1938
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Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1938

January-February

January 20: King Farouk

January 16: Benny Goodman in NYC.

• January 1 – New Constitution of Estonia enters into force.
• January 1 - The Merrie Melodies cartoon short Daffy Duck and Egghead is released.
• January 3 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• January 11 - Frances Moulton is named the first female president of a U.S. national bank.
• January 16 - Two landmark live recordings this day: the very first of Mahler's Ninth by the Vienna Philharmonic under Bruno Walter in the face of dire circumstance; and Benny Goodman and his orchestra become the first jazz musicians to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
• January 20 - Wedding of King Farouk of Egypt and Queen Farida Zulficar in Cairo.
• January 22 - Thornton Wilder's play Our Town is performed for the first time in Princeton, New Jersey. It premieres in New York City on February 4.
• January 27 - The Niagara Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York collapses due to an ice jam.
• January 28 - The first ski tow in America begins operation in Vermont.
• January 31 - Crown princess Beatrix is born in Netherlands.

January 27: Niagara Bridge collapses in ice.

• February 4 - Adolf Hitler creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military, and sacks political and military leaders considered unsympathetic to his philosophy or policies.
• February 6 - Black Sunday at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia: 300 swimmers dragged out to sea in three freak waves; 80 lifesavers save all but 5.
• February 10 - Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers.
• February 12 - Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg of Austria meets Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden and, under threat of invasion, is forced to yield to German demands for greater Nazi participation in the Austrian government.
• February 14 - The British naval base at Singapore begins operations.
• February 20 - Anthony Eden resigns as foreign minister of Great Britain, and is succeeded by Lord Halifax.
• February 24 - A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.

March-April

• March - Italian mathematician Ettore Majorana disappears.
• March 3 - Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
• March 12 - Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
• March 15 - Soviet Union announces officially that Nikholai Bukharin has been executed.
• March 17 - Poland presents an ultimatum to Lithuania; Poland demands to establish normal diplomatic relations that were severed over the Vilnius Region
• March 18 - Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.
• April 10 - Edouard Daladier becomes prime minister of France.
• April 24 – Konstantin Päts becomes president of Estonia.
• April 25 - U.S. Supreme Court delivers opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
• April 28 - The towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott in Massachusetts are disincorporated to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.

May-June

• May 5 - Vatican recognizes Franco's government in Spain
• May 9 - Kaarel Eenpalu becomes prime minister of Estonia
• May 14 - Chile withdraws from the League of Nations
• May 17 - Information Please debuts on NBC Radio.
• May 20 - Czechoslovakia orders a partial mobilization of its armed forces along the German border.
• May 25 - Bombing of Alicante, Spain, in the Spanish Civil War, with 313 dead.
• May 28 - In a conference at the Reichs Chancellery, Hitler declares his decision to destroy Czechoslovakia by military force, and orders the immediate mobilization of 96 Wehrmacht divisions
• June - Action Comics issue #1 is published, presenting the first appearance of Superman, considered the first superhero.
• June 11 - Fire destroys 212 buildings in Ludes, Latvia
• June 12-18 - Roma and Sinti in Germany and Austria are rounded up, beaten up and jailed.
• June 15 - László Bíró patents the ballpoint pen in Britain.
• June 19 - Italy beat Hungary 4-2 to win the 1938 World Cup
• June 22 - Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium in New York City.
• June 23
  • The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
  • Marineland opens near St. Augustine, Florida.
• June 24 - A 450 metric ton meteorite strikes the earth in an empty field near Chicora, Pennsylvania.
• June 25 - Dr. Douglas Hyde is elected the first President of Ireland.

July-August

• July - Building of the concentration camp Mauthausen
• July 3 - Steam locomotive "Mallard" sets the world speed record for steam by reaching 126 mph.
• July 3 - The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
• July 12 - Kurdish Genocide in Dersim, Turkey by the Turkish army.
• July 14 - Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.
• July 18 - Wrong Way Corrigan takes off from New York, ostensibly heading for California. He lands in Ireland instead.
• July 28 - A revolt against the Ioannis Metaxas dictatorship is put down in Chania,
• July 30 - The first ever issue of The Beano
• August 6 - The Looney Tunes animated short Porky & Daffy is released.
• August 18 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

September-October

• September - European crisis over German demand for annexation of Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia.
• September 21 - A large hurricane (the New England Hurricane of 1938) strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and 600 altogether.
• September 29
  • Munich agreement of German, Italian, British and French leaders agrees to German demands regarding annexation of Sudetenland.
  • Republic of Hatay declared in Syria
• September 30 - Neville Chamberlain returns to Britain from meeting with Adolf Hitler and declares "Peace In Our Time"
• October 1 - German troops march into Sudetenland
• October 2 - Tiberias massacre: Arabs murder 20 Jews.
• October 5 - Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia, resigns.
• October 10 - The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario
• October 16 - Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the United States, condemns the Munich Agreement as a defeat and calls upon America and western Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Hitler.
• October 17 - Jan Syrovy's government begins in Czechoslovakia
• October 24 - Minimum wage established by law in the United States
• October 27 - Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: "nylon".
• October 30 - Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.
• October 31 - Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.

November-December

• November 1 - Horse Racing: Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral by four lengths in their famous match race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
• November 9 - Holocaust: Kristallnacht begins - In Germany, the "night of broken glass" begins as Nazi troops and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses (the all night affair saw 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested).
• November 10 - On the eve of Armistice Day, Kate Smith sings Irving Berlin's God Bless America for the first time on her weekly radio show.
• November 10 - The founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, dies.
• November 13- The people of New York City held a fruit tasting contest held by managers.
• November 18 - Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
• November 30 - Czech parliament elects Emil Hácha as the new president of Czechoslovakia.
• December 11 - Kingdom of Yugoslavia parliamentary election - Opposition gains votes but not seats
• December 13 - The Neuengamme concentration camp opens near Hamburg.
• December 16 - MGM releases its successful film version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The film was originally intended to star Lionel Barrymore as Ebenezer Scrooge, but Barrymore, ill with arthritis, is replaced by Reginald Owen.
• December 23 - A Coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct, is caught off the coast of South Africa near Chalumna River.
• December 27 - 87 killed, a construction worker of domitory site hit avalanche by heavy massivie snow at Kurobe, Japan.

Undated

• In West Java, Daeng Soetigna tunes the traditional angklung to play the diatonic scale.
• Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year" , an award that usually goes to the most influential person of the year.
• Walther P38 is introduced.
• The first cartoon to feature a prototypical Bugs Bunny, Porky's Hare Hunt, is released.
• The Schomburgk's Deer becames extinct by this date.
• Siam is renamed Thailand.

Ongoing

• Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).

Births

January-February

• January 1
  • Robert Jankel, British coachbuilder (d. 2005)
  • Frank Langella, American actor
• January 2 - Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
  • Ian Brady, British serial killer
  • Goh Kun, Mayor of Seoul
• January 5 - King Juan Carlos I of Spain
• January 6 - Mario Rodríguez Cobos, Silo, Argentine author and spiritual Guide
• January 7 - Roland Topor, French illustrator (d. 1997)
• January 8 - Bob Eubanks, American game show host
• January 10
  • Donald Knuth, American mathematician and computer scientist
  • Willie McCovey, baseball player
• January 11 - Fischer Black, American economist (d. 1995)
• January 12
  • Noel McNamara, Australian justice campaigner and commentator
  • Lewis Fiander, Australian actor
• January 14 - Jack Jones, American singer and actor
• January 18 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
• January 20 - Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer (d. 2007)
• January 21 - Wolfman Jack, American disc-jockey and actor (d. 1995)
• January 23 - Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
• January 25
  • Etta James, American singer
  • Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, poet, actor (d. 1980)
• January 31 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• February 1 - Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor
• February 2 - Max Alvis, baseball player
• February 8 - Prentice Gautt, American football player
• February 11
  • Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer
  • Simone de Oliveira, Portuguese actress and singer
  • Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator
• February 12 - Judy Blume, American author
• February 13 - Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
• February 14 - Lee Chamberlin, African-American film and television actress
• February 18 - Istvan Szabo, Hungarian director
• February 24
  • James Farentino, American actor
  • Phil Knight, American sportswear entrepreneur
• February 25 - Herb Elliott, Australian runner

March-April

• March 4
  • Don Perkins, American football player
  • Angus MacLise, American percussionist, composer, mystic, shaman, poet, occultist, calligrapher and original drummer for the Velvet Underground (d. 1979)
• March 7
  • David Baltimore, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Janet Guthrie, American race car driver
• March 13 - Erma Franklin, American singer (d. 2002)
• March 17
  • Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
  • Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien, Northern Irish clergyman
• March 18 - Charley Pride, American baseball player and musician
• March 23 - Maynard Jackson, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (d. 2003)
• March 25 - Hoyt Axton, American actor and country music singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
• March 26 - Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• March 31 - Joel Godard, announcer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien
• April 1 - John Quade, American actor
• April 2 - John Larsson, the 17th General of The Salvation Army
• April 3 - Jeff Barry, American record producer and songwriter
• April 4 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, American president of Yale University and baseball commissioner (d. 1989)
• April 7 - Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpeter
• April 8 - Kofi Annan, Ghanaian Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• April 10
  • Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician
  • Don Meredith, American football player and broadcaster
• April 11
  • Michael Deaver, Reagan Administration Deputy White House Chief of Staff (d. 2007)
  • Kurt Moll, German bass
• April 12 - Roger Caron, Canadian author
• April 15 - Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born, Italian actress
• April 17 - Kerry Wendell Thornley, American counterculture figure, writer, and co-founder of Discordianism
• April 22
  • Talal Abu-Ghazaleh born in Jaffa
  • Adam Raphael, English journalist and editor
• April 26
  • Duane Eddy, American musician
  • Maurice Williams, American musician
• April 29 - Larry Niven, American author

May-June

• May 2 - Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (d. 1996)
• May 17 - Jason Bernard, American actor (d. 1996)
• May 22 - Richard Benjamin, American actor
• May 26
  • William Bolcom, American composer
  • Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
  • Pauline Parker, New Zealandic murderess
• May 28 - Jerry West, American basketball player and executive
• May 31 - Johnny PayCheck, American singer (d. 2003)
• May 31 - Peter Yarrow, American singer
• June 5 - Karin Balzer, German athlete
• June 6 - Prince Luís of Orléans-Braganza, pretender to the Brazilian throne
• June 7 - Goose Gonsoulin, American football player
• June 12 - Tom Oliver, Australian actor
• June 15 - Billy Williams, baseball player
• June 19
  • Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and professional wrestler (d. 2002)
  • Ian Smith, Australian actor
• June 28 - Moy Yat, Chinese martial artist

July-August

• July 3 - Bolo Yeung, Hong Kong actor
• July 4 - Bill Withers, American singer and songwriter
• July 6 - Tony Lewis, English cricketer
• July 12 - Wieger Mensonides, Dutch swimmer
• July 18 - Paul Verhoeven, Dutch film director
• July 19 - Jayant Narlikar, Indian astrophysicist
• July 20 - Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
• July 20 - Diana Rigg, English actress
• July 23
  • Juliet Anderson, American actress
  • Bert Newton, Australian actor and television show host
• July 24 - Eugene J. Martin, American painter, artist
• July 27 - Gary Gygax, American author and game designer (d. 2008)
• July 28 - Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru
• July 29 - Peter Jennings, Canadian-born television news reporter (d. 2005)
• August 3 - Terry Wogan, British/Irish TV and radio broadcaster
• August 8 - Connie Stevens, American actress and singer
• August 9
  • Ezola Broussard Foster, U.S. Vice Presidential Candidate
  • Rod Laver, Australian tennis player
• August 15 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer
• August 16 - Bill Masterton, Canadian hockey player (d. 1968)
• August 19 - Diana Muldaur, American actress
• August 20 - Alain Vivien, French politician
• August 21 - Kenny Rogers, American country singer
• August 22 - Paul Maguire, American football player
• August 24
  • Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician
  • David Freiberg, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship)
• August 28
  • Maurizio Costanzo, Italian television news reporter
  • Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada
• August 29 - Robert Rubin, American banker who served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury
• August 31 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician

September-October

• September 1 - Per Kirkeby, Danish artist
• September 2 - Clarence Felder, American actor
• September 3 - Ryoji Noyori, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• September 8 - Kenichi Horie, Japanese adventurer
• September 10
  • David Hamilton, radio and TV personality
  • Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer and photographer
• September 13 - John Smith, Scottish politician (d. 1994)
• September 18 - Poornachandra Tejaswi, Kannada writer (d. 2007)
• September 22 - Gene Mingo, American football player
• September 23 - Tom Lester, American actor and evangelist
• September 25 - Jonathan Motzfeldt, Prime Minister of Greenland
• September 28 - Ben E. King, American singer
• September 29 - Wim Kok, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• October 3 - Eddie Cochran, American singer (d. 1960)
• October 4 - Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 9 - Heinz Fischer, Austrian politician
• October 14
  • Farah Diba, Empress of Iran
  • Ron Lancaster, Canadian Football League quarterback and coach
• October 15 - Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and activist (d. 1997)
• October 16 - Carl Gunter Jr, Louisiana State Representative (d. 1999)
• October 17 - Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (d. 2007)
• October 20 - Iain Macmillan, Abbey Road photographer (d. 2006)
• October 22 - Christopher Lloyd, American actor
• October 23 - H. John Heinz III, U.S. Senator (d. 1991)
• October 28 - Anne Perry, English-born novelist
• October 29
  • Ralph Bakshi, Israeli cartoonist, film director, and video producer
  • Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia

November-December

• November 2 - Patrick Joseph Buchanan, American journalist and Presidential candidate
• November 5
  • Joe Dassin, French singer (d. 1980)
  • Enéas Carneiro, Brazilian politician (d. 2007)
• November 6
  • Mack Jones, baseball player (d. 2004)
  • Dumitru Rusu, Romanian painter
• November 13 - Jean Seberg, American actress (d. 1979)
• November 16 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (d. 2002)
• November 17 - Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk singer
• November 19 - Ted Turner, modern entrepreneur
• November 26 - Porter J. Goss, American politician and Central Intelligence Agency director
• December 4
  • Andre V. Marrou, U.S. Presidential candidate
  • Yvonne Minton, Australian soprano
• December 5 - J. J. Cale, American singer
• December 8 - Ken Delo, American singer, The Lawrence Welk Show
• December 12 - Connie Francis, American singer and actress
• December 15 - Billy Shaw, American football player
• December 16
  • Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
  • Frank Deford, American sportswriter
• December 17
  • Peter Snell, New Zealand athlete
  • Carlo Little, British drummer (d.2005)
• December 20 - John Harbison, American composer
• December 23 - Bob Kahn, American Internet pioneer
• December 24 - Bobby Henrich, American baseball player
• December 29 - Jon Voight, American actor

Date unknown

• Neila Sathyalingam, Singaporean classical Indian dancer, choreographer and instructor

Deaths

January - June

• January 8 - Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist and children's book author (b. 1880) (Raggedy Ann)
• January 20 - Émile Cohl, French caricaturist and animator (b. 1857)
• January 21 - Georges Méliès, French film director (b. 1861)
• January 28 - Bernd Rosemeyer, German racing driver (b. 1909)
• February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (b. 1856)
• February 7 - Harvey Firestone, American manufacturer (b. 1868)
• February 18 - David King Udall, American politician (b. 1851)
• February 19 - Edmund Landau, German mathematician (b. 1877)
• March 1 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer, war hero, and politician (b. 1863)
• March 2 - Ben Harney, American composer and pianist (b. 1871)
• March 13 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Soviet politician (b. 1888)
• March 13 - Clarence Darrow, American attorney (b. 1857)
• April 8 - Joe "King" Oliver, American jazz musician (b. 1885)
• April 12 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b. 1873)
• April 16 - Steve Bloomer, English footballer (b. 1874)
• April 21 - Allama Iqbal, Indian philosopher and poet (b. 1877)
• April 25 - Aleksander Świętochowski - Polish writer (b. 1849)
• April 26 - Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (b. 1859)
• May 4 - Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1889)
• May 9 - Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (b. 1866)
• May 13 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
• May 26 - John Jacob Abel, American pharmacologist (b. 1857)

July - December

• July 4 - Otto Bauer, Austrian Social Democratic politician (b. 1881)
• August 1 - Edmund Charles Tarbell, American artist (b. 1862)
• August 7 - Constantin Stanislavski, Russian theatre practitioner (b. 1863)
• August 14 - Hugh Trumble, Australian test cricketer (b. 1876)
• August 16 - Robert Johnson, American blues singer (b. 1911)
• September 1 - Nikolai Bryukhanov, Soviet statesman and political figure who served as People's Commissar of Finances (b. 1878)
• September 17 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (b. 1901)
• September 25 - Paul Olaf Bodding, Norwegian missionary to India and creator of Santali latin alphabet (b. 1865)
• October 2 - Alexandru Averescu, Romanian soldier and politician (b. 1859)
• October 13 E.C. Segar, American comics artist (Popeye)
• October 17 - Karl Kautsky, Marxist theoretician (b. 1854)
• October 22 - May Irwin, Canadian actress and singer (b. 1862)
• October 24 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and poet (b. 1870)
• October 27 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (b. 1881)
• November 9 - Vasily Blyukher, Soviet military commander (b. 1889)
• November 10 - Kemal Atatürk, President of Turkey (b. 1881)
• November 20 - Maud of Wales, queen of Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1869)
• November 30 - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian fascist, leader of the Iron Guard (executed along other Guard activists) (b. 1899)
• December 11 - Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1869)
• December 20 - Annie Armstrong US missionary leader (b. 1850)
• December 25 - Karel Čapek, Czech author (b. 1890)
• December 28 - Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (b. 1886)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Enrico Fermi
• Chemistry - Richard Kuhn
• Physiology or Medicine - Corneille Jean François Heymans
• Literature - Pearl S. Buck
• Peace - Nansen International Office For Refugees, Geneva.

External links

• The 1930s Timeline: 1938 — from American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia

• 1938 Coin Pictures

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1938