1930

January 1

• Earl Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to second lieutenant. [1]
• Jurgens and Van den Berg merge with Lever Brothers to form Unilever. [1]

January 5

• Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire". [1]

January 6

• First diesel engine automobile trip (in a Packard sedan) completed. [1]

January 7

• Edwin Justus Mayer's "Children of Darkness" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• Rudolf Häpke historian (Entstehung Holländ Wirtschaft), dies at age 45. [1]

January 8

• Belgium Princess Marie-José marries Italian's crown prince Umberto. [1]

January 9

• Edward W Buck Dutch/US editor (Ladies Home Journal), dies at age 66. [1]

January 10

• Mordovian Autonomous Region in RSFSR constituted. [1]

January 11

• At 12:00 PM, the first official theater-based Mickey Mouse Club begins, at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California. [6]

January 13

• The first Mickey Mouse comic strip is published, in the New York Mirror newspaper in the USA. The strip is initially written by Walt Disney, and drawn by Ub Iwerks. [1] [6]
• C-E Auguste Rateau French inventor (R-steam turbine), dies at age 66. [1]

January 18

• -27 degrees F (-33 degrees C), Watts Oklahoma (state record). [1]
• Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "The Nose" premieres in Leningrad. [1]

January 20

• First radio broadcast of "Lone Ranger" (WXYZ-Detroit). [1]

January 22

• -35 degrees F (-37 degrees C), Mount Carroll Illinois (state record). [1]

January 23

• Clyde Tombaugh photographs planet Pluto. [1]

January 26

• Cleveland's Terminal Tower opens (52 stories). [1]

January 27

• Jean Hure composer, dies at age 52. [1]

January 30

• The world's first radiosonde is launched from Pavlovsk, USSR. [5]
• Vladimir Mayakovsky's "Banya" premieres in Leningrad. [1]

January 31

• First US glider flight from a dirigible, Lakehurst New Jersey. [1]

February 1

• Arnold Schönbergs opera premieres in Frankfurt. [1]

February 3

• Vietnamese Communistic Party forms. [1]
• William Howard Taft, resigns as chief justice for health reasons. [1]

February 4

• First tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks, New Orleans. [1]

February 5

• 5th Aliyah to Israel begins. [1]

February 6

• Eva Strittmatter writer, dies at age 17. [1]

February 8

• "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Benny Mereoff hits #1. [1]

February 10

• Grain Stabilization Corporation authorized byUS Congress. [1]

February 17

• French government of Tardieu, falls. [1]

February 18

• Cow flown and milked, milk sealed in paper containers and parachuted. [1]
• Luigi Pirandello's "Come Tu Mi Vuoi" premieres in Milan. [1]
• Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Simple Simon" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto. [1]

February 21

• Marc Connelly's "Green Pastures" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

February 22

• Godfried van Daalen Dutch General/governor of Atjeh, dies at age 66. [1]

February 23

• Horst Wessel German Nazi lyricist (Fahne Hoch), dies at age 22. [1]
• Mabel Normand actress/director (Extra Girl), dies at age 35. [1]

February 24

• Jacobus van Looy Dutch writer/painter (Night Cactus), dies at age 74. [1]

February 25

• Check photographing device patented. [1]

February 26

• "The Green Pastures" opens at Mansfield Theater. [1]
• First red and green traffic lights installed (Manhattan New York City). [1]
• Raffaele Merry del Val Spanish Cardinal, dies at age 64. [1]

February 27

• Bouvet Island declared a Norwegian dependency. [1]

March 1

• Aloïs Walgrave Flemish writer/pastor (Peace on Earth), dies at age 54. [1]

March 2

• First US indoor glider flight, Saint Louis Terminal Building. [1]
• David H Lawrence poet/writer (Lady Chatterley's Lover), dies at age 44. [1]

March 4

• Coolidge Dam in Arizona dedicated. [1]

March 6

• Brooklyn's Clarence Birdseye develops a method for quick freezing food. [1]

March 8

• Mahatma Gandhi starts civil disobedience in India. [1]
• William Howard Taft, 27th US President (1909-13)/Chief Justice, dies at age 72. [1]

March 11

• President and Chief Justice William Taft buried in Arlington. [1]

March 12

• Mohandas Gandhi begins 200 mile (321 km) march protesting British salt tax. [1] [5]

March 13

• Clyde Tombaugh announces discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory. [1]
• Mary E W Freeman US writer (Pembroke), dies at age 77. [1]

March 15

• First seaplane glider flown, Port Washington New York. [1]
• First streamlined submarine of US navy, USS Nautilus, launched. [1]
• Antonio Beltramelli writer, dies at age 51. [1]

March 16

• Miguel Primo de Riveray Orbaneja Sp dictator (1923-30), dies at age 60. [1]
• USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) floated out to become a national shrine. [1]

March 18

• Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh (US). [1]

March 19

• Arthur J Balfour British theologist/premier (1902-05), dies at age 81. [1]
• Nakagawa Soen accepted as a student of Katsube Keigaku Roshi. [1]

March 20

• Clessie Cummins sets diesel engine speed record of 129.39 kph. [1]

March 24

• First religious services telecast in US (W2XBS, New York City, New York). [1]
• Planet Pluto named. [1]

March 26

• US Congress appropriates $50,000 for Inter-American highway. [1]

March 27

• First US radio broadcast from a ship at sea. [1]

March 28

• First performance of Walter Piston's Suite for orchestra (Boston). [1]
• Constantinople and Angora changes names to Istanbul and Ankara. [1]

March 29

• Anton Bettelheim writer, dies. [1]

April 1

• "Blue Angel", starring unknown Marlene Dietrich, premieres in America. [1]
• Cosima Liszt wife of Austrian composer Richard Wagner, dies at age 92. [1]
• Zawditu first reigning female monarch of Ethiopia, dies. [1]

April 2

• First New York-Bermuda airplane flight lands in Bermuda. [1]

April 3

• Ras Tafari becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). [1]

April 4

• Vladimir Majakovski Russian poet, dies. [1]
• Queen Viktoria of Sweden dies, in Rome, Italy. [7]

April 6

• First transcontinental glider tow completed. [1]
• Hostess Twinkies invented by bakery executive James Dewar. [1]

April 10

• Synthetic rubber first produced. [1]

April 11

• Panama passes a law for new coinage of the same size, weight, silver content, and denominations as US coins. [388.B20] [399.22]

April 14

• Philip Barry's "Hotel Universe", premieres in New York City. [1]
• W Majakowski writer, dies at age 36. [1]

April 17

• Abkhazian ASSR established in Georgian SSR. [1]

April 21

• Christine [Elizabeth C] Poolman Dutch actress (Mother), dies at age 79. [1]
• Fire (set as part of an escape attempt) at Ohio State Penitentiary kills 320. [1]
• Robert S Bridges poet laureate (Testament of beauty), dies at age 85. [1]
• Vladimir Mayakovsky's "Moskva Golid", premieres in Moscow. [1]

April 22

• Jeppe Aakjær Danish journalist/author/poet (Rugens sange), dies at age 63. [1]
• US, Britain and Japan sign London Naval Treaty to reduce naval forces. [1]

April 29

• North Sea floodgate at Ijmuiden (biggest in world) officially opens. [1]
• Telephone connection England-Australia goes into service. [1]

May 1

• The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named. [5]

May 5

• First woman to fly solo from England to Australia takes-off (Amy Johnson). [1]

May 8

• Lvar Henning Mankell composer, dies at age 61. [1]

May 10

• First US planetarium opens (Adler-Chicago). [1]

May 12

• Pieter Jelles Troelstra Dutch SDAP leader, dies at age 70. [1]
• Pulitzer prize awarded to Marc Connelly (Green Pastures). [1]

May 13

• Farmer killed by hail in Lubbock Texas; this is the only known fatality due to hail. [1]
• Fridtjof Nansen diplomat (Nobel Prize 1922), dies. [1]
• Helena Lange German feminist, dies. [1]

May 15

• Ellen Church becomes first airline stewardess, United (San Francisco to Cheyenne). [1]

May 16

• 6th Walker Cup: US 10-Great Britain/Ireland 2. [1]

May 17

• Herbert David Croly US founder (New Republic), dies at age 61. [1]

May 18

• Joao Marcellino Arroyo composer, dies at age 68. [1]

May 19

• White woman win voting rights in South Africa. [1]

May 20

• First airplane catapulted from a dirigible, Charles Nicholson, pilot. [1]
• University of California dedicates $1,500 to research on prevention and cure of athlete's foot. [1]

May 24

• First woman to fly from England to Australia solo, lands (Amy Johnson). [1]

May 26

• US Supreme Court rules buying liquor does not violate the Constitution. [1]

May 27

• The Chrysler Building opens to the public in New York. At 1,046 feet tall, it is the tallest man-made structure in the world. [5]
• Richard Drew invents masking tape. [1]

May 28

• Georges Forbes succeeds Joseph Ward as premier of New Zealand. [1]

May 31

• Building begins on Albert Canal in Belgium. [1]
• Comet 73P/1930 (Schwassmann-Wachmann 3) approaches 0.0617 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth. [1]

June 2

• Sarah Dickson becomes first woman Presbyterian elder in US, Cincinnati. [1]

June 7

• New York Times agrees to capitalize the n in "Negro". [1]

June 13

• 22 people killed by hailstones in Siatista Greece. [1]

June 17

• US President Herbert Hoover signs the Hawley-Smoot Tariff bill into law, increasing some 900 American import duties. [341.125]

June 24

• First radar detection of planes, Anacostia DC. [1]

June 27

• P Parchomenko discovers asteroid #1166 Sakuntala. [1]

June 30

• First round-the-world radio broadcast Schenectady New York. [1]

July 3

• Veterans Administration created. [1]

July 7

• Construction of the Boulder Dam begins, in Boulder Canyon, Colorado. [1] [129]

July 13

• Sarnoff reports in New York Times "TV would be a theater in every home". [1]

July 18

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average removes American Sugar, American Tobacco B, Atlantic Refining, General Railway Signal, Goodrich, Nash Motors, and Curtiss-Wright from its index, replacing them with Borden, Eastman Kodak Company, Goodyear, Liggett & Myers, Standard Oil of California, United Air Transport, and Hudson Motor. [228]

July 20

• 106 degrees F (41 degrees C), Washington, DC (district record). [1]

July 21

• US Veterans Administration established. [1]

July 22

• G Neujmin discovers asteroid #1306 Scythia. [1]
• H Van Gent discovers asteroids #1666 van Gent, #1752 van Herk. [1]

July 28

• 114 degrees F (46 degrees C), Greensburg, Kentucky (state record). [1]

August 9

• Betty Boop debutes in Max Fleischer's animated cartoon Dizzy Dishes. [1]

August 18

• Eastern Airlines begins passenger service. [1]

August 20

• Dumont's first TV broadcast for home reception (New York City). [1]

September 2

• First non-stop airplane flight from Europe to US (37 hours). [1]

September 3

• Hurricane kills 2,000, injures 4,000 (Dominican Republic). [1]

September 5

• The Mickey Mouse film The Chain Gang is released to theaters in the USA. This film debuts Pluto the dog, though he is not named. [6]

September 8

• First appearance of the comic strip "Blondie". [1]
• New York City public schools begin teaching Hebrew. [1]

September 10

• Charles E Mitchell, named minister to Liberia. [1]

September 11

• Stomboli volcano (Sicily) throws 2-ton basaltic rocks two miles. [1]

September 14

• Nazis gain 107 seats in German election. [1]

September 15

• First international Bridge (card game) match is held in London, England. US team defeats England. [1] [55.28]

September 21

• Johann Ostermeyer patents the flashbulb. [1]

September 28

• Lou Gehrig's errorless streak ends at 885 consecutive games. [1]

September 29

• Boquerón battle ends Paraguay border dispute. [1]

October 9

• First transcontinental flight by a woman completed, Laura Ingalls. [1]

October 20

• British White Paper restricts Jews from buying Arab land. [1]

October 25

• First scheduled transcontinental air service begins. [1]

October 30

• Turkey and Greece sign a treaty of friendship. [1]

November 2

• Ras Tafari crowned Haile Selassie I, 225th emperor of Solmonic Dynasty. [1]

November 3

• First vehicular tunnel to a foreign country (Detroit-Windsor) opens. [1]
• Bank of Italy becomes Bank of America. [1]

November 9

• First nonstop airplane flight from New York to Panama. [1]

November 24

• First woman pilot on a transcontinental air flight Miss Ruth Nichols (Mineola, New York to California), in a Lockheed-Vega, took 7 days. [1]

November 25

• 690 earthquake shocks recorded in one day (Ito Japan). [1]

December 1

• Ruth Nichols becomes first woman pilot to cross the continent. [1]

December 3

• Air-borne chemicals combine with fog to kill 60 (Meuse Valley Belgium). [1]
• Otto Ender forms Austrian government. [1]
• Richard Rodgers/L Hart's musical "Evergreen" premieres in London. [1]

December 4

• French government of Tardieu falls. [1]
• Vatican approves rhythm method for birth control. [1]

December 6

• Pablo Neruda marries Marie A Hagenaar Vogelzang in Batavia. [1]

December 7

• In Boston, Massachusetts, the CBS radio orchestra program is broadcast in video and included the first television commercial in the United States. [5]

December 8

• Broadway Theater opens at 1681 Broadway New York City, New York. [1]
• Cole Porter's musical "NYCers" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

December 11

• Bank of the United States opens in New York City, New York. [1]
• Friedrich von Bernhardi German war theorist/historian, dies at age 81. [1]

December 13

• George Sisler's career ends when Boston Braves release him. [1]
• Theodore Steeg forms French government. [1]

December 17

• Peter Warlock composer, dies at age 36. [1]

December 19

• James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of NAACP. [1]

December 22

• Six West europe lands signs Convention of Oslo. [1]

December 23

• Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios. [1]
• Johannes H Been Brielle archivist, dies at age 71. [1]
• Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in New York City, New York. [1]

December 24

• Eduard David German minister (constitution of Weimar), dies at age 67. [1]
• Federico García Lorca's "La Zapatera Prodigiosa" premieres in Madrid. [1]
• Oskar Nedbal composer, dies at age 56. [1]

December 25

• First US bobsled run open to the public (Mount Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid New York). [1]
• Harvey Worthington Loomis composer, dies at age 65. [1]

December 27

• William Courtleigh actor (Madame X, Eyes of Youth), dies at age 63. [1]

December 31

• Pontifical encyclical Casti connubii against mixed marriages. [1]
• US tobacco industry produced 123 billion cigarettes in 1930. [1]