The month of July has been home to many historical events over the years. Here’s a look at some that helped to shape the world in July 1926.
Canadian Prime Minister Arthur Meighen’s two-day-old government is defeated in Parliament by one vote on July 1. Many of Meighen’s fellow Conservatives voted against him.
Mexican President Plutarco Elias Calles publishes the Calles Law on July 2. The law mandated that all church property become government property and that all worship be conducted inside churches under the supervision of local officials.
Less than two weeks after an attempted coup d’etat against the government of Prime Minister Miguel Primo de Rivera, King Alfonso XIII of Spain issues a royal decree on July 3. The decree grants Primo de Rivera an assortment of discretionary powers, including the right to banish and deport persons for the good of the country.
Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, opens on July 4. The amusement park is the largest in the United States to have no admission fee, as rides are paid for individually.
Twenty-one Mexican prisoners escape from Blue Ridge State Prison Farm in Blue Ridge, Texas, on July 4. The prisoners escaped by sawing their way through the main building of the prison.
On July 6, French Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux speaks before the Chamber of Deputies and asks for emergency powers to address the country’s economic problems. The request is attacked in the chamber the following day.
A bolt of lightning strikes the Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot in New Jersey on July 10. A resulting fire causes several million pounds of explosives to blow up over the ensuing three days, killing 19 people and destroying 187 buildings.
Golfer Bobby Jones wins the U.S. Open in Columbus, Ohio, by a single stroke on July 10. With the victory, Jones becomes the first golfer to win both the British Open and the U.S. Open in the same year.
King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy takes a boy who had just been hit by a train into his car on July 13. The boy dies in the vehicle while the King’s car is rushing him to the hospital.
Linton Wells and Edward Steptoe Evans complete their flight around the world on July 14. The pilots accomplish the feat in 28 days, 14 hours and 37 minutes, breaking the record of 35 days set in 1913.
French President Gaston Doumergue and Moroccan Sultan Yusef ben Hassan inaugurate the Grand Mosque of Paris on July 16. The house of worship is the largest mosque in France.
On July 18, U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Faustin E. Wirkus is crowned as “King Faustin II” while stationed on Haiti’s Gonâve Island during the American occupation of the Caribbean nation.
An editorial published in the Chicago Daily Tribune on July 18 accuses actor Rudolph Valentino of being responsible for the installation of a face-powder dispenser in a men’s washroom. The anonymous writer implies that Valentino is responsible for the feminization of American men. Valentino challenges the writer to a boxing or wrestling match the following day in an essay published in the Chicago Herald-Examiner, but the anonymous author did not come forward.
Eleven tourists on a sightseeing bus to Bear Mountain State Park in New York are killed on July 22 when the driver runs off a curve while driving downhill off the mountain. The bus rolls over three times before crashing into a building, and the driver is eventually charged with 11 counts of vehicular homicide.
Great Britain’s first greyhound racing track opens on July 24 in Manchester.
On July 26, Robert Todd Lincoln, the last surviving son of American President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, passes away in Vermont at the age of 82.
Al Capone is freed from jail on July 29. Capone spent one night in jail after being arrested on charges arising from the murder of Assistant State’s Attorney William McSwiggin and two other men on April 27.
