January 1922

The following events occurred in January 1922:

January 1, 1922 (Sunday)

• A delegation of the Far Eastern Republic in Washington, D.C. revealed what it claimed to be secret documents revealing a military alliance between France and Japan, seeking to secure Japanese domination of Siberia in exchange for stabilization of French interests in Russia. France and Japan both denounced the documents as forgeries.^[1]
• Belgium officially instituted bilinguilism.^[2]
• Born: Ernest Hollings, politician, in Charleston, South Carolina
• Died: István Kühár, 34, Slovene (Prekmurje Slovene) writer and politician

January 2, 1922 (Monday)

• In the Rose Bowl, Washington & Jefferson College and the California Golden Bears played to a scoreless tie.
• The Soviet government published statistical data showing that 1,766,118 people had been executed since the October Revolution.^[3]
• The German mark fell to 32,000 against 1 British pound.^[4]

January 3, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Romania and Latvia established diplomatic relations.^[5]

January 4, 1922 (Wednesday)

• Representatives of Belgium, France and Great Britain met at Cannes for a conference on Germany's inability to make reparations payments.^[2]

January 5, 1922 (Thursday)

• London Times correspondent A.B. Kay was kidnapped by armed members of the Irish Republican Army. Kay had been having lunch in a pub across from the Dáil Éireann when three men with revolvers burst in and abducted him, angry over a story he'd written regarding public opinion in Cork over the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Kay was released that same night.^[6][7]
• The Washington Naval Conference adopted a declaration outlawing submarine warfare against merchant ships.^[4]
• Died: Ernest Shackleton, 47, Anglo-Irish polar explorer (atheroma)

January 6, 1922 (Friday)

• Éamon de Valera offered his resignation as President of the Irish Republic, saying that he "could not carry on until I know if I have the support of this Dáil ... I appeal to this House to re-elect me, give me a vote of confidence so that I can stand on the rock of an independent Irish republic. If you want this treaty you can elect someone else."^[8]

January 7, 1922 (Saturday)

• Anglo-Irish Treaty Dáil vote: following weeks of debate, the Dáil Éireann voted 64-57 to approve the Anglo-Irish Treaty.^[9]
• U.S. Representative Alanson B. Houghton was appointed as the new American ambassador to Germany.^[10]
• The Washington Naval Conference agreed to outlaw the use of poison gas in warfare.^[4]
• Born: Alvin Dark, baseball player and manager, in Comanche, Oklahoma (d. 2014); Jean-Pierre Rampal, flautist, in Marseille, France (d. 2000)

January 8, 1922 (Sunday)

• A general election was held in the Republic of Central Lithuania. A majority of the inhabitants voted to remain part of Poland, but the Lithuanian government refused to recognize the vote.^[11]
• Éamon de Valera said that the Republic of Ireland still existed and that yesterday's resolution was "not ratification of that treaty and not a legal act. That will not be affected until the Irish people have disestablished the republic which they have set up by their own will."^[12]
• The Socialist Youth League of Norway was founded.
• Born: Jan Nieuwenhuys, painter, in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1986); Abbey Simon, classical pianist, in the United States

January 9, 1922 (Monday)

• Éamon de Valera was defeated for re-election in the Dáil, 60-58. After the vote was counted everyone in the assembly rose and cheered for him.^[13]
• The Danish parliament approved 1.5 million kroner for relief against the Russian famine.^[14]
• Born: Har Gobind Khorana, biochemist, in Kabirwala, Punjab, British India (d. 2011); Ahmed Sékou Touré, political leader, in Faranah, Guinea (d. 1984)

January 10, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Arthur Griffith was elected President of Dáil Éireann. The assembly then adjourned until February 14 to give his new government time to begin the organization of what would become the Irish Free State.^[15]
• The Sejm in Poland approved a bill introducing two-year cumpulsory military service.^[16]
• Born: Terence Kilmartin, translator, in Ireland (d. 1991)
• Died: Ōkuma Shigenobu, 83, 8th Prime Minister of Japan

January 11, 1922 (Wednesday)

• At Toronto General Hospital, 14-year old Leonard Thompson became the first human to receive an injection of insulin as a treatment for diabetes, administered by James Collip. The boy developed an allergic reaction and so more work was done to refine the treatment.^[2]
• The second trial of Fatty Arbuckle began in San Francisco.^[17]
• The drama film Foolish Wives, written and directed by Erich von Stroheim, premiered at the Central Theatre in New York City.^[18]

January 12, 1922 (Thursday)

• The British government announced an amnesty for all Irish political prisoners.^[4]
• Aristide Briand resigned as Prime Minister of France.^[19]
• Born: Tadeusz Żychiewicz, journalist and art historian, in Bratkowice, Poland (d. 1994)

January 13, 1922 (Friday)

• The conference at Cannes ended with an agreement to allow Germany to temporarily suspend reparations payments.^[11]
• Adolf Hitler was sentenced to three months in prison for disrupting a meeting at a beer hall where speaker Otto Ballerstedt was seriously injured.^[20]
• WLB in Minneapolis, the first radio station in the state of Minnesota, went on the air.^[21]
• WHA in Madison, Wisconsin became the first licensed radio station in that state.^[21]
• Born: Albert Lamorisse, filmmaker and writer, in Paris, France (d. 1970)

January 14, 1922 (Saturday)

• The Southern Ireland Parliament elected a new provisional government with Michael Collins at its head.^[22]

January 15, 1922 (Sunday)

• Raymond Poincaré became Prime Minister of France for the second time.
• The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was launched at a meeting in Washington, D.C. After the meeting several thousand supporters marched two miles to greet Wilson at his home. "I need hardly tell you that such a demonstration and evidence of friendship makes me very happy", Wilson told the crowd from his doorstep. "There can be no doubt as to the vitality of the League of Nations."^[23]

January 16, 1922 (Monday)

• Michael Collins entered Dublin Castle and formally took possession from the British.^[24]
• Born: Ernesto Bonino, singer, in Turin, Italy (d. 2008)

January 17, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Ion I. C. Brătianu became Prime Minister of Romania for the fourth time.
• Born: Nicholas Katzenbach, lawyer, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2012); Betty White, actress and television personality, in Oak Park, Illinois

January 18, 1922 (Wednesday)

• A group of unemployed Dublin workers including the future noted author Liam O'Flaherty seized the Rotunda Concert Hall in protest of the "apathy of the authorities" and flew a red flag from one of the windows. Many Dubliners were hostile to the sight of the red flag and the demonstration soon attracted an angry mob.^[25]

January 19, 1922 (Thursday)

• Germany was allowed to reclaim its embassy building in Washington, which had been confiscated during the war.^[26]
• Born: Guy Madison, actor, in Pumpkin Center, California (d. 1996)

January 20, 1922 (Friday)

• The condition of Pope Benedict XV was reported to be grave.^[27]
• The Lithuanian National Assembly approved the abolition of titles of nobility as well as the abolition of capital punishment.^[28]

January 21, 1922 (Saturday)

• The occupation of the Dublin concert hall ended when the occupiers left the building under police protection.^[25]
• Born: Lincoln Alexander, politician, in Toronto, Canada (d. 2012); Sam Mele, baseball player and manager, in Astoria, New York; Telly Savalas, actor and singer, in Garden City, New York (d. 1994); Paul Scofield, actor, in Birmingham, England (d. 2008)

January 22, 1922 (Sunday)

• Pope Benedict XV died early in the morning. In the afternoon a procession of the Palatine Guard, Swiss Guard and others solemnly transported the body through the Apostolic Palace to the papal throne room where it lay in state.^[29]
• Born: Leonel Brizola, politician, in Carazinho, Brazil (d. 2004); Annabelle Lee, baseball player, in Los Angeles (d. 1998); Howard Moss, poet, dramatist and critic, in New York City (d. 1987)
• Died: Pope Benedict XV, 67, Pope 1914–1922; James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, 83, British academic and politician; Fredrik Bajer, 84, Danish politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize; James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, 83, Irish-born politician, diplomat and historian

January 23, 1922 (Monday)

• At Toronto General Hospital, 14-year old Leonard Thompson received an injection of refined insulin by James Collip. This time the treatment was successful. John James Rickard Macleod and Frederick Banting would receive the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their research.^[2]
• U.S. President Warren G. Harding opened an agricultural conference in Washington. In the conference's opening speech Harding proposed that the farming industry organize along the lines of other industries, with machinery of finance for furnishing operating capital.^[30]
• Died: Arthur Nikisch, 66, Hungarian conductor

January 24, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Composer Felix Borowski was shot at with a pistol and then beaten with it in his Chicago apartment. Borowski's secretary was arrested and confessed to the crime, saying that Borowski had derailed his career as a pianist and that he had "nothing to live for."^[31]
• Born: Charles W. Socarides, psychiatrist, in Brockton, Massachusetts (d. 2005)

January 25, 1922 (Wednesday)

• The United States Army Band was established.

January 26, 1922 (Thursday)

• Pope Benedict XV was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.^[32]
• Johann Schober resigned as Chancellor of Austria. Walter Breisky became acting chancellor.^[33]
• Born: Bob Thomas, Hollywood film industry biographer, in San Diego, California (d. 2014); Ellen Vogel, actress, in The Hague, Netherlands

January 27, 1922 (Friday)

• Johann Schober was re-elected Chancellor of Austria by the National Assembly.^[34]
• Died: Nellie Bly, 57, American journalist; Giovanni Verga, 81, Italian writer; Count Johann Nepomuk Wilczek, 84, Austrian explorer

January 28, 1922 (Saturday)

• 96 people died in the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington, D.C. when the roof collapsed under the weight of snow.^[4][35]
• Born: Robert W. Holley, biochemist and Nobel laureate, in Urbana, Illinois (d. 1993)

January 29, 1922 (Sunday)

• General elections were held in Portugal. The Democratic Party emerged as the largest in Parliament.
• Born: Gerda Steinhoff, Nazi concentration camp overseer, in Danzig-Langfuhr (d. 1946)

January 30, 1922 (Monday)

• General Marie-Eugène Debeney predicted that the next war would be fought with "tanks, aeroplanes, and gas served by specially trained crews." The front lines would be manned only by skeleton detachments serving as observers and listeners, due to the number of personnel necessary to run the war machinery.^[36]
• Born: Dick Martin, comedian and director, in Battle Creek, Michigan (d. 2008)

January 31, 1922 (Tuesday)

• The U.S. Senate passed an $11 billion foreign debt refunding bill and voted down an amendment to use the interest to finance a soldier's bonus.^[37]
• Ireland's National Army made its first public appearance.

References