The following events occurred in May 1922:
May 1, 1922 (Monday) Deruluft (Deutsch-Russische Luftverkehrs A.G.), an international air carrier started jointly by the governments of Germany and the Soviet Union, flew for the first time, with a flight from the Soviet city of Moscow to the German Prussian city of Königsberg, with stops in the Russian city of Smolensk and the Lithuanian city of Kaunas. It was Budget Day in the United Kingdom. Chancellor of the Exchequer Robert Horne estimated a surplus of £38 million and cut 1 shilling off income tax and 4 pence off a pound of tea, as well as lowering postal and telephone rates. Korean children's author Bang Jeong-Hwan and seven other people established the first "Children's Day" in Japanese-occupied Korea. After Korea's liberation from Japan, observance of Eorininal (어린이날) the occasion would be moved to May 5, and would become a South Korean national holiday beginning May 5, 1975. CKOC, the oldest continuously operating radio station in Canada, went on the air in Hamilton, Ontario. Born: Vitaly Popkov, Soviet Air Force flying ace with 40 victories during World War II; in Moscow, (d. 2010) Sofia Ferreira, Portuguese Communist and dissident who was imprisoned by the government from 1949 to 1953 and from 1959 to 1968; in Alhandra (d. 2010) Ruth Brinker, American AIDS activist who founded the relief organization Project Open Hand; in Hartford, South Dakota (d. 2011)
May 2, 1922 (Tuesday) The Venezuelan Congress unanimously elected Juan Vicente Gómez president. American-born dancer Isadora Duncan and the Russian poet Sergei Yesenin were married in Moscow. The Dutch comic Bulletje en Boonestaak first appeared. Born: Roscoe Lee Browne, African-American character actor on stage, film and television; in Woodbury, New Jersey (d. 2007) A. M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born U.S. journalist and executive editor of The New York Times from 1977 to 1978; in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (d. 2006) Died: Richard T. Greener, 78, the first African-American graduate (in 1870) of Harvard University Mary Annette Anderson, 47, the first African-American woman to be elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, died after a short illness
May 3, 1922 (Wednesday)
General Zhang Zuolin's headquarters issued a triumphant statement reporting that rival warlord Wu Peifu had been killed by artillery fire. This report proved to be false. Born: Robert De Niro Sr., abstract expressionist painter, in Syracuse, New York (d. 1993) U.S. Air Force Colonel John J. Voll, American flying ace with 21 victories in World War II; in Cincinnati (d. 1987)
May 4, 1922 (Thursday) The city of Austin, capital of the U.S. state of Texas, was hit by two different tornadoes in the space of half an hour. The first one, an F2 storm, passed through a largely rural area on the west side of Austin, and largely distracted people from the formation of a second, more powerful F4 storm that swept through the eastern half of the city, and killed at least 12 people. Outside of Kirvin, Texas, the body of a missing 17-year-old white girl Eula Ausley was found. She had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death. Local townspeople immediately formed a posse to hunt down the assailant under the assumption that she had been killed by a black person. Born: Eugenie Clark, American ichthyologist, conservationist and marine biologist, in New York City (d. 2015) Philip Lett, American mechanical engineer who oversaw the development of the M1 Abrams tank (d. 2014) Odette L. Shotwell, American organic chemist and handicapped polio survivor who developed the antibiotics azacolutin and duramycin; in Wiley, Colorado (d. 1998)
Died: Viktor Kingissepp, 34, leader of the Estonian Communist Party, was arrested and executed by Estonian authorities two days after leading a May Day protest in Tallinn. The Russian city of Kingisepp, outside of Saint Petersburg, was renamed in his honor from the city of Yamburg. Dr. Joseph N. McCormack, 74, President of the American Medical Association who reorganized the AMA into a confederation of the state medical associations in the U.S. and provided the basis for common policies for physician certification and conduct Asle J. Gronna, 63, U.S. Representative for North Dakota 1905 to 1911, and U.S. Senator for North Dakota from 1911 to 1921; Senator Gronna was one of only six Senators to vote against declaring war on Germany in 1917.