The spring of 1932 was a time of great confusion and concern amid American diplomatic and military circles. War had broken out not only in distant Arabia, but also in South America. Mexico was appearing dangerously unstable as rebel forces lead by members of the Catholic Church fought the government in the western states. Revelations of foreign mercenary pilots in advanced Japanese fighters fighting for the rebels only heightened concerns in the State and War Departments. When an unidentified aircraft carrier was spotted off the Mexican coast the Navy scrambled into action, sending the carrier Ranger and her escorts racing south out of their California bases, as well as both Navy airships. The orders to head south came with such urgency that the airship Akron was caught in the middle of a training flight, with several VIP’s aboard, including Howard Hughes and a pair of cameraman filming footage for a planned airship drama. Some of their footage made it into newsreels and cinemas across the United States were packed as people were riveted by the story of the mystery carrier and its capture by the Mexicans after the Akron and other ships helped to hunt it down. The carrier’s capture had officials scrambling to determine whether the Japanese government was actively involved in helping the Mexican rebels or, possibly even more disturbing, was the carrier run by mercenaries, possibly supplied through the notorious Japanese mafia, or Yakuza, who may have even concealed the carrier from the Japanese government?
While the Navy dealt with the situation off of Mexico’s west coast, new concerns arose which had the State Department scrambling. Japan announced that she was building new battlecruisers for her allies Chosen and Formosa. The United States considered both nations to be virtual puppets of the Japanese Empire and felt that in the event of war both vassal states’ fleets would be used to boost the Japanese navy and were an attempt to circumvent the Cleito Treaty’s restrictions. The US seconded an Australian call for a vote to attempt to block the sale, but Japan was able to foil the effort by showing that the sale was allowed under the treaty, but only by the slimmest of margins. A frustrated Australia then announced it would withdraw from the Cleito Treaty, an ominous sign for a treaty system already seen as gradually weakening. While an Australian withdrawal would not spell certain doom for the treaty, the precedent was serious. If other nations began to follow Australia, especially Japan and her SATSUMA allies, the US could find itself forced to do likewise. The Navy began to plan for an eventual end to the treaty and quietly dusted off plans for 18” and larger guns and battleship designs to carry them.
May also saw a rather strange transaction take place as the retired airship Shenandoah was sold to an Australian scientist and adventurer, Professor Challenger. The ship was considered too old and worn out to be of active service to the Navy and had been stripped of engines and most usable parts and had been used for various ground handling experiments at Lakehurst. Once purchased, Professor Challenger began refitting the vessel for his planned expedition, possibly to South America.
Meanwhile, the other two American airships continued to operate from their bases in southern California in case they were needed to help relief efforts in the Philippines as efforts to combat the “El Derretir” plague continued. They also continued reconnaissance flights along the Mexican west coast along with planes from the Ranger and later the Constellation. The Akron quickly became the darling of the Hollywood crowd, with many actors and actresses visiting the Goodyear complex near Los Angeles to see the great ship and be seen by the Hollywood press which covered the airship’s movements as if she were the latest starlet. Clark Gable, who worked in the rubber factories in the airship’s namesake city, was probably the most prominent and frequent visitor from Tinsel Town. Later that year he would narrate a popular documentary on the ship called “Flying Flattop”. Howard Hughes also continued filming aboard and around the Akron for his 1933 movie “The Sky Hunters” which starred a relative unknown actor by the name of Marion Morrison, with Jean Harlow as his love interest. The film coincidentally told the story of a Navy airship hunting pirates off the Hawaiian Islands. Back in Akron, Goodyear and the Navy announced that the completion of the airship Macon would be delayed several months, to the end of 1933, to incorporate design changes based on experience with the Akron. Severe vibration was a major problem with the Akron, caused by having all eight engines in line with each other. This also reduced their efficiency somewhat so it was decided to shift them so that they did not overlap. An additional gas bag was also added to the design, lengthening the ship to over 800 feet, making her even bigger than the new German zeppelins and requiring new doors at Lakehurst so she could fit inside. Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers scrambled to complete the new, larger hanger at San Diego’s Hoyt Field so the Akron could vacate the Goodyear facility in Los Angeles, allowing them to resume work on their new passenger airship. Goodyear also moved to prepare the facility for the arrival of Australia’s new zeppelin, which was expected to begin trans-Pacific service later in 1932. In Florida, work continued as well on the new airship base which would serve as the main operational Atlantic coast facility, with Lakehurst reduced to a pure training station and possible commercial facility. Final approval also was given to the construction of a Naval Airship Yard at Charleston to help remove the bottleneck caused by Goodyear being the only source of airships. The Army, ever anxious to end the Navy’s monopoly on rigid airships, began to push hard for their own ships, but Navy opposition left them with only a partial victory, a new large hanger was authorized at their base in Illinois. It was argued that there was still more to be learned before the Army began to operate its own rigid airships and the Navy agreed to allow additional Army personnel to train aboard their airships.
President Roosevelt, beginning to get into the swing of his reelection campaign, began a series of speeches across the country focusing on his goal of repealing Prohibition as a failed policy and finally having the United States join the League of Nations and become less isolationist in its foreign policy. The Republican Party held their nominating convention in mid-June in Chicago where they nominated Samuel Bush as their Presidential candidate and Charles Curtiss as Vice-President. The Socialists held a heated convention in New York where Norman Thomas barely beat out Huey Long for the nomination, Later in June, President Roosevelt’s speech tour brought him to Chicago, a city hit hard by the downside of Prohibition, the tremendous violence that illegal liquor sales fostered between rival gangs. On Friday, June 24th, Roosevelt was scheduled to speak at the Convention Center in Chicago. What happened next was considered a turning point in his fight against Prohibition…
Friday, June 24th 1932, WLS Radio 870AM 4:35PM
“We interrupt the “National Barn Dance” show with an important bulletin from WLS news. Shots have been fired during a speech by President Roosevelt at the Chicago Convention Center. The President was delivering a speech dealing with his desire to both end Prohibition and have the United States join the League of Nations. Mayor Thompson was also in attendance despite his many differences with the President. So far there are no reports of injuries, but our reporter on the scene says the situation is chaotic and that the President was quickly hustled out of the building by his Secret Service bodyguards. As more information becomes available we will interrupt our programming to bring it to you. Till then, we rejoin our show, already in progress…”
Friday, June 24th 1932, WLS Radio 870AM 4:55PM
“We have an update on the shooting that occurred this afternoon during a speech by President Roosevelt at the convention center here in Chicago. President Franklin Roosevelt has reportedly been wounded in what appears to have been an attempted assassination. Our reporter on the scene, Herb Morrison, reports the distinct sound of Tommy Guns being fired before the crowd ran in panic. Secret Service agents tackled the President to the ground then once the shooting stopped, they quickly carried him from the building. He was seen to be visibly wounded, possible in the leg or torso, but was conscious and talking, reportedly asking if Mayor Thompson or anyone in the crowd was injured. President Roosevelt has reportedly been taken to Cook County Hospital, but his current condition is unknown... “
Saturday, June 25th
President Roosevelt is reported to be resting comfortably in Cook County Hospital in Chicago after being wounded yesterday in an assassination attempt. Chicago police have arrested one suspect, Eleanor Fizzlebean, a 64 year old woman from Joliet, after she was caught with a pistol at the convention center. Mayor Thompson announced in a press conference this morning that Mrs. Fizzlebean is the only suspect at this time and dismissed reports of other shooters and Thompson machine-gun fire as “understandable hysterics”. Doctors say that the President was quite fortunate that his injuries were not more severe, as he was struck at least three times in his right leg and abdomen. His prognosis is reported to be good, but Doctors are still not certain about the full extent of any possible nerve injuries to his back or leg.
Sunday, June 26th
President Roosevelt continues to recuperate at Cook County hospital and it is planned to transfer him by train to Washington’s Walter Reed Army Hospital later this week if his condition continues to improve. While none of the President’s wounds were life threatening, one bullet is lodged very close to his right sciatic nerve and is causing numbness in that leg. Secretary Hoover of the Bureau of Domestic Security has announced that the investigation into the shooting is ongoing amid reports that the bullets recovered from the scene and from the President himself do not match those used by the gun of suspect Eleanor Fizzlebean, but rather match those used by Thompson machine guns. This would be consistent with eye-witness reports of machine gun fire, possibly from several shooters.
Tuesday, June 28th
Stunning developments in the attempted assassination of President Roosevelt today as Federal agents launched a series of raids across the greater Chicago area. Most surprising of all were the raids on City Hall and Mayor Thompson’s private residence! Secretary Hoover held a press conference soon after the raids in which he detailed a somewhat convoluted conspiracy involving the mayor and local organized crime boss Alphonse “Al” Capone. Apparently, Mayor Thompson was being paid a considerable sum in bribes by Mr. Capone and both stand to loose a great deal of money if President Roosevelt’s plan to repeal prohibition succeeds. According to Hoover, the mayor may not have been part of the actual assassination conspiracy and may in fact have been a target of the assassins along with the President as an effort by Capone to “cover his tracks”. Mayor Thompson has been arrested, along with several aides in city hall and police are scouring the city in search of Capone and his cohorts. He is rumored to have several “safe houses” throughout the Midwest, complicating the search.
As for Mrs. Eleanor Fizzlebean, arrested at the scene and initially implicated in the shooting, police announced today that no charges would be filed against the Joliet grandmother, but that she was “deeply disturbed” and would be remanded to the Illinois Department of Mental Hygiene for treatment at a state facility. When arrested she was carrying a small pistol, allegedly to protect herself from “communist brewers bent on silencing her pro-prohibition views”. Authorities believe she had no intention of harming the President or anyone else.
Friday, July 1st
The search for Al “Scarface” Capone and several of his compatriots ended today in a hail of gunfire just outside the rural Indiana town of French Lick. Capone, Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, Philip D'Andrea, and Frank Nitti were all killed in a shootout with Federal agents at a farmhouse where Capone was hiding out. Agent Eliot Ness of the Bureau of Domestic Security lead the team that finally found and killed the notorious gangster, believed responsible for numerous murders as part of his organized crime ring, as well as the attempted assassination of President Roosevelt. Ness said that locals had spotted Capone at the farmhouse and alerted authorities. Ness also said that more arrests are expected and that federal agents plan to “completely eradicate” Capone’s organization in Chicago and the Midwest. Ness went on to say that organized crime has become a serious threat across the nation and that federal authorities would spare no effort in countering it.
In related news, a train left Chicago this morning carrying President Roosevelt back to Washington to continue his recuperation at Walter Reed Army Hospital. It is expected that he will remain in the hospital for the next week or two.
Thus ends Quarter 2 of 1932 with implications to follow as the year continues…
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