Notable Historical Events - 1937
1937 Historical Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
Jan 1 |
Anastasio Somoza becomes president of Nicaragua |
Jan 1 |
Count Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to captain |
Jan 1 |
US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio |
Jan 1 |
Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain. |
Jan 5 |
Fingleton & Bradman make record stand of 346 for 6th wkt |
Jan 5 |
Only unicameral state legislature in US opens 1st session (Nebr) |
Jan 6 |
Bradman scores 270 Aust v England at the MCG, incl 110 singles |
Jan 8 |
-50°F (-45.6°C), San Jacinto, Nevada (state record) |
Jan 9 |
Italian regime bans marriages between Italians & Abyssinians |
Jan 9 |
Maxwell Anderson's "High Tor" premieres in NYC |
Jan 12 |
Plow for laying submarine cable patented |
Jan 19 |
Cy Young, Tris Speaker & Nap Lajorie elected to Baseball Hall of Fame |
Jan 19 |
Millionaire Howard Hughes sets transcontinental air record (7h28m25s) |
Jan 20 |
-45°F (-43°C), Boca, California (state record) |
Jan 20 |
1st US Presidential Inauguration day held on Jan 20th, (previously March 4th) |
Jan 23 |
Karl Radek & 16 others go on trial in Stalin's great purge |
Jan 25 |
1st broadcast of "Guiding Light" on NBC radio |
Jan 25 |
Miami-to-Tampa bus overturned in a canal, kills 13 |
Jan 25 |
Soap Opera "Guiding Light" premieres on radio |
Jan 30 |
2nd of Stalin's purge trials; Pyatakov & 16 others sentenced to death |
Feb 1 |
Stapleton, Staten Island becomes a customs-free port |
Feb 3 |
Bradman scores 212 (in 441 minutes!) in 5th Test Cricket v England |
Feb 4 |
Jim Margie, Philadelphia, bowls 900 in 3 (unsanctioned) games |
Feb 5 |
1st Charlie Chaplin talkie, "Modern Times," released |
Feb 5 |
FDR proposes enlarging Supreme Court, "court packing" plan failed |
Feb 6 |
K Elizabeth Ohi becomes 1st Japanese-US female lawyer |
Feb 8 |
Maxwell Anderson's "Masque of Kings," premieres in NYC |
Feb 10 |
Ragnhild Hveger swims world free style record 400m (5:14.2) |
Feb 11 |
44-day sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint Mich ends |
Feb 12 |
Cleveland (now St Louis) Rams granted an NFL franchise |
Feb 13 |
"Prince Valiant" comic strip appears; known for historical detail |
Feb 13 |
Bradman scores 123 SA v Queensland, 165 mins, 10-4s 1-6 in cricket |
Feb 13 |
Maribel Vinson wins her 9th US figure skating championship |
Feb 13 |
NFL Boston Redskins move to Wash DC |
Feb 13 |
US female Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson |
Feb 13 |
US male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee |
Feb 16 |
DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers |
Feb 16 |
Jean Anouilh's "Le Voyageur Sans Baggage," premieres in Paris |
Feb 20 |
1st automobile/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica, Ca |
Feb 21 |
Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile. |
Feb 21 |
The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War. |
Feb 24 |
1st US group hospital-medical cooperative authorized, Wash, DC |
Feb 26 |
C Isherwood/WH Auden's "Ascent of F6," premieres in London |
Feb 27 |
Bradman scores 169 in 5th Test Cricket v England in 223 minutes |
Mar 1 |
1st permanent automobile license plates issued (Ct) |
Mar 1 |
Gov 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 snatch series against England 3-2 after being 2-0 down |
Mar 4 |
9th Academy Awards - "The Great Ziegfeld", Paul Muni & Luise Rainer wins |
Mar 7 |
Bucharin, Jagoda & Rykov pushed out of CPSU in USSR |
Mar 14 |
Battle of the Century: Fred Allen & Jack Benny meet on radio |
Mar 14 |
Pope Pius XI publishes anti-nazi-encyclical Mit brennender Sorge |
Mar 15 |
1st blood bank forms (Chicago IL) |
Mar 15 |
1st state contraceptive clinic opens (Raleigh NC) |
Mar 16 |
All but one senior fouls out of a scrimmage game between seniors & sophomores, but he holds on to win the game 35-32 |
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 |
Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini redemptoris against communism |
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 20 |
Franco offensive at 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 blew a tire, going out of control, killing 18 (Salem Illinois) |
Mar 24 |
National Gallery of Art established by Congress |
Mar 25 |
It is revealed Quaker Oats pays Babe Ruth $25,000 per year for ads |
Mar 25 |
Italy & Yugoslavia sign non-aggression treaty (Pact of Belgrade) |
Mar 25 |
Lionel Conacher misses on 1st Stanley Cup penalty shot |
Mar 25 |
Wash Daily News is 1st US newspaper with perfumed advertising page |
Mar 26 |
Joe DiMaggio takes Ty Cobb's advice & replace his 40 with 36 oz bat |
Mar 26 |
Spinach growers of Crystal City, Tx, erect statue of Popeye |
Mar 26 |
William H Hastie becomes 1st black federal judge (Virgin Islands) |
Mar 27 |
Feyenoord-stadium official opens in Rotterdam |
Apr 1 |
Aden becomes a British crown colony |
Apr 4 |
4th Golf Masters Championship: Byron Nelson wins, shooting a 283 |
Apr 12 |
Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Rugby, England. |
Apr 15 |
Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings beat NY Rangers, 3 games to 2 |
Apr 17 |
Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut |
Apr 19 |
41st Boston Marathon won by Walter Young of Canada in 2:33:20 |
Apr 22 |
NYC college students stage 4th annual peace strike |
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 |
1st commercial flight across Pacific, Pan Am |
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 |
FDR signs act of neutrality |
May 3 |
Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With the Wind" |
May 6 |
German airship Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, NJ (36 die) |
May 8 |
63rd Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on War Admiral wins 2:03.2 |
May 9 |
Reds beat Phillies 21-10 (Ernie Lombardi goes 6 for 6) |
May 10 |
Busmen strike in London |
May 12 |
St Louis Cards beat Philadelphia Phillies, 15-3 |
May 12 |
Coronation of King George VI of Great Britain (and his other realms and territories beyond the sea) at Westminster Abbey. |
May 15 |
63rd Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral wins in 1:58.4 |
May 17 |
Juan Negrin succeeds Largo Caballero as Spain's premier |
May 19 |
John Murray/Allen Boretz's "Room Service" premieres in NYC |
May 25 |
1st airmail letter to circle globe returns to NY |
May 26 |
Dutch Rail NV at law forms |
May 26 |
San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge opens |
May 27 |
Carl Hubbell wins his 24th consecutive game (since July 17, 1936) |
May 27 |
Golden Gate Bridge, SF, dedicated |
May 28 |
Golden Gate Bridge in SF opens to vehicular traffic |
May 28 |
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
May 30 |
20th PGA Championship: Denny Shute at Pittsburgh FC Aspinwall PA |
May 30 |
Memorial Day Massacre - Chicago police shoot on union marchers, 10 die |
May 30 |
Pitcher Carl Hubbell's 24th consecutive victory |
May 30 |
Police kill 10 strikers at Republic Steel Plant in Chicago |
May 30 |
61,756, 2nd-largest crowd in Polo Grounds history, sees Dodgers ends Carl Hubbell's consecutive-game winning streak at 24 |
May 31 |
1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University) |
May 31 |
Brooklyn Dodgers snap NY Giant Carl Hubbell's 24-game winning streak |
May 31 |
German battleships bombard Almeria, Spain |
May 31 |
Indianapolis 500: Wilbur Shaw wins in 4:24:07.861 (182.789 km/h) |
Jun 1 |
Chicago White Sox Bill Dietrich no-hits St Louis Browns, 8-0 |
Jun 1 |
Prince Konoye becomes Japanese premier |
Jun 3 |
Josh Gibson HR's just 2 feet below rim of Yankee Stadium (580' drive) |
Jun 4 |
Leon Blum becomes premier of People's front government of France |
Jun 5 |
69th Belmont: Charley Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral wins in 2:28.6 |
Jun 5 |
Henry Ford initiates 32 hour work week |
Jun 6 |
Phillies trailing 8-2 to St Louis, forfeit game |
Jun 8 |
World's largest flower blooms in NY Botanical Garden, 12' calla lily |
Jun 11 |
Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" released |
Jun 12 |
41st US Golf Open: Ralph Guldahl shoots a 281 at Oakland Hills Mich |
Jun 12 |
USSR executes 8 army leaders as Stalin's purge continues |
Jun 13 |
Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs against St Louis Browns |
Jun 13 |
Stalin executes Russian officers Tuchachevski, Jakir, Putna & Uberevitch |
Jun 16 |
Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in LA |
Jun 17 |
Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in NY |
Jun 19 |
Franco-troops conquer Bilbao Basques |
Jun 21 |
French People's front government-Blum falls |
Jun 22 |
Joe Louis KOs James J Braddock in 18 for heavyweight boxing title |
Jun 25 |
Cub Augie Galan becomes 1st player to switch hit HRs in a game |
Jun 26 |
Test cricket debut of Len Hutton v NZ at Lord's, scores 0 & 1 |
Jul 1 |
Britain begins using 999 emergency phone number |
Jul 1 |
Rev Martin Niemöller (Bekennende Kirche) arrested in Germany |
Jul 1 |
Spanish bishops support Franco & fascists |
Jul 2 |
57th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Don Budge beats G von Cramm (6-3 6-4 6-2) |
Jul 2 |
Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan disappear over Pacific Ocean |
Jul 2 |
50th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Dorothy Little beats J Jędrzejowska (6-2 2-6 7-5) |
Jul 5 |
117°F (47°C), Medicine Lake, Montana (state record) |
Jul 5 |
Chicago Cub Frank Demaree gets 6 hits in 1st game & 2 in 2nd game |
Jul 5 |
Joe DiMaggio's 1st grand slammer |
Jul 5 |
Republican offensive by Brunete in Spain |
Jul 5 |
Spam, the luncheon meat, was introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation. |
Jul 7 |
5th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 8-3 at Griffith Stadium, Wash |
Jul 7 |
Japanese & Chinese troops clash, (Marco Polo Bridge), beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War |
Jul 9 |
72nd British Golf Open: Henry Cotton shoots a 290 at Carnoustie Golf Links |
Jul 10 |
Dutch Django Reinhardts "Quintette, premieres in du Hot Club" |
Jul 12 |
-13) Tupolev ANT-25 non-stop flight Moscow to San Jacinto Calif |
Jul 15 |
Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens |
Jul 15 |
Japanese attack Marco Polo Bridge, invade China |
Jul 19 |
Entartete Art Fair opens in Munich |
Jul 19 |
Joris Ivens' "Spanish Earth" premieres in Hollywood |
Jul 22 |
Irish premier Eamon de Valera wins elections |
Jul 22 |
Senate rejects FDR 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 27 |
32nd Davis Cup: USA beats Great Britain in Wimbledon (4-1) |
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 & Tientsin |
Jul 29 |
Tongzhou Incident |
Jul 30 |
Phillies Dolph Camilli, plays 1st base & registers no put outs |
Jul 31 |
Politburo enables Operative Order 00447: execute 193,000 Russians |
Aug 2 |
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal. |
Aug 5 |
Ranger (US) beats Endeavour II (England) in 17th America's Cup |
Aug 6 |
Franco's artillery fires on Madrid |
Aug 6 |
Indians overturn Yankees' 7-6 win by a protest |
Aug 6 |
US & USSR sign trade treaty |
Aug 8 |
Bonneville Dam on Columbia River begins producing power |
Aug 13 |
Japanese attack at the beinnging of the Battle of Shanghai during Second Sino-Japanese War. Involves nearly 1 million troops |
Aug 14 |
China declares war on Japan |
Aug 14 |
Detroit Tigers score 36 runs in double header vs St Louis Browns |
Aug 18 |
1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA) |
Aug 24 |
Republican offensive near Belchite, Spain |
Aug 24 |
In the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement. |
Aug 25 |
Japanese fleet blockades Chinese coast |
Aug 26 |
Franco's troops conquer Santander |
Aug 26 |
Pumping to build Treasure Island in SF 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 |
Phila 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 NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 6, Green Bay 0 (84,560) |
Sep 1 |
Battle of Gijon in Spain begins |
Sep 2 |
US Housing Authority created by National Housing Act |
Sep 4 |
Doris Kopsky, becomes 1st NABA woman cycling champion (4:22.4) |
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 8 |
Yankees trailing 6-1 in 9th, score 8 to beat Boston 9-6 |
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 11 |
51st US Women's Tennis: Anita Lizana beats Jadwiga Jedrzejowska (6-4 6-2) |
Sep 11 |
57th US Men's Tennis: J D Budge beats G v Cramm (6-1 7-9 6-1 3-6 6-1) |
Sep 15 |
WPA extends L-Taraval streetcar to SF Zoo (at Sloat Blvd) |
Sep 17 |
1st NFL game in Washington, DC; Redskins beat NY Giants 13-3 |
Sep 18 |
The first New Zealand State house opens in Miramar |
Sep 21 |
J. R. R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' is published |
Sep 22 |
Forest fire kills 14 & 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 of P'ing-hsin-kuan Wutai Mountain |
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 bicycles world record time (45,563 km) |
Sep 30 |
6th Ryder Cup: US, 8-4 at Southport & Ainsdale, England |
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 |
Minister Romme says unemployment is 25% "quarter of Romme" |
Oct 7 |
Johan Wagenaar's "Feestmars" premieres in Amsterdam |
Oct 10 |
NY Yankees beat Giants 4 games to 1 in 34th World Series |
Oct 13 |
A recorded trace of snow in Central Park, NYC |
Oct 15 |
Ernest Hemingway novel "To Have & Have Not" published |
Oct 15 |
Rather than accept any trade offers, the Yanks release Tony Lazzeri |
Oct 21 |
Dmitri Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony premieres |
Oct 21 |
Franco-troops occupies Gijon |
Oct 25 |
Belgian government of Zealand falls due to black money |
Oct 25 |
Casey Stengel signs to manage Boston Bees |
Oct 31 |
Spanish government moves from Valencia to Barcelona |
Nov 1 |
Stalinists executed by shooting Pastor Paul Hamberg and seven members of Azerbaijan's Lutheran community (including three women). |
Nov 2 |
AL batting champ Charlie Gehringer wins MVP |
Nov 3 |
Maurice Archambaud bicycles world record for distance in one hour (45.796 km) |
Nov 3 |
NHL Howie Morenz Memorial Game: All-Stars beat Montreal 6-5 in Mont |
Nov 5 |
Hitler informs his military leaders in a secret meeting of his intentions of going to war |
Nov 8 |
The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") opens in Munich. |
Nov 9 |
Japanese army conquers Shanghai |
Nov 9 |
St Louis Cards Triple Crown winner Joe Medwick is named NL MVP |
Nov 10 |
Brazilian dictator Getulio Vargas proclaims "Estado novo" |
Nov 11 |
Messerschmidt ME-109V13 flies world record 610.4 kph |
Nov 11 |
Nobel prize for physics awarded to C J Davisson & GP Thomson |
Nov 13 |
NBC forms first full-sized symphony orchestra exclusively for radio |
Nov 15 |
First US congressional session in air-conditioned chambers |
Nov 17 |
Britain's Lord Halifax visits Germany, beginning of appeasement |
Nov 21 |
Dmitri Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony premieres in Lenningrad |
Nov 23 |
Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy" premieres in NYC |
Nov 23 |
Emile Janson becomes Belgian premier |
Nov 23 |
John Steinbeck's "Of Mice & Men" premieres in NYC |
Nov 25 |
World's Fair of Paris closes (31.2 million visitors) |
Nov 27 |
Pro-labor musical revue "Pins & Needles" opens, produced by ILGWU |
Nov 29 |
Prince Bernhard injured in auto accident in Netherlands |
Nov 30 |
3rd Heisman Trophy Award: Clint Frank, Yale (HB) |
Dec 1 |
Japan recognizes Franco government |
Dec 7 |
Dutch Minister Romme proclaims married women are forbidden to work |
Dec 7 |
Red Sox acquire the contract of 19-year-old Ted Williams |
Dec 7 |
Russian chess player Alekhine recaptures world title from Max Euwe |
Dec 11 |
25th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Winn Blue Bombers, 30-7 |
Dec 11 |
Italy withdraws from League of Nations |
Dec 12 |
NBC & RCA sends 1st mobile-TV vans onto the streets of NY |
Dec 12 |
Washington Redskins win NFL championship |
Dec 12 |
Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologized & eventually paid US $2.2M in reparations) |
Dec 14 |
Japanese troops conquer/plunder Nanjing |
Dec 16 |
Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again. |
Dec 20 |
Bill O'Reilly takes 9-41 for NSW against South Australia |
Dec 21 |
1st feature-length color & sound cartoon premieres (Snow White) |
Dec 21 |
O'Reilly completes 14-98 for cricket match, NSW v South Aust |
Dec 21 |
The first full-length cel animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre |
Dec 22 |
Lincoln Tunnel (NYC) opens to traffic |
Dec 23 |
First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber. |
Dec 24 |
Dutch government recognizes Italian king Emanuel III as emperor of Abyssinia |
Dec 25 |
Arturo Toscanini conducts 1st Symphony of the Air over NBC Radio |
Dec 25 |
Queensland all out for 93 v SA in front of 10,436 |
Dec 27 |
Bradman scores 246 SA v Queensland, 364 mins, 20 fours |
Dec 27 |
German immigration officials with no explanation bar Juan Carlos Zabala (Arg), 1932 Olympic marathon champion, from entering Germany |
Dec 27 |
Mae West performs Adam & Eve skit that gets her banned from NBC radio |
Dec 28 |
Fascist Octavian Goga becomes PM of Romania/begins spread of Judaism |
Dec 29 |
2nd Irish constitution comes into effect; Irish Free State renamed Erie |
Dec 29 |
Lou Thesz beats E Marshall in St Louis, to become wrestling champ |
Dec 29 |
Pan Am starts San Francisco-to-Auckland, New Zealand service |
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