The opening ceremony of the 1936 Summer Olympics was held in Berlin. As with the Winter Games in February, there was confusion between the Nazi salute and the Olympic salute. Most countries gave one salute or the other as they passed Hitler in the viewing stand. The British and Americans did not salute at all and gave a military-style 'eyes right' instead. The Americans were also the only country not to dip their country's flag while passing Hitler, in keeping with the U.S. custom of only dipping to the President of the United States.[1][2]
France took a public stance of neutrality in the Spanish Civil War by announcing that volunteers would be allowed to go and fight as long as they did not carry arms on French soil.[3]
On the first day of competition at the Summer Olympics, Adolf Hitler congratulated German gold medalists Tilly Fleischer and Hans Woellke, then invited all three Finnish medalists in the 10,000 metres to his box to congratulate them as well. However, he left before congratulating the gold medalist in high jump, Cornelius Johnson of the United States. An international controversy broke out over whether Hitler had snubbed Johnson for being African-American. International Olympic Committee President Henri de Baillet-Latour told Hitler to either congratulate all of the medalists, or none at all. Hitler chose the latter and no athletes were invited to his box for the rest of the Olympics.[5]
Charles Lindbergh and wife Anne ended their 12-day visit to Germany. Lindbergh did not meet Hitler as had been speculated; they had both attended the opening ceremony of the Olympics, but were not introduced.[6]
The French cabinet secretly authorized Air Minister Pierre Cot to ship aircraft directly to Spain for the Republican side.[7]
Jesse Owens of the United States won his first gold medal of the Berlin Olympics, equaling the world record of 10.3 seconds in the 100-metre dash.[8]
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull said at a press conference that the government would do all it could to evacuate Americans still in Spain who wanted to leave, but warned that conditions may develop which would make it no longer possible for American ships to reach them.[9]
Jesse Owens won gold in the long jump. An often-told story holds that Germany's Luz Long gave Owens some advice after he almost failed to qualify. The veracity of the story has been questioned, but it is known for certain that Owens and Long embraced in front of Hitler and became friends.[10][11]
Jesse Owens won gold in the 200-metre dash. His time of 20.7 seconds would have easily been a new world record, but the IAAF did not recognize records set on a turn at the time.[13]
Despite the French government's attempt to keep its aid to the Spanish government secret, the right-wing press ran articles exposing and denouncing it.[7]
The first volunteers of the Luftwaffe arrived at Cádiz to fight for the Nationalists. To keep Germany's involvement secret the volunteers were officially discharged from the Luftwaffe so they could go to Spain as "tourists".[16]
The French government changed its policy on the Spanish Civil War again, announcing that it was closing its border and stopping all further shipments of arms to Spain.[7]
Portugal accepted a French proposal for neutrality in the Spanish Civil War, an important step in the international nonintervention agreement France was seeking.[23]
President Roosevelt made one of his few foreign policy statements of the election campaign at Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York. "We shun political commitments which might entangle us in foreign wars", the President said. "We avoid connection with the political activities of the League of Nations ... I hate war. I have passed unnumbered hours, I shall pass unnumbered hours, thinking and planning how war may be kept from this Nation." This is remembered as the "I Hate War" speech.[24][25]
Died:Rainey Bethea, 27?, American convicted criminal, last person to be publicly executed in the United States (hanged)
The German merchant ship Kamerun was stopped by a shot across its bow and searched by a Spanish warship. Kamerun was forbidden to enter any Spanish port on the grounds of carrying oil and other war materials.[31]
Due to the Kamerun incident, Germany ordered its warships to meet "unjustifiable acts of force" with force of its own to ensure German freedom of the seas.[34]
Britain announced a similar policy to Germany's, warning that any attempt to interfere with British shipping in Spanish waters would be met with stern measures.[36]
The sixteen convicted Soviet conspirators were executed by firing squad. From exile in Norway, Leon Trotsky declared it was his duty to avenge "one of the greatest crimes in the world's history."[42]
The Anglo-Egyptian treaty was signed. Britain recognized Egyptian independence and agreed to withdraw all troops from Egypt except those required to defend the Suez Canal.[39]
The BBC broadcast its first television programme, a variety show called Here's Looking at You.[43]
Conscription was introduced in Nationalist-held parts of Spain.[15]
Shells from a Nationalist attack on Irun fell on the French side of the border. French authorities advised peasants to evacuate the area.[44]
The Chicago Tribune published Jay Allen's famous account of the Massacre of Badajoz. "Eighteen hundred men – there were women too – were mowed down there in some twelve hours", Allen reported. "There is more blood than you would think in 1,800 bodies."[22][50]
The destroyer USS Kane which was in Spanish waters assisting in the evacuation of American nationals, was attacked by an unidentified aircraft. A total of six bombs were dropped which landed near the ship but did no damage, and the Kane replied with anti-aircraft fire in the direction of the plane. The United States sent protests to both sides in the civil war. The U.S. State Department said the altercation was probably a case of mistaken identity, even though the Kane was clearly flying the American flag.[51]
The Queen Mary crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a record time of 3 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes to claim the Blue Riband.[52]
^ abcCortada, James W., ed. (1982). Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 500–501. ISBN0-313-22054-9.
^Schnaap, Jeremy (2007). Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics. New York: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 177–181. ISBN978-0-547-52726-0.
^"Lindy in Berlin 12 Days; Fails to Meet Hitler". Chicago Daily Tribune. August 3, 1936. p. 13.
^ abcCoverdale, John F. (1975). Italian Intervention in the Spanish Civil War. Princeton University Press. p. 91. ISBN978-1-4008-6790-5.
^"Owens Wins Dash Title, U. S. Girl Smashes Mark". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. August 3, 1936. p. 1.
^"U.S. Warns Refugees to Flee; Spanish Rebels Imprison Jews". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. August 3, 1936. p. 1.