What Happened in 1929 — Events, Births & Deaths

King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution, starting the January 6th Dictatorship.

Mother Teresa arrives by sea in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.

Members of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng assassinate the labor recruiter Bazin, prompting a crackdown by French colonial authorities.

The Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago.

In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.

President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km2) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.

The inaugural Monaco Grand Prix takes place in the Principality of Monaco. William Grover-Williams wins driving a Bugatti Type 35.

The 7.2 Mw Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran–Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121.

A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.

In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.

The 1st Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires.

The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.

Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

The town of Murchison, New Zealand is rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killing 17. At the time it was New Zealand's worst natural disaster.

An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico.

The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928, by most leading world powers).

The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.

The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.

Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

The 1929 Palestine riots break out in Mandatory Palestine between Palestinian Arabs and Jews and continue until the end of the month. In total, 133 Jews and 116 Arabs are killed.

Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine occur, continuing until the next day, resulting in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.

Steamer Kuru capsizes and sinks on Lake Näsijärvi near Tampere in Finland. One hundred thirty-six lives are lost.

Jimmy Doolittle performs the first flight without a window, proving that full instrument flying from take off to landing is possible.

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed to Yugoslavia by King Alexander I.

Photius II becomes Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. Canada when it declares that women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.

"Black Thursday" on the New York Stock Exchange, the first day of the panic in the markets that contributes to the Great Depression.

Black Tuesday: The New York Stock Exchange crashes, ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and eventually contributing to the Great Depression.

The Gwangju Student Independence Movement occurred.

In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.

Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula.

The Finnish far-right Lapua Movement officially begins when a group of mainly the former White Guard members, led by Vihtori Kosola, interrupted communism occasion at the Workers' House in Lapua, Finland.

U.S. Admiral Richard E. Byrd leads the first expedition to fly over the South Pole.

President Herbert Hoover delivers his first State of the Union message to Congress. It is presented in the form of a written message rather than a speech.

The Indian National Congress promulgates the Purna Swaraj (the Declaration of the Independence of India).

Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.

A four alarm fire breaks out in the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".