The newly refurbished Central Park Zoo opened in New York City after ten months of construction. Most of the old wooden structures were replaced by brick buildings.[3]
In Rome, an accord was reached between Germany and France on some outstanding issues pertaining to the Saar ahead of January's referendum. Germany pledged to buy the Saar coal mines and guarantee equal rights to its citizens in the event of the region voting to reunify with Germany.[4]
The Abyssinia Crisis began when Ethiopian troops clashed with Somali Dubats in the service of Italy at the outpost of Welwel. The clash killed about 100 Ethiopians and 30 on the Italian side.[1][9]
A team of American baseball stars including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played an exhibition game in Shanghai against a squad of U.S. Marines and missionaries.[12][13]
Direct trans-Pacific telephone service was inaugurated between the United States and Japan with the exchange of greetings between U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Japanese Foreign Minister Kōki Hirota.[14]
Yugoslavia and Hungary averted war by agreeing to a League of Nations resolution that condemned the October 9 assassination of Alexander of Yugoslavia and asked Hungary to take "punitive action against any authorities whose culpabilities have been established" and "communicate to the council the measures which it takes to this effect."[16]
American woman Isobel Lillian Steele was released from prison in Nazi Germany after being held for four months on suspicion of espionage. Her case had garnered significant media attention in the United States, and when she returned there she did much to capitalize on her story by writing articles and a book, eventually even playing herself in the 1936 film I Was a Captive in Nazi Germany.[18][19][20]
The German cabinet issued twelve new decrees during its final session of the year. Several economic measures were passed as well as one providing a prison term of up to two years for those who "harm the state, its leaders, or the standing of the National Socialist party and its affiliations."[23]
The British cargo ship Usworth sank in the Atlantic Ocean. Rescue operations were carried out but only nine of the 26 crew survived.[24][25]
15 were killed and 7 hurt in Berlin when an express train carrying Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders struck a bus on a level grade crossing. All the dead and wounded were aboard the bus.[26][27]
President Roosevelt's economic security advisory committee approved an unemployment insurance system to be funded by employers through pay roll taxes.[28]
Pope Pius XI delivered a Christmas address to the world, saying it was as necessary as ever for mankind to choose Luke 2:14 ("on earth peace, good will toward men") as its "unceasing prayer." For those who wanted war, the pope said he had formulated another prayer: "destroy, O Lord, the people who wish for war."[38]
Rudolf Hess gave a Christmas message to Nazi Germany over government-controlled radio, saying "The world today realizes it is only thanks to Hitler that the peace of Europe was saved in the past year when it was repeatedly endangered. Hitler's carefulness and the statements he issued lessened international tension and showed him as a statesman of world importance. He is the chancellor of peace."[39]
Mussolini ordered General Emilio De Bono to Eritrea to take command of the Italian forces there.[40]
Nazi police arrested and imprisoned an American woman in Waldmohr for remarks she made during a conversation in a restaurant, allegedly saying that Hitler had Jewish blood.[41][42]
About 40 to 50 members of the Mexican paramilitary organization the Red Shirts opened fire on churchgoers leaving Mass in Coyoacán, killing 5. One of the Red Shirts was beaten to death by an angry crowd to bring the death toll to 6.[49]
Mussolini wrote a memorandum for Marshal Pietro Badoglio titled "Directive and Plan of Action to Solve the Abyssinian question." "I decide on this war, the object of which is nothing more than the complete destruction of the Abyssinian army and the total conquest of Abyssinia", Mussolini wrote. "In no other way can we build the empire."[50]
62 Red Shirts were imprisoned in Mexico over the previous day's killings.[51]
References
^ abcTucker, Spencer C. (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 1858. ISBN978-1-85109-672-5.
^"Navy Whips Army, 3-0, on Cutter's Kick". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 2, 1934. p. Part 2 p. 1.
^Scheier, Joan (2002). The Central Park Zoo. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 37–38. ISBN978-0-7385-1100-9.
^"German-French Saar Pact Seen Move for Peace". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 4, 1934. p. 1.
^Rodogno, Davide (2006). Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation During the Second World War. Cambridge University Press. p. 61. ISBN978-0-521-84515-1.
^Olson, James S. (1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 366. ISBN978-0-313-26257-9.
^"Divorce Asked by Jean Harlow from Third Mate". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 6, 1934. p. 2.
^Robbins, Keith Spalding. "A Strategic Approach for Baseball to Flourish in Modern China." The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2013–2014. Ed. William M. Simons. State University of New York, 2015. 184. ISBN978-1-4766-2014-5.
^Baldassaro, Lawrence (2011). Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball. University of Nebraska Press. p. 106. ISBN978-0-8032-3467-3.
^"U.S. and Japan are Linked by Phone Service". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 8, 1934. p. 3.
