Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Historical Events in 1933

Events 1 - 200 of 360

Bradman's 'Bodyline' Century

Jan 2 Don Bradman holds off England's hostile pace bowling to score an unbeaten 103 leading Australia to a 111 run victory in the 2nd 'Bodyline' Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

  • Jan 2 Ijmuider fishing strike begins (till July 11th)
  • Jan 2 US troops leave Nicaragua
  • Jan 3 Minnie D. Craig becomes the first female elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first female to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.

Premiere of "Cavalcade"

Jan 5 "Cavalcade" based on the play by Noël Coward, directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook premieres in New York (Best Production/Picture 1934)

  • Jan 5 Work on Golden Gate Bridge begins, starting on the Marin County side

Barrow Kills County Sheriff

Jan 6 Clyde Barrow kills Tarrant County Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis after walking into a trap set for another criminal

  • Jan 7 1st edition of People & Fatherland published in Netherlands
  • Jan 9 Amsterdam confectionery worker go on strike against wage reduction
  • Jan 12 Uprising of Guardia Civil in Spain, 25 die
  • Jan 12 US Congress recognizes the Philippines' independence
  • Jan 16 Cricket's Bodyline Tour: Australian batsman Bert Oldfield's skull fractured by delivery bowled by Englishman Harold Larwood during the third test in Adelaide
  • Jan 17 Australian cricket batting champion Don Bradman takes only his 2nd Test wicket; bowls England's Walter Hammond for 85 during 338-run 3rd Test defeat in Adelaide
  • Jan 18 White Sands National Monument in New Mexico established
  • Jan 23 20th amendment, which changed the date of US presidential inaugurations to 20th January, is ratified
  • Jan 27 Otto Meisnner (Head of the German President's Office) dines with British ambassador Sir Horace Rumbold
  • Jan 28 French government of Paul Boncour falls
  • Jan 28 German government of Von Schleicher falls
  • Jan 28 The name "Pakistan" is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali and gradually accepted by Muslims in the Indian sub-continent who use it to push for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia
  • Jan 30 "Lone Ranger" begins a 21-year run on ABC radio

"This Accursed Man"

Jan 30 After Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, his former WWI colleague General Erich Ludendorff sends a letter to him stating "this accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery"

  • Jan 30 Clarrie Grimmett takes 7-86 for SA in Qld 2nd inn, 13-135 for match

Daladier Takes Power

Jan 31 French government of Édouard Daladier takes power

  • Feb 1 Colonial government arrests Anton de Kom in Paramaribo Suriname
  • Feb 1 Dutch bishops forbid membership of non-catholic unions

German Parliament Dissolved

Feb 1 German Parliament is dissolved by President Paul von Hindenburg by the request of new chancellor Adolf Hitler

Goering Bans Communist Gatherings

Feb 2 Hermann Goering bans Communist meetings and demonstrations in Germany

  • Feb 2 Ucicky's "Rotten Morning" premieres in Berlin
  • Feb 3 1st interstate legislative conference in US opens, Washington, D.C.

Arsonist to Berlin

Feb 3 Dutch Communist Marinus van der Lubbe departs for Berlin (later arrested, convicted and executed for supposedly setting fire to the German Reichstag)

  • Feb 3 German Minister Hermann Goering bans social-democratic newspaper "Vorwarts"
  • Feb 4 German President Paul von Hindenburg limits freedom of the press
  • Feb 5 Crew of Dutch "7 Provinces" mutiny after pay cuts
  • Feb 5 Marinus van der Lubbe passes Dutch-German border, will later set fire to the German Reichstag
  • Feb 6 -90°F (-68°C), Oymyakon, USSR (Asian record)
  • Feb 6 German President Paul von Hindenburg and Franz von Papen end the Prussian parliament
  • Feb 6 Highest recorded sea wave (not tsunami), 34 m, in North Pacific hurricane by USS Ramapo
  • Feb 7 Colonial troops in Suriname kill 2 demonstrators
  • Feb 7 Social-Dem meeting in Berlin "As thousands cheer" Marxism is dead
  • Feb 8 -23°F (-31°C), Seminole, Texas (state record)
  • Feb 8 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
  • Feb 9 -63°F (-53°C), Moran, Wyoming (state record)
  • Feb 10 -54°F (-48°C), Seneca, Oregon (state record)
  • Feb 10 Adolf Hitler proclaims end of Marxism
  • Feb 10 Dutch seaplane bombs Dutch ship
  • Feb 10 Mutiny on "7 Provinces" ends (began Feb 4th), 23 killed
  • Feb 10 The Postal Telegraph-Cable Company of New York City delivers the 1st singing telegram [1]
  • Feb 12 German vice-chancellor von Papen demands Catholic aid for Nazis
  • Feb 15 Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party

Assassination Attempt

Feb 15 President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt survives assassination in Miami, Florida, attempt but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak is mortally wounded, he would die on March 29

  • Feb 15 Social-democratic newspaper "Vorwarts" banned again in Berlin
  • Feb 16 Catholic newspaper Germania warns against Nazis and communists
  • Feb 16 England cricket team regains the Ashes against Australia, thanks to "bodyline" tactics
  • Feb 17 First issue of American news magazine "Newsweek" is published
  • Feb 17 US Senate accepts Blaine Act: ending prohibition
  • Feb 19 Prussian minister Goering bans all Catholic newspapers

Curaçao Broadcast System

Feb 20 Curaçao Broadcast System, Curom, starts in the Dutch Caribbean with a speech by Princess Juliana

  • Feb 20 Sidney Howard's "Alien Corn" premieres in NYC
  • Feb 20 US House of Representatives completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition
  • Feb 22 Hungarian scholar and the founder of Tibetan studies Alexander Csoma de Kőrös declared a Bodhisattva (Buddhist saint) in Japan

Land Speed Record

Feb 22 Malcolm Campbell sets a world land speed record of 272.46 mph driving his famous Blue Bird car at Daytona Beach, Florida

  • Feb 24 Final demonstration of German communist party in Berlin
  • Feb 24 League of Nations tells Japanese to pull out of Manchuria
  • Feb 25 1st genuine US aircraft carrier named, USS Ranger
  • Feb 25 Major NFL rule changes (hash mark 10 yds in, posts on goal line)
  • Feb 25 New York industrialist Thomas Yawkey purchases Boston Red Sox for $1.25 million
  • Feb 26 Dutch Communist Marinus van der Lubbe kept overnight in a police cell
  • Feb 26 Golden Gate Bridge groundbreaking ceremony held at Crissy Field

Intermezzo

Feb 27 Jean Genet's play "Intermezzo" premieres in Paris

Reichstag Fire

Feb 27 Nazi Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, is destroyed by fire; possibly set by the Nazis, who blame and execute Dutch Communist Marinus van der Lubbe

  • Feb 28 1st female in US Cabinet: Frances Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor
  • Feb 28 After the Reichstag Fire Decree, the German Communist Party (KPD) is essentially outlawed (though not formally banned) after the German government blames the Communists for burning down the Reichstag building
  • Feb 28 On Adolf Hitler's advice, German President Paul von Hindenburg signs the Reichstag Fire Decree after the building is destroyed by fire in Berlin; this eliminates many civil liberties in Germany
  • Feb 28 Pacifist and anti fascist writer Carl Von Ossietzky arrested, sent to Esterwegen-Papenburg concentration camp
  • Mar 1 Bank holidays declared in 6 states, to prevent run on banks

King Kong

Mar 2 "King Kong" film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Fay Wray premieres at Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in NYC

  • Mar 2 Sanriku earthquake of 8.4 and tsunami hit Japan, country's most powerful earthquake in 180 years
  • Mar 3 German presidential candidate Earnest Thalmann (KPD) arrested
  • Mar 4 Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss dissolves Austrian parliament
  • Mar 4 Frances Perkins becomes Secretary of Labor, 1st female member of the US Cabinet
  • Mar 4 Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd US President, pledges to pull the US out of the Depression, stating in his inaugural address "that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".
  • Mar 4 Henderson, DeSylva & Brown's "Strike Me Pink" premieres in NYC
  • Mar 4 Noordwijk soccer team forms
  • Mar 5 FDR proclaims 10-day bank holiday in the US in attempt stem bank failures and restore confidence [1]
  • Mar 5 Germany's Nazi Party wins majority in parliament (43.9%-17.2M votes)

1st Press Conference by a First Lady

Mar 6 Eleanor Roosevelt is the 1st First Lady to hold an official Press Conference at the White House [1]

  • Mar 6 FDR declares a nationwide bank holiday, to shut down the banking system, pass the Emergency Banking Act and restore public confidence

Both Your Houses

Mar 6 Maxwell Anderson's stage drama "Both Your Houses" opens at the Royale Theatre, NYC; runs for 72 performances and wins a Pulitzer Prize

  • Mar 6 Poland occupies the free city of Danzig (Gdańsk)
  • Mar 9 "42nd Street" a musical film revolving around rehearsals for a Broadway show, directed by Lloyd Bacon, with choreography by Busby Berkeley, and songs by Harry Warren and by Al Dubin, premieres at the Strand, NYC; later adapted as a stage musical
  • Mar 9 Bulgarian communists Georgi Dimitrov, Blagoy Popov & Vasil Tanev arrested in Berlin, Germany, on charges of complicity in the Reichstag fire; all were acquitted
  • Mar 9 US Congress is called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, beginning its "100 days" in which it passes 77 laws
  • Mar 10 Major earthquake (6.4 magnitude) in Long Beach, California kills 120, and destroys 70 school buildings
  • Mar 10 Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics
  • Mar 12 Franklin D. Roosevelt conducts his first "fireside chat" as US President via radio, speaking directly to 60 million listening Americans, eight days after his inauguration
  • Mar 13 American banks allowed to reopen after a government imposed bank holiday

Goebbels Nazi Minister

Mar 13 Joseph Goebbels becomes Nazi Germany's Minister of Information and Propaganda

  • Mar 14 US Civilian Conservation Corp begins tree conservation program
  • Mar 15 NAACP begins coordinated attack on segregation & discrimination
  • Mar 16 Adolf Hitler names Hjalmar Schacht as President of Bank of Germany

Appointment of Interest

Mar 16 Hans Luther resigns as president of the Reichsbank and is appointed German ambassador to the United States

  • Mar 18 Radio Clube de Mocambique's 1st radio transmission
  • Mar 20 Dachau the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed
  • Mar 21 Day of Potsdam in Nazi Germany, a ceremony to open the new Reichstag after the fire in February; Adolf Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg shake hands in public
  • Mar 22 FDR signs the Cullen-Harrison Act, legalizing the sale of beer and wine with up to 3.2% alcohol
  • Mar 23 German Reichstag hastily passes the Enabling Act and President Paul von Hindenburg signs it the same day, granting Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers
  • Mar 23 Kroll Opera in Berlin, Germany opens
  • Mar 24 Peter I Island incorporated as a Norwegian dependency
  • Mar 27 Farm Credit Administration (US) authorized
  • Mar 27 Japan leaves League of Nations
  • Mar 27 Polythene discovered by Reginald Gibson & Eric William Fawcett
  • Mar 31 "Soperton News" publishes 1st newspaper on pine pulp paper, in Soperton, Georgia
  • Mar 31 US Congress authorizes Civilian Conservation Corps
  • Apr 1 England cricket batsman Wally Hammond smashes 34 fours, 10 sixes in a Test record unbeaten 336 in the drawn 2nd Test against New Zealand in Auckland

Himmler Police Commander

Apr 1 Heinrich Himmler becomes Police Commander of Germany

  • Apr 1 Nazi Germany begins persecution of Jews by boycotting Jewish businesses
  • Apr 3 1st airplane flight over Mt Everest
  • Apr 3 Then longest North American hockey game requires a 1:44:46 overtime as Maple Leaf Ken Doraty scores to beat Canadiens 1-0
  • Apr 4 USS Akron dirigible crashes into Atlantic Ocean, off coast of New Jersey, in stormy weather; 73 die including US Navy Rear Admiral William A. Moffett - a major proponent of the airship fleet, there were 3 survivors [1]
  • Apr 7 'National Beer Day" Cullen-Harrison act comes into effect legalising sale of low alcohol beer
  • Apr 7 1st 2 NAZI anti-Jewish laws, bars Jews from legal & public service
  • Apr 7 University Bridge, Seattle opens for traffic
  • Apr 8 Manchester Guardian warns of unknown Nazi terror
  • Apr 11 Hermann Goering becomes Premier of Prussia
  • Apr 12 US Navy commissions Air Station Sunnyvale (later renamed NAS Moffatt Field) in Santa Clara county, California (at the southern end of San Francisco Bay)
  • Apr 13 1st flight over Mount Everest (Lord Clydesdale)

Stanley Cup Final

Apr 13 Stanley Cup Final, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON: New York Rangers beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 1-0 in OT for a 3-1 series win; first best-of-4 Finals series

  • Apr 17 Chicago Bears win their 1st NFL Game beating NY Giants 23-21
  • Apr 19 FDR announces US will leave gold standard

Heidegger Elected Rector

Apr 21 German philosopher Martin Heidegger elected rector of University of Freiburg

  • Apr 22 Dutch government forbids left wing radio address
  • Apr 23 Dovo soccer team forms in Veenendaal
  • Apr 25 NY Yankee Russ Van Atta shuts out Washington Senators 16-0
  • Apr 25 Philadelphia Phillies' Dick Bartell is 1st MLB player to get 4 consecutive doubles in 9 innings
  • Apr 26 Jewish students are barred from school in Germany
  • Apr 27 Adolf Hitler authorizes creation of Ministry of Aviation, in part to revive the German Luftwaffe, under Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering
  • Apr 27 Jessop & Son department store in Nottingham, England, acquired by John Lewis Partnership. The partnership's first shop outside London.
  • Apr 27 Karl Jansky reports reception of cosmic radio signal in Washington, D.C.
  • May 2 In Germany, Adolf Hitler bans trade unions
  • May 3 Nellie T. Ross takes office as the first female director of the US Mint

Pulitzer Prize to Macleish

May 4 Pulitzer Prize for poetry awarded to Archibald Macleish for "Conquistador"

  • May 6 Italy and USSR sign trade agreement

Gandhi Begins Fast

May 8 Mahatma Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India

  • May 9 Spanish anarchists call for general strike
  • May 10 Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF) forms
  • May 10 Nazis stage public book burnings in Germany
  • May 10 Paraguay declares war on Bolivia
  • May 10 Suriname worker's union leader A de Come banished to Netherlands
  • May 12 Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Agricultural Adjustment Administration form to help the needy & farmers
  • May 15 1st voice amplification system to be used in US Senate
  • May 16 Cecil Travis becomes 1st player to get 5 hits in his 1st game

Nasjonal Samling

May 17 Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling, the national-socialist party of Norway

  • May 18 Around 5,000 forced deportees in the Soviet Union arrive on Nazino Island; within thirteen weeks most of them will be dead due to disease, cannibalism and violence
  • May 18 Tennessee Valley Act (TVA) Act signed by FDR, to build dams
  • May 21 Mount Davidson Cross, San Francisco, lit by FDR via telegraph
  • May 22 First modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster by Aldie and John Mackay saw "something resembling a whale"
  • May 22 World Trade Day/National Maritime Day 1st celebrated

Shostakovich's Preludes

May 24 Dmitri Shostakovich's Preludes premieres in Moscow

  • May 25 Spanish piano virtuoso José Iturbi makes his conducting debut, leading an orchestra at the Teatro Hidalgo in Mexico City, Mexico
  • May 26 2nd emergency Dutch government of Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn forms

Klein Hits for Cycle

May 26 Phillies Chuck Klein hits for cycle vs St Louis Cards

  • May 27 Austrian communist party banned
  • May 27 Century of Progress Exposition opens in Chicago
  • May 27 Federal Securities Act signed
  • May 27 Martin Heidegger gives his inaugural rectoral address on “The Self-Assertion of the German University”, taken by some take as supporting the Nazi regime
  • May 27 Trailing 11-3, Yanks score 12 runs in 8th & beat White Sox 15-11
  • May 27 Walt Disney's short film "3 Little Pigs" released (Academy Award Best Animated film 1934)
  • May 30 Patent on invisible glass installation
  • Jun 1 Century of Progress world's fair opens in Chicago
  • Jun 2 FDR authorizes 1st swimming pool built inside the White House
  • Jun 2 WNJ-AM in Newark NJ goes off the air
  • Jun 3 A's score 11 runs in 2nd, Yanks score 10 in 5th & win 17-11

On Oppression of the Church in Spain

Jun 3 Pope Pius XI encyclical "On oppression of the Church in Spain"

  • Jun 5 US drops the Gold Standard when Congress enacts a joint resolution nullifying creditors right to demand payment in gold
  • Jun 6 Richard Hollingshead opens the world's 1st Drive-In movie theater on Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken, New Jersey
  • Jun 6 US Employment Service created

7 Deadly Sins

Jun 7 George Balanchine and Kurt Weills' ballet chanté "7 Deadly Sins" premieres in Paris

Foxx's Three Home Runs

Jun 8 Athletics' first baseman Jimmie Foxx hits 3 consecutive home runs as Philadelphia outscores New York Yankees, 14 - 10; 4 straight HRs after Foxx had homered last time up the previous day

  • Jun 9 Spanish president Niceto Alcalá-Zamora takes power

Johnson To Manage Cleveland

Jun 9 Walter Johnson takes over as MLB Cleveland Indians manager

Bonnie and Clyde Crash

Jun 10 Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker flip their car into a ravine. Parker suffers serious third degree burns from the accident which would affect her for the rest of her life.

Dillinger Robs 1st Bank

Jun 10 John Dillinger robs his first bank, in New Carlisle, Ohio. He takes $10, 600

  • Jun 10 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues executive order making Mount Rushmore, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, part of the National Park Service [1]
  • Jun 12 Financial and Economy World conference opens (66 countries)
  • Jun 13 1st sodium vapor lamps installed (Schenectady, NY)
  • Jun 13 Federal Home Owners Loan Corporation authorized
  • Jun 13 German Secret State Police (Gestapo - Geheime Staats Polizei) established by Hermann Goering

Gehrig and McCarthy Thrown Out

Jun 14 MLB's Lou Gehrig and Joe McCarthy thrown out of game, McCarthy suspended 3 games but Gehrig isn't, so he continues his streak at 1,249 games

  • Jun 16 US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created
  • Jun 16 US National Industrial Recovery Act becomes law (later struck down)
  • Jun 17 Kansas City Massacre: 1 FBI agent, 4 cops & 1 gangster killed by mob
  • Jun 19 Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss' government bans Nazi organizations
  • Jun 21 1st Great Lakes-to-Gulf of Mexico barge trip completed, New Orleans
  • Jun 22 German social-democratic party (SPD) forbidden
  • Jun 23 Don McNeill's Pepper Pot (Breakfast Club) begins 35½ year run on NBC

Carnera KOs Sharkey

Jun 29 Italian boxer Primo Carnera KOs American defending champion Jack Sharkey in round 6 at Madison Square Garden, NYC to become third European to win the lineal world heavyweight title

  • Jun 30 50,000 demonstrate in Antwerp against fascism/war
  • Jun 30 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Olympia Fields CC: June Beebe beats Jane Weiller, 3 & 2 for golf's only major title