December 1935


The following events occurred in December 1935:

[December 1], 1935 (Sunday)

  • Reichsminister of Church Affairs Hanns Kerrl decreed that all pastors must submit pastoral letters to the government for approval.

[December 2], 1935 (Monday)

[December 3], 1935 (Tuesday)

[December 4], 1935 (Wednesday)

  • Nazi Germany placed an embargo on its own currency effective December 6. Foreign tourists were limited to bringing no more than 30 marks' worth of bank notes into the country at a time.
  • Italian children had a three-hour school day in order to save coal.
  • Died: Johan Halvorsen, 71, Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist; Charles Richet, 85, French physiologist and Nobel laureate

[December 5], 1935 (Thursday)

[December 6], 1935 (Friday)

  • Italian planes bombed Emperor Haile Selassie's headquarters at Dessie. The American Seventh-day Adventist Hospital and a [International International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross] tent were also hit by the indiscriminately dropped bombs, though the hospital was evacuated minutes before the attack. The emperor sent a vigorously worded protest to the League of Nations over the incident.
  • Michael Joseph Savage became 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand.

[December 7], 1935 (Saturday)

[December 8], 1935 (Sunday)

  • The Anglo-French proposal known as the Hoare–Laval Pact was agreed upon, in which Abyssinia would be partitioned and much of its territory given to Italy. The two delegations informed the media that they had come up with a plan, but withheld the details so the interested governments could review them.
  • Houston, Texas was ravaged by flood, causing hundreds to flee their homes.
  • Born: Dharmendra, film actor, in Nasrali, Khanna, Punjab, British India

[December 9], 1935 (Monday)

[December 10], 1935 (Tuesday)

  • The British newspaper The Times published its own report of leaked details of the Hoare–Laval Pact. As public anger about the proposal grew, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin responded to a question in the House of Commons by saying it would be "premature to make a statement on the subject at present" because he was not sure if the proposal had been finalized.
  • The 1935 Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm. The recipients were James Chadwick of the United Kingdom for Physics, Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie of France and Hans Spemann of Germany. No Literature Prize was awarded and the Peace Prize was not awarded at the time either – Carl von Ossietzky was retroactively named the recipient one year later.
  • Nazi Germany published the details of a new decree requiring a "certificate of fitness for marriage" before Germans were allowed to wed. Prospective spouses were required to fill out a six-page questionnaire about their health, parentage, childhood rates of development and present smoking, drinking and sexual habits. Doctors were instructed to evaluate the fitness of each candidate and could deny a certificate if not satisfied.
  • Died: Sir John Carden, 6th Baronet, 43, English tank and vehicle designer

[December 11], 1935 (Wednesday)

[December 12], 1935 (Thursday)

[December 13], 1935 (Friday)

  • The full text of the Hoare–Laval Pact was revealed to the public, causing a huge split at the League of Nations. Haile Selassie told the League that the plan violated the spirit of the League Covenant.
  • Italy sent a protest to the League accusing Ethiopia of abusing the Red Cross emblem by placing it in militarized areas.
  • Police in Nazi Germany closed Barasch Brothers' Department Store, a prominent Jewish establishment, for an "indefinite period". Police claimed that executives were forcing its female employees into illicit relations.
  • The execution date for Richard Hauptmann was set for January 13 after the Supreme Court declined to review his trial.
  • Representatives of the federal and provincial governments of Canada agreed unanimously to amend the constitution to allow the country to make its own constitutional amendments without recourse to the British Parliament.
  • Born: Kenneth Hall, American football player, in Madisonville, Texas ; Lindy McDaniel, baseball player, in Hollis, Oklahoma
  • Died: Victor Grignard, 64, French chemist and Nobel laureate

[December 14], 1935 (Saturday)

[December 15], 1935 (Sunday)

[December 16], 1935 (Monday)

  • Haile Selassie held a conference for reporters on the porch of his headquarters to reject the Hoare–Laval Pact. Selassie declared that acceptance of the proposal "would not only be cowardice toward our people, but a betrayal of the League of Nations and of all states that have thought up to now that they could have confidence in the system of collective security."
  • Mussolini authorized the use of chemical weapons in Ethiopia.
  • Pope Pius XI created eighteen new cardinals.
  • In Manhattan, the Frick Collection of art opened to the public.
  • Died: Thelma Todd, 30, American actress

[December 17], 1935 (Tuesday)

[December 18], 1935 (Wednesday)

[December 19], 1935 (Thursday)

  • Labour Party leader Clement Attlee brought a motion of censure against the government of Stanley Baldwin, explaining, "If it is right for to resign, then it is right for the Government to resign." Baldwin stood and took chief responsibility for the Hoare–Laval debacle, and declared that the proposals were "absolutely and completely dead" and that the government would "make no attempt to resurrect them." Attlee's motion was defeated, 397 to 165.
  • Born: Tony Taylor, baseball player, in Central Álava, Cuba ; Bobby Timmons, jazz pianist and composer, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

[December 20], 1935 (Friday)

  • British scientist Michael Perrin and his team at Imperial Chemical Industries were able to successfully reproduce a substance created by accident two years earlier. The new substance was named polyethylene.
  • Idaho Republican Senator William Borah announced his willingness to run for president in 1936. "My primary objective is a convention of liberal delegates which will write a liberal platform and name a liberal candidate", Borah explained in a statement. "To that end I shall devote my efforts. If in any state or district the liberal forces think that it will help the liberal cause to pledge delegates to me, I shall cooperate fully with that plan."
  • U.S. government employee Patrick W. Tierney fell to his death from the intake tower at Hoover Dam, becoming the last worker to die during the dam's construction. Tierney died 13 years to the day after his father, J.G. Tierney, fell off a barge into the Colorado River and drowned while conducting a geological survey preparatory to the dam's construction.
  • Died: Martin O'Meara, 50, Irish-born Australian soldier

[December 21], 1935 (Saturday)

[December 22], 1935 (Sunday)

[December 23], 1935 (Monday)

  • The Italians first used chemical weapons in Ethiopia, spraying mustard gas and dropping bombs with mustard agent on Ethiopian soldiers and civilians.
  • In a Christmas radio message, Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced an extensive amnesty for political prisoners. It benefited both Socialists who fought in the Austrian Civil War and Nazis who participated in the July Putsch.
  • It was announced that Charles Lindbergh and his family had departed the United States for England due to kidnapping threats against their 3-year-old son.
  • Born: Paul Hornung, American football player, in Louisville, Kentucky

[December 24], 1935 (Tuesday)

  • The Soviet Union announced that its submarine and destroyer fleets had quadrupled in size over the last four years.
  • 20 were killed and 80 injured in a train collision in Großheringen, Germany.
  • Haile Selassie gave a Christmas message asking all Christian nations to pray for peace.

[December 25], 1935 (Wednesday)

[December 26], 1935 (Thursday)

[December 27], 1935 (Friday)

[December 28], 1935 (Saturday)

  • The Sumatra earthquake occurred.
  • Mussolini renounced the Stresa Front and Four-Power Pact due to hostile relations with Britain and France.
  • The French government banned political "leagues" in an attempt to counteract radical political organizations.

[December 29], 1935 (Sunday)

[December 30], 1935 (Monday)

[December 31], 1935 (Tuesday)