Neville Chamberlain informed the House of Commons that the government had received reliable reports that "intensive measures of a military character" were taking place inDanzig.[2]
Lou Gehrig, forced to retire after being diagnosed withALS, made a farewell speech atYankee Stadium on a day named in his honor. Gehrig said he considered himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Gehrig's Yankees #4 is the first team number in Major League Baseball history to be retired. "[3]
Abodybuilding contest was held inChicago, won byRoland Essmaker. Although similar events had been around for years, the fact that all entrants had to be registered with theAmateur Athletic Union provided an air of official recognition that had previously been absent from bodybuilding. The competition became an annual event with the winner earning the title of "Mr. America".[7]
Thousands of Nazis held rallies inDanzig. District LeaderAlbert Forster declared he was confident that Hitler would "liberate" the city and demanded that Poland give up privileges of storing arms in a munitions depot on theWesterplatte.[15]
The U.S.Foreign Relations Committee voted 12–11 to defer discussion of revising theNeutrality Act until the next session, scheduled for January 1940. This was a defeat for PresidentRoosevelt, who wanted to repeal the clause that placed an embargo on trade with belligerents, butisolationism in the Senate was strong.[18]
President Roosevelt said that there could not be strikes against the government and that the present WPA strike was such action.[21]
Hundreds of British troops joined the French inBastille Day parades marking the 150th anniversary of theStorming of the Bastille. It was the first time that Britain and France held military demonstrations together since theWorld War.[22]
British Fascist leader SirOswald Mosley gave a speech in theEarls Court Exhibition Centre attended by over 20,000 people. He presented a plan that he said would "bring peace in our time and our children's time" that called for a hands-off policy in Eastern Europe, disarmament in Western Europe, return of colonies to Germany and for the British Empire to concentrate on its own affairs.[24] "Why is it a moral duty to go to war if a German kicks a Jew across the Polish frontier?" Mosley declared. "We are going, if the power lies within us ... to say that our generation and our children shall not die like rats in Polish holes."[5]
Prime Minister Chamberlain declared in the House of Commons that the British government "would not and could not" reverse its policy in the Far East. The statement referred to reports of Japanese demands that such a reversal was necessary as a condition for opening negotiations on theTientsin situation.[25]
President Roosevelt met with key senators at theWhite House to explore the possibility of trying to revise the American neutrality policy once again. The president and Secretary of StateCordell Hull warned that a war in Europe was imminent, but the prominentIdaho senatorWilliam Borah replied, "I do not believe there is going to be any war in Europe between now and the first of January or for some time thereafter." Hull asked the senator to read State Department cables to understand the seriousness of the situation, but Borah responded that he not "give a damn about your dispatches" and claimed that he had better sources. The meeting ended with no new agreements.[18]
TheSS Heimwehr Danzig reported the arrest of twenty "Marxists" they said were conspiring to bomb bridges and other buildings in the event of war between Germany and Poland.[27]
A group ofRoyal Air Force bombers flew from London toMarseille and back as a demonstration of British air power.[29] It was not lost on the public that the distance from London to Marseille was about the same as the distance from London to Berlin.[30]
Benito Mussolini announced a plan to break up large estates inSicily, irrigate the land and resettle in addition to constructing new villages, houses and roads. If all went according to plan, Sicily's population would double in a decade to 8 or 9 million people.[31]
HMS Thetis was raised seven weeks after its tragic sinking.[28]
The sixth congress of theBaptist World Alliance opened inAtlanta. More than 40,000 delegates (called 'messengers') sang and prayed on a baseball field in one of the largest religious assemblies ever held up to that time.[34]
Mahatma Gandhi wrote directly toAdolf Hitler, addressing him as "friend" and requesting that he refrain from starting a war "which may reduce humanity to the savage state." The letter never reached Hitler, as it was intercepted by the British government.[35][36]
During the reading of a bill designed to crushIRA activities,Home SecretarySamuel Hoare announced the police discovery of a document known asS-Plan. Hoare read excerpts from the document that included plans to sabotage airplane and munitions factories and damage supplies of water and electricity.[37]
British Prime MinisterNeville Chamberlain informed the House of Commons that the government had reached an agreement with Japan that "the Japanese forces in China have special requirements for the purpose of safeguarding their own security and maintaining public order in regions under their control and that they have to suppress or remove any such acts or causes as will obstruct them or benefit their enemy." The British government, Chamberlain explained, had "no intention of countenancing any act or measures prejudicial to the attainment of the above-mentioned objects by Japanese forces." Chamberlain denied opposition suggestions that Britain was now on the side of Japan in its war against China.[38]
The Japanese consul atCanton informed other foreign consuls that theCanton River would be closed to foreign shipping for two weeks beginning at midnight tomorrow for military reasons.[39]
Five more bomb explosions occurred in England – two in London and three inLiverpool. One person was killed and twenty injured.[40]
The U.S. government gave Japan the necessary six months' notice that it was abrograting the 1911 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the two countries, explaining that the treaty contained "provisions which need new consideration."[41]
A bill permitting summary deportation of suspected IRA members was givenRoyal Assent.Home SecretarySamuel Hoare immediately made use of the law by signing deportation orders for nineteen Irishmen that same day.[42]
Died:Beryl Mercer, 56, Spanish-born American actress
The French Council of Ministers extended the term of theChamber of Deputies for two years until June 1, 1942, meaning there would not be an election in the fall as expected. The council also created a Commissariat of Information and named the famous writerJean Giraudoux to be its head. The new office's purpose was "to support French national defense by organizing efficient diffusion of French information beyond the French frontier."[43]
Francisco Franco decreed that to help rebuild Spain, every able-bodied citizen must either perform 15 days of unpaid work for the state each year, or pay a cash sum equivalent to 15 days of work at their own job.[44]
