Events from the year 1932 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: John Nance Garner (D-Texas) Senate Majority Leader: James Eli Watson (R-Indiana) Congress: 72nd

State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January–March January 1 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. January 7 – The Stimson Doctrine is proclaimed, in response to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. January 12 – Hattie W. Caraway of Arkansas becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate. February 2 – The Reconstruction Finance Corporation begins operations in Washington, D.C. February 4 – The 1932 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York. February 15 – Clara, Lu & Em, generally regarded as the first daytime network soap opera, debuts in its morning time slot over the Blue Network of NBC Radio, having originally been a late evening program. February 22 (Washington's Birthday) – The Purple Heart is revived by War Department General Order No. 3 as a decoration of the U.S. military awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving with the U.S. Armed Forces; retrospective awards are made. March 1 – Lindbergh kidnapping: Charles Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, is kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. March 7 – Four people are killed when police fire upon 3,000 unemployed autoworkers marching outside the Ford River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. March 22 – Tarzan the Ape Man premieres, with Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller in the title role; he will star in a total of twelve Tarzan films.

April–June April 6 – U.S. president Herbert Hoover supports armament limitations. May 2 – Comedian Jack Benny's radio show airs for the first time. May 12 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead just a few miles from the family home. May 20–21 – Amelia Earhart flies from the US to Derry, Northern Ireland in 14 hours 54 minutes. May 29 – The first of approximately 15,000 World War I veterans arrive in Washington, D.C. demanding the immediate payment of their military bonus, becoming known as the Bonus Army. c. June – The Republican Citizens Committee Against National Prohibition is established for the repeal of Prohibition in the United States. June 6 The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States at 1 cent per US gallon (0.26 ¢/L) sold. The 6.4 Eureka earthquake affects the north coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Three people are injured and one killed. June 29 – The comedy serial Vic and Sade debuts on NBC Radio.

July–September July 8 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22. July 28 – Two people are killed when police fire upon the Bonus Army of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C. U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the U.S. Army to evict the protesters forcibly and troops disperse the last of the Bonus Army the next day. July 30–August 14 – The 1932 Summer Olympics take place in Los Angeles. July 30 – Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first animated cartoon to be presented in full Technicolor, premieres in Los Angeles, California. It releases in theaters, along with Eugene O'Neill's experimental play Strange Interlude (starring Norma Shearer and Clark Gable), and will go on to win the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short. August – A farmers' revolt begins in the Midwestern United States. August 7 – Raymond Edward Welch becomes the first one-legged man to scale Mount Washington (New Hampshire). August 10 – A 5.1 kg chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least 7 fragments and strikes earth near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri. August 31 – A total solar eclipse is visible from northern Canada through northeastern Vermont, New Hampshire, southwestern Maine and the Capes of Massachusetts.

October–December October 1 – The famous Babe Ruth's called shot is made in the fifth inning of game 3 of the 1932 World Series (baseball) during the 1932 New York Yankees season. October 2 – The New York Yankees defeat the Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 0, to win their 4th World Series title in baseball. October 13 – Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes lays the cornerstone for a new U.S. Supreme Court building. October 15 – The Michigan Marching Band (at this time called the Varsity band) debuts Script Ohio at the Michigan versus Ohio State game in Columbus. October 23 – Fred Allen's radio comedy show debuts on CBS. November 1 – The San Francisco Opera House opens. November 7 – Buck Rogers in the 25th Century airs on radio for the first time. November 8 – 1932 United States presidential election: Democratic Governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory, having promised a New Deal and repeal of Prohibition. November 16 – New York City's Palace Theatre fully converts to a cinema, which is considered the final death knell of vaudeville as a popular entertainment in the United States. November 18 – The 5th Academy Awards, hosted by Conrad Nagel, are presented at Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, with Edmund Goulding's Grand Hotel winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. John Ford and Brian Desmond Hurst's Arrowsmith and King Vidor's The Champ both receive the most nominations with four, while the latter film and Frank Borzage's Bad Girl both receive the most awards with two. Borzage also wins Best Director, his second overall. November 24 – In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens. November 30 – Exhibition American Folk Art: The Art of the Common Man in America 1750–1900 opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. December 24 – Moweaqua Coal Mine disaster: a methane gas explosion claims 54 lives in Illinois. December 27 – Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City.

Undated Unemployment in the USA – c. 33% – 14 million. Maxwell House Haggadah first distributed. Dust storms begin in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, the start of the Dust Bowl in the United States.1959 Encyclopedia Americana. The Zippo Manufacturing Co. is established to produce lighters in the United States.

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 Tzaims Luksus, artist and fashion designer Jackie Parker, American football player and coach (d. 2006) January 3 – Dabney Coleman, actor (d. 2024) January 5 Johnny Adams, blues singer (d. 1998) Frank Layden, NBA executive and coach (d. 2025) Chuck Noll, American football coach (d. 2014) January 6 – Stuart A. Rice, chemist (d. 2024) January 9 – Robert F. Taft, Jesuit priest (d. 2018) January 12 – Sally J. Novetzke, political aide and diplomat (d. 2025) January 15 – Cleven Goudeau, art director and cartoonist (d. 2015) January 16 Carol Davis, businesswoman and football club owner (d. 2025) Dian Fossey, primatologist (killed 1985 in Rwanda) January 19 Richard Lester, film director Harry Lonsdale, chemist, businessman and politician (d. 2014) Joe Schmidt, American football player and coach (d. 2024) January 22 – Piper Laurie, film actress (d. 2023) January 23 – James Rado, actor, playwright, director, writer and composer (d. 2022) January 31 – Rick Hall, record producer, songwriter and recording studio owner (d. 2018)

February

February 2 – Robert Mandan, American actor (d. 2018) February 3 – Peggy Ann Garner, American actress (d. 1984) February 4 – Herman D. Farrell Jr., American politician (d. 2018) February 7 Gay Talese, American literary journalist Alfred Worden, American astronaut (d. 2020) February 8 – John Williams, American film music composer February 10 Rockin' Dopsie, American zydeco singer and accordion player (d. 1993) Robert Taylor, American computer scientist (d. 2017) February 11 – Jerome Lowenthal, American pianist February 12 – Julian Simon, American economist and author (d. 1998) February 13 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990) February 14 – Leo Thorsness, American war veteran and politician (d. 2017) February 16 Harry Goz, American actor (d. 2003) Gretchen Wyler, American dancer, actress and animal rights activist (d. 2007) February 22 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (d. 2009) February 23 Majel Barrett, American actress (d. 2008) Bill Bonds, American television newscaster (d. 2014) February 24 – Zell Miller, American politician (d. 2018) February 25 – Faron Young, American country singer (d. 1996) February 26 – Johnny Cash, American country singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor and author (d. 2003) February 27 – Elizabeth Taylor, English-American film actress (d. 2011) February 29 – Gene H. Golub, American mathematician (d. 2007)

March

March 2 Sterling Stuckey, American historian (d. 2018) Frank E. Petersen, African-American Marine Corps aviator (d. 2015) March 4 – Ed Roth, American car designer (d. 2001) March 5 Paul Sand (b. Paul Sanchez), American actor and comedian Earl Woods, African-American army officer (d. 2006) March 7 – Ed Thrasher, American art director and photographer (d. 2006) March 11 – Leroy Jenkins, African-American jazz musician and composer (d. 2007) March 12 – Andrew Young, African-American politician, diplomat and activist March 14 Jane Maas, advertising executive and author (d. 2018) Mark Murphy, American jazz singer (d. 2015)Matt Schudel, "Mark Murphy, jazz singer of freewheeling virtuosity, dies at 83", The Washington Post, October 24, 2015. March 15 – Alan Bean, American naval officer and naval aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut (d. 2018) March 16 – Walter Cunningham, American astronaut (d. 2023) March 17 Donald N. Langenberg, American physicist and professor (d. 2019) Hazel Nell Dukes, activist (d. 2025) March 18 – John Updike, American novelist and poet (d. 2009) March 20 – Tod Dockstader, American composer (d. 2015) March 21 – Walter Gilbert, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate March 22 – Leo Welch, American blues musician (d. 2017) March 27 – Junior Parker, African-American blues musician (d. 1971) March 29 – Al Bianchi, American basketball player (d. 2019)

April

April 1 Gordon Jump, American actor (d. 2003) Debbie Reynolds, American actress, singer and dancer (d. 2016) April 2 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (d. 2015) April 3 – Colin Cantwell, American artist (d. 2022)COLIN CANTWELL, DESIGNER OF THE X-WING AND MORE, PASSES AWAY April 4 Clive Davis, American record producer (d. 2026) Richard Lugar, American politician (d. 2019) Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992) April 5 – Clemmie Spangler, American billionaire businessman and academic administrator (d. 2018) April 7 Del Monroe, American actor (d. 2009) Cal Smith, American country music singer (d. 2013) April 9 Paul Krassner, American author, journalist, comedian and editor (d. 2019) Carl Perkins, American rock singer (d. 1998) April 10 – Blaze Starr, American burlesque artist (d. 2015) April 11 Joel Grey, American actor, singer and dancer Pat Koch Thaler, American educator and activist (d. 2024) April 12 – Tiny Tim, American musician (d. 1996) April 13 – Dick Farley, American basketball player (d. 1969) April 14 – Loretta Lynn, American country singer (d. 2022) April 16 – Bob Beckwith, American firefighter (September 11 attacks) (d. 2024)