1937 in the United States

Events from the year 1937 in the United States.

Incumbents Federal government President: Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-New York) Vice President: John Nance Garner (D-Texas) Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes (New York) Speaker of the House of Representatives: William B. Bankhead (D-Alabama) Senate Majority Leader: Joseph Taylor Robinson (D-Arkansas) (until July 14) Alben W. Barkley (D-Kentucky) (starting July 22) Congress: 74th (until January 3), 75th (starting January 3)

State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January–March January 11 – The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale. January 12 – Adventurer and filmmaker Martin Johnson, of Martin and Osa Johnson fame, is killed along with four others in the crash of Western Air Express Flight 7 in mountainous terrain near Saugus, California. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds. Marriage of Charlie Johns and Eunice Winstead: A 22-year-old Tennessee farmer marries his 9-year-old neighbour. Media publicity leads to Tennessee (and other states) introducing minimum marriage age laws. January 20 – Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in Franklin D. Roosevelt for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first time Inauguration Day in the United States occurs on this date, in response to the ratification in 1933 of the 20th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Inauguration has occurred on January 20 ever since. John Nance Garner is sworn in for a second term as Vice President of the United States. January 26 – Michigan celebrates its Centennial Anniversary of statehood. January 31 – The Ohio River flood kills 385 people and leaves one million homeless. Property losses reach $500 million ($10.2 billion when adjusted for inflation as of September 2022). February 5 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States. February 6 – John Steinbeck's novella of the Great Depression Of Mice and Men is published. February 11 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union. February 15 – Life magazine publishes the photograph At the Time of the Louisville Flood by Margaret Bourke-White, depicting black victims of the Ohio River flood.Sexton, Robby (May 7, 2014). "World's Highest Standard of Living". Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved March 14, 2025. February 16 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon. "Linear Condensation Polymers", filed July 1931, issued February 1937 March 2 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, precursor to United Steelworkers, signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel. March 4 – The 9th Academy Awards, hosted by George Jessel, are presented at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, with Robert Z. Leonard's The Great Ziegfeld winning the Outstanding Production. The film is among two others (being Mervyn LeRoy's Anthony Adverse and William Wyler's Dodsworth) to receive the most nominations with seven, while Anthony Adverse wins the most awards with four. Frank Capra receives his second Best Director award for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. March 17 – The Atherton Report (private investigator Edwin Atherton's report detailing vice and police corruption in San Francisco) is released. March 18 In the worst school disaster in American history in terms of lives lost, the New London School in New London, Texas suffers a catastrophic natural gas explosion, killing in excess of 295 students and teachers. Mother Frances Hospital opens in Tyler, Texas in response to the New London School explosion. March 26 In Crystal City, Texas, spinach growers erect a statue of the cartoon character Popeye. William Henry Hastie becomes the first African-American appointed to a federal judgeship. March 28 – Sculptor Robert George Irwin kills three people in Turtle Bay, Manhattan. March – The first issue of the comic book Detective Comics is published. Twenty-seven issues later, Detective Comics introduces Batman. The comic goes on to become the longest continually published comic magazine in American history; it is still published as of 2024.

April–June

April 12 – National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the National Labor Relations Act is constitutional. April 13 – Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is established. April 17 – The animated short Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery for the Looney Tunes series, featuring the debut of Daffy Duck, is released. May – 7 million unemployed in the US. May 6 – Hindenburg disaster: The German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey. May 7 – An enquiry begins into the Hindenburg disaster. May 27 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushes a button in Washington, D.C., signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the Golden Gate Bridge. May 30 – Memorial Day massacre: the Chicago Police Department shoots and kills ten unarmed demonstrators during the Little Steel strike. June 14 – Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday. June 20 – The first transpolar flight in history successfully arrives at Vancouver, Washington. June 24 – The U.S. Navy's first two fast battleships, North Carolina and Washington, are ordered from the New York and Philadelphia Naval Shipyards, respectively. June 25 – In The Bronx, an extended Orchard Beach recreation area opens, turning Hunter Island into a peninsula.

July–September

July 2 Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear after taking off from New Guinea during Earhart's attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world. A guard first stands post at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, D.C.; continuous guard is maintained here from this time forward. July 4 – The Lost Colony historical drama is first performed in an outdoor theater in the location where it is set, Roanoke Island, North Carolina. July 5 – The canned precooked meat product Spam is introduced by the Hormel company. July 14 – The Transpolar flight of Gromov, Yumashev and Danilin lands near San Jacinto, California, establishing a world record for nonstop straight-line flight distance of 10,148.5 km (6,306.0 mi, from Moscow). July 22 – New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States. July 24 – Alabama drops rape charges against some of the "Scottsboro Boys". September 7 – CBS broadcasts a two-and-a-half hour memorial concert nationwide on radio in memory of George Gershwin, live from the Hollywood Bowl. Many celebrities appear, including Oscar Levant, Fred Astaire, Otto Klemperer, Lily Pons, and members of the original cast of Porgy and Bess. The concert is recorded and released complete years later in what is excellent sound for its time, on CD. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is the featured orchestra. September 18 – African American writer Zora Neale Hurston publishes her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. September 20 – Aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is commissioned. September 26 – Street & Smith launches a half-hour radio program, The Shadow, with Orson Welles in the title role.

October–December October 1 The Marijuana Tax Act becomes law in the United States. U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Hugo Black, in a nationwide radio broadcast, refutes allegations of past involvement in the Ku Klux Klan. October 5 – Roosevelt gives his famous Quarantine Speech in Chicago. October 10 – The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants (baseball), 4 games to 1, to win their 6th World Series Title. October 15 – Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not is first published. November 11 – The Mercury Theatre is launched on Broadway in New York City with an acclaimed production of Caesar, Marlon Brando's adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in a modern-dress bare-stage anti-fascist presentation. December 12 Panay incident: Japanese bombers sink the American gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze in China; the US accepts the Japanese statement that this was unintentional. Mae West makes a risque guest appearance on the NBC Chase and Sanborn Hour that eventually results in her being banned from radio. December 21 – Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated cartoon with sound, is premiered and becomes a smash hit. December 22 – The Lincoln Tunnel, connecting New York City to Weehawken, New Jersey, under the Hudson River opens to road traffic. December 25 – At the age of 70, conductor Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra on radio for the first time, beginning his successful 17-year tenure with that orchestra. This first concert consists of music by Vivaldi (at a time when he is still seldom played), Mozart, and Brahms. Millions tune in to listen, including U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Undated Napoleon Hill's self-help book Think and Grow Rich is published.

Ongoing Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) New Deal (1933–1939) Recession of 1937–1938 (1937–1938)

Births

January

January 4 Grace Bumbry, African American opera singer (d. 2023) Dyan Cannon, American actress, director, screenwriter, editor and producer Lorene Mann, American country music singer, songwriter (d. 2013) January 6 Underwood Dudley, American mathematician Lou Holtz, American football coach (d. 2026) January 10 Daniel Walker Howe, American historian and academic (d. 2025) Thomas Penfield Jackson, American soldier, lawyer and judge (d. 2013) January 13 – George Reisman, American economist January 14 Leo Kadanoff, American physicist (d. 2015) Tom McEwen, American drag racer (d. 2018) Billie Jo Spears, American country music singer (d. 2011) January 15 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress January 16 – Francis George, American cardinal (d. 2015) January 19 – Fred J. Lincoln, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2013) January 22 Eddie Knox, American politician and lawyer (d. 2026) Joseph Wambaugh, American author (d. 2025) January 25 Bill Pascrell, American politician (d. 2024) Gregory Sierra, American actor (d. 2021) January 29 – Bobby Scott, American musician, producer and songwriter (d. 1990) January 31 Philip Glass, American composer Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)

February

February 1 Don Everly, American rock and roll musician (The Everly Brothers) (d. 2021) Garrett Morris, African-American comedian, actor (Saturday Night Live) February 2 Remak Ramsay, American actor Tom Smothers, American musician, comedian (The Smothers Brothers) (d. 2023) February 4 Bill Ham, American music impresario and manager (d. 2016) David Newman, American screenwriter (d. 2003) February 5 – Stuart Damon, American actor (d. 2021) February 8 – Joe Raposo, American composer and songwriter (d. 1989) February 9 – William Lawvere, American mathematician (d. 2023) February 10 Roberta Flack, African-American singer (d. 2025) Ronnie Rondell Jr., Amertican actor and stuntman (d. 2025) February 11 – Greg Noll, American surfing pioneer (d. 2021)Greg Noll, South Bay surfer and legendary big-wave rider, dies February 12 – Charles Dumas, American athlete (d. 2004) February 14 Magic Sam, American musician (d. 1969) Jessie Maple, African-American cinematographer and civil rights activist (d. 2023)Jessie Maple, pioneering American cinematographer, dies aged 76 February 15 Terry Everett, American politician (d. 2024) Gregory Mcdonald, American novelist (d. 2008) February 17 – Mary Ann Mobley, American actress (d. 2014)