Events 1 - 200 of 250
- Jan 1 Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua
- Jan 1 German officer Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to captain
- Jan 1 Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain.
- Jan 1 US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio
Record 6th Wicket Stand
Jan 5 Australian cricket batsmen Jack Fingleton (136) and Don Bradman (out 270 the following day) make then record stand of 346 for 6th wicket in 3rd Test vs England in Melbourne
High Tor
Jan 9 Maxwell Anderson's stage drama "High Tor" premieres at Martin Beck Theatre, NYC; runs for 171 performances, wins Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play
Berg Wins Inaugural Event
Jan 17 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Patty Berg wins inaugural event by 3 strokes ahead of Dorothy Kirby
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 19 Cy Young, Tris Speaker and Nap Lajorie are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
Transcontinental Air Record
Jan 19 Millionaire Howard Hughes sets transcontinental air record (7h 28m 25s)
- Jan 20 -45°F (-43°C), Boca, California (state record)
- Jan 20 1st US Presidential Inauguration day held on Jan 20th, (previously March 4th)
The Great Purge
Jan 23 Karl Radek and sixteen others go on trial in Moscow as part of the Great Purge, many are sentenced to death
- Jan 25 1st broadcast of "Guiding Light" on NBC radio
- Jan 25 Miami-to-Tampa bus overturned in a canal, kills 13
- Feb 1 Stapleton, Staten Island, becomes a customs-free port
- Feb 3 Don Bradman scores 212 (in 441 minutes!) in 5th cricket test v England
- Feb 4 Jim Margie, Philadelphia, bowls 900 in 3 (unsanctioned) games
- Feb 6 K Elizabeth Ohi becomes 1st Japanese-US female lawyer
- Feb 8 Maxwell Anderson's dramatic play "Masque of Kings" premieres in NYC
- Feb 11 44-day sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint Mich ends
- Feb 12 Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise
- Feb 13 "Prince Valiant" comic strip appears; known for historical detail
- Feb 13 Boston Redskins receive approval from NFL to move to Washington, D.C; to share baseball's Griffith Stadium with first Washington Senators of the American League
- Feb 16 DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace Carothers
Event of Interest
Feb 16 Jean Anouilh's "Le Voyageur Sans Baggage" premieres in Paris
- Feb 21 The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War
- Feb 21 Walter Waterman's Arrowbile, the 1st working automobile-airplane combination, tested at Santa Monica, California
- Feb 24 1st US group hospital-medical cooperative authorized, Washington, D.C.
- Feb 26 Christopher Isherwood and W. H. Auden's "Ascent of F6" premieres in London
- Feb 27 Australian cricketer Don Bradman scores 169 in 5th Test match v England in 223 minutes, ensuring Australia wins the Ashes 3-2
- Mar 1 1st permanent automobile license plates issued (Ct)
- Mar 1 Governor Wouters innaugrates the radio station on the Dutch Antilles
- Mar 1 US Steel raises workers' wages to $5 a day
- Mar 2 Mexico nationalizes oil
- Mar 3 Australia snatches series against England 3-2 after being 2-0 down
9th Academy Awards
Mar 4 9th Academy Awards: "The Great Ziegfeld", Paul Muni & Luise Rainer wins
- Mar 7 Bucharin, Jagoda & Rykov pushed out of CPSU in USSR
King of Swing
Mar 10 Benny Goodman unofficially crowned the “King of Swing” at New York City's Paramount Theater as his band plays before exuberant sell-out crowd filled with teenagers; unable to attend nightclub performances, kids dance in the aisles
Battle of the Century
Mar 14 Battle of the Century: US comedians Fred Allen and Jack Benny meet on radio during their "feud"
- Mar 15 1st state contraceptive clinic opens in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Mar 15 First American blood bank in a hospital is opened at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois
- Mar 18 Gas explosion in school in New London, Texas: 294 die
- Mar 18 The human-powered aircraft, Pedaliante, flies 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) outside Milan.
- Mar 19 Astronomer Fritz Zwicky publishes his research on stellar explosion in which he coins the term "supernova" and hypothesizes that they were the origin of cosmic rays
- Mar 19 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini redemptoris against communism
Battle of Guadalajara
Mar 20 Franco's Republican army launch their (eventually successful) counter-offensive against Italian International Brigades fighting for the Nationalists at the Battle of Guadalajara, Spain
- Mar 21 Ponce massacre, police kill 19 at Puerto Rican Nationalist parade
- Mar 23 LA Railway Co starts using PCC streetcars
- Mar 24 Bus carrying a roller skater troupe to Cincinnati from St.Louis crashes into a bridge abutment in Salem, Illinois, killing 21 people
- Mar 24 National Gallery of Art established by Congress
- Mar 25 Italy & Yugoslavia sign non-aggression treaty (Pact of Belgrade)
- Mar 25 Lionel Conacher misses on 1st Stanley Cup penalty shot
- Mar 25 Washington Daily News is 1st US newspaper with perfumed advertising page
DiMaggio's New Bat
Mar 26 Joe DiMaggio takes Ty Cobb's advice and replaces his 40 oz bat with a 36 oz one
- Mar 26 Spinach growers of Crystal City, Texas, erect statue of Popeye
- Mar 26 William H. Hastie becomes 1st black federal judge (Virgin Islands)
- Mar 27 Feijenoord Stadion, home ground of Dutch football club Feyenoord Rotterdam and nicknamed De Kuip opens after 2 years in construction
- Apr 1 Aden becomes a British crown colony
- Apr 12 Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Rugby, England.
- Apr 15 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat New York Rangers, 3-0 for a 3-2 series win; back-to-back titles for Red Wings
- Apr 22 NYC college students stage 4th annual peace strike
Hubbell Continues Streak
Apr 23 New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell's first start of season, a 3-0 win over the Boston Bees, is his 17th straight win; streak continues for league record 24 victories in a row
- Apr 26 German Luftwaffe destroys Basque town of Guernica in Spain
- Apr 27 1st US social security payment made
- Apr 28 1st animated cartoon electric sign displayed (NYC)
- Apr 28 First commercial flight across the Pacific, operated by Pan Am
- Apr 29 Symbolic 'Golden Rivet', completing the Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, is driven (later replaced with a more structurally sound steel version)
- Apr 30 The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative
- May 1 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act, banning travel on belligerent ships and imposes an arms embargo on warring nations
Gone With The Wind Wins Pulitzer
May 3 Margaret Mitchell wins the Pulitzer Prize for her Novel "Gone With The Wind"
The Age of Zeppelins
May 6 German airship Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 on board and 1 on the ground
- May 12 St Louis Cards beat Philadelphia Phillies, 15-3
- May 17 Juan Negrin succeeds Largo Caballero as Spain's premier
- May 25 1st airmail letter to circle globe returns to NY
- May 26 Dutch Rail NV at law forms
- May 27 Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens to pedestrians
- May 27 New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell wins his MLB record 24th consecutive game in a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field; streak starts July 17, 1936
- May 28 Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens to vehicular traffic
Chamberlain Prime Minister
May 28 Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- May 30 Memorial Day Massacre: Chicago Police Department shoot and kill 10 unarmed demonstrators during the "Little Steel Strike" in the United States
- May 31 1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University)
- May 31 German warships bombard Almeria, Spain
- May 31 Second largest crowd in Polo Grounds history (61,756) sees Brooklyn Dodgers beat NY Giants, 10-3, ending Carl Hubbell's record consecutive-game winning streak at 24
- Jun 1 Chicago White Sox pitcher Bill Dietrich no-hits St Louis Browns, 8-0 at Comiskey Park, Chicago
Edith Wharton's Heart Attack
Jun 1 Edith Wharton suffers a heart attack and collapses at the French country home of Ogden Codman
- Jun 1 Prince Konoye becomes Japanese premier
Gibson's Huge Home Run
Jun 3 Josh Gibson hits a home run just 2 feet below the rim of Yankee Stadium (580' drive)
Ford's 32 Hour Week
Jun 5 Henry Ford initiates a 32 hour work week
- Jun 6 Philadelphia Phillies trailing 8-2 to St Louis, forfeit game
- Jun 6 Volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan destroy the town of Rabaul on New Britain island, Papua, New Guinea, killing over 500 people
Very Rare Photo of the Supreme Court
Jun 7 Time magazine publishes the second of the only two known photos taken of the United States Supreme Court in session
- Jun 8 "Carmina Burana", the first work of Carl Orff's Trionfi cantata trilogy, premieres at the Oper Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany
- Jun 8 World's largest flower blooms in NY Botanical Garden, 12' calla lily
- Jun 11 Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races", directed by Sam Wood, is released in the US
- Jun 12 After a one-day show trial, eight Soviet generals are sentenced to death and executed by the NKVD
- Jun 13 Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs against St Louis Browns
- Jun 19 Francisco Franco's Nationalist troops take Bilbao during their victorious Biscay Campaign in the Basques region during the Civil War
- Jun 19 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Beverly CC: Helen Hicks wins the first of her 2 major titles, defeating amateur Bea Barrett 6 & 5 in the final
Robert Johnson Vitagraph Session
Jun 19 Second of two legendary recording sessions by Delta Blues musician Robert Johnson with producer Don Law at the Vitagraph Studios, Dallas, Texas
Louis KOs Braddock
Jun 22 Challenger Joe Louis KOs James J. Braddock in the 8th round at Chicago's Comiskey Park for the world heavyweight boxing title
- Jun 25 Cub Augie Galan becomes 1st player to switch hit HRs in a game
- Jun 26 Test cricket debut of all-time great English batsman Len Hutton v New Zealand in 1st Tests at Lord's; scores 0 & 1
- Jun 28 Spanish pianist José Iturbi and his sister Amparo have their US debut performance as a piano duo, with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Robin Hood Dell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Jun 30 The world's first emergency call telephone service is launched in London using the number 999
- Jul 1 Rev Martin Niemöller arrested in Nazi Germany for activities against the State
- Jul 1 Spanish bishops support Francisco Franco and his fascist movement
Earhart and Noonan Disappear
Jul 2 Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappear flying over the Pacific Ocean en route to Howland Island. Noonan is declared dead the following year, and Earhart is declared the year after (1939)
Del Mar Turf Club
Jul 3 Del Mar Turf Club, with crooner Bing Crosby as president and actor Pat O'Brien as a club officer, opens for racing
- Jul 5 117°F (47°C), Medicine Lake, Montana (state record)
- Jul 5 NY Yankees outfielder Joe DiMaggio hits 20th HR of the season but 1st career grand slam in 8-4 win vs Boston Red Sox
- Jul 5 Republican offensive by Brunete in Spain
- Jul 5 Spam, the luncheon meat is first introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation
- Jul 7 Japanese and Chinese troops clash at the Marco Polo Bridge, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War
Music History
Jul 10 Belgian-Romani-French jazz guitarist'Django Reinhardt's "Quintette du Hot Club" 'debuts at La Grosse Pomme nightclub in Montmartre, Paris
Eamon de Valera Elected
Jul 21 Irish premier Eamon de Valera re-elected president of the Irish Dáil at the head of a Fianna Fáil government.
- Jul 22 US Senate rejects FDR's proposal to enlarge Supreme Court
- Jul 23 Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)
- Jul 24 Alabama drops charges against 5 blacks accused of rape in Scottsboro
- Jul 26 End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.
- Jul 28 Eddie Paynter scores 322 for Lancashire against Sussex
- Jul 28 Richard Moore scores 316 for Hampshire against Warwickshire
- Jul 29 Japanese troops occupies Peking and Tientsin
- Jul 29 Tongzhou Incident: East Hopei Army mutinies against Japanese troops and civilians
- Jul 30 Phillies Dolph Camilli, plays 1st base and registers no put outs
- Jul 30 Russian Politburo issues NKVD Order no. 00447, to repress former kulak and anti-soviets, 269,100 to be arrested, 76,000 to be shot. Part of the Great Purge.
- Aug 2 Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal
- Aug 6 Franco's artillery fires on Madrid
- Aug 6 MLB overturns New York Yankees' 7-6 win over Cleveland Indians because of umpire error
- Aug 6 US and USSR sign trade treaty
- Aug 8 Bonneville Dam on Columbia River begins producing power
- Aug 9 Ranger (US) easily beats Endeavour II (England) in race 4 to wrap up the 17th America's Cup yachting series, 4-0; it's the final competition for 21 years
- Aug 11 "The Life of Emile Zola" directed by William Dieterle and starring Paul Muni premieres in New York (Best Picture 1938)
- Aug 13 Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese forces begin the Battle of Shanghai, a conflict that will last 3 months and involve 1 million troops
- Aug 14 Appalachian Trail is formally completed, traversing 2,000 miles and 14 US States, Georgia to Maine
- Aug 14 China declares war on Japan
- Aug 14 Detroit Tigers score MLB record 36 runs in double header vs St. Louis Browns at Navin Field; win 16-1 & 20-7
- Aug 18 1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA)
- Aug 24 In the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.
- Aug 24 Republican offensive near Belchite, Spain
- Aug 25 Japanese fleet blockades Chinese coast
- Aug 26 General Franco's Nationalist troops conquer Santander during the Spanish Civil War
- Aug 26 Pumping to build Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay is finished
- Aug 27 Brooklyn Dodger Fred Frankhouse no-hits Cin, 5-0 in 7 2/3 inn game
- Aug 27 George E T Eyston sets world auto speed record at 345.49 MPH
- Aug 28 Toyota Motors becomes an independent company
- Aug 29 MLB Philadelphia A's Bob Johnson is 2nd to get 6 RBIs in an inning (1st)
- Aug 30 Joe Louis beats Tommy Farr in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
- Aug 31 Det's rookie Rudy York sets record for HRs of 18 HRs in August
- Sep 1 4th Chicago College All-Star Game: All-Stars beat Green Bay, 6-0; 84,560 at Soldier Field
- Sep 1 Battle of Gijon in Spain begins
The Prisoner of Zenda
Sep 2 Film "The Prisoner of Zenda" based on the novel and play by Anthony Hope, starring Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is released
- Sep 2 US Housing Authority created by National Housing Act
- Sep 4 15-year-old cyclist Doris Kopsky becomes 1st Amateur Bicycle League of America woman's national champion in 4:22.4 in Buffalo, NY
- Sep 5 Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls
- Sep 6 Spanish Civil War: The start of the Battle of El Mazuco
- Sep 8 Pan Arab conference about Palestine opens
- Sep 10 2nd American Football League plays 1st game (LA 21, Pittsburgh 0)
- Sep 10 Cleveland (Los Angeles) Rams plays their 1st NFL game, lose 28-0
- Sep 14 President Franklin D. Roosevelt bans US ships from trading arms with China or Japan
- Sep 15 Works Progress Administration (WPA) extends L-Taraval streetcar line to San Francisco Zoo, at Sloat Blvd (San Francisco, California)
Redskins First Game
Sep 16 Redskins NFL franchise play first game in Washington at Griffith Stadium; defeat the New York Giants in season opener, 13–3
- Sep 17 1st NFL game in Washington, D.C.; Redskins beat NY Giants 13-3
- Sep 18 The first New Zealand State house opens in Miramar
- Sep 19 Seven convicts take Folsom Prison Warden Clarence Larkin hostage in escape attempt, the warden, a guard, and 2 inmates are killed in ensuing stand-off; 5 remaining prisoners convicted of murder and executed by newly introduced gas chamber in California
The Hobbit
Sep 21 J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is published by George Allen and Unwin in London
- Sep 22 Date celebrated as the first International Hobbit Day and the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins
- Sep 22 Forest fire kills 14 and injures 50 in Cody, Wyoming
- Sep 22 Spanish Civil War: Peña Blanca is taken; the end of the Battle of El Mazuco.
- Sep 23 Yankees lose 9-5 but clinch pennant when Red Sox beat Detroit
- Sep 25 "il duce" visits Berlin/named "the Fuhrer" to corporal 1st class
- Sep 25 Battle of Pingxingguan Pass: Chinese force defeat the Japanese army in a key battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War
- Sep 27 1st Santa Claus Training School opens (Albion NY)
- Sep 27 Balinese Tiger declared extinct
- Sep 28 FDR dedicates Bonneville Dam on Columbia River (Oregon)
- Sep 29 Frans Slaats cycles a world hour record time (45,563 km)
- Oct 1 Pullman Co formally recognizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
- Oct 2 FDR visits Grand Coulee Dam construction site in Washington State
- Oct 5 Dutch Minister Carl Romme says unemployment is 25% "quarter of Romme"
- Oct 7 Johan Wagenaar's "Feestmars" premieres in Amsterdam
- Oct 13 A recorded trace of snow in Central Park, NYC
To Have and Have Not
Oct 15 Ernest Hemingway's novel "To Have and Have Not" published
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies