1938

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1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).

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Events

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January

January 1 – new Constitution of Estonia enters into force.
January 3 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
January 5 - H.R.H. Prince Juan Carlos of Spain is born.
January 11 - Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
January 16 - 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 I of Egypt and Queen Farida Zulficar in Cairo
January 28 - The first ski tow in America begins operation in Vermont.
January 31 - Crown princess Beatrix is born in Netherlands

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February

February 4 - Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens (New York City).
February 4 - Adolf Hitler creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military.
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 24 - A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.

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March

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 18 - Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.

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April

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.

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May

May 5 - Vatican recognizes Franco's government in Spain
May 9 - Kaarel Eenpalu becomes prime minister of Estonia
May 17 - Information, Please! debuts on NBC Radio.
May 25 - Bombing of Alicante, Spain, in the Spanish Civil War, with 313 dead.

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June

June 1 - Action Comics issues the first Superman comic.
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 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.
June 23 - Marineland opens near St. Augustine, Florida.
June 25 - Dr. Douglas Hyde is elected the first President of Ireland.
June 28 - A 450 metric ton meteorite struck the earth in an empty field near Chicora, Pennsylvania

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July

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 10 - Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.
July - Building of the concentration camp Mauthausen

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August

August 18 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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September

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, killing 600 people.
September 29 - Munich agreement of German, Italian, British and French leaders agrees to German demands regarding annexation of Sudetenland.
September 29 - Republic of Hatay declared in Syria

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October

October 1 - German troops march into Sudetenland
October 5 - Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia, resigns
October 10 - The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario
October 17 - Jan Syrovy's government begins in Czechoslovakia
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 mass 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.

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November

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 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.

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December

December 16 - Ground is broken on the future site of Mark Keppel High School
December 19 - Construction begins at Mark Keppel High School
December 23 - Coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct, caught off the coast of South Africa near Chalumna River

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Unknown dates

Italian mathematician Ettore Maiorana disappears
In West Java, Daeng Soetigna tuned traditional angklung to play also diatonic scale.
The Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.
Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year" (as most influential during the course of the year, not as 'best' man of the year)
Enoch A. Holtwick began long political career.
Walther P38 Was Introduced.

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Ongoing events

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

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Births

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January

January 1 - Robert Jankel, British coachbuilder (d. 2005)
January 2 - Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
January 2 - Ian Brady, British serial killer
January 2 - Rodger Bumpass, American Actor
January 5 - King Juan Carlos I of Spain
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
January 10 - Willie McCovey, baseball player
January 14 - Jack Jones, American singer and actor
January 18 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
January 20 - Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer
January 23 - Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
January 25 - Etta James, American singer
January 31 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

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February

February 1 - Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor
February 8 - Prentice Gautt, American football player
February 11 - Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer
February 11 - Simone de Oliveira, portuguese actress and singer
February 11 - Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator
February 12 - Judy Blume, American author
February 13 - Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
February 18 - Istvan Szabo, Hungarian director
February 24 - Phil Knight, American sportswear entrepreneur
February 25 - Herb Elliott, Australian runner

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March

March 4 - Don Perkins, American football player
March 4 - 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
March 7 - 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)
March 17 - Keith Michael Patrick Cardinal 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 musician and actor (d. 1999)
March 26 - Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

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April

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 8 - Kofi Annan, Ghanaian Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
April 10 - Don Meredith, American football player and broadcaster
April 11 - Kurt Moll, German bass
April 12 - Roger Caron, Canadian author
April 17 - Kerry Thornley, American counterculture figure, writer, co-founder of Discordianism
April 26 - Duane Eddy, American musician
April 29 - Larry Niven, American author

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May

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
May 26 - Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
May 31 - Johnny PayCheck, American singer (d. 2003)
May 31 - Peter Yarrow, American singer

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June

June 5 - Karin Balzer, German athlete
June 7 - Goose Gonsoulin, American football player
June 15 - Billy Williams, baseball player
June 19 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and professional wrestler (d. 2002)
June 28 - Moy Yat, Chinese martial artist