May 16, 1929: Actor Emil Jannings receives the first-ever Academy AwardMay 30, 1929: British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and the Tories lose their majority in the House of CommonsMay 4, 1929: Laurel and Hardy make the transition to sound
Thirty-two people were killed and 700 arrested in Berlin during clashes between 8,000 communists and police. The fighting broke out when communists held May Day demonstrations in defiance of a police order to refrain from doing so.[2]
Born:Ralf Dahrendorf, German sociologist, philosopher and politician; in Hamburg (d. 2009)
Born:Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and Nobel laureate in 2003 in Medicine for his co-development of magnetic resonance imaging; in Sidney, Ohio (d. 2007)
Al Capone hosted a party to ostensibly honor gang members John Scalise, Albert Anselmi and Joseph Giunta. In February, Scalise and Anselmi had been arrested on suspicion of having carried out the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, but released for lack of evidence. During the festivities Capone accused them of being traitors, then personally beat them with a club and shot them dead. Their bodies were dumped on a roadside near Hammond, Indiana, where they were found the next day.[10][11]
Born:Dick Williams, baseball player, manager and coach, in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2011)
Born:Betty Foss, American professional baseball player for the AAGPBL, 1950 Rookie of the Year and 1952 Player of the Year in the league while at first base for the Fort Wayne Daisies; in Metropolis, Illinois (d. 1998)
Students rioted at Des Moines University when the Baptist institution fired its president and most of the faculty over accusations of modernism with regard to the question of evolution.[14][15]
In a referendum in Switzerland, nearly two-thirds of voters rejected prohibition by voting against a proposal to institute local option with regard to the sale of alcoholic beverages.[17]
A fire at the Cleveland Clinic killed 123 people, after nitrocellulose x-ray film ignited in the basement of the hospital. Most of the victims died from the inhalation of nitric acid fumes generated by the burning of the film stock.[22]
Germany submitted its reparations counterproposal to the Young Commission.[23]
Near Cartagena, Spain, the Graf Zeppelin airship abandoned its second attempt to fly from Germany to the United States and turned back after losing power in two of its engines.[26]
Al Capone and a bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia for carrying concealed weapons. They both pleaded guilty and each were sentenced to a year in prison.[27][28]
Two people were killed in a stampede at Yankee Stadium, when a sudden rainstorm caused people in the right field bleachers to run for the exits. The disaster happened during the game between the Yankees and the visiting Boston Red Sox.[30]
Elise, Countess of Edla (Elise Hensler), 92, German-born American actress and singer and the second wife of the former King Ferdinand II of Portugal, whom she married in 1869 after his 1853 abdication.
Feng Yuxiang, who had been War Minister of China until attempting a revolt against President Chiang Kai-shek, was expelled permanently from the Kuomintang.[34]
Mickey Mouse was heard speaking on screen for the first time with the release of the cartoon short The Karnival Kid.
Born:Vic Stasiuk, Canadian ice hockey player who was part of the trio of Ukrainian-Canadians to make up "The Uke Line" for the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League; in Lethbridge, Alberta (d. 2023)
The U.S. Supreme Court decided the "Pocket Veto Case" (Bands of the State of Washington v. United States and Okanogan, Methow, San Poelis, Nespelem, Colville, and Lake Indian Tribes v. United States), interpreting Article I of the U.S. Constitution and the provision that a bill that has not been signed or returned to Congress within 10 days becomes law unless Congress has adjourned. Specifically, the Court determined that adjourning for the summer would not have prevented Congress from reconsidering a bill, as opposed to adjourning without consideration of further legislation.
The Court decided United States v. Schwimmer, upholding the denial of U.S. citizenship to Hungarian pacifist Rosika Schwimmer, who had refused to agree that she was "willing to "take up arms in defense of her country".
The Ford Motor Company signed a nine-year contract with the Soviet Union. The Soviets agreed to purchase $30 million worth of Ford products within four years while Ford agreed to provide technical advice and help build an automobile factory in Nizhny Novgorod.[43] The Nizhegorodsky Avtomobilny Zavod factory would open at the end of 1931 and produce its first vehicle, based on the Ford Model A, and marketed in the USSR as the NAZ-A starting on January 1, 1932.
^Owen, Bernard; Rodriguez-McKey, Maria (2013). Proportional Western Europe: The Failure of Governance. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. p. 82. ISBN9781137374370.
^"Supreme Court Orders Sinclair to Start Term". Chicago Daily Tribune. May 5, 1929. p. 3.
^Skretvedt, Randy (1996). Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies. (2nd ed.) Anaheim, California: Past Times Publishing Co. ISBN0-940410-29-X.
^Pegler, Westbrook (May 11, 1929). "Dr. Freeland's Victory in Preakness Worth $52, 325". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 23.
^Wuthnow, Robert (2014). Rough Country: How Texas Became America's Most Powerful Bible-Belt State. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 145. ISBN9781400852116.
^Ayers, F. E (Mar 1969). "Sewer Maintenance in a Cold Climate (Vol. 41, No. 3, Part I)". Water Environment Federation: 418. JSTOR25036277. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
