1937
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'''1937''' '''(MCMXXXVII)''' was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January
January 1 - Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua
January 11 - The first issue of ''Look magazine'' goes on sale in the United States.
January 19 - Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
January 23 - In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders.
January 31 - Ohio river floods
January 31 - 31 people executed in the Soviet Union for "Trotskyism"
February
February 5 - President of the United States|President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.
February 8 - Falangist troops take Málaga
February 11 - A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognises the United Auto Workers|United Automobile Workers Union
February 16 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.
February 19 - During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa Ahmed, Ethiopia, two Eritrean nationalists attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades. The Italian security guard fire into the crowd of Ethiopian onlookers, and over the passing weeks indiscriminately slaughter native Ethiopians in reprisal.
February 21 - Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman|Waldo Waterman's Waterman Arrowbile|Arrowbile; the League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee ban on foreign national "Unlawful combatant|volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.
March
March - The first issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' is published in the United States. Twenty-seven issues later, ''Detective Comics'' would introduce Batman. The comic would go on to become the longest continually-published comic magazine in American history; it is still published as of 2005.
March 10 - The Encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge of pope Pius XI is published in Nazi Germany
March 18 - The New London School explosion kills three hundred.
March 26 - In Crystal City, Texas spinach growers erect a statue of the cartoon character Popeye.
March 26 - William Henry Hastie becomes the first African-American appointed to federal judgeship.
April
April 1 - Aden becomes a British crown colony.
April 17 - Release of the animated short Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery for the Merrie Melodies series, featuring the debut of Daffy Duck.
April 26 - Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain is bombed by Germany|German Luftwaffe.
April 26 - In his report of the Falangist attack on Guernica, British journalist George Steer reports that he had found Germany|German bomb casing; that means that Luftwaffe planes were connected with the attack
May 1 - General strike in Paris, France
May 6 - In United States, the Hindenburg disaster|German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst.
May 7 - Spanish Civil War: The Germany|German Condor Legion|Condor Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes arrive in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
May 12 - Coronation of George VI of the United Kingdom|King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon|Queen Elizabeth takes place at Westminster Abbey, London.
May 21 - As one of the reprisals for the attempted assassination of Italy|Italian viceroy Rodolfo Graziani, a detachment of Italian troops massacre the entire community of Debre Libanos. 297 monks and 23 laymen are killed.
May 27 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic creating a vital link between San Francisco, California|San Francisco and Marin County, California|Marin County. The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt pushes a button in Washington, DC signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the Golden Gate Bridge.
May - Dáil Éireann passes the ''Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937'' which retrospectively abolishes the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State. The abolition is retrospectively dated to December 1936.
June
June 8 - First total solar eclipse to exceed 7 minutes of totality in over 800 years; visible in the Pacific and Peru.
June 14 - Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a national holiday|state holiday.
June 21 - Coalition government of Leon Blum resigns in France.
June/July - Dáil Éireann debates and passes the draft new constitution of Éire, to be called Bunreacht na hÉireann. The new constitution is then submitted for public approval by plebiscite.
July
July 1 - Gestapo arrests priest Martin Niemöller.
July 1 - In a referendum the people of the Irish Free State accept the new Constitution by 685,105 votes to 527,945.
July 2 - Amelia Earhart disappears
July 5 - Highest recorded temperature in Canada, at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan: 45 °C.
July 7 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)|Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Lugou Bridge - Japanese forces invade China.
July 21 - Eamon de Valera elected president of Eire
July 22 - New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
July 24 - Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called "Scottsboro Boys."
July 28 - Irish Republican Army|IRA attempts bombing assassination against King George VI in Belfast.
August
August 6 - Falangist artillery bombards Madrid.
September
September 5 - Spanish Civil War: The fall of Llanes.
September 16 - birth of Keith Bosley, broadcaster (retired), poet and translator.
September 21 - George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London published the first edition of J. R. R. Tolkien|J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Hobbit''.
September 25 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)|Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Pingxingguan.
October
October 1 - Marijuana Tax Act in USA.
October 3 - Japanese troops advance toward Nanking.
October 5 - Roosevelt "Quarantine the Aggressors" speech at Chicago
October 21 - The whole Spanish northern seaboard in the Falangists' hands.
October 21 - Roberto Ortiz elected president of Argentina.
October 27 - Spanish Civil War - Spanish Republic|Republican forces in Gijon, Spain, set fire to petrol reserves before they retreat before the advancing Falangists.
November
November 5 Spanish Civil War - Massacre of Republican supporters in Piedrafita de Babia, near León, León|León. Possibly 35,000 executed.
November 5 - World War II: In the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the Germany | German people.
November 9 - Japanese troops take Shanghai.
December
December 3 - The Dandy, the world's longest running comic, was first published.
December 12 - Panay incident
December 13 - Battle of Nanjing ends and the Nanjing Massacre begins. Japanese troops would slaughter over 250,000 civilians and prisoners over three months.
December 27 - Mae West performance gets her banned from NBC Radio
December 29 - New Irish Constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann comes into force. The Irish Free State becomes Éire. Eamon de Valera becomes the first Taoiseach (prime minister) of the new state. A Presidential Commission (Ireland)|Presidential Commission (made up the Irish Chief Justice, the Speaker of Dáil Éireann and the President of the High Court) assumes the powers of the new presidency of Ireland pending the election of the first president in June 1938.
December - The Marijuana Tax Act is signed, ending the US hemp industry just as it was about to benefit from a mechanised brake and compete with cotton and wood pulp.
Unknown dates
Japan invades Manchuria. (Some consider this the start of World War II. Most historians disagree).
New Ireland|Irish constitution bans divorce.
First science fiction convention in Leeds, United Kingdom.
Italy joins Antikomintern Pact.
The National House Builders Registration Council (now the NHBC) was formed in the United Kingdom.
Donald Goines (1937 - 1973)
Jimmie Angel lands his plane on top of Devil's Mountain however the plane gets damaged and he has to trek through the rainforest for help.
Ongoing events
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
Sino-Japanese_War_(1937-1945)|Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance
Births
January
January 1 - Anne Aubrey, British actor
January 4 - Dyan Cannon, Ameircan actress
January 6 - Underwood Dudley, American mathematician
January 8 - Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
January 14 - Ken Higgs, English cricketer
January 15 - Margaret O'Brien, American actress
January 18 - John Hume, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
January 27 - John Ogdon, English pianist (d. 1989)
January 30 - Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
January 30 - Boris Spassky, Russian chess player
January 31 - Suzanne Pleshette, Amrican actress
January 31 - Philip Glass, American composer
February
February 1 - Garrett Morris, American comedian
February 1 - Don Everly, American musician
February 2 - Tom Smothers, American musician and comedian
February 2 - Magic Sam, American musician (d. 1969)
February 8 - Manfred Krug, German actor and singer
February 11 - Bill Lawry, Australian cricketer
February 12 - Charles Dumas, American athlete
February 20 - Robert Huber, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate
February 20 - Roger Penske, American race car driver
February 20 - Nancy Wilson (singer)|Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress
February 21 - King Harald V of Norway
February 25 - Tom Courtenay, English actor
March
March 2 - Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian president
March 4 - Graham Dowling, New Zealand cricket captains
March 6 - Valentina Tereshkova, cosmonaut
March 9 - Mickey Gilly, American musician
March 17 - Rudy Ray Moore, American comedian
March 20 - Jerry Reed, American musician
March 22 - Armin Hary, German athlete
March 23 - Craig Breedlove, American race car driver
March 30 - Warren Beatty, American actor and director
April
April 5 - Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State
April 6 - Merle Haggard, American musician
April 6 - Billy Dee Williams, American actor
April 10 - Bella Akhmadulina, Russian poet
April 16 - Joseph Whipp, American actor
April 22 - Jack Nicholson, American actor
April 29 - Jill Paton Walsh, English novelist
May
May 1 - Una Stubbs, British actor
May 8 - Thomas Pynchon, American writer
May 6 - Rubin Carter|Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, American boxer
May 12 - George Carlin, American comedian
May 13 - Roch Carrier, Canadian writer
May 13 - Roger Zelazny, American writer (d. 1995)
May 15 - Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State
May 15 - Trini Lopez|Trini López, American musician
May 17 - Hazel R. O'Leary, U.S. Secretary of Energy
May 18 - Brooks Robinson, baseball player
May 18 - Jacques Santer, Luxembourg politician, President of the European Council
June
June 1 - Morgan Freeman, American actor
June 3 - Solomon P. Ortiz, U.S. Congressman from Texas
June 7 - Neemi Järvi, Estonian conductor
June 9 - Harald Rosenthal, German biologist
June 11 - Robin Warren, Australian pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
June 18 - Wray Carlton, American football player
June 18 - Vitali Zholobov, cosmonaut
June 23 - Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland
June 25 - Keizo Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2000)
June 26 - Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
June 28 - Ron Luciano, baseball umpire and writer (d. 1995)
July
July 6 - Vladimir Ashkenazy, Russian pianist
July 6 - Ned Beatty, American actor
July 7 - Tung Chee-Hwa, Hong Kong administrator
July 9 - David Hockney, English-born artist
July 12 - Lionel Jospin, Prime Minister of France
July 12 - Bill Cosby, American actor and comedian
July 14 - Yoshiro Mori, Japanese politician
July 18 - Roald Hoffmann, Polish-born chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate
July 29 - Daniel McFadden, American economist, Nobel Prize in Economics|Nobel Prize laureate
August
August 4 - David Bedford, American musician
August 5 - Herb Brooks, American hockey coach (d. 2003)
August 8 - Dustin Hoffman, American actor
August 18 - Robert Redford, American actor
August 18 - Willie Rushton, English comedian and cartoonist (d. 1996)
August 21 - Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (d. 2000)
August 29 - James Florio, Governor of New Jersey
September
September 4 - Dawn Fraser, Australian swimmer
September 15 - Robert Lucas, Jr., American economist, Nobel Prize in Economics|Nobel Prize laureate
September 15 - Fernando de la Rúa, President of Argentina
September 19 - Abner Haynes, American football player
September 28 - Rod Roddy, American television announcer (d. 2003)
October
October 2 - Johnnie Cochran, American attorney (d. 2005)
October 5 - Barry Switzer, American football coach
October 10 - Bobby Charlton, English footballer
November
November 8 - Paul Foot|Paul Mackintosh Foot, British journalist
November 15 - Yaphet Kotto, American actor
November 17 - Peter Cook, English comedian and writer
November 26 - Boris Yegorov, cosmonaut
December
December 3 - Bobby Allison, American race car driver
December 8 - Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountaineer and businessman (d. 2004)
December 21 - Jane Fonda, American actress and social activist
December 26 - Gnassingbe Eyadema, President of Togo (d. 2005)
December 29 - Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives
December 30 - John Hartford, American musician and composer (d. 2001)
December 30 - Jim Marshall (football player)|Jim Marshall, American football player
December 31 - Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
December 31 - Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor
Deaths
January 6 - Brother Andre, Canadian religious leader (b. 1845)
January 23 - Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1898)
February 5 - Lou Andreas-Salome, Russian-born writer (b. 1861)
February 7 - Elihu Root, American statesman and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1845)
February 11 - Walter Burley Griffin, American architect and town planner (b. 1876)
March 9 - Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist (b. 1864)
March 12 - Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (b. 1840)
March 15 - H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b. 1890)
March 17 - Austen Chamberlain, English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1863)
March 29 - Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer (b. 1882)
April 19 - William Martin Conway, British art critic and mountaineer (b. 1856)
April 21 - Saima Harmaja, Finnish poet (b. 1913)
April 25 - Michal Drzymala|Michał Drzymała, Polish rebel (b.1857)
May 23 - John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1839)
May 28 - Alfred Adler, Austrian psychologist (b. 1870)
June 19 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and dramatist (b. 1860)
July 9 - Oliver Law, American labor organizer and Army officer (killed in battle) (b. 1899)
July 11 - George Gershwin, American composer (b. 1898)
July 20 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor (b. 1874)
July 21 - Louis Vierne, French composer (b. 1870)
August 11 - Edith Wharton, American writer (b. 1862)
September 2 - Pierre de Coubertin, French founder of the modern Olympic Games (b. 1863)
September 26 - Bessie Smith, American singer (b. 1894)
September 29 - Ray Ewry, American athlete (b. 1873)
October 16 - Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (b. 1899)
October 19 - Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1871)
October 26 - Jozef Dowbor-Musnicki|Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general (b. 1867)
November 17 - Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1860)
November 23 - Jagdish Chandra Bose, Indian Physicist (b. 1858)
December 9 - Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
December 20 - Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
December 21 - Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1856)
December 28 - Maurice Ravel, French composer (b. 1875)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics - Clinton Joseph Davisson, George Paget Thomson
Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry - Walter Haworth, Paul Karrer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine - Albert Szent-Györgyi|Albert von Szent-Györgyi Nagyrapolt
Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature - Roger Martin du Gard
Nobel Peace Prize|Peace - Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood|Robert Cecil
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