February 1926

The following events occurred in February 1926:

• The Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Republic, a forerunner of what is now the Kyrgyz Republic, was created for the Kyrgyz people in the USSR, initially as a unit within the Russian SFSR within the Soviet Union.^[1] In 1936, it would be elevated to the status of Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, one of 15 SSRs at the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union.^[2]
• The John Colton play The Shanghai Gesture opened on Broadway.^[3]
• Died: Anna Kriebel Vanzo, 64, Norwegian operatic soprano^[4]

• A play, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel 'The Great Gatsby, premiered at the Ambassador Theater on Broadway.^[5] Produced by William A. Brady from a script written by Owen Davis, and directed by George Cukor, the first theater Gatsby production starred James Rennie as the title character and Florence Eldridge as Daisy.^[6]
• Representatives of the governments of Britain and France signed a treaty of friendship on behalf of the British Mandate for Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.^[7]
• In Germany, four members of the illegal Black Reichswehr paramilitary organization were sentenced to death for politically motivated murders. State authorities had the court proceedings carried out under a veil of secrecy to "insure the safety of the state."^[8][9]
• Baseball's National League held a banquet at the Hotel Astor in New York to celebrate its 50th anniversary .^[10]
• Born:
  • Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 20th President of France from 1974 to 1981; in Koblenz, Germany, where his father was stationed during the occupation of the Rhineland (d. 2020)^[11]
  • Nydia Ecury, Aruban translator dedicated to preserving the Papiamento dialect, a Portuguese-based creole language spoken on the former Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao; in Rancho, Aruba (d.2012)^[12]
• Died:
  • Vladimir Sukhomlinov, 77, the former Minister of War for the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915, was found frozen to death on a park bench in Berlin, where he had gone into exile after the Russian Revolution of 1917.^[13]
  • William Wood, 68, American textile mill owner, committed suicide by shooting himself near Daytona Beach, Florida, after asking his chauffeur and his valet to take him to "a lonely spot above Flagler Beach."^[14]

• By a decree of the Czechoslovakia's Prime Minister Thomas Masaryk, issued in accordance with the nation's Minorities Act, the Czech language became the government's official language, and all public officials and judges— not only those who used the Slovak language, but those in regions where German or Hungarian were the most common languages— were required to pass a test showing their fluency in Czech. "As a consequence," a historian would later note, "the civil service was depleted of German and Magyar officials, and dismissals did not spare even the most menial occupation. The replacements were Czech and, rarely, Slovak."^[15][16]
• An explosion killed 20 coal miners at the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company's No. 15 mine in Horning, Pennsylvania.^[17][18]

• Spanish Army Colonel and future dictator of Spain Francisco Franco was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General at the age of 33, becoming the youngest general in Europe^[19]
• Born:
  • Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician who was Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands or SPD) from 1987 to 1991 during the period of Germany's reunification; in Göttingen, Free State of Prussia (d.2020)
  • Glen Tetley, American ballet choreographer; in Cleveland (d.2007)^[20]
  • Robert McGinnis, American illustrator known for designing cinema posters for major films, and covers for paperback books; in Cincinnati (d.2025)^[21]
• Died: T. W. Ward, 72, founder of Britain's Thos W Ward Ltd. scrap metal company

• A $250 million, five-year plan to upgrade the United States Naval Air Force was submitted to the House Committee on Naval Affairs. The plan called to nearly double the number of Navy planes from 638 to 1,248 by the end of 1931.^[22]
• Born: Dave Sands, Australian boxer who was the Australian heavyweight champion at the time of his death, and is one of the few people inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame despite never having held a world title; in Kempsey, New South Wales (killed in a truck accident, 1952)
• Died: Mehmed Atıf Hoca, 51, Turkish Islamic philosopher and teacher, was hanged for violating Turkey's Hat Law.^[23]

• Terrorists attacked a train that was traveling the railway from Moscow to Riga, with an ultimate destination of Berlin, specifically targeting a group of Soviet Foreign Ministry employees. After the train crossed the border out of the Soviet Union and into the Republic of Latvia, two armed men stopped the train between Ikšķile and Koknese to attack Soviet couriers L. F. Pecherskiy, Theodor Nette and his partner , with the apparent goal of stealing a diplomatic pouch. Two men, Antonijs Gabrilovich and Bronisławs Gabrilovich invaded the train compartment while carrying guns. Nette shot and wounded one gunman before being shot in the head, and Mahmastal, though wounded, stayed behind to guard the pouch while Pecherskiy escaped. The date of Nette's detah is still observed on February 5 in Ikšķile by employees of the Russian Embassy in Latvia as part of the "All-Russian Day of Remembrance of Diplomatic Couriers Who Died in the Line of Duty".^[24]
• A crowd of 10,000 people packed the streets of Los Angeles to watch the funeral procession of actress Barbara La Marr, who had died on January 30 at the age of 29. Numerous injuries were reported as onlookers, mostly women, rushed forward to get a view of the silver coffin.^[25]
• Born:
  • Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, American publisher of The New York Times from 1963 to 1992 and chairman of its board of directors from 1973 to 1997; in Southampton, New York (d. 2012)^[26]
  • Seiichi Miyake, Japanese engineer and inventor known for his invention of tactile paving, textured surfaces for roadsides, stairs and railway platforms to aid people with a visual impairment; in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture (died of chronic hepatitis, 1982^[27].
• Died: Carl Hau, German lawyer and convicted murderer who published two books about his 1907 crime after his parole in 1924, shot himself in the head while awaiting an appeal of his conviction for violating his probation.^[28]

• An unknown party raided the grave of Pancho Villa and stole the Mexican revolutionary leader's skull. The fate of the skull is a mystery and the source of multiple legends, with one holding that it is in the Skull and Bones Crypt at Yale University.^[29][30]
• Italy's Premier Benito Mussolini made a defiant speech to his cabinet on the issue of the Italianization of South Tyrol. Responding to protests from Germany about the oppression of Tyrolean Germans, Mussolini vowed that the policy would "not change by a centimeter" and declared, "We will make this territory Italian because it is Italian geographically and historically." He warned, "If the Germans attempt a boycott, we will answer with boycotts squared. If Germany takes reprisals, we will answer with reprisals cubed."^[31]
• Born: Alice Putnam Willetts, Aerican field hockey and lacrosse player and coach, player on the U.S. national women's field hockey team from 1946 to 1955, and one of the first inductees to the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame; in Ridley, Pennsylvania (d.2020)^[32]
• Died: Carrie Clark Ward, 64, American stage and silent film actress ^[33]

• The Italian army seized Jaghbub, the Libyan desert oasis village and home of the Senussi Movement. The column of 2,000 troops met with no resistance.^[34]

• African-American historian Carter G. Woodson initiated "Negro History Week", the precursor of Black History Month.^[35]
• Born:
  • Konstantin Feoktistov, Russian cosmonaut who orbited the Earth on flew on the Voskhod 1 mission in 1964; in Voronezh, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (d. 2009)ref>Former Soviet cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov dies, BBC News, November 22, 2009, retrieved November 29, 2009</ref>
  • John Frank Davidson, British chemical engineer known as "the founding father of fluidization in chemical engineering".^[36]; in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyneside (d.2019)

• Seán O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars opened at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and upset members of the audience sufficiently to lead to angry protests inside the theatre and riots outside.
• Torrent, the first American film to star Greta Garbo, premiered at the Capitol Theatre in New York City, ahead of a general release on February 21.^[37]
• The British—Irish border agreement, defining the border between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as 499 km (310 mi) from Lough Foyle in the north-west of Ireland to Carlingford Lough became recognized official in international law upon its filing with the League of Nations.^[38]
• In Stockholm, Sweden, Herma Szabo of Austria won the Ladies Competition of the World Figure Skating Championships for the fifth consecutive year.
• Born:
  • Neal Cassady, American writer; in Salt Lake City, Utah (died after being struck by train, 1968)^[39]
  • Francis McWilliams, Scotland-born British politician and Lord Mayor of London from 1992 to 1993; in Portobello, near Edinburgh (d.2022)^[40]
  • [[Elizabeth Hoffman (actress)|Elizabeth Hoffman, American character actress best known for her regular role on the NBC TV series Sisters from 1991 to 1997; in Corvallis, Oregon ^[41]
• Died: William Bateson, 64, English geneticist

• Flooding hit London suburbs after 18 days of rain.^[16]
• The Reichstag passed a declaration responding to Mussolini's speech of February 6, stating that Germany "vigorously rejects the Italian prime minister's objectively unjustifiable and insultingly phrased attacks and sneers." It went on to say, "Although the German people desire nothing more than to promote their own restoration in peaceful coöperation with other peoples, they will not permit themselves to be hindered from demanding the just treatment of German minorities under foreign sovereignty."^[42]

• Germany formally applied to join the League of Nations.^[43]
• The war of words between Germany and Italy continued, as Mussolini warned the League of Nations to stay out of the South Tyrol dispute and reaffirmed that Italy would "not accept any discussion of this matter by any assembly or council." Germany responded that it considered the matter closed until such time as it could be addressed by the League.^[44]
• Gdynia gained city rights in Poland.^[45]
• Born: Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer; in Belfast(d. 1993)

• The Calles government nationalized all property of the Roman Catholic church in Mexico.^[43]
• Born:
  • Paul Bocuse, French chef; in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or (d. 2018);
  • Alexander Gibson, Scottish conductor; in Motherwell (d. 1995);
  • Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-born American actor and comedian; in Regina, Saskatchewan (d. 2010)

• The Irish Minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, appointed members of the Committee on Evil Literature.
• Born: Joe Garagiola, American baseball player and sportscaster; in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2016)

• The Calles government ordered all Catholic schools in Mexico to close.^[46]
• Died: Henry Holt, 86, American book publisher and author

• Germany's Nazi Party held the Bamberg Conference.
• Willy Böckl of Austria won the men's singles title of the World Figure Skating Championships in Berlin.
• Kikuna, Motosumiyoshi, Tammachi and Tsunashima railway stations opened in Japan.
• Born: Al Brodax, American TV and cartoon producer; in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2016)

• The Orpheum Theatre opened in Los Angeles.
• Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King won a by-election in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, ending the unusual situation of a Prime Minister governing without his own seat in the Parliament.^[47]

• French tennis star Suzanne Lenglen defeated U.S. champion Helen Wills in a special match at Cannes.
• Born:
  • Margot Frank, older sister of Anne Frank and concentration camp victim; in the Netherlands (d. 1945)
  • John Schlesinger, American actor and director; in Palm Springs, California (d. 2003)

• The Grand National Assembly of Turkey approved a secular civil code to regulate matters of marriage, inheritance, divorce and adoption.^[48]
• Born: John Meyendorff, French orthodox theologian; in Neuilly-sur-Seine (d. 1992)

• Ayn Rand arrived in the United States.^[49]
• Born: Len Ford, American football player; in Washington, D.C. (d. 1972)

• The Olympia Theatre opened in Miami, Florida.^[50]

• The Berlin International Green Week debuted in Berlin.
• Born:
  • Whitney Blake, American actress; in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles (d. 2002)
  • Richard Matheson, American writer; in Allendale, New Jersey (d. 2013)
  • Bob Richards, U.S. track and field athlete; in Champaign, Illinois (d. 2023)

• A pastoral letter read in all the Catholic churches in Austria condemned the "cult of the body" in present-day gymnastics, denouncing mixed bathing, rhythmic dancing and immodest sports attire as "un-Christian."^[51]
• Died: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, 72, Dutch physicist and Nobel Prize laureate

• A group of 20,000 fans packed the Fulford-Miami Speedway to witness the first race at the world's fastest speedway, won by Pete DePaolo. It was the only race ever held at the speedway, as it was destroyed in the Great Miami Hurricane later that year and never rebuilt.^[52]
• A letter dispatched from Pope Pius XI to the Italian government said that he would not recognize any church reform laws that it passed until an accord was reached, which could not happen as long as the Roman Question remained unsettled.^[53]
• Born: Kenneth Williams, English actor; in Islington, London (d. 1988)

• In Mexico City, 7 Catholics were killed in clashes between rioters and government agents who were taking over the Church of the Holy Family.^[54][55]
• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge expressed opposition to ex-general Billy Mitchell's advocation of a large air force, saying it would make the United States a militaristic nation and lead to an arms race.^[56]

• French pilot Leon Collet was killed attempting to fly under the arch of the Eiffel Tower in a filmed stunt. The plane struck an aerial belonging to the wireless station.^[57]
• The film La Bohème, starring Lillian Gish and John Gilbert, opened.
• Died:
  • John Jacob Bausch, 95, German-born American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb
  • Eddie Plank, 50, American major league baseball player and inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame

• The coronation of Prajadhipok as King Rama VII of Siam took place at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, with the crown being placed upon his head at the Phaisan Thaksin Hall.^[58]
• Born:
  • Leonard Linkow, American dentist and inventor known for his designing of various dental implants, and the only dentist to be nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine; in Brooklyn, New York City (d.2017)^[59]
  • Billy Darnell, American professional wrestler; in Camden, New Jersey (d. 2007)

• At Madison Square Garden, Tiger Flowers defeated Harry Greb to win boxing's World Middleweight Title.
• Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five recorded "Heebie Jeebies", the song that made Armstrong a star as well as the first to popularize the technique of scat singing.^[60]

• At least 600 members of the Sicilian Mafia were arrested in Italy, including two mayors and other municipal officials.^[61]
• Born: David H. Hubel, neurophysiologist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; in Windsor, Ontario, Canada (d. 2013)

• Henry Simpson Lunn announced that he would turn over all his property and income except for $2,500 a year to promote unity among all churches and nations.^[62]
• Born: Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet Russian writer and the only daughter of Soviet premier Joseph Stalin; in Moscow (d. 2011)