March 1925

1925

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The following events occurred in March 1925:

March 1, 1925 (Sunday)

• Elections were held in Luxembourg for the 47-seat parliament, Der Chamber. The conservative Rietspartei, led by Prime Minister Émile Reuter, lost four seats from its 26 seat majority. While the Rietspartei retained a plurality with 22, it refused to form a coalition with any party that had voted against the railway treaty with Belgium, prompting other parties to form a new government.

"Ein Schilling", worth "Zehntausend Kronen"

• The Republic of Austria adopted its new currency, the Austrian schilling, worth 10,000 of the former Austrian kronen. The new schilling would be the currency of Austria until the republic's annexation by Germany in 1938, then restored in 1945 after World War II, and be replaced by the Euro in 1999.
• The publisher Viking Press was founded in New York by Harold K. Guinzburg (formerly of Simon and Schuster) and George S. Oppenheimer, advertising manager for Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
• A military committee in France, led by Marshal Ferdinand Foch, concluded that that Germany had committed gross violations of the disarmament provisions laid down in the Treaty of Versailles.
• The film The Mad Whirl, starring May McAvoy and Jack Mulhall, was released.
• The Club Cerro Corá soccer football team was founded in Paraguay.
• Born:
  • Lucine Amara, American opera soprano for the Metropolitan Opera in New York; in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 2024)
  • Rudolf Leopold, Austrian physician and art collector whose set of 5,000 works of art was donated to the Austrian government to create the Leopold Museum; in Vienna (d.2010)
  • M. A. Sattar, Bangladesh entrepreneur and politician, founder of Sattar & Company Ltd.
  • Martín Chirino, Spanish sculptor; in Las Palmas, Canary Islands (d.2019)
• Died:
  • Thomas Bidgood, 66, English composer known for the military march "Sons of the Brave", committed suicide by gas poisoning at his home.
  • Homer Plessy, 66, American shoemaker who was the plaintiff in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1896 U.S. Supreme Court precedent that racial segregation was legal provided that it met the concept of being "separate but equal".

March 2, 1925 (Monday)

• What would become Delta Air Lines began as the world's first aerial crop dusting company with the founding of Huff Daland Dusters Inc., in Macon, Georgia. to combat the boll weevil infestation of cotton crops. The Huff-Daland Aero Corporation had constructed the first airplane that could incorporate a means of carrying and dispersing insecticide across farm fields. On December 3, 1928, a new group of investors would acquire the Huff-Daland assets and create Delta Air Service, with passenger service starting in 1930.
• Lauri Kristian Relander was inaugurated to a six-year term as the President of Finland, serving until 1931.
• Harlan F. Stone took his seat on the United States Supreme Court, replacing the retired Joseph McKenna.
• Born: P. K. Balakrishnan, Indian novelist; in Trivandrum, Bombay Province, British India (now Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state) (d.1991)
• Died: Luigj Gurakuqi, 46, formerly Albania's Minister of Economy and Finance, was shot to death in the Italian city of Bari, where he had been living since the Ahmet Zogu's return to power and inauguration as president. Gurakuqi had just finished dining with three friends at the Cavour Hotel. His assassin, Balto Stambolla, was an agent of Albania's Internal Affairs Ministry dispatched to carry out the killing.

March 3, 1925 (Tuesday)

• İsmet İnönü formed a cabinet for the fourth time as Prime Minister of Turkey after the resignation of Fethi Okyar and Okyar's ministers. His first act on taking office as to invoke the "Law for the Maintenance of Order" in order to control the Kurdish rebellion, giving the government emergency powers to close organizations deemed to be subversive.
• The United Kingdom followed the example of other nations owed indemnities from the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, agreeing to use its share of several million dollars to support railway construction in China. France followed suit on April 12, 1925.
• The United States Congress authorized the Mount Rushmore Memorial Commission.
• Born:
  • Rino Luigi "Joe" Sentieri, Italian singer and film actor; in Genoa (d. 2007)
  • Richard Battin, American computer scientist who oversaw the design of the compact Apollo guidance computer used on the Apollo programs lunar missions; in Atlantic City, New Jersey (d.2014)J.M. Lawrence (February 23, 2014). "Richard H. Battin, 88; developed and led design of guidance, navigation and control systems for Apollo flights - Metro". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 7, 2014.</ref>
• Died:
  • Moritz Moszkowski, 70, Polish composer and pianist, died of stomach cancer
  • Agustín de Iturbide y Green, 61, claimant to the Imperial House of Iturbide as the grandson of Agustín I, who briefly reigned as Emperor of Mexico for eight months in 1822 and 1823

March 4, 1925 (Wednesday)

President Coolidge giving his inaugural address

• The second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge took place in Washington, D.C. It was the first U.S. presidential inauguration to be nationally broadcast on radio.
• The Federal Probation Act was signed into law in the U.S., giving federal courts the option to sentence defendants to probation instead of a federal prison sentence following conviction of a crime, as well as creating a system of probation and parole officers.
• Born:
  • Paul Mauriat, French orchestra leader; in Marseille (d. 2006)
  • Inezita Barroso, Brazilian singer, actress and TV host, known for sertanejo music performances; in São Paulo (d. 2015)
• Died:
  • John Montgomery Ward, 65, American baseball pitcher, inductee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, known for having the lowest ERA in major league baseball in 1878, and leader in strikeouts and games won in 1879, all in the National League
  • Moritz Moszkowski, 70, Polish composer;
  • James Ward, 82, English philosopher and psychologist;

March 5, 1925 (Thursday)

• Charles Lindbergh was in a serious flight accident during his pilot training with the U.S. Army Air Service when his SE-5 collided in midair with that of another cadet. Lindbergh parachuted to safety and thus joined the Caterpillar Club.
• Frank B. Kellogg became United States Secretary of State.
• Died: Clément Ader, 84, French Army captain and aviation pioneer

March 6, 1925 (Friday)

• The Eupen-Malmedy region was transferred from Germany to Belgium, as per the Treaty of Versailles.
• The periodical Pionerskaya Pravda was founded in Moscow.
• Miners went on strike in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

March 7, 1925 (Saturday)

• The Social Democratic Party of Germany voted to nominate Otto Braun as their candidate for the March 29 presidential election.
• Born: Rene Gagnon, United States Marine known for and raising the U.S. flag following the American victory in the Battle of Iwo Jima; in Manchester, New Hampshire (d. 1979)
• Died: Georgy Lvov, 63, Prime Minister of Russia

March 8, 1925 (Sunday)

• The Chicago Department of Public Health announced that the present crossword puzzle fad caused no ill health effects from headaches or eye strain, as had previously been feared.

March 9, 1925 (Monday)

• Bavaria imposed a two-year ban on Adolf Hitler from public speaking, limiting him to addressing only private, closed meetings. The government was nervous at the large crowds Hitler was drawing.
• Died: Willard Metcalf, 66, American artist

March 10, 1925 (Tuesday)

• A young member of the Nazi Party, Otto Rothstock, entered the office of Austrian Jewish writer Hugo Bettauer and shot him five times at point blank range. Rothstock was angered by Bettauer's novel Stadt ohne Juden (The City Without Jews) which satirized antisemitism. Bettauer died of his wounds on March 26.
• Greek professional association football club, Olympiacos F.C. was founded in Athens.
• Died: Myer Prinstein, 46, American track athlete

March 11, 1925 (Wednesday)

• The League of Nations shelved all action on limiting the private manufacture of arms. The move was made ahead of the conference on limitation of arms trafficking to open on May 4, on the grounds that the United States would oppose such action on the grounds of such business being too lucrative.

March 12, 1925 (Thursday)

• The British government decided to reject the Geneva Protocol.
• The SS President Arthur (formerly the USS Princess Matoika) departed New York en route to Palestine on the maiden voyage of the American Palestine Line.
• Born: Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist and 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his creation of the Esaki diode; in Takida-mura, Osaka Prefecture (alive in 2024)
• Died: Sun Yat-sen, 58, Chinese revolutionary and founder of the first Republic of China

March 13, 1925 (Friday)

• The Soviet newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda was founded as the periodical for members of the Communist Party youth organization, Komsomol.
• In Halle, Germany, six Communists were killed and 30 wounded when police broke up a communist demonstration.
• Died: Lucille Ricksen (stage name for Ingeborg Ericksen), 14, American child actress known for portraying older women in silent films, died of tuberculosis.

March 14, 1925 (Saturday)

• The Council of the League of Nations expressed hope that Germany would apply to join in September.
• France's Senate Finance Committee voted to maintain its embassy at the Vatican, over the wishes of Prime Minister Édouard Herriot.
• Died: Walter Camp, 65, American college football coach known as "The Father of American Football" for his remaking of the rules of the gridiron game, including the system of downs for gaining a specific amount of yardage from the location where first down started, and for creating the line of scrimmage for a specific place on the field

March 15, 1925 (Sunday)

• The films Riders of the Purple Sage and Heart of a Siren were released.

New Mexico's flag

• The U.S. state of New Mexico adapted its distinctive yellow flag.
• Born: Andy McCall, Scottish footballer; in Hamilton, Lanarkshire (d. 2014)

March 16, 1925 (Monday)

• At 22:42 local time a 7.0 earthquake shook the Chinese province of Yunnan killing 5,000 people.
• A 5,000-mile high speed communications cable between the United States and Italy was officially activated by envoy to the United States Giacomo De Martino.
• The horror-comedy film The Monster, starring Lon Chaney, was released.
• Born:
  • Cornell Borchers (Gerlind Cornelia Borchers), Lithuanian-born U.S. film film actress; in Silute(d. 2014)
  • Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist; in Tepic, state of Nayarit (d. 2004)

March 17, 1925 (Tuesday)

• Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister Edvard Beneš proposed a "United States of Europe", divided into two groups of roughly equal power, to secure peace. England, France, Belgium, Germany and Spain could make up the western bloc, while Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria and others could make up the eastern bloc.
• An explosion at a coal mine near Barrackville, West Virginia killed 33 miners.

March 18, 1925 (Wednesday)

The headline in New York's Herald-Examiner nespaper

• The Tri-State Tornado, the deadliest in U.S. history with at least 751 deaths, sweeping across the states of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.. Hardest hit was the town of Murphysboro, Illinois, where 234 people died, the highest toll in any single U.S. community from a tornado. In West Frankfort, Illinois, 102 died; Griffin, Indiana, 46 people; and 44 perished in Princeton, Indiana.
• A fire in northeastern Tokyo destroyed 3,000 buildings.
• France and Switzerland reached an agreement regarding free zones in their shared border region.
• Two floors of Madame Tussauds wax museum in London were destroyed by fire.
• Born: Don Paul, American football player; in Fresno, California (d. 2014)

March 19, 1925 (Thursday)

• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge invited the nations of the world to participate in the Sesquicentennial Exposition to be held in Philadelphia in 1926.
• The classic jazz tune "Sweet Georgia Brown" was first recorded by bandleader Ben Bernie.
• The British government announced that it was proceeding with the development of a major naval base at Singapore.

March 20, 1925 (Friday)

• Arturo Alessandri returned from exile to retake office as president of Chile, ending the January Junta led by Emilio Bello Codesido.
• The documentary film Grass, following the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia, was released.
• Died: Lord Curzon, 66, British politician, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1919 to 1924, Leader of the House of Lords from since 1916, Viceroy of British India from 1899 to 1905, died following surgery for a severe hemorrhage of the bladder.

March 21, 1925 (Saturday)

• In the U.S. state of Tennessee, the Butler Act, prohibiting school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man's origin, took effect as it was signed by Governor Austin Peay.
• The first performance of the Maurice Ravel opera ballet L'enfant et les sortilèges was conducted in Monte Carlo.
• Born: Peter Brook, British theatre director; in Chiswick (d. 2022)

March 22, 1925 (Sunday)

• The first Japanese radio program was transmitted in Tokyo.
• Women's tuxedos were reported as the newest fashion rage in Paris.
• Lewis S. Thompson of Denver, Colorado, fell 700 feet (210 m) to his death from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon while posing for a photo.
• Born: Gerard Hoffnung, artist and musician; in Berlin (d. 1959)

March 23, 1925 (Monday)

• In Rome, Benito Mussolini made his first public appearance in over a month when he briefly spoke at a celebration commemorating the sixth anniversary of the Fasci Italiani da Combattimento. There had been much speculation as to the state of his health during his long absence.
• Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt. The Wafd Party, led by former Prime Minister Saad Zaghloul had had a 188 of the 215 seats, and lost 102 of them to a collection of other parties and independents.
• Born: David Watkin, cinematographer, in Margate, England (d. 2008)

March 24, 1925 (Tuesday)

• The two-act operetta and radio opera The Red Pen was first broadcast.
• Born: Kazi Nuruzzaman; Bangladeshi commander of the Mukti Bahini independence fighters in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War; in Chuchura, Bengal Province, British India (d. 2011)

March 25, 1925 (Wednesday)

• Scottish inventor John Logie Baird publicly demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette pictures at the London department store Selfridges.
• Born: Flannery O'Connor, American novelist; in Savannah, Georgia (died of systemic lupus, 1964)
• Died: Hugo Bettauer, 52, Austrian writer and journalist, died 15 days after being shot multiple times by an assassin.

March 26, 1925 (Thursday)

• A fistfight broke out in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Upon Benito Mussolini's return to the Chamber after an absence of 40 days, Fascists cheered and sang "Giovinezza", while the Communists countered with "The Internationale". Fascists rushed the Communist benches and punches were exchanged until the Communists left the Chamber and order was restored.
• Germany announced that holders of German war bonds would receive a refund of 5 percent of their original investment. Winners of a lottery would receive a refund of up to 25 percent.
• The British armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi was launched.
• Born: Pierre Boulez, French composer and conductor; in Montbrison, Loire (d. 2016)

March 27, 1925 (Friday)

• Double Chase won the 84th Grand National steeplechase horse race at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool.
• James "Red" Herring won boxing's World Junior Welterweight Title in a controversial decision over Pinky Mitchell. The bout in Detroit ended when referee Slim McClelland enforced a regulation that disqualified a person weighing more that the limit of 140 pounds (64 kg) for the light welterweight division, given that Mitchell weighed 146 pounds (66 kg).

March 28, 1925 (Saturday)

• The remains of U.S. Admiral George Dewey were disinterred from Arlington National Cemetery and moved to the Washington National Cathedral, next to the tomb of Woodrow Wilson.
• The University of Cambridge won the 77th annual Boat Race.
• Died: Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson, 61, British general

March 29, 1925 (Sunday)

• The German presidential election was held to choose a successor to Friedrich Ebert, who died in office February 28. Karl Jarres came in first with 38.8% of the vote, but because no candidate won a majority a run-off election was set for April 26.
• Japan passed a suffrage bill expanding voting rights to 4 million citizens who were previously barred from voting on account of their dependence on public or private assistance for their livelihood.
• Born: Bobby Hutchins, child film actor known for portraying "Wheezer" in the Our Gang short films; in Tacoma, Washington (killed in plane crash, 1945)

March 30, 1925 (Monday)

• The Victoria Cougars defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 6 to 1, to win the Stanley Cup of ice hockey, three games to one. The Cougars were the last non-NHL team to win the Cup.
• Explorer Donald Baxter MacMillan urged U.S. President Coolidge to send ships into the Arctic in search of undiscovered lands to claim for the United States.
• Died: Rudolf Steiner, 64, Austrian philosopher

March 31, 1925 (Tuesday)

• The collapse of a pontoon bridge in Germany killed 67 soldiers of the Reichswehr who drowned while crossing over the Weser river near Minden. Later reporting alleged that the casualties were over 200 and the German military was conducting experiments with a new river-crossing system.
• The Philadelphia Daily News began publication as a tabloid morning paper