1936 in the United States

1936 in the United States
Years:	1933 1934 1935 – 1936 – 1937 1938 1939
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48 stars (1912–59)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1918–45)

Events from the year 1936 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: Joseph W. Byrns, Sr. (D-Tennessee) (until June 4), William B. Bankhead (D-Alabama) (starting June 4)
• Senate Majority Leader: Joseph Taylor Robinson (D-Arkansas)
• Congress: 74th

Events

January–March

March 1: Hoover Dam completed.

• January 15 – The first American building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company.
• February 17 – The first superhero to wear a skin-tight costume and mask, The Phantom, makes his appearance in U.S. newspapers.
• March 1 – Construction of Hoover Dam is completed.
• March 17–18 – Pittsburgh Flood of 1936 ("St. Patrick's Day Flood"): Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suffers the worst flooding in its history.
• March 26 – The longest game in the history of the National Hockey League is played. The Montreal Maroons and Detroit Red Wings are scoreless until 16½ minutes into the sixth overtime when Mud Bruneteau ends it at 2:25 am.

April–June

March: "Migrant Mother", an iconic photo taken by Dorothea Lange

• April 3 – Richard Hauptmann, convicted of the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder in 1932, is executed by electrocution in New Jersey State Prison.
• April 5 – A tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 216 and injuring over 700 (the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history).
• April 6 – Two tornadoes strike Gainesville, Georgia. The smaller tornado hits north Gainesville, the stronger tornado the west side of town. 203 die and 1,600 are injured in the 5th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
• May 12 – The Santa Fe railroad inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles.
• May 25 – Remington Rand strike of 1936–37 begins.
• June
  • A major heat wave strikes North America; high temperature records are set and thousands die.
  • The first production model PCC streetcar, built by St. Louis Car Company, is placed in service by Pittsburgh Railways.
• June 7 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee is founded.
• June 10 – Margaret Mitchell's epic historical romance Gone with the Wind is published.
• June 19 – Max Schmeling knocks out Joe Louis in the 12th round of their heavyweight boxing match at Yankee Stadium in New York City.
• June 29 – United States Maritime Commission is formed.

July–September

• July 11 – Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
• July 13–14 – Peak of July 1936 heat wave: The U.S. states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana all set new state records for high temperature. At Mio in northern Michigan, it soars to 113 °F (45 °C).
• August 3 – African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics.
• August 14
  • Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky, in the last public execution in the United States
  • 1936 Summer Olympics: The United States men's national basketball team wins its first ever Olympic basketball tournament in the final game over Canada, 19–8.

October–December

• October 11 – Earl Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and builds Mississippi's first permanent rodeo arena at Columbia, Mississippi.
• October 19 – H.R. Ekins, reporter for the New York World-Telegram, wins a race to travel around the world on commercial airline flights, beating Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of the New York Times. The flight takes 18½ days.
• October 29 – The historic Uptown Theater opens in Washington, D.C.
• November 3 – U.S. presidential election, 1936: Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term in a landslide victory over Republican Governor of Kansas Alf Landon.
• November 12 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
• November 23 – Life magazine begins publication as a weekly news magazine under the management of Henry Luce.
• November 25 – The Abraham Lincoln Brigade sails from New York City on its way to the Spanish Civil War.
• December 3 – Radio station WQXR is officially founded in New York City.
• December 29 – The United Auto Workers begins the Flint Sit-Down Strike in Flint, Michigan.

Undated

• The YMCA Youth and Government program is founded in Albany, New York.
• Society of American Archivists established.^[1]

Ongoing

• Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
• Dust Bowl (1930–1936)
• New Deal (1933–1938)

Births

• January 23 – Arlene Golonka, American actress
• March 11 – Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016.
• April 9 – Valerie Solanas, radical feminist, attempted murderer of Andy Warhol (died 1988)
• April 20 – Pat Roberts, United States Senator from Kansas since 1997.
• May 17 – Dennis Hopper, actor and director (died 2010)
• July 15 – George Voinovich, United States Senator from Ohio from 1999 till 2011.
• July 20 – Barbara Mikulski, United States Senator from Maryland since 1987.
• July 23 – Anthony Kennedy, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1988.
• July 29 – Elizabeth Dole, United States Senator from North Carolina from 2003 till 2009.
• August 18 – Robert Redford, actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival
• August 29 – John McCain, United States Senator from Arizona since 1987.
• September 5 – John Danforth, United States Senator from Missouri from 1976 till 1995.
• September 7 – Buddy Holly, singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll (died 1959)
• September 30 – Jim Sasser, United States Senator from Tennessee from 1977 till 1995.
• November 9 – Bob Graham, United States Senator from Florida from 1987 till 2005.
• November 12 – Mills Lane, boxer, referee, lawyer, and judge
• November 14 – Cornell Gunter, singer (The Coasters and The Flairs) (died 1990)
• November 28 – Gary Hart, United States Senator from Colorado from 1975 till 1987.
• December 22 – Héctor Elizondo, actor.

Deaths

• January 1 – Harry B. Smith, songwriter, librettist and composer (born 1860)
• January 6 – Louise Bryant, journalist (born 1885)
• January 9 – John Gilbert, silent film actor (born 1899)
• January 15 – George Landenberger, U.S. Navy Captain and 23rd Governor of American Samoa (born 1879)
• January 16 – Albert Fish, serial killer (executed; born 1870)
• February 8 – Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 (born 1860)
• February 19 – Billy Mitchell, U.S. general and military aviation pioneer (born 1879)
• March 6 – Rubin Goldmark, pianist, composer and teacher (born 1872)
• March 11 – Ferdinand Lee Barnett, journalist, lawyer and civil rights activist (born 1859)
• March 18 – W. Herbert Dunton, Western painter (born 1878)
• April 13 – Howard Thurston, stage magician (born 1869)
• June 11 – Robert E. Howard, pulp fiction and fantasy writer and poet (suicide; born 1906)
• June 27 – Mike Bernard, ragtime musician (born 1881)
• August 8 – Mourning Dove, Native American writer (born 1884)
• September 14 – Irving Thalberg, film producer (pneumonia; born 1899)
• September 26 – Harriet Monroe, literary editor, scholar and critic and patron of the arts (born 1860)
• October 3 – John Heisman, American football coach (born 1869)
• October 8
  • Cheiro, astrologer (born 1866 in Ireland)
  • William Henry Stark, businessman (born 1851)
• October 20 – Anne Sullivan, teacher of Helen Keller (born 1866)
• November 22 – Oris Paxton Van Sweringen, financier (born 1879)
• December 24 – Irene Fenwick, stage and silent film actress (anorexia; born 1887)

See also

• List of American films of 1936

References

External links

• Media related to 1936 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons