The following events occurred in July 1924:
July 1, 1924 (Tuesday) Japan held a national day of protest of the United States' Immigration Act the day it went into effect. Mass prayer meetings were conducted at Shinto shrines all over the country and an unknown Japanese man cut down the American flag at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. The Japanese government gave the United States a formal note of regret over the flag theft. At the Democratic National Convention, William Gibbs McAdoo lost ground in balloting as Al Smith and John W. Davis steadily gained.
July 2, 1924 (Wednesday) The American flag stolen from the embassy in Tokyo was recovered and the Akasaka district's chief of police resigned over the incident. Inventor Guglielmo Marconi addressed the Royal Society of Arts in London describing his new beam system of short-wave wireless transmission. Marconi said this system could transmit more words per day between distant countries than was possible before, and more economically as well, resulting in a general reduction in telegraphic rates. Italian border patrollers shot and killed two Serbian soldiers and wounded a civilian bystander at the Serbian boundary line. Portuguese Prime Minister Álvaro de Castro fought a sword duel with Flight Captain Ribeiro over a political dispute. Ribiero was wounded in the arm.
July 3, 1924 (Thursday) A 21-year-old man was arrested in Osaka for stealing the flag from the American embassy. He explained his action by saying he wanted to do something "heroic" before he died for his country. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover submitted a paper before the World Power Conference in Wembley, London urging America's power plants to be linked together to save energy. Born: Michael Barrington, actor, in Shropshire, England (d. 1988); S. R. Nathan, president of Singapore, in Singapore (d. 2016)
July 4, 1924 (Friday) A new American political party called the Progressive Party opened a convention in Cleveland to nominate Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette as a third-party candidate for U.S. president. Kitty McKane Godfree of the United Kingdom defeated the American Helen Wills in the Women's Singles Final at the Wimbledon Championships of tennis. Glacier National Park concessions worker Donald T. Fly drowned in Saint Mary Lake. Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was reported to be seriously ill. Born: Eva Marie Saint, actress, in Newark, New Jersey
July 5, 1924 (Saturday) The official opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics were conducted at Colombes Stadium in Paris, France. Germany was absent for the second consecutive Olympics, having not been invited by the Organizing Committee. Jean Borotra defeated fellow Frenchman René Lacoste in the Men's Singles Final at Wimbledon. A group of Brazilian army officers mounted a rebellion in São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. Born: Niels Jannasch, German-Canadian historian, in Holzminden, Germany (d. 2001); Osman Lins, fiction writer, in Vitória de Santo Antão, Brazil (d. 1978); János Starker, cellist, in Budapest, Hungary (d. 2013)
July 6, 1924 (Sunday) A general election was held in Mexico. Plutarco Elías Calles of the Laborist Party won the presidential election with 84.1% of the vote. Ville Ritola of Finland won gold in the 10,000m race at the Paris Olympics. Paavo Nurmi, the greatest long-distance runner at the time, had hoped to break a record in the event but Finnish officials refused to enter him in it because they feared for his health if he competed in too many events, a decision that angered Nurmi.
July 7, 1924 (Monday) Calvin Coolidge Jr. died at 10:30 in the morning with his parents by his bedside. Al Smith passed William Gibbs McAdoo in balloting at the Democratic National Convention before it adjourned early out of respect for the President. Born: Benedikt Gröndal, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 2010) Died: Calvin Coolidge, Jr., 16, son of U.S. president Calvin Coolidge, died of blood poisoning caused by an infection.
July 8, 1924 (Tuesday) The Communist International in Moscow condemned the U.S. Immigration Act and passed a resolution advocating unrestricted worldwide immigration.