1938 in History

Events 1 - 100 of 218

• Jan 2 Book publisher Simon and Schuster founded
• Jan 3 March of Dimes established to fight polio

• Jan 10 Jean Anouilh's "La Sauvage" premieres in Paris
• Jan 10 Paul Vincent Carroll's "White Seed" premieres in NYC
• Jan 11 Frances Moulton elected 1st woman president of a US national bank
• Jan 13 The Church of England accepts the theory of evolution
• Jan 14 National Society for Legalization of Euthanasia forms (NY)
• Jan 17 Supreme Soviet elects Michail Kalinin as presidium chairman

• Jan 19 General Motors begins mass production of diesel engines
• Jan 21 Dutch government starts obligatory unemployment insurance
• Jan 22 "Our Town", Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winner of small-town life in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, premieres (NJ)
• Jan 25 Ian Hay's "Bachelor Born" premieres in NYC
• Feb 3 Paul Osborn's "On Borrowed Time" premieres in NYC

• Feb 5 Hans Engnestangen skates world record 500m (41.8 sec)
• Feb 5 3rd British Empire Games open in Sydney, Australia
• Feb 10 King Carol II of Romania drives out dictator Goga
• Feb 12 Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg visits Hitler in Berchtesgaden
• Feb 12 German troops entered Austria
• Feb 12 The first 'Kindertransport' carrying Jewish refugee children from Nazi Germany arrives in Britain
• Feb 12 3rd British Empire Games close in Sydney, Australia
• Feb 16 US Federal Crop Insurance program authorized
• Feb 17 1st public experimental demonstration of Baird color TV (London)
• Feb 19 Soviet arctic ice research station North Pole 1 evacuated, Denmark

• Feb 20 Adolf Hitler announces his support for Japan during the Sino-Japanese War
• Feb 24 Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles
• Feb 25 Lord Halifax becomes British Foreign Secretary
• Feb 26 1st passenger ship equipped with radar
• Feb 26 US female Figure Skating championship won by Joan Tozzer
• Feb 26 US male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee

• Mar 2 Landslides & floods cause over 200 deaths (Los Angeles California)
• Mar 2 Trials of Soviet leaders begins in the Soviet Union
• Mar 3 American Bowling Congress' largest tournament (24,765 competitors)
• Mar 11 Artur Seyss-Inquart replaces Kurt von Schuschnigg as Chancellor of Austria; German troops also entered the country
• Mar 12 Nazi Germany invades Austria (Anschluss)
• Mar 13 In a process known as Anschluss, Austria is annexed into Nazi Germany
• Mar 16 Temple defeats Colorado to win 1st NIT

• Mar 18 NY 1st requires serological blood tests of pregnant women
• Mar 18 President Cardena of Mexico nationalizes US & British oil companies
• Mar 27 The Battle of Taierzhuang takes place.
• Apr 1 Nescafé introduces their flagship brand in Switzerland
• Apr 5 Anti-Jewish riots break out in Dabrowa, Poland
• Apr 6 Teflon invented by Roy J. Plunkett
• Apr 10 2nd government of Blum replaced by Daladier government in France
• Apr 10 Austria becomes a state of Germany
• Apr 10 NY makes syphilis test mandatory in order to get a marriage license


• Apr 12 1st US law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses (NY)
• Apr 13 Clifford Goldsmith' "What a Life" premieres in NYC
• Apr 16 Great Britain recognizes Italian annexation of Abyssinia
• Apr 18 Headless Mad Butcher victim found in Cleveland
• Apr 19 Phil Emmett Mueller & Dodger Ernie Koy both homer in their 1st at bat
• Apr 23 Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia demand self government
• Apr 26 Austrian Jews required to register property above 5,000 Reichsmarks
• May 2 Pulitzer prize awarded to Thornton Wilder for his play "Our Town"
• May 3 Concentration camp at Flossenburg goes into use
• May 3 Lefty Grove defeats Tigers 4-3 for 1st of record 20 consecutive wins at his home field Fenway Park; he doesn't lose there until May 12 1941
• May 3 Vatican recognizes Franco-Spain
• May 4 Douglas Hyde (a protestant) becomes 1st president of Eire
• May 6 Dutch writer Maurits Dekker sentenced to 50 days for "offending a friendly head of state" (Hitler)
• May 7 Dutch Minister of Justice Goseling calls fugitives of Nazi-Germany "undesired strangers"
• May 8 Stravinsky's "Dumbarton Oaks" premieres in Washington, D.C.
• May 10 Banning speech on anti-fascism demonstration in Amsterdam
• May 12 Sandoz Labs manufactures LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
• May 15 Paul-Henri Spak forms red coalition of Belgium
• May 16 1st animal breeding society forms (NJ)
• May 16 38 die in Terminal Hotel fire (Atlanta Ga)
• May 17 US Congress approves Vinson Naval Act, which funds a two-ocean navy
• May 25 Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths.
• May 26 US House of Representatives Committee on un-American Activities forms
• May 28 Foundation for Tel Aviv harbor laid
• Jun 3 German law on "Entartete Art" legalizes art robbery

• Jun 7 1st play telecast with original Broadway cast, "Susan & God"
• Jun 7 Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat 1st flown (Eddie Allen)
• Jun 7 The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight.
• Jun 8 Gert Terblanche, a local school boy, discovers fossils of an unknown 'robust-type' human ancestor, later named Paranthropus robustus by Robert Broom, at Kromdraai, Blaauwbank River Valley in South Africa
• Jun 10 Charlie Barnett makes 98 by lunch v Australia at Trent Bridge
• Jun 11 5.0 Earthquake in Belgium kills 2, strongest in 45 years
• Jun 11 England declare at 8 for 658 v Australia at Trent Bridge
• Jun 13 Jews injured & property destroyed in Przemyal, Poland
• Jun 14 Chlorophyll patented by Benjamin Grushkin
• Jun 14 Dorothy Lathrop wins 1st Caldecott Medal (kid books author)
• Jun 17 Japan declares war on China
• Jun 19 "Olympian Flyer" express train crashes in Montana, killing 47
• Jun 23 Civil Aeronautics Authority (US) established
• Jun 23 Marineland opens in Florida-1st aquarium
• Jun 23 NYC Mayor LaGuardia assigns 21 cops to patrol subway
• Jun 24 500 ton meteorite lands near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Jun 25 Federal minimum wage law guarantees workers 25 cents per hour (rising to 40 cents by 1945) and a maximum 44 hour working week
• Jun 30 Superman 1st appears in DC Comics' Action Comics Series issue #1
• Jun 30 Final game at Phila's Baker Bowl, Giants beat Phils 14-1
• Jul 1 The South African Press Association (SAPA) is established as a non-governmental institution by South Africa's major newspapers to facilitate the sharing of news, both national and international

• Jul 4 France-Turkish friendship treaty
• Jul 5 Herb Caen's 1st column in San Francisco Chronicle

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Birthdays 1 - 100 of 277

• Jan 1 Bill Emerson, (Rep-R-MO, 1981- )
• Jan 1 Robert Jankel, British coachbuilder (d. 2005)
• Jan 1 Fuad Masum, 7th President of Iraq (2014-present), born in Koya, Iraq
• Jan 2 Ian Brady [Ian Duncan Stewart], British serial killer (Moors Murders), born in Glasgow (d. 2017)
• Jan 2 Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author

• Jan 5 Leo Avery, abbot of Quarr
• Jan 5 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenyan writer
• Jan 6 Prof Adrienne Clarke, Australian botanist, Lieutenant Governor of Victoria
• Jan 6 Mario Rodríguez Cobos "Silo", Argentine writer and spiritual leader
• Jan 7 Jasperina de Jong, Dutch cabaret performer (Jan Rao en z'n Maat)
• Jan 7 Roland Topor, French illustrator (d. 1997)
• Jan 10 Ivan Twigden, English contractor/multi-millionaire (Twigden PLC)
• Jan 10 Donald Knuth, American mathematician and computer scientist
• Jan 11 Fischer S Black Jr, financial theorist
• Jan 11 Michael Fenn, docker/socialist
• Jan 11 Arthur Scargill, Socialist Labour Party (UK) leader
• Jan 13 Jean Cabut [Cabu], French caricaturist (Charlie Hebdo), born in Châlons-en-Champagne, France (d. 2015)
• Jan 17 John Bellairs, American sci-fi author (Chessmen of Doom)
• Jan 17 Tabaré Vázque, Uruguayan politician and President of Uruguay (2015-present), born in Montevideo, Uruguay
• Jan 19 Denny Smith, (Rep-R-OR, 1981- )
• Jan 21 Wolfman Jack [Robert Weston Smith], American disk jockey (Midnight Special), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1995)
• Jan 22 Joe Esposito, American author and friend of Elvis, born in Chicago (d. 2016)
• Jan 23 Anatoly Marchenko, Siberia, Soviet dissident
• Jan 25 Betico Croes, Arubian politician (Status Aparte)
• Jan 25 Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese manga author (d. 1998)
• Jan 25 Leiji Matsumoto, Japanese creator of anime
• Jan 26 Margaret Daly, British MEP
• Jan 27 Timothy Elworthy, Captain of The Queen's Flight
• Jan 30 Marcel P. A. van Dam, Dutch politician/CEO (VARA Radio/TV)
• Jan 30 Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan (1991-2016), born in Samarkand (d. 2016)
• Jan 31 Ajip Rosidi, Indonesian poet/writer (Madjalah Sunda, Pesta)
• Jan 31 Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, former Queen of the Netherlands (1980-2013), born in Soestdijk Palace, Baarn, Utrecht, Netherlands
• Jan 31 James G Watt, Colo, US Secretary of Interior (1981-83)
• Feb 3 Vladimir Grigoryevich Fartushny, Russian cosmonaut
• Feb 3 Randolfe "Randy" Wicker [Charles Gervin Hayden Jr.], American author, LGBT and pro-cloning activist and blogger, born in Baltimore, Maryland
• Feb 4 Donald W Riegle Jr, (Sen-D-MI, 1976- )
• Feb 7 S. Ramachandran Pillai, Indian communist leader
• Feb 12 Judy Blume, author (Wifey)
• Feb 15 Jack Tinker, British drama critic (d.1996)
• Feb 15 Lord Justice Ward, British judge
• Feb 17 Mary Frances Berry, educator/head (US Commission on Civil Rights)
• Feb 18 Elke Erb, German writer, born in Scherbach
• Feb 20 Mona Mitchell, Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Alexandra
• Feb 21 Beryl F Anthony Jr, (Rep-D-CA, 1979- )
• Feb 22 Ishmael Reed, American author (Last Days of Louisiana Red)
• Feb 22 Pierre Vallières, French-Canadian politician (d. 1995)
• Feb 24 Kathleen Richardson, president (Methodist Conference)
• Feb 26 Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot freedom fighter (d. 1957)
• Feb 28 Martin Olav Sabo, (Rep-D-MN, 1979- )
• Mar 1 Michael J[oseph] Kurland, American sci-fi author (Infernal Device)
• Mar 2 Alan Lewis, English textile factory/multi-millionaire
• Mar 2 Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile
• Mar 4 Angus MacLise, American percussionist (d. 1979)
• Mar 4 Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Polish diplomat and researcher
• Mar 5 Lynn Margulis, American biologist (serial endosymbiotic theory), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2011)
• Mar 6 Pauline Boty, English artist, born in London (d. 1966)
• Mar 7 David Baltimore, American biologist, Nobel laureate
• Mar 11 Malcolm Keith Speed, British high court judge
• Mar 12 Karl Soderlund, Duluth Minn, Mr Sally Jesse Raphael
• Mar 12 Norman Hogg, British MP
• Mar 13 Patricia W Amicone, educator/midwife
• Mar 18 Kenny Lynch, British entertainer, born in London
• Mar 20 Frans J. van der Heijden, Dutch politician (CDA)
• Mar 20 Sergei Petrovich Novikov, Russian Mathematician, Fields Medalist
• Mar 21 Wilf Corrigan, English/US electronic manufacturer (LSI Logic)
• Mar 23 Kenneth J Gregory, warden (Goldsmiths' College)
• Mar 23 Maynard Jackson, first African American mayor of Atlanta (d. 2003)
• Mar 24 David Irving, British historian
• Mar 26 Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel laureate
• Mar 27 A J Bellingham, British haematologist and president (Royal College of Pathologists)
• Mar 27 Jock Slater, British Admiral, First Sea Lord (1995-1998)
• Mar 29 Bert de Vries, Dutch minister of Social Affairs (CDA), born in Groningen, Netherlands
• Mar 30 Martin Dunne, Lord-Lt (Warwickshire)
• Mar 31 Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi
• Mar 31 David Steel, Scottish politician
• Apr 2 John Larsson, Swedish writer and 17th General of The Salvation Army, born in Sweden
• Apr 4 Peter Attenborough, British headmaster (Charterhouse)
• Apr 5 Nancy Holt, American artist (land art), born in Worcester, Massachusetts
• Apr 6 Paul Daniels, British magician (The Paul Daniels Magic Show), born in South Bank, Yorkshire (d. 2016)
• Apr 6 Frances Schreuder, American socialite convicted of murder, born in Salt Lake City, Utah (d. 2004)

• Apr 8 Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2006), born in Comassie, Gold Coast
• Apr 9 Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician
• Apr 11 Michael Deaver, Reagan Administration Deputy White House Chief of Staff, born in Bakersfield, California (d. 2007)
• Apr 13 John Weston, British diplomat, representative for NATO (1992-95) and UN (1995-98)
• Apr 14 Gloria [Dean] Randle Scott, American educator/pres (Beaumont College)
• Apr 15 Carles Marsden, professor (neurology)
• Apr 15 Hso Khan Pha, Burmese politician
• Apr 16 Michael Hirst, chief constable (Leicestershire England)
• Apr 16 Gordon Wilson, Scottish politician
• Apr 17 David Dilks, vice-chancellor (Hull U)
• Apr 17 K M P O'Brien, archbishop (St Andrews & Edinburgh)
• Apr 17 Ben Barnes, American politician
• Apr 17 Kerry Wendell Thornley, co-founder of Discordianism
• Apr 18 Andreas J "Cat" Liebenberg, supreme commander (South African army)
• Apr 22 Adam Raphael, English journalist and author
• Apr 23 Leonard Ernest John Chant, social worker, born in Yeovil, Somerset (d. 1995)
• Apr 23 Steve Symms, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Idaho, born in Nampa, Idaho
• Apr 25 Ton Schulten, Dutch painter (landscapes using bright blocks of colour), born in Ootmarsum, Overijssel, Netherlands

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• Apr 28 King Zog of Albania marries Countess Geraldine of Hungary

• Jan 3 Arthur Boon, Flemish priest/philologist, dies at 54
• Jan 8 Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy (b. 1880)
• Jan 10 Willem de Vreese, Flemish linguist, dies at 68
• Jan 17 William Pickering, American astronomer (predicted Pluto), dies at 79
• Feb 5 Hans Litten, German jurist (b. 1903)
• Feb 6 Marianne Von Werefkin, Russian-German-Swiss Expressionist painter, dies at 77

• Feb 9 Truby King, pioneer of mothercraft, dies
• Feb 16 Otto zur Linde, German author (Lieder of the Leids), dies at 64
• Feb 18 Edward Anseele, Belgian minister of Rail, dies at 81
• Feb 18 David King Udall, American politician (b. 1851)
• Feb 21 George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (discovery of magnetic fields in sunspot), dies at 69
• Mar 1 G D'Annunzio, writer, dies at 74
• Mar 1 Gabrielle d'Annunzio, Italian poet/fascist (Il fuoco), dies at 74
• Mar 4 George Foster Peabody, American politician (b. 1852)
• Mar 7 Andreas Michalakopoulos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876)
• Mar 13 Clarence S Darrow, Scopes Monkey Trial attorney, dies in Chicago at 80
• Mar 13 Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician and intellectual, dies at 49
• Mar 27 Louis William Stern, German/US philosopher/psychologist, dies at 66
• Mar 31 Willem J T Kloos, Dutch poet/critic (New Guide), dies at 78
• Apr 2 Alice Berend, writer, dies
• Apr 10 Nana Annor Adjaye, Pan-Africanist, dies in W Nzima Ghana
• Apr 12 Feodor Chaliapine, Russian author (Man & Mark), dies at 65
• Apr 13 Archibald Belaney, Canadian conservationist (b. 1888)
• Apr 15 Caesar Vallejo, Peru/French poet (Trilce, Russia & 1931), dies at 46
• Apr 16 Bertram Wagstaff Mills, circus proprietor, dies
• Apr 19 Henry John Newbolt, English poet and author (Studies Green & Gray), dies at 75
• Apr 21 Muhammad Iqbal, Brt E Indies lawyer/Pakistan national hero, dies at 65
• Apr 21 Allama Iqbal, Indian philosopher and poet, dies at 60
• Apr 24 George Grey Barnard, American sculptor, dies at 74
• Apr 26 Edmund Husserl, German philosopher (study of phenomenon), dies at 79
• Apr 27 Edmond Rubbens, Belgian minister to Colonies, dies at 44
• May 4 Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist and writer (Nobel Peace Prize 1935), dies at 48
• May 9 Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (b. 1866)
• May 11 Arnold Sauwen, Flemish poet (Hours of Solitude), dies at 81
• May 13 Charles Edouard Guillaume, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
• May 16 Stephen Fairbairn, oarsman/coach, dies
• May 17 Jakob Ehrlich, Austrian politician and zionist (b. 1877)
• May 23 Philip Kleintjes, republic leader, dies at 70
• May 26 John Jacob Abel, American Pharmacologist (endocrine glands), dies at 81
• May 30 Raden Sutomo, Indonesian freedom fighter, dies at 49
• Jun 7 Norbert Fonteyne, Flemish writer (How Flemings Came Late), dies
• Jun 14 William W Campbell, American astronomer and Director of Lick Observatory, dies at 76
• Jun 15 Ernst L Kirchner, German painter, dies at 58
• Jun 17 Peter Michael, CEO (Cray Electronics), dies
• Jun 22 C.J. Dennis, Australian writer and poet (b. 1876)

• Jun 30 Milan Rakic, Serbian poet (Nove Pesme), dies at 61
• Jul 4 Otto Bauer, Austrian Social Democrat, dies at 56
• Jul 4 Suzanne Lenglen, 6 time Wimbledon champ, dies at 39 of anemia
• Jul 9 Benjamin N. Cardozo, American lawyer and jurist, dies at 68
• Jul 18 Vladimir M Kirshon, Russian playwright, executed at 35
• Jul 21 Owen Wister, American author (b. 1860)
• Jul 29 Nikolai Krylenko, Russian/Soviet jurist and politician (b. 1885)
• Aug 3 Alexander Malyschkin, writer, dies
• Aug 4 L H Perquin, Dutch radio announcer, dies at 73
• Aug 4 Rudolf G Binding, German poet/writer, dies at 70
• Aug 7 Konstantin S Stanislavski, Russian director (S Method), dies at 75
• Aug 9 Leo Frobenius, German ethnologist and archaeologist (African cultures), dies at 65
• Aug 12 Ludwig Borchardt, German egyptologist, dies at 74
• Aug 16 Andrej Hlinka, Slovak politician and priest (b. 1864)
• Aug 25 Aleksander Kuprin, Russian author (Jama), dies at 67
• Aug 30 Max Factor, make-up artist and cosmetic manufacturer (b. 1877)
• Sep 3 Bart de Ligt, anti military theologist, dies at 77
• Sep 13 Samuel Alexander, Engl philosopher (Space, time & deity), dies at 79

• Sep 17 Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (b. 1901)
• Sep 21 Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic Croatian writer (b. 1874)
• Sep 24 Lev Schnirelmann, Russian mathematician (b. 1900)
• Sep 28 Charles Duryea, American inventor (Duryea Motor Wagon Company, first auto built in the US),dies at 76
• Oct 2 Alexandru Averescu, Romanian soldier and politician (b. 1859)
• Oct 5 Saint Faustina, Polish saint (b. 1905)
• Oct 13 E.C. Segar, American cartoonist (Popeye) (b. 1894)
• Oct 18 Karl J Kautsky, Austrian marxist/socialist, dies
• Oct 24 Ernst Barlach, German writer and artist, dies at 68
• Oct 27 Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet/critic, dies at 57
• Nov 7 Ernst vom Rath, German diplomat, assassinated at 29, providing the pretext for Kristallnacht
• Nov 9 Vasily Blyukher, Soviet military commander (b.1889)
• Nov 9 Edward Murray East, American Botanist and Geneticist who developed hybrid corn, dies at 59

• Nov 17 Ante Trumbić, Croatian politician (b. 1864)
• Nov 19 Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (b. 1866)
• Nov 20 Enzo Matsunaga, Japanese writer (b. 1895)
• Nov 20 Edwin Hall, American physicist (discovered Hall effect), dies at 83
• Nov 26 Henry Schultz, US farm commune, dies
• Nov 30 Corneliu Codreanu, Romania fascist/putschist (Iron Guard), dies
• Dec 8 Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (b. 1896)
• Dec 9 Johannes van Laar, Dutch chemist (thermodynamics), dies at 78
• Dec 12 James McNeill, Irish politician, 2nd Governor-General of the Irish Free State, dies at 69
• Dec 19 Stephen Warfield Gambrill, U.S. Congressman (b. 1873)
• Dec 20 Annie Armstrong, American missionary leader, dies at 88
• Dec 23 Robert Herrick, American novelist (Chimes), dies at 70
• Dec 24 Bruno Taut, German architect (b. 1880)
• Dec 25 Karel Čapek, Czech author (b. 1890)
• Dec 27 Emile Vandervelde, President (1900–1918) of the International Socialist Bureau and Minister of 3 Belgian governments dies at 72
• Dec 27 O Mandelstam, writer, dies
• Dec 27 Calvin Bridges, American geneticist (b. 1889)
• Dec 31 Richard N Roland Holst, Dutch artist/painter, dies at 70

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