Austrian police raided the headquarters of the
Nazi Party in
Vienna, finding evidence of collaboration between German and Austrian Nazis, as well as propaganda hostile to the Austrian government.[3]
The
Hindenburg disaster occurred in
Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people.
Newsreel footage of the tragedy would be shown around the world, shattering the public's confidence in the
dirigible as a method of transportation. Radio reporter
Herbert Morrison's live report of the disaster ("Oh, the humanity!") remains one of the most famous broadcasts in history.[7][8]
The U.S. Congress passed
neutrality legislation permitting the sale of certain commodities (excluding munitions) while making it illegal for U.S. citizens to travel on belligerent ships.[10]
Italy recalled its news correspondents from London and banned all British newspapers except for the Daily Mail, The Observer and The Evening News. The move was believed to have been taken in reaction to the British press mocking the recent defeats of Italian troops in the
Spanish Civil War.[11]
5,000 women and children began to evacuate
Bilbao.[14]
More than 50 were injured in
Toulouse when a riot broke out between political factions. The rioting began when rightists paraded to an equestrian statue of
Joan of Arc shouting "France for the French", referring to the allegation that the
Popular Front government of Prime Minister
Léon Blum took orders from Moscow.[15]
George VI met all the representatives of England's
Dominions and colonies and pledged to carry on his father's work "for the welfare of our great empire." The speech made no mention of his brother
Edward.[17]
Antisemitic rioting broke out in three towns near
Brześć-Litewski, Poland after a police officer pushed a Jewish butcher and was stabbed to death by the butcher's son. Jewish-owned stores were looted and at least 53 Jews were injured during violence that continued into the next morning.[19][20]
Valencia endured the most intensive Nationalist aerial bombardment yet made on the city, killing more than 30 people.[22] The British embassy there was damaged and two staff members wounded.[23]
Outgoing Prime Minister
Stanley Baldwin made the last significant speech of his time in office, in which he asked the youth of Britain to guard against the threats of fascism and communism and said that the
League of Nations was of "doubtful" value.[29]
Archbishop of ChicagoGeorge Mundelein made the
paper hanger speech, an anti-Nazi speech that condemned the Nazi totalitarianism and spoke about how "a nation of 60 million intelligent people will submit in fear and servitude" to Hitler, whom he called an "alien, an Austrian paper hanger."[30]
The press in
Nazi Germany demanded that the Vatican publicly repudiate the
Archbishop of ChicagoGeorge Mundelein for his remarks. "The cardinal insulted not only the head of the German state and its ministers but the entire German nation", an editorial in Der Angriff stated. "We make the Catholic church responsible if the speech evokes a new wave of anti-German agitation, and we ask the Vatican if it intends to tolerate this speech without protest."[30]
An editorial in Mussolini's Il Popolo d'Italia warned the Jews of Italy to cease making criticisms of Germany, because such opposition was "irreconcilable with the friendship that binds us to Germany and which has objectives far more vast and fundamental than the Jewish question."[41]
Born:Mark Shields, American journalist and political commentator (d. 2022)
In the final act of the Baldwin government, the London Gazette announced that
Wallis Warfield would not be elevated to royal status upon her marriage to the
Duke of Windsor, and would only be entitled to be addressed in the forms appropriate to a woman who was married to a duke but was not of royal blood. The ruling also applied to any children she might have with the Duke.[44]
Several Hong Kong Chinese newspapers publish an identical leading article, appealing to Britain not to enter into negotiations with Japan. The article says that China will maintain her sovereignty at all costs.[45][46]
The steamship Ciudad de Barcelona carrying volunteers of the
International Brigades was torpedoed and sunk by an Italian submarine off the coast of
Malgrat de Mar.[47]
Died:Yan Gamarnik, 42, Soviet military commander (suicide)
References
^Darrah, David (May 1, 1937). "Strike Ties Up London Buses; 26,000 Men Out". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^
abcCortada, James W., ed. (1982). Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 507–508.
ISBN0-313-22054-9.
^Eubank, Keith (2004). The Origins of World War II, Third Edition. Harlan Davidson, Inc. p. 87.
ISBN978-1-118-81875-6.
^Taylor, Edmond (May 5, 1937). "Edward Gives Wally a Ring". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^Tucker, Spencer C. (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 1872.
ISBN978-1-85109-672-5.
^"British Hoots at Italian Valor Roil Mussolini". Chicago Daily Tribune. May 9, 1937. p. 1.