Events from the year 1931 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government President: Herbert Hoover (R-California) Vice President: Charles Curtis (R-Kansas) Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes (New York) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nicholas Longworth (R-Ohio) (until March 4) John Nance Garner (D-Texas) (starting December 7) Senate Majority Leader: James Eli Watson (R-Indiana) Congress: 71st (until March 4), 72nd (starting March 4)
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January January – The American Federation of Labor's National Committee for Modification of the Volstead Act is formed to work for the repeal of Prohibition in the United States. January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. January 3 – Albert Einstein begins doing research at the California Institute of Technology, along with astronomer Edwin Hubble. January 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. In Chicago, CBMC hosts the first meeting to address a greater purpose for business during The Great Depression; over 800 people attend the meeting, in Chicago's Garrick Theatre. January 30 – Charlie Chaplin comedy drama film City Lights receives its public premiere at the Los Angeles Theater with Einstein as guest of honor. Contrary to the current trend in cinema, it is a silent film, but with a score by Chaplin. Critically and commercially successful from the start, it will place consistently in lists of films considered the best of all time.
February Food riots break out in Minneapolis and other parts of the United States. February 14 – The original film version of Dracula, with Bela Lugosi, is released in the United States. February 20 – California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.
March March 1 – Battleship is placed back in full commission after a refit. March 3 – The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States national anthem. March 17 – Nevada legalizes gambling. March 25 – The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with sexual activity.
April April 1 – Canyon de Chelly National Monument is established. April 15 – The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as capo di tutti i capi ("boss of all bosses") and undisputed ruler of the American Mafia. Maranzano is himself assassinated less than 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families. April 18 – Cheverly, Maryland is incorporated. April 22 – The U.S., Austria, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Sweden recognize the Spanish Republic.
May
May 1 – Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City. May 7 – "Siege of West 91st Street": 18-year-old serial murderer Francis "Two Gun" Crowley surrenders after a 2-hour gun battle with New York City Police Department witnessed by 15,000 bystanders. May 20 – Lake of the Ozarks completed.
June June 1 – New York City Fire Department Rescue 3 is put in service for service in the Bronx and above 116th Street (Manhattan). Rescue 4 is founded the same day for Queens June 19 – In an attempt to stop the banking crisis in Central Europe from causing a worldwide financial meltdown, President Herbert Hoover issues the Hoover Moratorium. June 23 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.
July July – John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts, perfects the Emerson iron lung just in time for the growing polio epidemic. July 26 – The International Bible Students AssociationCorporations of Jehovah's Witnesses#International Bible Students Association adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses at a convention in Columbus, Ohio.
August Warner Brothers releases the first Merrie Melodies cartoon, Lady, Play Your Mandolin. August 16 – Texas experiences an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.5, the most powerful earthquake in its recorded history.
September September – Construction of Rockefeller Center on Manhattan begins.
October October – The Caltech Department of Physics Faculty and graduate students meet with Albert Einstein as a guest. October 4 – Dick Tracy, the comic strip detective character created by cartoonist Chester Gould, makes his first appearance in the Detroit Mirror newspaper. October 10 – The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4 games to 3, to win their second World Series title in baseball. October 17 – American gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion in Chicago. October 24 – The George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River is dedicated; it opens to traffic the following day. At , it nearly doubles the previous record for the longest main span in the world.
November November 10 – The 4th Academy Awards, hosted by Lawrence Grant, are presented at Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, with William LeBaron's Cimarron winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film also receives the most nominations and awards, with seven and three respectively. Norman Taurog wins Best Director for Skippy. November 21 – James Whale's film of Frankenstein is released in New York City. November 26 – Deuterium is discovered by Harold Urey.
December December 10 – Jane Addams becomes the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. December 26 – Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest surviving Latino fraternity, is founded. December – Ess Bee Dress Company is incorporated.
Undated Elizabeth Dilling begins anti-communist activism. The Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc. (ARE) founded in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as an open-membership group to research the collected transcripts of Edgar Cayce's continuing trances, stored at the Edgar Cayce Foundation.
Ongoing Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) Prohibition (1920–1933) Great Depression (1929–1933) Dust Bowl (1930–1936)
Births
January
January 1 – Bobbie Nelson, pianist and singer (d. 2022) January 5 Alvin Ailey, choreographer (d. 1989) Robert Duvall, actor and director (d. 2026) January 6 Fern Battaglia, baseball player (d. 2001) E. L. Doctorow, novelist (d. 2015) January 7 – Mack Mattingly, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1981 to 1987 January 10 – Ron Galella, photographer (d. 2022)In Memoriam : Ron Galella (1931-2022) January 16 – Ellen Holly, actress (d. 2023) January 17 – James Earl Jones, African-American actor (d. 2024) January 20 Jack Grinnage, actor Preston Henn, businessman, founder of Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop (d. 2017) David Lee, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996 January 22 Sam Cooke, African-American singer (d. 1964) Helen Hays, ornithologist and conservationist (d. 2025) January 25 – Dean Jones, actor (d. 2015) January 27 – Red Bastien, wrestler, trainer and promoter (d. 2012) January 29 – Jim Baumer, baseball player and manager (d. 1996) January 30 – Allan W. Eckert, historian, naturalist, and author (d. 2011) January 31 Ernie Banks, African-American baseball player (d. 2015) Jack Taylor, swimmer (d. 1955)
February
February 6 Rip Torn, actor (d. 2019) Mamie Van Doren, film actress February 7 – Dudley Laufman, contra dancer (d. 2026) February 8 James Dean, actor (d. 1955) Larry Dolan, attorney and baseball club owner (d. 2025) February 9 Robert Morris, sculptor and artist (d. 2018) Jack Van Impe, televangelist (d. 2020) February 10 – Carl Rettenmeyer, biologist (d. 2009) February 11 – Larry Merchant, author and boxing commentator February 13 – Geoff Edwards, actor, game show host (d. 2014) February 15 – Maxine Singer, molecular biologist (d. 2024)In Honor of Pioneering Microbiologist, Science Educator Maxine Frank Singer ’52, H’78 February 16 – George E. Sangmeister, politician (d. 2007) February 18 Johnny Hart, cartoonist (d. 2007) Toni Morrison, African-American novelist, essayist, editor, teacher and professor (d. 2019) Bob St. Clair, American football player (d. 2015) February 20 – John Milnor, mathematician February 23 – Betty Ray McCain, politician (d. 2022)Betty McCain remembered for lifetime of service February 24 James Abourezk, politician (d. 2023) Dominic Chianese, actor, singer February 28 Gavin MacLeod, actor and mayor of Pacific Palisades (d. 2021) Dean Smith, basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
March
March 3 – Paul Clayton, folk singer and folklorist (d. 1967) March 4 Wally Bruner, journalist and television host (d. 1997) Alice Rivlin, born Georgianna Alice Mitchell, American economist (d. 2019) March 6 Carmen de Lavallade, actress, dancer and choreographer (d. 2025) John Smith, actor (d. 1995) March 12 – Herb Kelleher, businessman (d. 2019) March 15 D. J. Fontana, drummer (d. 2018) Ted Marchibroda, American football player (d. 2016) March 17 – Lorraine Ellison, African-American soul singer (d. 1983) March 18 – Shirley Stovroff, American baseball player (d. 1994) March 20 Norman Francis, American lawyer and academic (d. 2026) Hal Linden, American actor, singer (Barney Miller) Karen Steele, American actress and model (d. 1988) March 22 Paul G. Hewitt, American physicist, boxer, uranium prospector, author and cartoonist Burton Richter, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976 March 24 – Connie Hines, American actress (d. 2009) March 26 – Leonard Nimoy, American actor and film director (d. 2015) March 27 – David Janssen, American actor (d. 1980)
April
April 5 – Jack Clement, singer-songwriter, record producer (d. 2013) April 8 John Gavin, actor, diplomat (d. 2018) Jack Stallings, baseball head coach (d. 2018) April 10 – James L. Dozier, U.S. Army officer April 11 – Johnny Sheffield, child actor (d. 2010) April 13 – Dan Gurney, race car driver (d. 2018) April 14 – Hugh Leatherman, politician (d. 2021)Hugh Leatherman, Stalwart South Carolina Senator, Dies at 90 April 16 – Julian Carroll, lawyer and politician, Governor of Kentucky (d. 2023)Former Kentucky Gov. Julian Carroll dies at age 92 April 18 Edmond Gionet, politician, member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives (d. 2019). Noel Marshall, agent and producer (d. 2010) April 19 – Fred Brooks, computer scientist (d. 2022)A Giant of Computer Science - Fred Brooks April 22 – Joe Cuba, musician (d. 2009) April 23 – Chuck Feeney, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2023)Charles Feeney, Who Made a Fortune and Then Gave It Away, Dies at 92 April 26 – Ted Stanley, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016) April 29 – Don Leo Jonathan, American-Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2018) April 30 Eugene John Gerber, Catholic prelate (d. 2018) Peter La Farge, singer, songwriter (d. 1965)
May
May 2 – Cruz Reynoso, civil rights lawyer and jurist (d. 2021) May 6 Louis Gambaccini, civil servant (d. 2018) Willie Mays, African-American baseball player (d. 2024) May 7 Teresa Brewer, pop and jazz singer (d. 2007) Jerry Chesnut, songwriter (d. 2018) May 8 – Bob Clotworthy, American diver (d. 2018) May 9 – Don Gardner, American singer-songwriter (d. 2018) May 13 – Jim Jones, American People's Temple cult leader (d. 1978) May 14 Alvin Lucier, American composer (d. 2021) Frank Shrontz, American businessman and politician (d. 2024) May 15 Joseph A. Califano Jr., Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse Ken Venturi, golfer (d. 2013) May 16 Jack Dodson, actor (d. 1994) Lowell Weicker, politician (d. 2023) May 17 Stan Albeck, basketball coach (d. 2021) Marshall Applewhite, Heaven's Gate religious sect founder (d. 1997) May 18 Don Martin, artist (MAD Magazine) (d. 2000) Robert Morse, actor (d. 2022) George Shapiro, talent manager and television producer (d. 2022)