010)

• Apr 7 Alan J Pakula, director (All the President's Men, Klute)

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Weddings in History

Deaths in History

• Jan 11 Thomas Hardy, English novelist (Far from the Madding Crowd) and poet, dies near Dorchester at 87
• Jan 12 Ruth Snyder, 1st woman to die in electric chair
• Jan 13 Johan Peter Koch, Danish officer/explorer, dies at 57
• Jan 21 George Washington Goethals, American army general and civil engineer who supervised the construction of the Panama Canal, dies at 69

• Jan 30 Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, Danish scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
• Feb 4 Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Dutch physicist (electromagnetic radiation, Nobel 1902), dies at 74

• Feb 20 Antonio Abetti, Italian astronomer, dies at 81
• Feb 29 Adolphe Appia, Swiss set designer/theorist, dies at 65
• Feb 29 Armando Diaz, Italian marshal and minister of War (1922-24), dies at 66
• Feb 29 Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)
• Mar 3 Jan [Jean] T Toorop, Dutch graphic artist (3 Brides), dies at 69
• Mar 7 Robert Abbe, American surgeon and radiologist, dies at 76
• Mar 18 Paul van Ostaijen, Flemish writer (Outlawed), dies at 32
• Mar 31 Gustave Ador, Swiss politician and 36th President of the Swiss Confederation (1919), dies at 82
• Mar 31 Medardo Rosso, Italian sculptor (portraits), dies at 69
• Apr 2 Theodore Richards, US chemist (atomic weight, Nobel 1914), dies
• Apr 5 Jane Ellen Harrison, British anthropologist and linguist, dies at 77
• Apr 7 Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher, dies at 54
• Apr 16 Henry Birks, Canadian businessman and founder of Henri Birks and Sons, dies at 87
• Apr 25 Pyotr Nikolayevich, Baron Wrangel, Russian baron general (White Armies, WW II), dies at 49
• Apr 29 Henrich Federer, Swiss writer (I Switch Off The Light), dies at 61
• May 1 Ebenezer Howard, English founder of the garden city movement and author (To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform), dies at 78
• May 4 Barry Pain, English writer (Punch), dies at 63
• May 16 Edmund Gosse, English poet, author (Father & Son) and critic, dies at 78
• May 19 Max Scheler, German philosopher, dies at 53
• May 22 William HT Gairdner, Engl missionary (Nile Mission Press), dies at 54
• May 31 Ludwig Enneccerus, German leader, dies at 85
• May 31 Manuel de Oliveira Lima, Brazilian historian, dies at 60

• Jun 3 Li Yüan-hung, Chinese general and political figure (b. 1864)
• Jun 7 Chiang Tsolin, Chinese warlord of North-China, murdered
• Jun 12 Salvador Díaz Mirón, Mexican poet (Los Cien Mejores Poemas), dies at 74

• Jun 16 Mark Keppel, Superintendent of Los Angeles County Schools from 1902-1928, dies at 61
• Jun 17 Ramon de Basterra, Spanish writer and diplomat (Virulo, mocedades), dies at 39

• Jun 22 A. B. Frost, American illustrator (b. 1851)
• Jul 17 Alvaro Obregon, President of Mexico is assassinated
• Jul 17 Giovanni Giolitti, 5x Prime Minister of Italy (1892-93, 1903-05, 1906-09, 1911-14, 1920-21), dies at 85
• Jul 20 Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet, dies at 31
• Aug 8 Stjepan Radic, founder/leader (Croatian Boer party), dies
• Aug 9 Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden (1907-18), dies at 71
• Aug 14 Klabund [Alfred Henschke], German writer (Spuk, Rasputin), dies at 37
• Aug 29 Richard Haldane, British viscount and lord-chancellor (Life of A Smith), dies at 72
• Aug 30 Wilhelm Wien, German physicist (laws of motion, Nobel 1911), dies at 64
• Sep 13 Italo Svevo [Ettore Schmitz], Italian writer (Una Vita), dies at 66
• Sep 29 Steinitz, mathematician, dies
• Oct 13 Maria Feodorovna, Princess of Denmark and Empress of Russia, dies at 80
• Oct 22 Andrew Fisher, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (1908-09, 1910-13, 1914-15), dies at 66
• Oct 23 François Victor Alphonse Aulard, French historian, dies at 79

• Nov 13 Abraham M "Mark" Lidzbarski, Polish/German orientalist, dies at 60
• Nov 15 Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, American Geologist and educator, dies at 85
• Nov 17 Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian author, politician, & freedom fighter (b. 1865)
• Nov 21 Hermann Sudermann, German author (Frau Sorge), dies

• Nov 28 Frank Friday Fletcher, American Naval Admiral (Medal of Order for Battle of Veracruz), dies at 73
• Dec 1 José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (b. 1888)
• Dec 10 Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect, designer, and illustrator, dies at 60
• Dec 11 Lewis Howard Latimer, American inventor (carbon filament lightbulb), dies at 80
• Dec 16 Elinor Wylie, American poet and writer (b. 1885)
• Dec 21 Luigi Cadorna, Italian fieldmarshal (WW I, Caporetto), dies at 78