What Happened in 1931 — Events, Births & Deaths

Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.

Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.

The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258.

The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.

The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

An anarchist uprising in Encarnación, Paraguay briefly transforms the city into a revolutionary commune.

The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed.

The Parliament House of Finland is officially inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland.

Alam Ara, India's first talking film, is released.

Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged for the killing of a deputy superintendent of police during the Indian independence movement.

The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.

Swissair is founded as the national airline of Switzerland.

Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union is founded in Vietnam.

An earthquake in Nicaragua destroys Managua; killing 2,000.

A Transcontinental & Western Air airliner crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.

The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed and King Alfonso XIII goes into exile. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Francesc Macià proclaims the Catalan Republic.

After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.

The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City.

Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.

Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by a Royal Italian Army firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.

A deadly tornado strikes Birmingham, England, damaging 2,221 homes and businesses.

Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.

Emperor Haile Selassie signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.

Judge and Nazi Party member Werner Best drafts the Boxheim Documents, which described a violent takeover of the government by the NSDAP.

Imperial Japan instigates the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.

Clyde Edward Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, Jr. make the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean in the plane Miss Veedol.

Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.

A secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.

The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic over the Hudson River.

The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed on the anniversary of the October Revolution.

Wilhelm Schäfer leaves the Nazi Party and hands over the Boxheim Documents to the Frankfurt police.

The Constituent Cortes approves a constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.

Statute of Westminster 1931: The British Parliament establishes legislative equality between the UK and the Dominions of the Commonwealth—Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland.