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The following events occurred in December 1931:

December 1, 1931: Soviet Union institutes new six-day week policy, allowing workers and children one day off (marked in blue) for every five days worked
Hattie Caraway sworn into office as United States Senator for Arkansas, only the second woman to hold office in the U.S. Senate
December 5, 1931: Soviet government tears down Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior to make way for planned Palace of the Soviets, never constructed

December 1, 1931 (Tuesday)

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December 2, 1931 (Wednesday)

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December 3, 1931 (Thursday)

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December 4, 1931 (Friday)

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  • Adolf Hitler gave an interview to British and American press at the Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin.[5][6] "It will not be necessary for me to seize power through a coup d'état", Hitler said. "It will be mine within a short time, anyway, since every election brings my party closer to an absolute majority."[7]

December 5, 1931 (Saturday)

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December 6, 1931 (Sunday)

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December 7, 1931 (Monday)

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December 8, 1931 (Tuesday)

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Chancellor Bruening
  • German President Paul von Hindenburg signed Chancellor Heinrich Brüning's enormous 46-page emergency decree into law, slashing prices, wages and rents across the board in an effort to reverse inflation.[15]
  • Hattie Caraway of Arkansas was sworn in as a United States senator, filling the vacancy left by her late husband Thaddeus. This made Caraway the second woman in history to serve in the U.S. Senate, after Rebecca Latimer Felton in 1922, although Felton's service had consisted of only a single day and was largely symbolic.[16][17] In 1932, while serving out the remainder of her late husband's term, she became the first woman to be elected as a U.S. Senator.
  • Herbert Hoover delivered the annual State of the Union message to Congress. The message reviewed the worldwide depression and laid out the measures the government was taking to alleviate the crisis, but made no mention of Prohibition.[18]

December 9, 1931 (Wednesday)

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December 10, 1931 (Thursday)

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December 11, 1931 (Friday)

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December 12, 1931 (Saturday)

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December 13, 1931 (Sunday)

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  • Inukai Tsuyoshi became Prime Minister of Japan.
  • Winston Churchill was hit by a car driven by Edward F. Cantasano while crossing Fifth Avenue in New York City. Churchill went to the hospital with some bruises and cuts but was discharged the following week. Cantasano was not charged because Churchill took full responsibility for the accident, having crossed against the light and forgotten which side of the road automobiles drive on in the United States.[27]

December 14, 1931 (Monday)

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December 15, 1931 (Tuesday)

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Chiang Kai-shek
 
President Lin Sen

December 16, 1931 (Wednesday)

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December 17, 1931 (Thursday)

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December 18, 1931 (Friday)

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  • A jury acquitted Walter Pfrimer and his associates of treason charges.[28]
  • Died: Legs Diamond, 34, American gangster, was shot and killed in his girlfriend's apartment by a rival gang.

December 19, 1931 (Saturday)

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Defeated Prime Minister Scullin

December 20, 1931 (Sunday)

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December 21, 1931 (Monday)

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New Australian Prime Minister Joe Lyons

December 22, 1931 (Tuesday)

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  • The roof of the Vatican Library partially collapsed, killing five and destroying 800 books.[19]

December 23, 1931 (Wednesday)

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  • In Basel, the Young Plan advisory committee issued a report stating that Germany would be unable to meet its reparations payments when the Hoover Moratorium expired in July, and that the only solution was another revision to the plan.[33]
  • Born: Ronnie Schell, American actor and comedian, in Richmond, California
  • Died:
    • Knowlton Ames, 63, American football player and college football coach, later a financier, shot himself after financial reverses during the Great Depression.
    • Tyrone Power, Sr., 62, English stage and film actor, died of a heart attack.

December 24, 1931 (Thursday)

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  • Twenty people were injured in Paris when several hundred unemployed rioters invaded a Montmartre café and smashed tables and chairs, shouting for "work and bread".[34]
  • Born: Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer; in Buenos Aires (d. 2008)
  • Died: Carlo Fornasini, Italian micropalaeontologist; in Bologna (b. 1854)

December 25, 1931 (Friday)

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December 26, 1931 (Saturday)

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December 27, 1931 (Sunday)

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December 28, 1931 (Monday)

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  • The Mahatma Gandhi returned to India, docking at Bombay. A huge crowd was there to greet him despite the very early morning hour.[39]
  • Sections of Los Angeles flooded after five days of rain.[40]
  • Born: Martin Milner, American film and TV actor known as the star of two series, Route 66 and later for Adam-12; in Detroit (d. 2015)

December 29, 1931 (Tuesday)

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December 30, 1931 (Wednesday)

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December 31, 1931 (Thursday)

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  • German President Paul von Hindenburg gave a New Year's address over the radio. "Germans deserve thanks and praise for the sacrifices they have made and the patience with which they have borne their sufferings and burdens", Hindenburg said. "The greatness of their sacrifice justifies Germany's demand that foreign countries should not seek to oppose Germany's restoration through imposition of impossible conditions." At one point during Hindenburg's address the broadcast was hijacked and an unknown voice called out, "Attention Germany! The Red fighters are here."[43]
  • In the Northwest Territories of Canada near Aklavik, four members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police trekked to the cabin of a mysterious man by the name of Albert Johnson with a search warrant after Aboriginal trappers suspected him of interfering with their traps. When they knocked on Johnson's cabin door he responded with gunfire, seriously wounding one of the Mounties in the ensuing shootout. Johnson now faced the more serious charge of attempted murder of an RCMP officer.[44]
  • The film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Fredric March was released.
  • Born: Bob Shaw, Northern Irish science fiction writer; in Belfast (d. 1996)

References

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  1. ^ "Russia Abandons 5 Day Week for One of Six Days". Chicago Daily Tribune. November 24, 1931. p. 1.
  2. ^ "Gandhi is Ready to Renew Strife as Parley Fails". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. December 1, 1931. p. 1.
  3. ^ "Alka-Seltzer 82 years old". The Mountain Eagle. December 3, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  4. ^ Aliperti, Cliff (August 14, 2012). "Smart Money (1931) Starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney". Immortal Ephemera. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  5. ^ Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (2012). Ecumenical, Academic, and Pastoral Work, 1931–1932. Augsburg Fortress Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-8006-9838-6.
  6. ^ "Tageseinträge für 4. Dezember 1931". chroniknet. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  7. ^ Schultz, Sigrid (December 5, 1931). "Hitler Pledges to Pay Berlin's Debts to World". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 3.
  8. ^ "His Conscience Clear, Gandhi Sails for Home". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. December 5, 1931. p. 1.
  9. ^ Kamdar, Mira (December 1, 2011). "When Paris Met The Mahatma". The Caravan. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  10. ^ "Tageseinträge für 5. Dezember 1931". chroniknet. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  11. ^ Miklós, Vincze (February 4, 2013). "The Strange History of the Moscow Cathedral That Couldn't Be Destroyed". io9. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  12. ^ "Coal Mine Blast Kills 5, Injures 14 in Transylvania". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 7, 1931. p. 15.
  13. ^ Darrah, David (December 8, 1931). "Duce Makes War Hero Chief Aid in Fascist Party". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 8.
  14. ^ Holston, Kim R. (2013). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-7864-6062-5.
  15. ^ "Slash All Pay in Germany". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 9, 1931. p. 1.
  16. ^ "Mrs. Caraway is Appointed to Seat in Senate". Chicago Daily Tribune. November 14, 1931. p. 3.
  17. ^ Herrick, Genevieve Forbes (December 9, 1931). "Hattie Caraway Takes Her Oath as U. S. Senator". Chicago Daily Tribune: 7.
  18. ^ Henning, Arthur Sears (December 9, 1931). "Message Held Key to Hoover 1932 Campaign". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
  19. ^ a b c "1931". Music And History. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  20. ^ Mercer, Derrik (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 408. ISBN 978-0-582-03919-3.
  21. ^ "Convict Bluebeard; to Hang". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 11, 1931. p. 1.
  22. ^ Simmon, Scott (1993). The Films of D. W. Griffith. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-521-38820-7.
  23. ^ Allen, Jay (December 12, 1931). "First President of Spaim Seated Amid Royal Echo". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 11.
  24. ^ "Hack Wilson". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  25. ^ Darrah, David (December 13, 1931). "Pope Declines to See Gandhi in his Loin Cloth". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 13.
  26. ^ Pegler, Westbrook (December 13, 1931). "Service Teams Raise $400,000 for Jobless". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. Part 2, p. 1.
  27. ^ Pollak, Michael (May 7, 2006). "Not His Finest Hour". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  28. ^ a b Gulick, Charles Adams (1948). Austria from Habsburg to Hitler, Volume 2. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp. 969–970.
  29. ^ "Thousands Riot in China Capital; President Quits". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 16, 1931. p. 11.
  30. ^ Kindleburger, Charles P. (1986). The World in Depression, 1929–1939. University of California Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-520-05591-9.
  31. ^ Ginsborg, Paul (2014). Family Politics: Domestic Life, Devastation and Survival, 1900–1950. Yale University Press. p. 322. ISBN 978-0-300-11211-5.
  32. ^ "Man Who Ousted Australia Labor is Made Premier". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 22, 1931. p. 7.
  33. ^ "World Bankers Urge Reparations, Debt Cuts". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 24, 1931. p. 1.
  34. ^ "Pope Lists Joys and Sorrows to Catholic World". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 25, 1931. p. 5.
  35. ^ "December 25, 1931: Hansel and Gretel Opera Broadcast on NBC". OldRadio.org. December 25, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  36. ^ "1931". Grauman's Chinese. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  37. ^ "Of Thee I Sing". Playbill Vault. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  38. ^ Ghose, Sankar (1993). Jawaharlal Nehru, a Biography. Bombay: Allied Publishers, Ltd. p. 71. ISBN 978-81-7023-369-5.
  39. ^ "Indians Storm Pier as Gandhi Returns Home". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 28, 1931. p. 3.
  40. ^ "Los Angeles is Waist Deep in Flood Waters". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 29, 1931. p. 1.
  41. ^ Suski, Markku (1993). Bringing in the People: A Comparison of Constitutional Forms and Practices of the Referendum. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 222–223. ISBN 978-0-7923-2208-5.
  42. ^ "L'Allemagne en 1931". Krononations. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  43. ^ Schultz, Sigrid (January 1, 1932). "Don't Stand in Germany's Way! Hindenburg Asks". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 20.
  44. ^ Smith, Barbara (2009). The Mad Trapper: Unearthing a Mystery. Heritage House. ISBN 978-1-927051-08-5.