January 20
January 20
FDR inaugurated to second term
On January 20, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for the second time as president, beginning the second of four terms in the office. His first inauguration, in 1933,…
A Year In History: 1937
This Year in History:
1937
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
February 5
February 5
FDR announces “court‑packing” plan
On February 5, 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt announces a plan to expand the Supreme Court to as many as 15 judges, allegedly to make it more efficient. Critics immediately charged…
February 6
February 6
“Of Mice and Men” is published
John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, the story of the bond between two migrant workers, is published. He adapted the book into a three‑act play, which was produced the…
March 18
March 18
Natural gas explosion kills nearly 300 at Texas school
Nearly 300 students in Texas are killed by an explosion of natural gas at their school on March 18, 1937. The Consolidated School of New London, Texas, sat in the…
April 26
April 26
Nazis test new air force, Luftwaffe, on Basque town of Guernica
During the Spanish Civil War, the German military tests its powerful new air force—the Luftwaffe—on the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain. Although the independence‑minded Basque region opposed General…
May 6
May 6
The Hindenburg disaster
The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and…
May 15
May 15
Madeleine Albright, America’s first female secretary of state, is born
Madeleine Albright, America’s first female secretary of state, is born Marie Jana Korbelova on May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). The daughter of Czech diplomat Josef Korbel,…
May 27
May 27
Golden Gate Bridge opens
San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, a stunning technological and artistic achievement, opens to the public after five years of construction. On opening day–“Pedestrian Day”–some 200,000 bridge walkers marveled at the…
May 28
May 28
Volkswagen is founded
On May 28, 1937, the government of Germany—then under the control of Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party—forms a new state‑owned automobile company, then known as Gesellschaft zur…
June 3
June 3
Duke of Windsor weds American socialite
In France, the duke of Windsor—formerly King Edward VIII of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—marries Wallis Warfield, a divorced American socialite for whom he abdicated the British throne in December 1936. Edward,…
June 7
June 7
Actress Jean Harlow dies
On June 7, 1937, Hollywood is shocked to learn of the sudden and tragic death of the actress Jean Harlow, who succumbs to uremic poisoning (now better known as acute…
July 2
July 2
Amelia Earhart disappears
On July 2, 1937, the Lockheed aircraft carrying American aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan is reported missing near Howland Island in the Pacific. The pair were attempting to…
August 10
August 10
First‑ever electric guitar patent awarded to the Electro String Corporation
Versatile, inexpensive and relatively easy to play, the acoustic guitar was a staple of American rural music in the early 20th century, particularly black rural music such as the blues.…
October 4
October 4
Blues singer Bessie Smith, killed in Mississippi car wreck, is buried
Legendary blues singer Bessie Smith is buried near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 4, 1937. Some 7,000 mourners attended her funeral. Smith had been killed a few days before when the…
December 12
December 12
USS Panay sunk by Japanese
During the battle for Nanking in the Sino‑Japanese War, the U.S. gunboat Panay is attacked and sunk by Japanese warplanes in Chinese waters. The American vessel, neutral in the Chinese‑Japanese…
December 13
December 13
The Rape of Nanking
During the Sino‑Japanese War, Nanking, the capital of China, falls to Japanese forces, and the Chinese government flees to Hankow, further inland along the Yangtze River. To break the spirit…
