Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Historical Events in February 1924

  • Feb 1 Amsterdam's Netherlands Press Museum opens

Soviet Union Recognized

Feb 1 Ramsay MacDonald's incoming Labour government formally recognizes the Soviet Union

  • Feb 2 International Ski Federation (FIS) forms

1st Winter Olympics

Feb 2 Norway’s Thorleif Haug takes the cross-country double at the Chamonix Winter Olympics when he wins the 18k event; Haug also 50k gold medalist

  • Feb 3 Alexei Ryko elected as President of People's commission (succeeds Lenin)
  • Feb 3 Canada beats United States, 6-1 to retain the Olympic ice hockey gold medal (won at 1920 Summer Games) at the Chamonix Games; Canadian LW Harry Watson top scores with 46 points
  • Feb 3 Switzerland claims the inaugural Olympic bobsleigh gold medal at the Chamonix Games, ahead of Great Britain and Belgium
  • Feb 4 George Kelly's play "Show-Off," premieres in New York City
  • Feb 4 Jacob Tullin Thams of Norway wins ski jumping gold at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; in 1936 he earns a silver medal in sailing at Berlin Summer Games
  • Feb 4 Norway sweeps the medals in the Nordic combined event at the inaugural Chamonix Winter Olympics; Thorleif Haug wins his 3rd gold of the Games ahead of teammates Thoralf Strømstad & Johan Grøttumsbråten
  • Feb 5 1st Winter Olympic Games close at Chamonix, France

Event of Interest

Feb 5 Mahatma Gandhi is released from Yerwada Prison in Pune, British India, on health grounds after a bout of appendicitis

  • Feb 5 Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the "BBC pips"

Russian Diplomat Exchange

Feb 7 Benito Mussolini's Italian government exchanges diplomats with USSR

  • Feb 8 1st US coast-to-coast radio hookup: General John Joseph Carty speech in Chicago
  • Feb 9 Nakhichevan ASSR constituted within Azerbaijan SSR

Sports History

Feb 10 Bucky Harris at 27, becomes youngest major league baseball manager (Washington Senators)

Rhapsody In Blue

Feb 12 George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" premieres at influential concert "Experiment in Modern Music" held by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra at the Aeolian Hall, NYC [1]

  • Feb 12 George Kaufman's "Beggar on Horseback" premieres in NYC

International Business Machines

Feb 14 Thomas J. Watson Sr. renames the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) as International Business Machines (IBM)

  • Feb 15 A deputation for the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) meets with the Minister of the Interior, Sir Patrick Duncan, and presents him with a memorandum setting out their objections concerning the Class Areas Bill

Sports History

Feb 17 American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller sets 100m world freestyle record 57.4s at Miami, Florida

  • Feb 18 US Ladies' Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard

Sports History

Feb 18 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger

Event of Interest

Feb 18 US Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby resigns due to Teapot Dome scandal

  • Feb 24 Greek parliament proclaims republic
  • Feb 25 Marie Boyd scores 156 points in Maryland HS basketball game (163-3)

Beer Hall Putsch

Feb 26 Trial against Adolf Hitler for treason in "Beer Hall Putsch" begins in Munich, Germany

  • Feb 27 Belgium's Theunis government falls
  • Feb 28 US begins intervention in Honduras