December 1927

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December 2, 1927: The Model A arrives
December 4, 1927: Duke Ellington and his Orchestra debut at The Cotton Club in Harlem
December 17, 1927: U.S. Navy submarine S-4 sinks, 34 drown

The following events occurred in December 1927:

December 1, 1927 (Thursday)
Soong-Chiang wedding
  • Chinese actress Soong Mei-ling married General Chiang Kai-shek, and became known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek. After General Chiang became China's leader the following year, she was the First Lady for the next 48 years, until her husband's death in 1975.[1] An Episcopal Christian wedding was conducted, in English, at Miss Soong's home, followed by a Chinese civil ceremony at the Majestic Hotel in Shanghai. Miss Soong's sister was the widow of China's first President, Sun Yat-sen.[2]

December 2, 1927 (Friday)
  • Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveiled the Model A as its new automobile.[3]
  • France's Chamber of Deputies rejected a proposal to abolish the death penalty, by a margin of 376-145.[4] France would finally abolish the death penalty on October 9, 1981.
  • Marcus Garvey was deported from the United States, placed on the SS Saramacca at New Orleans and returned to his native Jamaica.[5]

December 3, 1927 (Saturday)

December 4, 1927 (Sunday)
  • Duke Ellington and his orchestra opened at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City. Ellington proved so popular that he was featured at the Cotton Club for five years. In 1929, the CBS Radio Network began broadcasting a live show from the Club, taking the 28-year-old jazz musician on his way to worldwide fame.[7]

December 5, 1927 (Monday)

December 6, 1927 (Tuesday)
  • On the day that they were scheduled to testify at a murder trial in Williamson, West Virginia, six witnesses were killed when the lodging they were staying in caught fire. Flames blocked both stairways leading from the upper floor, and all of the victims were found in a room where they had fled to escape the smoke.[9]
  • Colonel Juan Aberle and Major Alfaro Noguera attempted to stage a coup in El Salvador. They took control of the central police barracks in San Salvador, but the badly planned putsch was quickly suppressed.[10]
  • Born: Patsy Takemoto Mink, who in 1964 became the first female Asian-American to be elected to Congress; in Paia, Hawaii (d. 2002)

December 7, 1927 (Wednesday)
  • The 250 foot long Canadian freighter SS Kamloops, with a crew of 22, sank in Lake Superior during a winter storm. Bodies of some were recovered in the spring, but the ship remained missing until August 21, 1977, when it was discovered by two scuba divers near Isle Royale.[11]
  • Born: Helen Watts, Welsh contralto, in Milford Haven (d. 2009)

December 8, 1927 (Thursday)

December 9, 1927 (Friday)
  • The Washington Herald, owned by William Randolph Hearst, published a front page story alleging that Mexico's President Plutarco Calles had proposed bribing four United States Senators to advance Mexico's interests.[13] Days later, Hearst provided documentation revealing the names of the four Senators: William Borah (R-Idaho), J. Thomas Heflin (D-Alabama), Robert M. La Follette, Jr. (R-Wisconsin) and George W. Norris (R-Nebraska), who all denied any payment from Mexico, while the Mexican government questioned the authenticity of the documents possessed by the Herald.[14]
  • Born: Pierre Henry, French electronic music composer, in Paris (d. 2017)
  • Died: Dr. Paul Jeserich, 73, celebrated as "The German Sherlock Holmes" because of his skills as a forensic detective.[15]

December 10, 1927 (Saturday)
  • The Grand Ole Opry received its name, after the NBC Radio Network show The WSM Barn Dance followed a presentation of the Grand Opera on NBC's Music Appreciation Hour. WSM director George D. Day told audiences that after listening...[16]
  • The House voted to confer the Medal of Honor upon Colonel Charles Lindbergh.[17]

December 11, 1927 (Sunday)
  • At 4:00 am, the Chinese city of Canton (now Guangzhou) was seized in an uprising of 20,000 Communists, who announced that the formation of the "Canton Soviet". The Red Guards and their sympathizers seized control of police stations and the city prison, murdering police and guards, seizing control of the arsenal, and releasing prisoners.[18] The Nationalist Army retook the city two days later, and carried out an even bloodier retaliation. At least 2,000 members of the Red Guards, whose dyed scarves had left a red stain on their collars, were arrested and summarily executed, while another 4,000 civilians were murdered in the five-day-long "White Terror" carried out by the Nationalist Troops.[19]

December 12, 1927 (Monday)
  • Oklahoma's Governor Henry S. Johnston, threatened with impeachment by the state legislature, called out the Oklahoma National Guard to prevent members of the state House of Representatives from meeting at the capitol building.[20] The next day, house members met at the Huckins Hotel in Oklahoma City hotel and voted to impeach Governor Johnston, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred P. Branson, and State Board of Agriculture chairman Henry B. Cordell.[21] An injunction was issued against the Senators to prevent them from attempting to conduct an impeachment trial. On December 28, the guardsmen barred members of the state Senate from meeting at the capitol building, and advised the group that[22]
  • The National Builders Bank, located in Chicago, opened the first branch that would operate 24/7, with shifts to "render twenty-four hour service 365 days a year".[23]
  • Tommy Loughran defeated world light heavyweight boxing champion Jimmy Slattery in a 15-round decision at New York's Madison Square Garden.[24]
  • Born: Robert Noyce, co-inventor of the microchip and cofounder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel; in Burlington, Iowa (d. 1990)

December 13, 1927 (Tuesday)
  • Charles Lindbergh made a daring non-stop flight from Washington DC, bound for Mexico City. He landed more than 24 hours later after going through bad weather. Reputedly, after getting lost, he flew in low enough to spot the word "Caballeros" at one railroad station and could not find it on his map, before learning later that it was the word for "Gentlemen" on a men's bathroom.[25]
  • Born: James Wright, American poet, in Martins Ferry, Ohio (d. 1980)

December 14, 1927 (Wednesday)
  • The United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Iraq signed a Treaty of Alliance and Amity.
  • The aircraft carrier USS Lexington, recently converted from a battle cruiser, was commissioned. The ship would be damaged beyond repair in 1942 during the Battle of the Coral Sea.[26]
  • The British House of Lords approved the Archbishop of Canterbury's request for approval of a revision to the Book of Common Prayer, 241-88.[27]

December 15, 1927 (Thursday)
December 15, 1927: Buck Rogers entombed until 2419 A.D.
  • Marion Parker, 12, was kidnapped from Mount Vernon Junior High School in Los Angeles. Her dismembered body was dumped from the kidnapper's car two days later, after her father paid a $1,500 ransom.[28] Following the largest manhunt to that time on the West Coast, her killer, William Edward Hickman, was arrested on December 22 at the town of Echo, Oregon.[29] He would be hanged on October 19, 1928.[30]
  • The British House of Commons rejected the proposed revision of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, by a vote of 247-205.[31]
  • In fiction, Anthony "Buck" Rogers, of the American Radioactive Gas Corporation, was entombed by a rockfall in an abandoned coal mine in Pennsylvania. Kept in a state of suspended animation by the radioactive gas, he would be revived 492 years later, in the year 2419 and go on to further adventures. Buck Rogers was introduced in Philip Francis Nowlan's science fiction novella, Armageddon 2419 A.D. in the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories.[32]

December 16, 1927 (Friday)

December 17, 1927 (Saturday)
  • The U.S. Navy submarine S-4 was accidentally rammed by the United States Coast Guard destroyer Paulding off of the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, tearing the hull. The sub sank immediately, and drowning 34 of the 40 men on board. Six men in the forward torpedo room survived and communicated with divers by tapping in Morse code on the sub's hull, but severe weather delayed the rescue and the trapped survivors died after three days.[36]
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer presented and defended his doctoral dissertation, the groundbreaking Sanctorum Communio, at the University of Berlin, beginning a career in the defense of the Christian faith against the German government.[37]
  • Australian cricketer Bill Ponsford made 437 runs to break his own world record for the highest first-class cricket score at Melbourne Cricket Ground.[38]
  • Died:
    • Hubert Harrison, 44, African American writer, critic, and activist, following complications from an appendectomy
    • Rajendra Nath Lahiri, 26, Indian Revolutionary, Hindustan Republican Association

December 18, 1927 (Sunday)

December 19, 1927 (Monday)
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 200 points for the first time. By the end of 1928, it would reflect a 50% increase in stock prices, rising to 300, peaking at 386.10 on September 3, 1929. A month later, the stock market would crash. At its lowest point during the Great Depression, it would close at 41.22 on July 8, 1932.[40]
  • For the first time in the history of Vatican City, there were as many non-Italians as there were Italians in the College of Cardinals, as Pope Pius XI appointed five men to fill vacancies in the 66 member College. Two were from France, and one apiece from Canada, Spain and Hungary.[41]
  • Indian Revolutionaries viz Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan were executed by the British Empire. Rajendra Nath Lahiri had been executed two days earlier. All four men, members of the anti-British Hindustan Republican Association were hanged at the Gorkakhpur District Jail.

December 20, 1927 (Tuesday)
  • The closely watched murder trial of lawyer-turned-bootlegger, George Remus, ended with a finding that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. Remus had shot and killed his wife in October as she was on her way to divorce court. The jury in Cincinnati deliberated 19 minutes before acquitting him.[42]
  • Seven miners were killed in the explosion of a coal mine at Stiritz, Illinois[43]
  • Born:

December 21, 1927 (Wednesday)

December 22, 1927 (Thursday)
  • The United States and Nicaragua signed an agreement for the 1,229 member Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional to be the sole military and police force, in return for U.S. training and sponsorship.[46]
  • After three weeks of display to the public, mass production of the Model A automobile and its shipment to dealers began.[47]

December 23, 1927 (Friday)
  • The annual caddy championship at the Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, pitted two future golf legends against each other. Both were 15 years old. Byron Nelson defeated Ben Hogan by one stroke.[48]
  • Frances Wilson and three men set off in her airplane, the Dawn, in a quest for her to become the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.[49] The airplane disappeared over Newfoundland, and was never found.[50]
  • In what became known as the Santa Claus Bank Robbery, four ex-convicts robbed the First National Bank of Cisco, Texas of $12,400, killing the town's police chief and a deputy[51]
  • Born:
    • Stanley Wolpert, American anthropologist and expert on the cultures of the Indian subcontinent; in Brooklyn
    • Joaquin Capilla, Mexican diver and 1956 Olympic gold medalist; in Mexico City (d. 2010)

December 24, 1927 (Saturday)
  • The Standard Oil refinery in Tientsin caught fire during a battle between opposing forces in China. Over the next four days, the United States Marines, sent earlier in the year to protect American interests, successfully battled the blaze and saved the city from destruction.[52]
  • The first All-India Music Conference was held in conjunction with a meeting of the Indian National Congress in Madras.[53]
  • Born: Mary Higgins Clark, American suspense author, in the Bronx, New York (d. 2020)

December 25, 1927 (Sunday)

December 26, 1927 (Monday)
  • Belgian science fiction author J.-H. Rosny indirectly coined the word "astronaut" at a meeting of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society) to establish an annual award for outstanding work in promoting manned spaceflight. Asked to suggest a descriptive word for space travel, Rosny proposed l'astronautique, using the Greek rootwords for navigation of the stars.[56]
  • The Hominy Indians, an all-Indian football team, upset the New York Giants 13-6 in an exhibition game.[57]
  • The emerging religion of Caodaism was outlawed by a royal ordinance of the King of Cambodia.[58]
  • The oldest soccer football club in Saudi Arabia, Al-Ittihad (نادي الاتحاد العربي السعودي) of Jeddah, began play.
  • Born:

December 27, 1927 (Tuesday)

December 28, 1927 (Wednesday)
  • U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg informed the French Ambassador to the U.S., Paul Claudel, that his government proposed to extend American-French negotiations to create a multinational treaty to forever outlaw war, with the goal of having nations "renounce war as an instrument of national policy". Sixty four nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact on August 27, 1928, pledging to never again go to war, and the Pact took effect on July 24, 1929.[60]
  • At the age of 30, Dorothy Day, who would become founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, converted to Roman Catholicism.[61]

December 29, 1927 (Thursday)
  • The eruption of the Perboewatan and Danan undersea volcanoes, near Krakatoa, created the foundation for the Anak Krakatau Island.[62]
  • Born: Andy Stanfield, American sprinter; Olympic gold medalist, 1952; in Washington, D.C. (d. 1985)
  • Died: Hakim Ajmal Khan, 64, activist for Muslim rights in British India

December 30, 1927 (Friday)
  • The first Japanese metro line, the Ginza Line in Tokyo, opened.
  • Henry Ford's antisemitic newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, published its final issue.[63]
  • The Bellanca Aircraft Company was founded.[64]
  • Born: Dean Burch, FCC Chairman, 1969-1974; in Enid, Oklahoma

December 31, 1927 (Saturday)
  • After more than seventy years, the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, with 20 volumes, was declared finished. First proposed in 1857, the project was to use volunteers and to include every word in the English language, the definition, the word's origin and first known usage of each word and its later meanings.[65]
  • Victor Roos sold all of his stock in the Cessna-Roos Aircraft Company, and the corporation (and the small airplanes that it manufactured) was renamed Cessna Aircraft Company.[66]
  • In Shanghai, at midnight at the end of 1927 the clocks were ordered turned back five minutes and 52 seconds. Therefore, on January 1, 1928, at 00:00:00 hours precisely the clocks went back to 23:54:08.[67]
  • Born:
gollark: Oh, and your screen cannot actually display the alpha channel.
gollark: You'll probably need to drop the information density substantially if you want that to actually be scannable.
gollark: To be fair, the Android one is generally bad.
gollark: And yet somewhat insecure.
gollark: As planned.

References
  1. Jonathan Fenby, Chiang Kai Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost (Da Capo Press, 2005)
  2. "Miss Soong Wed To Gen. Chiang In Double Rite", Miami Daily News, December 1, 1927, p1
  3. Peter Winnewisser, The Legendary Model A Ford: The Ultimate History of One of America's Great Automobiles (Krause Publications, 2006) p277; Jim Schild, Original Ford Model A (MotorBooks International, 2003) p10
  4. "Attempt to Abolish French Executioner Balked by Chamber", Miami Daily News, December 2, 1927, p2
  5. Cary D. Wintz, African American Political Thought, 1890-1930: Washington, Du Bois, Garvey, and Randolph (M.E. Sharpe, 1996) p13
  6. Wes D. Gehring, Laurel & Hardy: A Bio-bibliography (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990) p263
  7. Chip Deffaa, Voices of the Jazz Age: Profiles of Eight Vintage Jazzmen (University of Illinois Press, 1992) p22
  8. "Illinois Is Rated Over Pitt— According to Dickinson System, Zuppke's Men Are Grid Champions" Pittsburgh Press, December 5, 1927
  9. "Eight Persons Perish When Rooming House Burns— Six of Victims Are Witnesses In Murder Case", Miami Daily News, December 6, 1927, p1
  10. Brian Loveman, Thomas M. Davies, The Politics of Antipolitics: The Military in Latin America (Rowman & Littlefield, 199) p103
  11. Michael Schumacher, Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2006) p62; Submerged Cultural Resources Study: Isle Royale National Park (U.S. Department of the Interior, 1987) p206
  12. David H. Romer and Justin Wolfers, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Spring 2009 (Brookings Institution Press, 2009) p335
  13. "SENATE PROBES $1,215,000 'BRIBE' IN MEXICAN EXPOSE", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 10, 1927, p1; "Calles Ordered 4 U.S. Senators Be Paid $1,315,000", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 11, 1927, p1
  14. "4 SENATORS DENY GETTING MONEY FROM MEXICO FUND", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 16, 1927, p1
  15. "Berlin Sherlock Holmes Is Dead- Dr. Paul Jeserich, Chemist, Had Uncanny Skill in Unraveling Criminal Mysteries", Miami Daily News, December 9, 1927, p1
  16. Tom Ogden, Haunted Theaters: Playhouse Phantoms, Opera House Horrors, and Backstage Banshees (Globe Pequot, 2009) p127
  17. "Lindbergh Gets Highest Award", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 11, 1927, p1
  18. Chi Ming Fung, Reluctant Heroes: Rickshaw Pullers in Hong Kong and Canton, 1874-1954 (Hong Kong University Press, 2005) pp90-91
  19. Michael B. Share, Where Empires Collided: Russian and Soviet Relations with Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao (Chinese University Press, 2007) p74; Elizabeth J. Perry, Patrolling the Revolution: Worker Militias, Citizenship, and the Modern Chinese State (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007) p114-115; "Retake Canton; 3,000 Are Slain", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 14, 1927, p1
  20. "LEGISLATORS DEFY OKLA. TROOPS", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 13, 1927, p1
  21. "Oklahomans Dodge Guns, Impeach Chief", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 14, 1927, p1
  22. "Rifles Again Block 'Impeaching' Senate", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 29, 1927, p3
  23. "First All Night Bank Is Opened in Chicago", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 12, 1927, p1
  24. "Loughran Victor, Wins World's Title", New York Times, December 13, 1927, p35
  25. Heather Lehr Wagner, Charles Lindbergh(Infobase Publishing, 2002) pp52-54
  26. James Morris and Patricia M. Kearns, Historical Dictionary of the United States Navy (Scarecrow Press, 2011) p226
  27. "King Will Approve New Prayer Book", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 15, 1927, p1
  28. "Kidnaped Girl Found Slain As Ransom Is Paid", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 18, 1927, p1
  29. "GIRL KIDNAPER CAUGHT!", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 23, 1927, p1
  30. Paula S. Fass, Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America (Oxford University Press, 2006) p71
  31. W. D. Rubinstein, Twentieth-century Britain: A Political History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) p161; "Commons Rejects Prayer Book Bill", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 16, 1927, p1
  32. Armageddon 2419 A.D. on Project Gutenberg
  33. Sabrina P. Ramet, Catholicism and Politics in Communist Societies (Duke University Press, 1990) pp348-350
  34. Raymond Schmidt, Shaping College Football: the Transformation of an American Sport, 1919-1930 (Syracuse University Press, 2007) p190
  35. "King Ben Dies, Fails to Rise as Cult Waits", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 20, 1927, p2; "Doubt Cast on Purnell Death", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 22, 1927, p3
  36. Norman Friedman, U.S. Submarines through 1945: An Illustrated Design History (Naval Institute Press, 1995) p139; "SUBMARINE RAMMED AT SUNK, CREW OF 43 AT BOTTOM OF SEA", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 18, 1927, p1; "MEN IN SUNKEN SUB TAP OUT FRANTIC APPEAL FOR RESCUE", December 19, 1927, p1; "ALL HOPE LOST FOR CREW OF S-4", December 22, 1927, p1
  37. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, with introduction by Clifford J. Green, Sanctorum Communio: A Theological Study of the Sociology of the Church (Fortress Press, 2009) p9
  38. "W. H. Ponsford scores 437: record for first class cricket". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1927-12-19. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  39. Bruce A. Elleman, Moscow and the Emergence of Communist Power in China, 1925-30: The Nanchang Uprising and the Birth of the Red Army (Taylor & Francis, 2009) p166; "Soviet Expels 98 Trotzky Cohorts", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 19, 1927, p4
  40. Jeffrey B. Little and Lucien Rhodes, Understanding Wall Street, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009) p152; "Stock Prices Soar to New Record Peaks" Milwaukee Sentinel, December 20, 1927, p15
  41. "Pope Names 5 New Cardinals" Milwaukee Sentinel, December 20, 1927, p3
  42. "REMUS ACQUITTED: 'INSANE'", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 21, 1927, p4
  43. "Blast Traps Seven In Illinois Mine", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 21, 1927, p1
  44. LogosDatabase.com
  45. Vatican-Museum.org Archived 2011-10-18 at the Wayback Machine; "Italy: Cultural Anthropology Reconsidered", by Vinigi L. Grottanelli, Studies in Anthropology (Vol. 5, 1980), pp221-242
  46. Benjamin R. Beede, The War of 1898, and U.S. Interventions, 1898-1934: An Encyclopedia (Taylor & Francis, 1994) p212
  47. Russ Banham, The Ford century: Ford Motor Company and the Innovations that Shaped the World (Artisan Books, 2002) p96
  48. Andy North, et al., The Long and the Short of It (Macmillan, 2003) p155
  49. "Mrs. Grayson on First Lap of Flight to Copenhagen", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 24, 1927, p1
  50. "Navy Abandons Its Search for 'Dawn'", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 30, 1927, p1
  51. Texas State Historical Association Online; Robert M. Utley, Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas Rangers (Oxford University Press, 2007)
  52. "It’s Standard’s Procedures", by Deanna Spingola 6 October 2008
  53. "Forum Dedicated to Fine Arts", The Hindu, December 1, 2005
  54. Rāmacandra Kshīrasāgara, Dalit movement in India and its leaders, 1857-1956 (M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd., 1994) p159
  55. "5 Die, 4 Shot In Tennessee Duel", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 26, 1927, p1
  56. William E. Burrows, This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age (Random House Digital, Inc., 1999) p55
  57. Edward J. Rielly, Football: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (University of Nebraska Press, 2009) p19
  58. Serguei A. Blagov, Caodaism: Vietnamese Traditionalism and Its Leap into Modernity (Nova Publishers, 2001) p86
  59. Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim (Oxford University Press, 2004) p29
  60. Frederick W. Haberman, Nobel Lectures: Peace 1926-1950 (World Scientific, 1999) p89
  61. Eileen Flynn, Why Believe?: Foundations of Catholic Theology (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000) p56
  62. Amie Jane Leavitt, Anatomy of a Volcanic Eruption (Capstone Press, 2011)
  63. Jo Ellen Vinyard, Right in Michigan's Grassroots: From the KKK to the Michigan Militia (University of Michigan Press, 2011) p87
  64. Donald M. Pattillo, A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry (McGraw-Hill Professional, 1998) p17
  65. Allen C. Bluedorn, The human organization of time: temporal realities and experience (Stanford University Press, 2002) p214
  66. Donald M. Pattillo, A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry (McGraw-Hill Professional, 1998) p12
  67. "Clock changes in Shanghai" (not confirmed in print sources)
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