May 1926

1926

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

<<	May 1926					>>
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
						01
02	03	04	05	06	07	08
09	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

May 26, 1926: Rif Republic leader Abd el-Krim surrenders to French Army

May 31, 1926: U.S. Sesquicentennial Exhibition opens in Philadelphia

The following events occurred in May 1926:

May 1, 1926 (Saturday)

• The lockout of 800,000 British coal miners began, three days before the nationwide Trades Union Congress strike was to begin.^[1]
• The Ford Motor Company became the first major American company to introduce the 40-hour workweek and the two-day weekend, giving its workers Saturday off after having reduced the work day to 8 hours for six days a week. The reduction from 48-hours to 40 hours came with no reduction in pay.^[2][3]
• In Poland, five people were killed and 28 injured in fighting between socialists and communists during May Day events in Warsaw.^[4]
• Swinton Lions (who had finished third in England's Northern Rugby Football League with a record of 26 wins and 2 draws) defeated seventh-place Oldham, 9 to 3, to win the Challenge Cup at the Athletic Grounds, Rochdale, before 27,000 spectators.^[5]
• Born:
  • Peter Lax, Hungarian-born U.S. mathematician and Abel Prize laureate, known for the Lax conjecture; in Budapest (d. 2025)^[6]
  • Kenneth W. Ford, American physicist who served as CEO and Executive Director of the American Institute of Physics; in West Palm Beach, Florida (d. 2025)
  • Héctor Villa Osorio, Colombian businessman who founded the pharmaceutical conglomerate Dromayor; in Manizales(d. 2012)
  • Lev Razumovsky, Soviet Russian sculptor; in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) (d. 2006)
  • Marion Wells, American fundraiser and conservative activist; in Brooklyn, New York City (d. 2016)

May 2, 1926 (Sunday)

• The Leopard of Rudraprayag, a man-eating leopard that had killed more than 125 people in British India's United Provinces, was shot by famous big game hunter Jim Corbett, who had tracked the big cat for 10 weeks.^[7]
• Civil war broke out in Nicaragua when a group of exiled members of the Partido Liberal, led by José María Moncada, landed at Bluefields. Moncada's objective was to topple the government of President Emiliano Chamorro Vargas of the Partido Conservador, who had overthrown an elected coalition government in March.^[8]

May 3, 1926 (Monday)

• At one minute to midnight, the call by Britain's Trades Union Congress for its members to walk out on strike took effect. An estimated 1.7 million people began would join the strike in support of the locked out miners.^{[1][9][10][11]}
• In British India, Miangul Abdul Wadud was recognized by the colonial government as the ruler of the princely state of Swat, and the successor to the late Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah. Wadud would rule until 1949, shortly after the princely state was integrated into Pakistan upon the division of British India.^[12]
• Born: Milton Santos, Brazilian geographer and laureate of the 1994 Vautin Lud International Geography Prize; in Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia state (d.2001)^[13]
• Died: Victor, Prince Napoléon, 63, Bonapartist pretender to the throne of France as a descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte, recognized by Bonapartists as the head of the House of Bonaparte since 1879 as "Napoleon V".^[14] His successor at the House of Bonaparte, was Victor's 12-year-old son, Louis, Prince Napoleon, who would continue as the pretender until his own death in 1997.^[15]

May 4, 1926 (Tuesday)

Thousands of shipyard workers walked out on strike in London.

Volunteers took over jobs left vacant by the strike, including bus driving.

• Britain came to a standstill on the first full day of the general strike, with at least 1,500,000 employees of the railway industry and other public transport not showing up for work. The underground subway lines, rail stations, streetcars and buses were closed and the streets of London were devoid of street cars or buses and most commuters walked to work.^[16] Throughout Britain, passenger and freight railway transport were suspended for the duration of the strike.^[17] Members of 205 labor and trade unions honored the strike call, including the 750,000 of the Miners' Federation, more than 327,000 of the National Union of Railway Workers, almost 335,000 of the United Textile Workers Association.^[18]
• The Ballets Russes staged a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, with sets and costumes designed by Surrealist artists Max Ernst and Joan Miró.^[19]
• Stinson Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in the U.S. by Eddie Stinson for the manufacture of single-engine airplanes, the most popular of which were the Stinson 108 and the Stinson V-76 Sentinel.^[20]
• Born:
  • Milt Thompson, NASA test pilot and U.S. Navy officer who was the first person to fly the NASA M2-F1, the first "lifting body" wingless aircraft, and one of only 12 pilots to fly the North American X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft; in Crookston, Minnesota (d.1993).^[21]
  • Peter G. Ossorio, American psychologist known for developing the concept of descriptive psychology; in Los Angeles (d.2007)
  • June Middleton, Australian polio survivor who spent more than 60 years in an iron lung, contracting polio at age 22 and remaining in need of the machine for the rest of her life; in Melbourne (d.2009)^[22]

May 5, 1926 (Wednesday)

• Two new newspapers, the British Worker (supporting the general strike) and the British Gazette (condemning it) appeared in Britain to fill the void left by the other dailies that only published in very limited form during the strike.
• The government of Poland's Prime Minister Aleksander Skrzyński resigned after slightly less than two years in office.^[23]
• The Norge airship left Gatchina near Leningrad, bound for Vadsø in preparation to cross the North Pole.
• Born:
  • Ann B. Davis, American TV actress and comedian, winner of two Emmy Awards for The Bob Cummings Show, but remembered best for portraying the housekeeper "Alice" on The Brady Bunch; in Schenectady, New York(d.2014)^[24][25]
  • Maurice Green, American virologist and founder of the Institute of Molecular Virology at the St. Louis University School of Medicine; in New York City (d.2017)^[26]
  • Neil "Bing" Russell, American film and TV actor; in Brattleboro, Vermont (d. 2003)^[27]
• Died:
  • Franz von Soxhlet, 76, German chemist and inventor known for patenting the Soxhlet extractor for extracting lipids from solid material^[28]
  • Fyodor Funtikov, 50, Azerbaijan anti-Communist known for ordering the 1918 execution of the "26 Baku Commissars", was executed in Baku after having returned to the Russian SFSR.^[29]
  • Charles S.L. Baker, 66, American inventor known for creating the friction heater (b. 1859)^[30]

May 6, 1926 (Thursday)

• The first night landing of an airplane on the deck of a ship was accomplished in Britain when Royal Air Force pilot G. H. Boyce landed a Blackburn Dart on the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Furious HMS Furious.^[31]
• Germany's Reichstag voted on the Fürstenenteignung the proposal to seize the dynastic properties of the former ruling houses of the German Empire. The expropriation of properties was scheduled to be voted upon in a public referendum on June 29, and passage of the bill would have made the referendum moot. With bourgeois political parties in the majority, the Reichstag vote failed, with 142 for and 236 against.^[32]
• Meeting in Lisbon, the International Olympic Committee awarded the right to host the 1928 Winter Olympics to St. Moritz in Switzerland, where all three bidders (St. Moritz, Davois and Engelberg) were located.^[33]
• Limited services returned around Britain as volunteers and strike-breaking workers stepped in, notably to help distribute food and provide other necessities.^[34]
• Born: Edward Clark, American painter, in Storyville, New Orleans (d. 2019)
• Died: S. I. Smith, 83, American zoologist who identified and classified numerous species of crustaceans (primarily crabs and lobsters), including Cardisoma crassum (the "mouthless crab"), and Uca pugnax (the "Atlantic marsh fiddler crab")^[35]

May 7, 1926 (Friday)

• Nicaragua was invaded by a U.S. Navy force of 213 officers and men, brought by the cruiser USS Cleveland at Bluefields, to protect U.S. citizens during the recent renewal of the Nicaraguan Civil War.^[36]
• With peace talks having failed, French warplanes bombed Rif Republic positions in Morocco as the Rif War resumed.^[37]
• On the sixth day of the United Kingdom general strike, Liberal Party MP Herbert Samuel, authorized to negotiate on behalf of the British government, met with Trades Union Congress (TUC) leader Walter Citrine and Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) leader A. J. Cook to tentatively agree to a set of proposals to end the work shutdown. While the TUC members approved the plan, the Miners Federation rejected it.
• In the Soviet Union, Léon Theremin demonstrated his experimental television system which electrically transmitted and then projected near-simultaneous moving images on a five-foot square screen as part of his thesis.^[38]
• Born: Jacqueline Moreau, French ballerina and principal dancer for the Paris Opera Ballet; in Bandol, Var département (d.2018)^[39]

May 8, 1926 (Saturday)

Color still of The Black Pirate

• The first feature film in color,^[40] the silent movie The Black Pirate, premiered at both the Selwyn Theatre in New York and at the Tivoli Cinema in London.^[41][42] Produced by and starring Douglas Fairbanks, The Black Pirate, the film was one of the highest grossing of the year, but also one of the most expensive up to that time.^[43]
• Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin addressed the British public about the ongoing strike in an evening radio broadcast. Such a broadcast in a time of emergency was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom.^[44]
• The prototype of the U.S. Navy's secret weapon, the Mark 6 exploder, was given its first test firing, attached to a Mark 10 torpedo and aimed at the submarine USS L-8. On the first try, the torpedo went underneath the target submarine but did not explode. A second test was successful.
• Belgium's Prime Minister Prosper Poullet announced his resignation and would be replaced on May 20.^[45]
• The American insurance and financial services company American International Underwriters Corporation, later to become AIG and now a part of Corebridge Financial, was founded by Gus S. Wortham.
• Maurice Ravel's composition Chansons madécasses was given its first performance.^[46]
• Wigan defeated Warrington 22–10 to win the Northern Rugby Football League championship.^[47]

Sir David Attenborough

Don Rickles

• Born:
  • Sir David Attenborough, English documentary producer and naturalist; in Isleworth, London (alive in 2026)
  • Don Rickles, American TV and film comedian who specialized in insult comedy; in Queens, New York City (d. 2017)

May 9, 1926 (Sunday)

Byrd and Bennett

• Explorer Richard E. Byrd and co-pilot Floyd Bennett attempted to make the first flight over the North Pole, taking off from Spitsbergen in the Fokker F.VII monoplane Josephine Ford in Norway. They returned to Spitzbergen 15 hours and 57 minutes later, claiming that they had flown the 1,535 miles (2,470 km) to the Pole, flying over it, and then circling it "around the world" for 13 minutes.^[48] While both men were immediately hailed as national heroes,^[49] some experts have since been skeptical of the claim, with aviator Bernt Balchen concluding in 1958 that the plane was unlikely to have covered the entire distance and back in that short an amount of time, and an examination of Byrd's diary in 1996 by Dennis Rawlins.^[50][51] An entry in Byrd's diary discovered in 1996 suggested that the plane actually turned back 150 miles (240 km) short of the North Pole due to an oil leak.^[52][53] Another attempt to fly over the Pole would be made three days later by different pilots on the airship Norge.
• After Druze Muslims in Syria killed eight French soldiers in the Great Syrian Revolt, the French Army used heavy weaponry to shell a Druze neighborhood in Damascus, killing hundreds of civilians along with about 100 rebels.^[54] As a result, the area of the old city between the sections of Al-Hamidiyah Souq and Medhat Pasha Souq was burned to the ground, an event known since then as al-Hariqa ("the fire"). Reporter George Seldes viewed 308 bodies, and suggested there might be as many as 1,000 dead under the rubble. "When the Muslims, who had rebelled, threatened to kill all Christians", Seldes wrote, "General Maurice Sarrail gave the civilian population time to evacuate, then ordered Fort Gouraud to fire some warning shots, then shell the rebel sector." ^[55]
• Astronomers Max Wolf and Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth became the first persons on Earth to observe the supernova SN 1926A, which had taken place in the Messier 61 galaxy more than 50 million years earlier. Seven other supernovae have been observed in Messier 61 since then.^[56]
• Died: J. M. Dent, 76, British publisher

May 10, 1926 (Monday)

• Wincenty Witos formed a coalition government as the new Prime Minister of Poland, but would hold the office for only two days before being deposed in a military coup.^[57]
• The Flying Scotsman express train, traveling on the route between Edinburgh and King's Cross, London with more than 300 passengers, was derailed in Northumberland by a group of locked-out miners who pulled up the tracks, after passing Cramlington. Because the locomotive was moving slowly and the volunteer engineer spotted the missing rail, only one of the passengers was injured, but two of the train's coaches overturned in the first act of sabotage during Britain's General Strike.^[58][59]
• The Preakness Stakes thoroughbred horse race, at the time the first of the American Triple Crown events, was won by the horse Display, ridden by jockey John Maiben. Display won by a head over the pre-race favorite, Blondin.^[60] The Kentucky Derby was held five days later, with six of the 13 Preakness competitors, including Display and Blondin.^[61]
• France became the first nation to ratify the 1925 Geneva Protocol against the use of poison gases and biological weapons in war.^[62]
• Airplanes piloted by Major Harold Geiger and Horace Meek Hickam, students at the Air Corps Tactical School, collided in mid-air at Langley Field, Virginia. Both pilots survived; Hickham joined the Caterpillar Club by parachuting to safety.^[63]
• Born:
  • Hugo Banzer, President of Bolivia from 1971 to 1978 and again from 1997 to 2001; in Concepción, Santa Cruz (d.2002)^[64]
  • Tichi Kassel, film personality and the publisher of The Hollywood Reporter; as Beatrice Ruby Noble in Los Angeles (d. 2004)^[65]
  • Yvette Francis-McBarnette, Jamaican-born American pediatrician and pioneer in the treatment of sickle cell anemia; in Kingston (d.2016)^[66]
  • Dolores Beristáin, Mexican film actress and 1989 Ariel Award winner for Best Supporting Actress; in Mexico City (d.2010)^[67]
  • Vladimir Tatosov, Soviet Russian film actor known for being the co-star, with Lyudmila Maksakova, of the 1967 historical drama Tatyana's Day (Tatyanin denya); in Moscow (d. 2021)^[68]
• Died: Alton B. Parker, 73, former Chief Judge of New York's highest court, known for being the Democratic Party nominee in the 1904 United States presidential election, which he lost to incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt.^[69]

May 11, 1926 (Tuesday)

• In Britain, Mr. Justice Asbury granted an injunction to the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union to enjoin the General-Secretary of its Tower Hill branch from calling its members out on strike. Astbury ruled that the strike was not protected by the Trade Disputes Act 1906 and that the strike in the plaintiff union had been called in contravention of its own rules.^[70] The ruling came as a heavy blow to the cause of the firemen and sailors union, as well as other unions.^[71]
• The airship Norge departed Ny-Ålesund en route to the North Pole. Roald Amundsen led the 16-man crew.
• In one of the most widely condemned lynchings in the United States, Henry Patterson, an African-American, was falsely accused of attacking a white woman, then chased by a mob of more than 40 white men in LaBelle, Florida and shot to death. His body was then paraded down LaBelle's main street and hanged from a tree in front of the Hendry County courthouse. The alleged victim later told friends that she was merely frightened when Patterson approached her. Newspaper publisher Mary Hayes Davis published the details of the lynching in The Hendry County News, and the report was republished in the Tampa Morning Tribune, then sent to other newspapers by the wire services."^[72]
• Born:
  • Yvonne Furneaux (stage name for Elisabeth Yvonne Scatcherd), French-born British film actress known for The Mummy (1959), La Dolce Vita (1960), The Count of Monte Cristo (1961), and Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie (1984); in Roubaix, Nord-Pas-de-Calais département (d. 2024)^[73]
  • Rudolf Kassel, German philogist of the Greek language; in the independent city of Frankenthal in the Weimar Republic (d.2020)^[74]
  • Milan C. Miskovsky, American CIA agent and negotiator; in Chicago (d.2009)^[75]

May 12, 1926 (Wednesday)

The Norge

Pilsudski and his aides

• The Italian-built airship Norge, carrying Roald Amundsen, pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, Lincoln Ellsworth, Italian engineer Umberto Nobile, Norwegian Navy commander Oscar Wisting and 11 other crew members, reached the North Pole at 01:25 Greenwich time. During the flyover, Norwegian, American and Italian flags were dropped onto the ice. The Norge continued on toward Alaska in its bid to cross the entire Arctic Ocean.^[76][77]
• The Trades Union Congress (TUC) called off Britain's General Strike after Arthur Pugh, TUC president, reached an informal agreement with Sir Herbert Samuel, chairman of the Coal Industry Commission.^[78] The coal miners' strike continued.^[79]
• The May Coup began in Poland. A state of emergency was declared by Prime Minister Witos as units loyal to Marshal Józef Piłsudski marched on Warsaw and captured bridges over the Vistula River. At 5:00 in the afternoon, Marshal Pilsudski met with Poland's President Stanisław Wojciechowski in a discussion on the Poniatowski Bridge and demanded the resignation of the Witos cabinet within two hours. Wojciechowski, in turn, demanded that the Marshal order his troops to surrender as a condition of the Witos resignation, which was declined. Fighting began at 7:00 in the evening.^[80]"
• Hans Luther resigned as Chancellor of Germany after losing a vote of no confidence in the Reichstag, with 176 for his ouster and oonly 146 against.^[81][82]
• The First Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich was performed for the first time, premiering in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.^[83]

May 13, 1926 (Thursday)

• Due to worsening weather in the U.S. Alaska Territory, the crew of the airship Norge decided to land rather than press on to their goal of reaching Nome. Pilot Umberto Nobile decided to attempt a landing at Teller, Alaska, on a frozen lagoon, and at 8:30 in the evening local time (14 May at 0730 UTC), in what one author described as "probably one of the most outstanding examples of airmanship of the airship era," ^[84] Nobile, Natale Cecioni and Renato Alessandri guided the ship down steadily and held it in place while the crew disembarked, one at a time, to safety.
• The Hercílio Luz Bridge, the first to link Brazil's Santa Catarina Island to the mainland, was opened at Florianópolis, and remains (at 2,689 ft (820 m)) the longest suspension bridge in Brazil a century later.^[85]
• Britain started to return to normal on the first day back from the general strike, though many transport services were late in their resumption. Voluntary workers were still keeping buses and trains running.^[86] Miners remained locked out.
• Argentina's championship of soccer football, the Copa Ibarguren was contested between Boca Juniors of Buenos Aires (who had finished in first place in the Primera División) almost two years earlier in the 1924–1925 season, and Club Atlético Belgrano of Rosario, who had won the Copa Nicasio Vila, championship of the Liga Rosarina 18 months earlier.^[87][88]

May 14, 1926 (Friday)

• At the Belweder Palace in Warsaw, Poland's, President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Wincenty Witos resigned their positions at 7:00 in the evening to prevent the fighting in Warsaw from becoming a country-wide civil war. Along with the rest of their government officials, they escaped to Wilanow.^[89] Over three days of fighting, 164 civilians were killed, along with 25 officers and 173 soldiers of the Polish Army.^[90] Maciej Rataj took over Wojciechowski's office as acting President.
• The Mary Pickford film Sparrows was released.
• Born: Eric Morecambe, English comedian; in Morecambe, Lancashire (d. 1984)

May 15, 1926 (Saturday)

• Starting at 8:30 in the evening, Radio station Zagreb (now Croatian Radio), the first broadcast station in Southeast Europe, began broadcasting from Zagreb in Yugoslavia at a wavelength of 350 meters, equivalent to a frequency of 860 kHz on the AM radio band.^[91][92]
• Kazimierz Bartel took office as the new Prime Minister of Poland the day after the completion of the coup d'état led by General Jozef Pilsudski. On the same day, five Polish Army generals (including Tadeusz Rozwadowski and Włodzimierz Zagórski (general)) were arrested for the killing of civilians and Pilsudski's troops, and were sent to military prison at Antokol (now Antakalnis in Lithuania).
• The National Hockey League (NHL) admitted three teams that have continued for 100 seasons, adding the New York Rangers (owned by the same syndicate as the Madison Square Garden arena), and, contingent upon constructing finding an arena to temporarily play in, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Cougars (now the Detroit Red Wings).^[93]
• Bubbling Over won the 1926 Kentucky Derby, at the time the second race of the American Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing, five days after the running of the Preakness Stakes.
• The popular film Aloma of the South Seas, with dancer Gilda Gray in the title role, was released by Famous Players—Lasky, premiering at the Rialto Theatre in New York.^[94][95] Despite its success at the box office, Aloma was not preserved and remains one of the most successful "lost films" in the U.S. history.^[96]
• Born:
  • Sir Peter Shaffer, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2016)
  • Anthony Shaffer, novelist and playwright. The twin brothers were born in Liverpool. (d. 2001)

May 16, 1926 (Sunday)

• The Irish political party Fianna Fáil was founded at a public meeting at the La Scala Theatre on Prince's Street (now O'Connell Street) in Dublin.^[97][98][99] with Éamon de Valera as its first president.
• Hours after the death sentence was announced following the conviction of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, the front of the U.S. Embassy to Argentina was destroyed by a bomb a group led by Italian-born anarchist Severino Di Giovanni.^[100][101]
• The first championship of the new National Hurling League in Ireland was won by Cork GAA over Dublin GAA, 3–7 to 1-5 (equivalent to a 16–8 score) in the finals played at the Cork Athletic Grounds.^[102]
• FC Barcelona won Spain's Copa del Rey tournament for the seventh time, defeating Atlético Madrid 3 to 2 in extra time, with the winning goal coming from Paulino Alcántara in the 112th minute.^[103]
• Born:
  • Glen Michael (stage name for Cecil Buckland), British children's television show host known for the Scottish Television program Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade; in Paignton, Devonshire (d.2025)^[104]
  • Necla Sultan, French-born Turkish socialite, Egyptian princess consort and granddaughter of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI, who died on the day of her birth; in Nice (d.2006)^[105]
• Died: Mehmed VI, 65, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who reigned from 1918 until being deposed upon the abolition of the monarchy by the Republic of Turkey in 1922, died in exile in Italy.^[106] His 13-year-old son Şehzade Mehmed Ertuğrul made no pretense of claiming the abolished throne.^[107]

May 17, 1926 (Monday)

Wilhelm Marx

• Justice Minister Wilhelm Marx became Chancellor of Germany for the second time after being selected by President Paul von Hindenburg to form a new coalition government following the resignation of Hans Luther and his cabinet, who had resigned on May 12.^[108]
• IAPMO, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, was formed by a group of plumbing inspectors to create universal standards and building codes for builders of plumbing equipment.^[109]
• Geneviève de Brabant, written in 1900 by Erik Satie, with lyrics by Patrice Contamine de Latour, was given its first performance, after having been discovered following Satie's death in 1925.^[110] The work premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris as "an opera for marionettes", in that the legend of Genevieve had been traditionally adapted for puppet shows. During the same event, Satie's orchestral composition Cinq Grimaces pour Le Songe d'une nuit d'été ("Five Grimaces for A Midsummer Night's Dream") was premiered by conductor Roger Désormière.^[111] Latour was unable to attend the performance because of illness, and died one week afterward.^[110]
• Born:
  • Franz Sondheimer, German-born British chemist; in Stuttgart (d. 1981)
  • Allen Steck, American mountaineer and rock climber known for making the first vertical ascents of various mountains, and famous for the "Steck-Salathé Route" on Sentinel Rock in California's Yosemite National Park; in Oakland, California (d. 2023)^[112]
  • Harry W. Shlaudeman, American diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Brazil and Nicaragua; in Los Angeles (d. 2018)^[113]
  • Prince Dimitri Romanov, French-born claimant to the throne of the defunct Russian monarchy and to leadership of the House of Romanov from 2014 until his death, as a great-grandson of Tsar Nicholas I; in Cap d'Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes département (d.2016)^[114]

May 18, 1926 (Tuesday)

• The nationally famous Christian evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared after last being seen swimming at Venice Beach, California, near Los Angeles.^[115] Initial speculation was that she had drowned, and a memorial service was held the Angelus Temple she had founded.^[116] After more than five weeks, McPherson would reappear in Mexico near the U.S. border on June 23, claiming that she had been kidnapped and held for ransom.
• Born:
  • Dirch Passer, Danish comedian and film actor; in Østerbro, Copenhagen (died of a heart attack, 1980)^[117]
  • Joe Brown, American boxer and world lightweight champion from 1956 to 1962; in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (d.1997)]
  • Niranjan Bhagat, Indian Gujarati poet; in Ahmedabad, Bombay Presidency, British India (d.2018)^[118]
• Died:
  • Elinor Hallé, 69, English sculptor and co-inventor (with Anne Acheson) of the process of plaster casts for immobilization of broken limbs^[119]
  • James Thomson Bottomley, 81, Irish-born British physicist known for his creation of four-digit logarithm tables for the most accurate multiplication and division calculations of the 19th century^[120]
  • John L. Morrison, 63, American publisher and founder of the controversial newspaper Ripsaw in Duluth, Minnesota ^[121]

May 19, 1926 (Wednesday)

Washington and Coolidge on the half dollar

• The first and only official coinage to feature an incumbent U.S. president was minted at Philadelphia by the U.S. Mint, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.^[122] The sesquicentennial half dollar featured the first U.S. president, George Washington, and the incumbent President, Calvin Coolidge.
• In China, Zhang Renjie became the first Chairman of the Kuomintang (since the 1925 death of Sun Yatsen) in the Republic of China, after a period of 14 months during which the party and the Republic were ruled by a 3-member Central Executive Committee.^[123]
• The French Air Force bombed Damascus, trying to suppress the ongoing revolt.^[124]

May 20, 1926 (Thursday)

• The Air Commerce Act, providing for the first licensing of pilots and for commercial airplanes, was signed into law by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge after having passed both houses of the U.S. Congress.^[125] The Act created the Aeronautics Branch within the U.S. Department of Commerce to implement and enforce regulations.
• The Railway Labor Act was signed into law by U.S. President Coolidge, abolishing the Railroad Labor Board. The "Wilson-Parker Act" had been drawn up by the Association of Railway Executives and Railway Brotherhoods", and provided for five-member federal mediation board for resolving controversies.^[126]
• Pete Latzo won the World Welterweight Boxing Title, defeating Mickey Walker in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in a 10-round unanimous decision.^[127]
• Henri Jaspar formed a government as the new Prime Minister of Belgium.^[128] Formerly the Foreign Minister of Belgium, Jaspar replaced Prosper Poullet, who had resigned with his government on May 8.
• Australia's Great White Train, a promotion to buy Australian-made products, concluded its first tour after making 61 stops in the state of New South Wales.^[129][130]. A second New South Wales tour of three months began the following spring on August 25, 1926.^[129]
• Born:
  • Munir Ahmad Khan, Pakistani nuclear engineer and chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, known for helping develop Pakistan's first atomic bomb in 1998; in Kasur, Punjab Province, British India (d.1999)^[131]
  • John Lucarotti, English screenwriter; in Aldershot, Hampshire (d. 1994)

May 21, 1926 (Friday)

• The regents of the Banque de France, the French national reserve bank, led by Banque Governor Georges Robineau, agreed to the demand by Prime Minister Aristide Briand and Finance Minister Raoul Péret for use of gold reserves to back up the falling exchange value of the French franc by purchasing up to one billion francs ($200 million U.S. dollars) worth of French money held abroad. The franc had fallen to 3.01 cents American (with a U.S. dollar being worth 33.25 francs), and rose to 3.25 cents American (a dollar worth 30.8 francs).^[132]
• The government of Nicaragua announced that it was releasing 140 political prisoners who had been arrested after a revolution had broken out on May 2. Violence had subsided after the U.S. Navy had landed troops in Nicaragua to protect American interests.^[133]
• Born:
  • Albert Grossman, American talent manager known for managing Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Peter, Paul and Mary; in Chicago (d.1986).^[134]
  • Ma Chen-shan, Chinese Olympian for the Taiwan sport shooting team in 1964, known for defecting to the People's Republic of China after the Olympics and suspect in the poisoning of decathlon competitor C. K. Yang; in Tongliao, Liaobei province, Republic of China
  • Robert Creeley, U.S. poet, in Arlington, Massachusetts (d. 2005)
• Died: H. V. McKay, 60. Australian industrialist known for perfecting the combine harvester and creating the Sunshine Header-Harvester^[135]

May 22, 1926 (Saturday)

• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed an act authorizing the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, despite the lack of federally-owned land at the proposed site. Under the act, creation of the area as a federally-protected national park was contingent upon the donation the U.S. government of land in the Appalachian Mountains to be purchased from private owners by the governments of the U.S. states of Tennessee and North Carolina.^[136]
• Elections were held in Egypt for the 211 seats of the Parliament of Egypt. Control of the government remained with the Wafd Party (Ḥizb al-Wafd), which won 171 seats, and the Liberal Constitutional Party finished a distant second with 29 seats.^[137]
• The St. Louis Cardinals held "Rogers Hornsby Day", where the player-manager was presented $1,000 in gold and a medal for being named the National League's Most Valuable Player for 1925.^[138] Hornsby then went 2-for-4 in a 9-2 Cardinals win over the Philadelphia Phillies.^[139]
• Born: Nikolai Delone, Soviet Russian physicist known for making the first observations of multiphoton ionization and for the ADK formula relating to tunnel ionization in laser fields; in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) (d.2008)^[140]
• Died: Ernest Septimus Reynolds, 65, British scientist known for his 1900 identification of the presence of dangerous levels of arsenic in beer brewed in Manchester^[141]

May 23, 1926 (Sunday)

• The first Constitution of Lebanon was promulgated by the administrators of France's Mandate for Lebanon declaring the Lebanese Republic and providing for the transition of Lebanon to independence and limited self-government. The new constitution was modeled after that of the French Third Republic, with a bicameral parliament, a president and a council of ministers to be led by a prime minister.^[142][143]
• An estimated 30,000 members of the Communist Party of Germany demonstrated in Berlin. About 50,000 members of Der Stahlhelm held a demonstration of their own in Düsseldorf.^[144]
• Born:
  • Aileen Clarke Hernandez, African-American rights activist who served as the second president of the National Organization for Women and was later the first woman to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; in Brooklyn, New York City (d.2017)^[145]
  • Yossel Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-born South African activist, commander of the paramilitary uMkhonto weSizwe and later General Secretary of the South African Communist Party from 1984 to 1991; in Obeliai, Republic of Lithuania (d.1995)^[146]

May 24, 1926 (Monday)

• The eruption of the Mount Tokachi volcano killed 140 people^[147] At 12:11 in the afternoon local time, an explosion happened at the western slope of the volcano, causing a hot volcanic avalanche that reached the town of Furano at 12:35, and buried residents closest to the volcano.^[147][148]
• The Zenkoku Jiren, referred to in English as the All-Japan National Libertarian Federation of Trade Unions, was founded in Japan.^[149]
• The Kingdom of Iraq extended the "D'Arcy Concession" of the oil fields or "Transferred Territories" in the Diyala Governorate for an additional 35 years past its scheduled expiration date of May 27, 1961. The extension was set to expire on May 27, 1996.^[150] The terms would be renegotiated in 1951, and the concession would end in 1958.^[151]
• Born: Stanley Baxter, Scottish British television comedian known for BBC's The Stanley Baxter Show and subsequent variety shows ; in Glasgow (d.2025)^[152]

May 25, 1926 (Tuesday)

Petlura

• Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petliura, who had been Ukraine's president from 1919 to 1920 as Chairman of the Directorate of Ukraine, was assassinated by the Jewish anarchist poet Sholom Schwartzbard in the center of Paris. Schwartzbard saw Petliura walking by the Gibert bookstore on Boulevard Saint-Michel, accused of being "killer of my people", then shot Petliura five times at close range at 2:12 in the afternoon. Petliura died minutes later at the Charité hospital.^[153][154]
• Parliamentary elections were held for all 387 seats of the Kingdom of Romania's Camera Deputaților Chamber of Deputies and half of the 115 sets in the Senat. The government's People's Party (Partidul Poporului) won 292 out of the seats in the Chamber, while the National Peasants' Party (Partidul Național Țărănesc) finished a distant second with 69.^[155][156]
• U.S. President Coolidge signed the Public Buildings Act into law, providing funding for construction of federal buildings for the first time in 13 years. ^[157]
• Born:
  • Bill Sharman, American basketball player and coach, two-time inductee to the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach, known for winning coaching teams to championships in three leagues (the ABL (1962), the ABA (1971) and the NBA (1972) ; in Abilene, Texas (d. 2013)^[158]
  • Claude Akins, American character actor, in Nelson, Georgia (d. 1994)^[159]
• Died: Symon Petliura, 47, Ukrainian independence fighter

May 26, 1926 (Wednesday)

• The Rif War came to an end after 5-years as Abd el-Krim, the leader of the Riffians nationalist group and the president of the Rif Republic, surrendered to the French General Philippe Petain in Morocco. The Rif Republic was disestablished the next day^[160] The capitulation took place at el-Krim's headquarters in the Rif capital, the Moroccan city of Targuist.^[161]
• A powerful cyclone and resulting tidal wave struck Burma at 8:30 in the evening and killed an estimated 2,800 people as villages in the Naf River valley and the Arkakan coast were swept away.^[162][163]
• Charles Debbas was elected as the first President of Lebanon by both chambers of the Lebanese Congress, to be sworn in on September 1.^[164]
• In the first and only destructive test of the U.S. Navy's new magnetic influence torpedo, the decommissioned submarine USS L-8 was struck and sunk off of the coast of Newport, Rhode Island.^[165]
• In Budapest in Hungary, 22 of the 24 defendants in the trial for conspiracy and forgery of French bank notes were convicted ^[166] although the sentences given by the court were relatively light based on a finding that the motive of patriotism was a mitigating circumstance.^[167] Prince Windisch-Graetz Lajos received the longest sentence, four years in prison, Imre Nádosy had 3 1/2 years, and three others were sentenced to at least one year.^[168] Prime Minister István Bethlen, who had been aware of the scandal but was not directly involved, was never charged^[169]
• Born: Miles Davis; American jazz musician, trumpeter and bandleader; in Alton, Illinois (d. 1991)^[170]
• Died:
  • Vendela Andersson-Sörensen, 64, Swedish operatic soprano.^[171]
  • Srečko Kosovel, 22, Slovenian poet, died from meningitis.^[172]

May 27, 1926 (Thursday)

• Belgium, France, Great Britain and Netherlands signed the Belgian Neutrality Treaty (which was dated May 22) in Paris ^[173] endorsing the 1925 treaty between Belgium and the Netherlands and formally abrogating the 1839 Treaty of London.^[174][175]
• The Rif Republic was disestablished.^[176]
• Born:
  • Kees Rijvers, Dutch footballer with 33 caps for the Netherlands national team; in Breda^[177] (d. 2024)^[178]
  • Ajagungbade III, Nigerian traditional ruler (Oba of Ogbomosho (now in Oyo State) from 1973 to 2021; in Ogbomosho (d.2021)^[179]

May 28, 1926 (Friday)

Gomes da Costa leading the uprising

• In Portugal General Manuel Gomes da Costa and four other generals began an attempt to overthrow the government of President Bernardino Machado and Prime Minister António Maria da Silva. At 8:00 in the morning the city of Braga.^[180][181], Gomes da Costa and a combination of soldiers from the Eighth Division of the Portuguese Army began marching southward toward Lisbon, 225 miles (362 km) away, while Machado and da Silva prepared a resistance. Provincial military units from other cities joined in the coup. The next day, da Silva and his cabinet announced their resignations.^{[182][183][184][185]}
• At the Alipore jail in Calcutta in British India, imprisoned Bengali independence activists Pramod Ranjan Choudhury and Anantahari Mitra participated in the killing of Bhupendranath Chatterjee, a deputy superintendent of the government's Police Intelligence Branch. Out of five prisoners charged with participating in the beating death of Chatterjee, Choudhury and Mitra were convicted of murder and hanged on September 28, 1926.^[186]
• Died: L. Herbert Jones, 22, American race car driver, died one day after being fatally injured when his car crashed in the qualifying round for the upcoming Indianapolis 500.^[187]

May 29, 1926 (Saturday)

• The military coup, started by General Gomes da Costa the day before, accomplished the takeover of Portugal without loss of life. The Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship) was established. Portuguese Navy Admiral José Mendes Cabeçadas was designated as Chairman of the Ditadura's four-member Public Salvation Junta and formally appointed Prime Minister of Portugal by the outgoing President, Bernardino Machado, who resigned three days later.^[188]
• Princess Elizabeth of York of England, the first granddaughter (and third grandchild) of the United Kingdom's King George V, was christened as Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of the House of Windsor in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace.^[189][190]
• Born:
  • Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal from 2000 to 2012; in Kébémer (alive in 2026)^[191]
  • Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe, member of Tongan royalty, Queen consort of Tonga as wife of Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV from 1965 to 2006, and Queen mother from 2006 to 2017 as the mother of King George Tupou V (who reigned 2006-2012) and his successor King Aho'eitu Tupou VI; in Tonga^[192] (d.2017)^[193]
  • Katie Boyle, Italian-born British singer, actress, TV host and advice columnist; in Florence (d.2018)^[194][195]
  • Dhiruben Patel, Indian novelist, playwright and publisher; in Baroda, Baroda princely state, British India (now in the state of Gujarat)^[196](d.2023)
• Died: Dr. Carlos MacDonald, 80, American psychiatrist and prosecution expert witness^[197]

May 30, 1926 (Sunday)

• António Maria da Silva resigned as Prime Minister of Portugal.
• The drama film The Unknown Soldier opened.
• Born: Tsuneo Watanabe, Japanese media executive known for owning the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and the Nippon Television Network; in Tokyo (d. 2024)

May 31, 1926 (Monday)

• The Polish Sejm elected Marshal Piłsudski President of the Republic, but he refused the position due to its limited powers.^[198]
• Auguste Adib Pacha became the first Prime Ministers of Lebanon.^[199]
• José Mendes Cabeçadas became both President and Prime Minister of Portugal.
• The opening ceremonies for the Sesquicentennial Exposition, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, were held in Philadelphia.^[200]
• India, New Zealand and the West Indies were elected as full members of the Imperial Cricket Conference, joining Australia, England and South Africa and raising the number of nations playing Test cricket from three to six, though membership was limited to nations within the British Commonwealth.^[201]
• Frank Lockhart won the Indianapolis 500.^[202]
• In the American Soccer League, the highest-ranking soccer football league in the United States, the championship playoff, the Lewis Cup, was won by the New Bedford Whalers of Massachusetts, by an aggregate of 5 to 4 in after the second game of the two-game series. The Whalers beat the ASL New York Giants, 5 to 1, in the first game on May 22 and, needing four goals to tie the game and five to win, the Giants defeated the Whalers 3 to 0, coming up short.^[203] Fall River F.C. of Rhode Island, who finished first in the ASL regular season with a record of 30 wins, 12 draws and 2 losses (30-12-2), ahead of the Whalers' (28-5-11), but declined to participate in the Lewis Cup tournament.
• Born:
  • Jean-Baptiste Ntidendereza, Interior Minister of Burundi who was later convicted of attempting to murder a political opponent and was public executed; in Irabiro^[204] (d. 1963)
  • Noboru Kikuta, Japanese gynecologist known for falsifying birth certificates in order to facilitate anonymous adoptions for paying customers; in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture (d.1991)^[205]

References

1. "Not an hour on the day, not 1d off the pay!". Tamworth Herald. April 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
2. Crowther, Samuel (October 1926). "Henry Ford: "Why I Favor Five Days' Work With Six Days' Pay"". World's Work. pp. 613–616. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020.
3. "May 01, 1926 : Ford Factory workers get 40-hour week". Archived from the original on March 25, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
4. "5 Slain, 28 Hurt in Warsaw Red Labor Day Fray". Chicago Daily Tribune. May 2, 1926. p. 1.
5. "Challenge Cup 1925/26". Rugby League Project. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
6. Barany, Michael J.; Shields, Brit (16 May 2025), "Peter Lax, Pre-eminent Cold War Mathematician, Dies at 99", The New York Times, retrieved 22 May 2025
7. Jim Corbett, The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (Oxford University Press, 1954)ISBN 9780195622560
8. Musicant, Ivan (August 1990). The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish–American War to the Invasion of Panama. Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 291. ISBN 9780025882102.
9. "What was the General Strike of 1926?". BBC. June 19, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
10. "The Big Strike Menace; State of Emergency Proclaimed", The Birmingham Post, May 3, 1926, p.7
11. "British Government Defies Trades Union Congress— Six Million to Quit if General Strike Goes Into Effect", The Globe (Toronto), May 3, 1926, p.1
12. Bangash, Yaqoob. "The Creation of Swat State". Khudi.pk. Archived from the original on 16 February 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
13. "A obra de Milton Santos". GGN (in Portuguese). 22 January 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
14. Robert Gildea, The Past in French History (Yale University Press, 1994) p.78
15. "Louis Bonaparte Le chef de la famille impériale" [Louis Bonaparte, the head of the imperial family]. Le Monde. May 8, 1997..
16. "Strike On; London is 'Dead'". Chicago Daily Tribune. May 4, 1926. p. 1.
17. "Industry Stands Still— Biggest National Strike In History Of Nation Begins; England's Trade Paralysed; Essential Services Carried On To-day By Volunteers", Torbay Herald & Express (Torquay, Devon), May 4, 1926, p.1
18. "Men Who Are Affected. By General Strike Order. Over 200 Unions.", Dorset Daily Echo and Weymouth Dispatch, May 4, 1926, p.1, p.3
19. McNab, Robert (2004). Ghost Ships: A Surrealist Love Triangle. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 163. ISBN 0-300-10431-6.
20. https://web.archive.org/web/20060106052234/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/GENERAL_AVIATION/stinson/GA2.htm "Stinson Aircraft Corporation"] by Roger Guillemette, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, retrieved January 6, 2006
21. "Milton Thompson Is Dead at 67; Was Test Pilot for Rocket Plane". The New York Times. August 8, 1993. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
22. "June Middleton, in iron lung for 60 years, dies". The Australian. Australian Associated Press. 31 October 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
23. Aleksander Józef Zaremba Skrzyński Archived 14 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
24. "Ann B. Davis, 88, Dies; Comic Actress Played Maid on ‘Brady Bunch’", by Anita Gates, The New York Times, June 2, 2014
25. Shoichet, Catherine E. (June 1, 2014). "Ann B. Davis, Alice on 'Brady Bunch,' dies". CNN. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
26. "Maurice Green, pioneering virus researcher at SLU, dies at 91". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 8, 2017. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017.
27. Lentz, Harris M. III (2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5208-8. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
28. Soxhlet, Franz Ritter von In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0, p. 606 f.
29. Smirnov, N. "ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА —Сб. Неотвратимое возмездие" [Military Literature, "Inevitable Retribution"]. militera.lib.ru. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
30. "Died— BAKER, Charles S. L., widely known St. Joseph negro inventor", The St. Joseph (MO) News, May 7, 1926, p.26
31. Jackson, A.J. Blackburn Aircraft since 1909. London: Putnam, 1968, p.153 ISBN 0-370-00053-6
32. Weis, Natalie (15 October 2021). "Parlamendarium. Parlamentsgeschichte nach Kalendertagen" [Parliamentary Calendar. Parliamentary History by Calendar Days] (PDF). Deutscher Bundestag (in German). p. 25. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
33. "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
34. "General Strike – Diary 6th May". Woolf Online. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
35. Wesley R. Coe (1929). Biographical Memoir of Sidney Irving Smith 1843–1926 (PDF). Biographical Memoirs. United States National Academy of Sciences.
36. "List of Expeditions 1901-1929". history.navy.mil.
37. "French Reopen War; Airplanes Bomb Riffians". Chicago Daily Tribune. May 8, 1926. p. 6.
38. Glinsky, Albert (2000). Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. pp. 41–45. ISBN 0-252-02582-2.
39. "The death of Jacqueline Moreau, Première Danseuse and teacher at the Paris Opera", Opéra national de Paris, 2018
40. Eisenschitz, Bernard (1970). Douglas Fairbanks, 1883-1939: Anthologie du cinéma [Douglas Fairbanks, 1883-1939: Anthology of Cinema] (in French). Vol. 5. Paris: L'Avant-Scène. p. 538.
41. Hall, Mordaunt (March 9, 1926). "The Screen". New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
42. "The News of the Week in Foto-Form". The Film Daily. March 27, 1926. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
43. Wildenberg, Thomas; Polmar, Norman (2010), Ship Killer: A History of the American Torpedo, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, p. 65, ISBN 978-1-59114-688-9
44. "General Strike – Diary 8th May". Woolf Online. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
45. "Poullet, Prosper". Encyclopedia of the Flemish Movement. Archived from the original on 21 June 2025.
46. Deborah Mawer (24 August 2000). The Cambridge Companion to Ravel. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. pp. 264ff. ISBN 978-0-521-64856-1.
47. "1925–26 Championship Final". Wigan Warriors Rugby League Fansite. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
48. Rose, Lisle A. (2008). Explorer: The Life of Richard E. Byrd. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. pp. 54, 123–43, 478–79. ISBN 978-0826266439.
49. "BYRD FLIES TO NORTH POLE AND BACK; ROUND TRIP FROM KINGS BAY IN 15 HOURS 57 MINUTE; CIRCLES TOP OF THE WORLD SEVERAL TIMES", by William Bird, The New York Times, May 10, 1926, p.1
50. Rawlins, Dennis (January 2000). "Byrd's Heroic 1926 Flight & Its Faked Last Leg" (PDF). DIO, the International Journal of Scientific History. 10: 2–106 [54, 69–76, 84–88, 99, 105]. Retrieved July 13, 2007.
51. Thompson, Andrea (April 15, 2013). "Did Admiral Byrd Fly Over The North Pole Or Not?". LiveScience. Purch. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
52. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/09/us/did-byrd-reach-pole-his-diary-hints-no.html "Did Byrd Reach Pole? His Diary Hints 'No'"], by John Noble Wilford, The New York Times, May 9, 1996,
53. "May 9, 1926: Byrd flies over the North Pole?". This Day in History. A&E Television Networks. 9 February 2010. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
54. French Shells Kill 600 in Damascus; 500 Civilians, Including Women and Children, Slain in the Second Bombardment— 300 Houses Are Burned; Guns Fire On Ancient City for 15 Hours After Druse Attack French May 6", The New York Times, May 20, 1926, p.1 ("First details to reach London of another bombardment of Damascus by guns and airplanes, involving the loss of 600 lives and the destruction of more than three hundred houses, is reported by The Daily Express Damascus correspondent in a dispatch dated May 9")
55. Seldes, George, Witness to a Century, 1987, Ballantine Books, p. 232
56. Stromgren, Elis (May 15, 1926). "Circular No. 111". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. Observatoire De Copenhague.
57. "Forms New Polish Cabinet; Witos, as Premier, Keeps Most of Former Ministers", The New York Times, May 11, 1926, p.20
58. "Edinburgh to London East Train Wrecked; Authorities State Rail Was Pulled Up", The Ottawa Citizen, May 11, 1926, p.1 ("LONDON, May 11— The first case of serious sabotage since the general strike began was reported today. The famous "Flying Scotsman," running from Edinburgh to London, having on board 400 passengers, was wrecked yesterday...")
59. Bronstein, Jon; Harris, Andrew (2012). Empire, State and Society: Britain Since 1830. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-4051-8180-8.
60. "Display Captures Rich Preakness Stakes", Daily Racing Form, May 11, 1926
61. 'Kentucky Derby results chart". Daily Racing Form. May 17, 1926
62. "Disarmament Treaties Database: 1925 Geneva Protocol". United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
63. Planes Crash, Fliers Leap Safely; Majors Hickam and Geiger Drop in Parachutes at Langley Field, Va., The New York Times, May 11, 1926, p.14
64. "Hugo Banzer, 75; Bolivian Dictator Turned President". Los Angeles Times. May 6, 2002.
65. Rourke, Mary (March 11, 2004). "Tichi Kassel, 77; Editor of Trade Paper, Founder of Women in Film". Los Angeles Times.
66. "Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette, a Pioneer in Treating Sickle Cell Anemia, Dies at 89". The New York Times. April 7, 2016.
67. "Muere la actriz mexicana Dolores Beristain". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). 27 April 2010.
68. На 96-м году жизни скончался актёр Владимир Татосов ("At the age of 96, the death of actor Vladimir Tatosov")
69. "Judge Parker Dies in His Auto in Park; Democratic Nominee for the Presidency in 1904 Succumbs at 73 to Heart Disease", The New York Times, May 11, 1926, p.1
70. "The Legality of the General Strike in England", A. L. Goodhart The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Feb., 1927), pp. 464–485
71. "General Strike – Diary 11th May". Woolf Online. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
72. Negro Shot, Hanged Paraded in Streets by Band at Labelle", Tampa (FL) Morning Tribune, May 12, 1926, p.1
73. Barnes, Mike (July 18, 2024). "Yvonne Furneaux, Actress in Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' and Polanski's 'Repulsion,' Dies at 98". The Hollywood Reporter.
74. "Rudolf Kassel : Traueranzeige" (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 7 March 2020. Archived from the original on 24 May 2020.
75. "The People of the CIA ... Milan Miskovsky: Fighting for Justice". Central Intelligence Agency.
76. "The "Norge" Flight Avross the Arctic (1926)". Fram Museum. Archived from the original on 2014-12-03. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
77. "Amundsen's Dirigible Crosses North Pole and Flies on to Alaska; Big Airship Crosses the North Pole, Flags of Three Nations Are Lowered as Sun Breaks through a Thick Fog", The Toronto Daily Star, May 12, 1926, p.1
78. "GENERAL STRIKE IN GREAT BRITAIN CALLED OFF— Trades Congress Cancels the Strike and Negotiations Will Be Resumed", The Toronto Daily Star, May 12, 1926, p.1
79. "General Strike – Diary 12th May". Woolf Online. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
80. Joseph Rothschild, Pilsudski's Coup D'État, Columbia University Press, 1967, ISBN 0-231-02984-5
81. Clingan, C. Edmund (2010). The Lives of Hans Luther, 1879–1962. Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-7391-3641-6.
82. "Luther Cabinet Out; Fascist Plot Nipped— Nationalists Oust Ministry as Berlin Police Check Attempt to Set Up Dictatorship", by Lincoln Eyre, The New York Times, May 13, 1926, p.1
83. Levon Hakobian, Music of the Soviet Era: 1917-1991 (Taylor & Francis, 2016) p.60
84. Garth James Cameron, From Pole to Pole: Roald Amundsen's Journey in Flight (Skyhorse Publishing, 2014) ISBN 9781629149608
85. Hercílio Luz Bridge at Structurae
86. "The Change-Over". The Evening Standard. London: 1. April 13, 1926.
87. "Boca Juniors 3 - Belgrano (Rosario) 2" on Historia de Boca
88. Argentina - Copa Ibarguren by Osvaldo Gorgazzi at RSSSF
89. Thomas P. Koziara, Historia Nostra: The Complete History of Poland, Volume IV: "1586 to Present" (Aurilera S.A., 2020) pp.95-96
90. Joshua D. Zimmerman, Jozef Pilsudski: Founding Father of Modern Poland (Harvard University Press, 2022) p.398 ISBN 9780674984271
91. "Halo, halo ovdje Radio Zagreb!". www.hnd.hr. 20 June 2016.
92. Malović, Stjepan; Selnow, Gary W. (2001). The People, Press, and Politics of Croatia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-275-96543-3.
93. Ross, J. Andrew (2015). Joining the Clubs: The Business of the National Hockey League to 1945. Syracuse University Press. p. 134. ISBN 9780815633839.
94. "Gilda Gray's First Movie, 'Aloma,' Coming May 15", The Brooklyn Eagle, May 5, 1926, p.36
95. "$40,000 for 'Aloma'— Takes In $7,000 First Day, and Indications Point to Banner Week", Exhibitors Daily Review (New York), May 18, 1926, p.1
96. Roger Bryant, William Powell: The Life and Films (McFarland, 2014) pp.30-32 ISBN 9780786454938
97. Gallagher, Michael (1985). Political Parties in the Republic of Ireland. Manchester University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-71901-797-1.
98. Whelan, Noel (2011). A History of Fianna Fáil: The Outstanding Biography of the Party. Gill Books. ISBN 978-0-71715-198-1.
99. Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2011). Destiny of the Soldiers – Fianna Fáil, Irish Republicanism and the IRA, 1926–1973: The History of Ireland's Largest and Most Successful Political Party. Gill Books. ISBN 978-0-71715-166-0.
100. "U. S. BUENOS AIRES EMBASSY BOMBED— Police Place Blame Upon Sacco Friends", The Tampa (FL) Daily Times, May 17, 1926, p.1
101. Felipe Pigna, The Myths of Argentine History (Editorial Planeta, 2005) p.106 ISBN 987-545-228-9
102. 1925-26 National Hurling League results
103. "Spain - Cup 1926", by José Vicente Tejedor Carnicero, Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, February 12, 2001
104. "Obituary. Glen Michael, legend of Scottish TV, dies age 99". The Times. 10 July 2025. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
105. Adra, Jamil (2005). Genealogy of the Imperial Ottoman Family 2005. pp. 36–37.
106. "Turkish Ex-Sultan Dies While in Exile; Mohammed VI Is Victim of Heart Attack in Italy, Whither He Fled When Dethroned in 1922", The New York Times, May 17, 1926, p.21
107. Genç, Kaya (20 January 2023). "The Long Shadow of the Last Ottoman Sultan". New Lines Magazine.
108. "Marx, Wilhelm". Deutsche Biographie (in German). Bayerische Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
109. "1926 to 2006: Eight Decades of Excellence" (IAPMO, 2007), p.8
110. Pierre-Daniel Templier, Erik Satie, MIT Press, 1969, p. 79. Translated from the original French edition published by Rieder, Paris, 1932.
111. Paul Collaer, "Correspondance avec des amis musiciens", Editions Mardaga, 1996, p. 227 and note 3.
112. "Legendary Climber Allen Steck Dies at 97". Gripped. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
113. "Ambassador who served under 8 U.S. presidents dies in SLO at age 92". Retrieved December 18, 2018.
114. John James, ed. (2013). Almanach de Gotha (2013 ed.). BOYE6. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-9575198-24.
115. "Divers Seek Body of Woman Preacher; Followers of Mrs. McPherson, Los Angeles Evangelist, Keep Vigil on Beach", The New York Times, May 21, 1926, p14
116. Grimley, Naomi (November 24, 2014). "The mysterious disappearance of a celebrity preacher". BBC News. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
117. "Dirch Passer". danskefilm.dk. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016.
118. "Remembering Niranjan Bhagat (1926-2018), a giant of Gujarati poetry". February 3, 2018. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018.
119. "Miss Elinor Jessie Marie Hallé CBE - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
120. "Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; (1783-2002)" (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
121. "Morrison dies after midnight trip to Superior," Duluth News Tribune, May 19, 1926, p.1
122. Swiatek, Anthony (2012). Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States. Chicago: KWS Publishers. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-9817736-7-4.
123. Fenby, Jonathan (2003). Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-Shek and the China He Lost. London: Free Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0743231442.
124. "Druze Revolt of 1925 – 27 and French Air Power". Colonial Warfare 1880–1975. December 20, 2010. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
125. "Coolidge Signs Bingham Aviation Bill", Detroit Free Press, May 21, 1926, p.1
126. "RAILROAD LABOR BOARD IS ABOLISHED— Coolidge Sings Act For New System of Handling Disputes", Houston Post-Dispatch, May 21, 1926, p.1
127. "Latzo Wins Welter Title From Walker", The Omaha Morning Bee, May 21, 1926, p.1
128. "New Belgian Cabinet", The Manchester Guardian, May 21, 1926, p.8
129. "The Great White Train", Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 673 November 1993 pages 267-278, 285
130. "The Great White Train", The Land (Sydney), November 13, 1925, p.19
131. (NYT), The New York Times (April 24, 1999). "Obituary: Munir Khan Dies; Developed Pakistan Bomb Project". The New York Times. p. 1.
132. "Bank of France Stakes Its Gold to Rescue Franc— Will Cover $200,000,000 in Exchange Deals", by Jay Allen, Chicago Daily Tribune, May 22, 1926, p.9
133. "Political Prisoners Freed by Nicaragua", The Washington Post, May 22, 1926, p.1
134. Kemp, Sam (20 March 2023). "Albert Grossman: Bob Dylan's "Colonel Tom Parker figure"". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
135. Lack, John. "Hugh Victor McKay (1865–1926)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved March 12, 2007.
136. Campbell, Carlos Clinton (1960). Birth of a National Park in the Great Smoky Mountains. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press. pp. 13–18, 32–34. ISBN 978-0-87049-029-3 – via Google Books.
137. Quraishi, Zaheer M. (1967). Liberal Nationalism in Egypt: Rise and Fall of the Wafd Party. Jamal Printing Press. ISBN 9780861990009.
138. "Rogers Hornsby". Baseball Library. The Idea Logical Company. 2006. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
139. "May 22, 1926, Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals". Baseball-Reference.com.
140. Vladimir P. Krainov (2009). "Obituaries: Nikolai Borisovich Delone". Physics Today. 62 (5): 67. Bibcode:2009PhT....62e..67K. doi:10.1063/1.3141949.
141. "Obituary: Ernest Septimus Reynolds, M.D., F.R.C.P." British Medical Journal, June 5, 1926, p. 969
142. Butros Dau, History of the Maronites Religious, Cultural, and Political (B. Dau, 1984) p.700
143. "The Lebanese Constitution, Promulgated on May 23, 1926", Lebanese Parliament
144. "Sword Rattling – German "Reds" Parade". The Northern Star. Lismore, New South Wales: 5. May 26, 1926. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
145. "Aileen Hernandez, former NOW president who fought for women's and minority rights, dies at 90", The Washington Post, by Emily Lander, March 1, 2017
146. "Joe Slovo, Anti-Apartheid Stalinist, Dies at 68", The New York Times, January 7, 1995
147. "The Eruption of the Tokachidake Volcano, Hokkaido, on May 24th, 1926", by Fumio Tada and Hiromichi Tsuya, Bulletin of the Earthquake Research Institute (in English), Volume 42 (1964) pp.49-50
148. "1,000 Are Reported Missing As Japanese Volcano Erupts", The New York Times, May 25, 1926, p.1
149. Crump, John (1993). Hatta Shūzō and Pure Anarchism in Interwar Japan. Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-23038-9. ISBN 978-1-349-23040-2.
150. "File R2314/6A/4118/655/Jacket1 - British Mandates over Irak - Correspondence respecting concessions granted by the Mandatory Power".
151. "BP Gives Iraq Oil Field". The Oil and Gas Journal. Vol. 56, no. 47. November 24, 1958. p. 61.
152. "Actor and comedian Stanley Baxter dies aged 99". Sky News. December 12, 2025.
153. "FRANCE: Petlura Trial". Time. 7 November 1927. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
154. "General Petlura Is Fatally Shot in Paris By Russian Student Seeking Revenge", The New York Times, May 26, 1926, p.1
155. "Romania (1904–present)". University of Central Arkansas. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
156. "Rumanian Government Wins Elections; Many Charges of Terrorism Are Made", The New York Times, May 26, 1926, p.3
157. "Coolidge Signs Bill for New Buildings" The New York Times, May 26, 1926
158. "Bill Sharman, N.B.A. Hall of Fame Player and Coach, Dies at 87", by Stuart Lavietes,The New York Times, October 25, 2013
159. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1994/01/28/claude-akins-genial-rugged-actor-dies/d06150b7-1ca4-4c02-a578-c87479d8e51c/
160. "Abd el-Krim". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I: A-Ak - Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2010. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.
161. "Abd-el-Krim Yields Himself to French, Ending 5-Year War; Vanquished Leader Will Be Received With Honors by Foes Along Route to Fez", The New York Times, May 27, 1926, p.1
162. "Burma Cyclone and Tidal Wave Take 1,200 Lives; Entire Villages Are Swept Away— All Wires Down. Relief Inadequate", Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 29, 1926, p.1
163. "Burma Storm Deaths 2,800; Fatalities From Cyclone and Tidal Wave Expected to Mount", The New York Times, June 3, 1926, p.26
164. Edmond Rabbath, La Constitution libanaise (Beirut: Publications de l'Université Libanaise, 1982) p. 428
165. Cressman, Robert J. (May 10, 2021). L-8 (Submarine No. 48). Retrieved October 23, 2025.
166. https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/27/archives/hungarian-prince-guilty-of-forgery-windischgraetz-and-20-others.html%7C[Hungarian Prince Guilty of Forgery]; Windisch-Graetz and 20 Others Sentenced for Counterfeiting French Banknotes", The New York Times, May 27, 1926, p.1
167. Klay, Andor (1974). "Hungarian Counterfeit Francs: A Case of Post-World War I Political Sabotage". Slavic Review. 33 (1): 107–113. doi:10.2307/2495329. JSTOR 2495329.
168. Cooley, John (2008). Currency Wars: How Forged Money is the New Weapon of Mass Destruction. New York: Skyhorse Publishing. p. 186. ISBN 978-1602392700.
169. Petruccelli, David (2016). "Banknotes from the Underground: Counterfeiting and the International Order in Interwar Europe". Journal of Contemporary History. 51 (3): 525. doi:10.1177/0022009415577003. S2CID 156881357.
170. Early, Gerald (2001). Miles Davis and American Culture. Missouri History Museum. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-883982-38-6.
171. "Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 38. Supplement. Sörensen, Vendela L." (in Swedish). Nordisk familjebok. 1926. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
172. Mojca Kompara Lukančič (ed.). "Srečko Kosovel (1904–1926): Pesniški genij z veliko odgovornosti do človeka" [Srečko Kosovel 1926–2026: a review of translated works on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death]. Dnevnik.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2021-03-18.
173. Sally Marks, Makers of the Modern World: Paul Hymans, Belgium (Haus Publishing, 2010) ISBN 9781907822247
174. Hymans, Paul (October 1930). "Belgium's Position in Europe". Foreign Affairs. 9 (October 1930). Council on Foreign Relations: 54–64. doi:10.2307/20030328. JSTOR 20030328. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
175. "Chronology 1926". indiana.edu. 2002. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
176. Wyrtzen, Jonathan (2016-02-19). Making Morocco: Colonial Intervention and the Politics of Identity. Cornell University Press. p. 183. ISBN 9781501704246. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
177. "Kees Rijvers". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
178. "Former Netherlands player and coach Rijvers dies aged 97". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
179. Soun Of Ogbomoso Jimoh Oyewumi Dies, by Bukola Oriowo, ChannelsTV.com, December 12, 2021
180. "Revolt in Army Excites Portugal; Eighth Division at Braga in the North Rebels, but Lisbon Is Under Firm Control"], The New York Times, May 29, 1926, p.2
181. Tom Gallagher, Portugal: A Twentieth-century Interpretation (Manchester University Press, 1983) pp.35-36
182. "Revolution Ousts Lisbon Government; Commander Cabecadas, Leader in Rising, Takes Reins Till New Ministry Is Formed", The New York Times, May 31, 1926, p1
183. Douglas L. Wheeler, Republican Portugal: A Political History, 1910-1926 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1998) pp.240-241
184. G. Mercer Adam, Spain — Portugal, The History of Nations series (P. F. Collier & Son, 1928) p.549
185. Rosas, Fernando (2007). Lisboa revolucionária: 1908-1975 [Revolutionary Lisbon] (in Portuguese). Lisboa: Tinta da China Edições. ISBN 978-989-671-025-5.
186. Vol - I, Subodh S. Sengupta & Anjali Basu (2002). Sansad Bangali Charitavidhan (Bengali). Kolkata: Sahitya Sansad. p. 311. ISBN 81-85626-65-0.
187. "Injuries in trial spin fatal to race driver". The Evening News. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. May 29, 1926. Archived from the original on 2023-05-01.
188. "Museu da Presidência da República". Museu da Presidência da República (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-05-07.
189. "Princess Elizabeth— Saturday's Christening; Ceremony of Simple Charm". The Daily Telegraph (London). May 31, 1926. p. 8.
190. "May Be Queen Elizabeth II". The San Francisco Chronicle. June 2, 1926. p. 8. The Duchess of York and her brand new baby, Princess Elizabeth, granddaughter of the King and Queen of England, is nearer to the throne than Victoria was at her age. Who knows hat may happen?
191. East, Roger; Thomas, Richard J. (3 June 2014). Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders. Routledge. ISBN 9781317639404.
192. "A week of celebration underway for the Queen's 85th Birthday". Ministry of Information and Communications. 2011-05-25. Archived from the original on 2012-03-28. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
193. "Tonga's Queen Mother dies in Auckland". RNZ. 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
194. Mellor, Roger Philip (2022). "Boyle, Caterina Irene Elena Maria [Katie; née Imperiali dei Principi di Francavilla] (1926–2018), fashion model and media personality". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380436. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
195. Barker, Dennis (20 March 2018). "Katie Boyle obituary". The Guardian.
196. Tharu, Susie; Lalita (1993). ""Dhiruben Patel"". Women Writing in India, vol.1. Feminist Press at CUNY. pp. 224–226. ISBN 9781558610293.
197. "Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald, Alienist, is Dead; Appeared as an Expert in the Thaw, Czolgosz and Noel Homicide Cases". The New York Times. June 2, 1926. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
198. "History – Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935)". Poland.gov. Archived from the original on 13 February 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
199. Borja W. González Fernández. Ta'ifah or nation? The lebanese maronite community in the twentieth century, 1918-1975 (Thesis). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. p. 158.
200. "Sesquicentennial opens as sun shines; 100,000 pass gates". New York Times. 1926-06-01. p. 1.
201. Iyer, Usha (September 2013). "Decolonisation and the Imperial Cricket Conference, 1947–1965: A Study in Transnational Commonwealth History?" (PDF). Retrieved 9 August 2025.
202. "Youthful Driver Declared Victor After 400 Miles". The Indianapolis Star. June 1, 1926. p. 1. Retrieved June 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
203. "The Year in American Soccer - 1926", by Steve Holroyd and David Litterer (2013)
204. Huybrechts, A. (1977). "Ntidendereza (Jean-Baptiste)". Biographie Belge d'Outre-Mer (in French). Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences.
205. Morgan, Jason (March 2019). "Kikuta Noboru and Adoption Law in Japan" (PDF). 麗澤大学紀要 (Reitaku University Bulletin). 102.