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1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January-May
June-September
- June 1 - Action Comics issues the first Superman comic.
- June 11 - Fire destroys 212 buildings in Ludes, Latvia
- 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 a empty field near Chicora, Pennsylvania
- 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 commemerates 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 18 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- September - European crisis over German demand for annexation of Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia.
- September 21 - A large hurricane 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.
October-December
- 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 30 - Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing mass panic in the eastern 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 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.
the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.
unknown dates
Ongoing events
Year in topic
Births
January
February-March
- February 1 - Sherman Hemsley, comedian and actor
- February 8 - Prentice Gautt, American football player
- February 11 - Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricket player
- February 11 - Willy Correa de Oliveira, composer
- February 11 - Boris Majorov, Soviet hockey player
- February 11 - Yevgeniy Majorov, Soviet hockey player
- February 11 - Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator
- February 12 - Judy Blume, author
- February 13 - Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
- February 18 - Istvan Szabo, director
- February 24 - Phil Knight, founder of Nike, Inc.
- February 25 - Herb Elliott, Australian runner
- February 28 - Klaus Staeck, graphic artist
- March 4 - Don Perkins, American football player
- March 7 - Janet Guthrie, race car driver
- March 13 - Erma Franklin, singer (d. 2002)
- March 17 - Rudolf Nureyev, dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
- March 18 - Charley Pride, musician
- March 25 - Hoyt Axton, musician and actor (d. 1999)
- March 26 - Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
April-July
- April 4 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, president of Yale Univ. and baseball commissioner (d. 1989)
- April 8 - Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations
- April 10 - Don Meredith, American football player and broadcaster
- April 11 - Kurt Moll, German bass
- April 26 - Duane Eddy, musician
- April 29 - Larry Niven, author
- May 22 - Richard Benjamin, actor
- May 26 - William Bolcom, American composer
- May 26 - Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
- May 28 - Osvaldo Romberg, painter, architect
- May 31 - Johnny PayCheck, country music singer (d. 2003)
- May 31 - Peter Yarrow, singer
- June 5 - Karin Balzer, East German athlete
- June 7 - Goose Gonsoulin, American football player
- June 15 - Billy Williams, Baseball Hall of Famer
- June 19 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (d. 2002)
- June 28 - Moy Yat, Chinese martial artist
- July 4 - Bill Withers, singer and songwriter
- July 20 - Natalie Wood, actress (d. 1981)
- July 23 - Bert Newton, actor and TV show host
- July 27 - Gary Gygax, author
August-September
- August 9 - Ezola Broussard Foster, Vice President of the United States
- August 9 - Rod Laver, Australian tennis player
- August 15 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish science-fiction writer
- August 19 - Diana Muldaur, actress
- August 22 - Paul Maguire, American football player
- August 24 - David Freiberg, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Starship)
- August 28 - Maurizio Costanzo, Italian television anchorman
- August 28 - Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada
- August 31 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician
- September 3 - Ryoji Noyori, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 10 - Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer and photographer
- September 13 - John Smith, - John Smith, Scottish politician, leader of the British Labour Party (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-November
- October 4 - Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 9 - Heinz Fischer, Austrian politician
- October 14 - Farah Diba, Empress of Iran
- October 15 - Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and political activist (d. 1997)
- October 23 - H. John Heinz III, member U.S. Senate (d. 1991)
- November 2 - Patrick Joseph Buchanan, conservative journalist, television political commentator and Reform Party USA Presidential candidate
- November 6 - Mack Jones, Major League Baseball player (d. 2004)
- November 13 - Jean Seberg, actress
- November 16 - Robert Nozick, (philosopher)
December
Deaths
- January 20 - Émile Cohl, French caricaturist and animator (b. 1857)
- January 21 - Georges Méliès, French film director (b. 1861)
- February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (b. 1856)
- February 7 - Harvey Firestone, American manufacturer (b. 1868)
- 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 and intellectual (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 13 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- May 26 - John Jacob Abel, American pharmacologist (b. 1857)
- August 7 - Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor (b. 1863)
- August 16 - Robert Johnson, American musician (b. 1911)
- September 17 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (b. 1901)
- October 22 - May Irwin, Canadian actress and singer (b. 1862)
- October 24 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor, graphic artist, and poet (b. 1870)
- October 27 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (b. 1881)
- November 10 - Kemal Atatürk, President of Turkey (b. 1881)
- December 25 - Karel Čapek, Czech author (b. 1890)
- December 28 - Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (b. 1886)
Nobel Prizes
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