The month of August has been home to many historical events over the years. Here’s a look at some that helped to shape the world in August 1925.
· The National Football League awards franchises to four new teams on August 1. Among the newly minted franchises is the New York Giants, a team that remains in the league today.
· The Fascists win local elections in Sicily on August 3. The Blackshirts, an all-volunteer militia loyal to Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, are stationed at voting booths throughout Sicily during the election.
· The last United States Marines are withdrawn from Nicaragua on August 4. The U.S. occupation of the country began thirteen years prior.
· The President of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal, divorces his wife of less than two years on August 5. Kemal is upset that his wife, Latife Usaki, publicly promoted emancipation of women and encouraged their independence in regard to choice of clothing.
· The Dallas Hilton opens on August 6. It is the first high-rise hotel to bear the Hilton name.
· Tens of thousands of Ku Klux Klan members march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. on August 8. Heavy rains force the cancellation of a planned ceremony that had been scheduled to begin at the conclusion of the march.
· Twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter are born in Winchmore Hill, Essex, England on August 12. The brothers would eventually create The Guinness Book of World Records.
· American sculptor Gutzon Borglum is invited to the Black Hills region of South Dakota on August 14. Borglum, who is now best known for his work on Mount Rushmore, visits the region to scout for a location for carving a monument on the side of a mountain.
· The Cuban Communist Party is founded in Havana on August 16. The party eventually merged with Fidel Castro’s Integrated Revolutionary Organizations in 1961.
· The Fourteenth World Zionist Congress opens in Vienna on August 17. Protests by Austrian fascists outside the Congress turn violent and result in injuries to 30 people and 50 arrests.
· Fidel LaBarba defeats Frankie Genaro in a 10-round decision to win the vacant World Flyweight Championship in Los Angeles on August 22.
· A boxing match between welterweight champion Mickey Walker and William “Sailor” Friedman ends in a no-decision in Chicago on August 24. In a dressing room meeting prior to the match, Walker was advised by Al Capone to go easy on Friedman.
· A Spanish naval bombardment effectively levels the Moroccan city of Rif during the Rif War on August 25.
· African American singer Marian Anderson first achieves fame after performing with the New York Philharmonic orchestra on August 26. Anderson would go on to perform with renowned orchestras throughout the United States and Europe in a decades-long career, all the while serving as an important figure as African Americans struggled to overcome racial prejudice in the U.S. in the mid-twentieth century.
· Several notable Nicaraguan politicians are kidnapped in Managua on August 28. Armed men ultimately take the hostages to La Loma, a mountain-top fortress.
· Babe Ruth is fined $5,000 and suspended for one week by New York Yankees manager Miller Huggins on August 29. Ruth was disciplined after failing to show up for batting practice.
