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

Events

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

June

• 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 14 - Action Comics issues the first Superman comic.
• 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

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

August

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

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

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 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 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.

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 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

• 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

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.
• László Bíró patents the ballpoint pen.
• The first cartoon to feature a prototypical Bugs Bunny, Porky's Hare Hunt, is released.

Ongoing events

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

Births

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 25 - Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, poet, actor (d. 1980)
• January 31 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

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

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

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

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

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

July

• 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 23 - Juliet Anderson, American actress
• July 23 - Bert Newton, Australian actor and television show host
• July 24 - Eugene J. Martin, American painter, artist
• July 27 - Gary Gygax, American author
• July 28 - Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru
• July 29 - Peter Jennings, Canadian-born television news reporter (d. 2005)

August

• August 3 - Terry Wogan, British/Irish TV and radio broadcaster
• August 9 - Ezola Broussard Foster, Vice President of the United States
• August 9 - Rod Laver, Australian tennis player
• August 15 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer
• August 19 - Diana Muldaur, American actress
• August 22 - Paul Maguire, American football player
• August 24 - Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician
• August 24 - David Freiberg, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship)
• August 28 - Maurizio Costanzo, Italian television news reporter
• August 28 - Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada
• August 31 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician

September

• September 2 - Clarence Felder, American actor
• September 3 - Ryoji Noyori, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• September 10 - Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer and photographer
• September 13 - John Smith, Scottish politician (d. 1994)
• September 22 - Gene Mingo, American football player
• September 25 - Jonathan Motzfeldt, Prime Minister of Greenland
• September 29 - Wim Kok, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

October

• 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
• October 14 - 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 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 29 - Ralph Bakshi, Israeli cartoonist, film director, and video producer
• October 29 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia

November

• November 2 - Patrick Joseph Buchanan, American journalist and Presidential candidate
• November 5 - Joe Dassin, French singer (d. 1980)
• November 6 - Mack Jones, baseball player (d. 2004)
• November 6 - Dumitru Rusu, Romanian painter
• November 13 - Jean Seberg, American actress
• November 16 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (d. 2002)
• November 26 - Porter J. Goss, American politician and Central Intelligence Agency director

December

• December 4 - Andre V. Marrou, U.S. Presidential candidate
• December 4 - Yvonne Minton, Australian soprano
• 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
• December 17 - Peter Snell, New Zealand athlete
• December 17 - Carlo Little, British drummer (d.2005)
• December 20 - John Harbison, American composer
• December 23 - Bob Kahn, American Internet pioneer

Deaths

• 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 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 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)
• August 1 - Edmund Charles Tarbell, American artist (b. 1862)
• August 7 - Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor (b. 1863)
• August 14 - Hugh Trumble, Australian Test Cricketer (b. 1876)
• August 16 - Robert Johnson, American musician (b. 1911)
• September 17 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (b. 1901)
• October 2 - Alexandru Averescu, Romanian soldier and politician (b. 1859)
• 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 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 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.

1938

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