January 6–7 – The River Thames floods in London; 14 drownJanuary – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith’s experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNAJanuary 31 – Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-AtaFebruary 8 – Scottish inventor John Logie Baird broadcasts a transatlantic television signal from London to Hartsdale, New YorkFebruary 11–19 – The 1928 Winter Olympics are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first as a separate event. Sonja Henie of Norway wins her first gold medal, in women’s figure skating.March 12 – In California, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles fails, killing 600March 21 – Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for his first transatlantic flightApril 10 – The United States Republican Party primary elections in Chicago are preceded by violence, bombings and assassination attempts.April 13 – The West Plains, Missouri Dance Hall explosion occurs – the reasons are still unknown.April 14 – Two earthquakes in Chirpan and Plovdiv, Bulgaria destroy more than 21,000 buildings, and kill almost 130 people.May 3 – An armed conflict between the Imperial Japanese Army (allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang’s southern army) occurs in Jinan, China.May 7 – Passage of the Representation of the People Act in the United Kingdom lowers the voting age for women from 30 to 21, giving them equal suffrage with men from July 2May 10 – The first regular schedule of television programming begins in Schenectady, New York, by General Electric’s television station W2XBMay 15 – The animated short Plane Crazy is released by Disney Studios in Los Angeles, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie MouseMay 24 – The airship Italia crashes at the North Pole; one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile.June 4 – Huanggutun incident – Zhang Zuolin, a warlord, is killed by Japanese agents in China.June 20 – Serb politician Puniša Račić shoots dead three opposition representatives in the Yugoslavian Parliament, and injures three others.June 29 – At the 1928 Democratic National Convention in Houston, Governor of New York Al Smith becomes the first Catholic nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.July 7 – The first machine-sliced and machine-wrapped loaf of bread is sold in Chillicothe, Missouri, using Otto Frederick Rohwedder’s technology.July 17 – José de León Toral assassinates Álvaro Obregón, president-elect of Mexico.July 28 – August 12 – The 1928 Summer Olympics are held in Amsterdam, opening with the lighting of the Olympic flame. Women’s athletics and gymnastics debut at these games.August 25 – Ahmet Zogu proclaims himself King Zog of Albania; he is crowned September 1.August 27 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact is signed in Paris, the first treaty to outlaw aggressive war.August 31 – The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, opens at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin.September 3 – Philo Farnsworth demonstrates to the press in San Francisco the world’s first working all-electronic television system, employing electronic scanning in both the pickup and display devices.September 3 – Scotsman Alexander Fleming, at St Mary’s Hospital, London, accidentally rediscovers the antibiotic Penicillin.September 12 – The Okeechobee hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing 1,200 people – it will kill another 2,500 in Florida four days later.October 1 – Joseph Stalin launches the first five-year plan (1928–1932)October 7 – Haile Selassie is crowned king (not yet emperor) of Abyssinia.October 8 – Chiang Kai-shek is named as Generalissimo (Chairman of the National Military Council) of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China.November 6 – In the US presidential election, Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin over Democratic New York Governor Al Smith.November 18 – Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the third Mickey Mouse cartoon released, but the first sound film and the first such film to be generally distributed.December 21 – The United States Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam.
