Events 
January 3 – The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
January 11 – Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
January 20 – Wedding of King Farouk I of Egypt and Queen Farida Zulficar in Cairo
January 28 – The first ski tow in America begins operation in Vermont.
January 31 – Crown princess Beatrix is born in Netherlands
February 4 – Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens (New York City).
February 10 – Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers
February 12 – World War II: German troops enter Austria
February 24 – A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.
March 3 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
March 12 – Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
March 15 – Soviet Union announces officially that Nikholai Bukharin has been executed
March 18 – Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.
April 12 – Edouard Daladier becomes president of France
April 28 – The towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott in Massachusetts are disincorporated to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.
May 5 – Vatican recognizes Franco's government in Spain
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-tonne meteorite struck the earth in an empty field near Chicora, Pennsylvania
November 9-10: Kristallnacht happens in Nazi Germany.  The Nazis deport about 30,000 Jews to concentration camps, and destroy over 1,500 synagogues.

Births 
January 1 - Frank Langella, American actor
January 5 - Juan Carlos of Spain
January 31 - Beatrix of the Netherlands
February 21 - Lester Bird, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
April 26 – Duane Eddy, American guitarist
May 22 - Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
May 31 - John Prescott, British politician
July 13 - David Mitton, English model-maker (d. 2008)
August 21 – Kenny Rogers, American singer (d. 2020)
August 29 – Elliott Gould, American actor
October 23 – H. John Heinz III, American Senator (d. 1991)
October 29 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia
November 17 – Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer
November 19 - Hank Medress, American singer (The Tokens) (d. 2007)
December 29 - Jon Voight, American actor

Deaths 
 January 20 – Émile Cohl, French caricaturist and animator (b. 1857)
 January 21 – Georges Méliès, French movie director (b. 1861)
 January 28 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German racing driver (b. 1909)
 February 2 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (b. 1856)
 February 7 – Harvey Firestone, American manufacturer (b. 1868)
 February 18 – David King Udall, American politician (b. 1851)
 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 (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 – Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistani philosopher and poet (b. 1877)
 April 26 – Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (b. 1859)
May 4 – Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1889)
 May 9 – Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (b. 1866)
 May 13 – Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
 May 26 – John Jacob Abel, American pharmacologist (b. 1857)
 August 1 – Edmund Charles Tarbell, American artist (b. 1862)
   18 July  -   Marie of Romania Queen of Romania wife  of King Ferdinand I of Romania 
 August 7 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor (b. 1863)
August 14 – Hugh Trumble, Australian Test Cricketer (b. 1876)
 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 and poet (b. 1870)
 October 27 – Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (b. 1881)
 November 9 – Vasily Blyukher, Soviet military commander (b.1889)
 November 10 – Kemal Atatürk, President of Turkey (b. 1881)
 November 30 – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian fascist, leader of the Iron Guard (executed along other Guard activists) (b. 1899)
December 11 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1869)
 December 25 – Karel Čapek, Czech writer (b. 1890)
 December 28 – Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (b. 1886)

Movies released 
The Adventures of Robin Hood - Errol Flynn
Jezebel - Bette Davis (Best Actress Academy Award)

Hit songs
 "Thanks For The Memory" – by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, from the movie Big Broadcast 1935, won the Academy Award for the best song.

Nobel Prize
 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by Belgian doctor, Corneille Heymans