Anti-Jewish Legislation
Sep 1 Benito Mussolini cancels civil rights of Italian Jews
- Sep 3 1940 Olympic site is changed from Tokyo, Japan to Helsinki, Finland because of the Second Sino-Japanese War; WWII causes eventual cancellation
- Sep 5 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Philadelphia, PA: US retain title as Don Budge beats Australian Adrian Quist 8-6, 6-1, 6-2 for unbeatable 3-1 lead; ends 3-2
Wilhelmina Celebrates Forty Years
Sep 6 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands celebrates 40th anniversary
Hitler's Sudeten Germans Demand
Sep 12 Adolf Hitler demands self-determination for Sudeten Germans in Czech
Alexander Cartwright
Sep 13 Alexander Cartwright is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
The Age of Zeppelins
Sep 14 Graf Zeppelin II, world's largest airship, makes its maiden flight
Chamberlain Visits Hitler
Sep 15 British PM Neville Chamberlain visits Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden
Margaret Johnson's Only Recording
Sep 15 Jazz piano prodigy Margaret Johnson (20) makes her only recording, four sides with Billie Holiday in NYC: Johnson dies of tuberculosis less than a year later
- Sep 15 John Cobb sets world auto speed record at 350.2 MPH (lasts 1 day)
- Sep 15 Only time brothers hit back-to-back HRs (Lloyd & Paul Waner, Pitts)
- Sep 16 British racing driver George Eyston sets world auto speed record at 357.5 MPH
- Sep 17 British premier Neville Chamberlain leaves Munich
- Sep 18 Chicago Bears beat Green Bay Packers 2-0
- Sep 18 Despite losing a double header (4-3, 8-7) to the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park III, the New York Yankees clinch their 10th AL pennant
- Sep 20 Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical comedic play "Corn is Green," premieres in London; runs for 600 performances
Annexation of Czechoslovakia Condemned
Sep 21 British politician Winston Churchill condemns Germany's Adolf Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia
- Sep 21 RKO film comedy "Room Service", starring the Marx Brothers, based on Allen Boretz and John Murray's play, premieres in NYC
- Sep 21 The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people.
- Sep 23 British premier Neville Chamberlain flies to Munich
- Sep 23 Time capsule, to be opened in 6939, buried at World's Fair in NYC (capsule contained a woman's hat, man's pipe & 1,100' of microfilm)
'I Have Heard The Voice of Adolf Hitler . . .'
Sep 24 Adolf Hitler issues ultimatum to the government of Czechoslovakia, demanding Sudetenland be ceded to Germany
- Sep 24 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Don Budge beats fellow American Gene Mako 6-3, 6-8, 6-2, 6-1 to become first player to win a Grand Slam
US Open Women's Tennis
Sep 24 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: American Alice Marble wins her second US singles crown; beats Nancye Wynne Bolton of Australia 6-0, 6-3
- Sep 27 British ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth" launches at Clydebank, Scotland
- Sep 27 Jewish lawyers forbidden to practise in Germany
- Sep 27 League of Nations declares Japan the aggressor against China
- Sep 28 Clare Boothe's "Boys Goodbye" premieres in NYC
- Sep 28 Dutch Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn sends radio message "No war coming"
- Sep 28 Homer in the Gloamin' - famous walk-off home run hit by Gabby Hartnett of the Chicago Cubs against the Pittsburgh Pirates
- Sep 29 1st archival course is offered at Columbia University in NYC
- Sep 30 Treaty of Munich signed by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Édouard Daladier and Neville Chamberlain, forces Czechoslovakia to give territory to Germany. Chamberlain infamously declares "Peace for our time" on his return to London.
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