1938

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
January 1 - Frank Langella, American actor
January 5 - Juan Carlos I of Spain
January 31 - Beatrix of the Netherlands
February
February 21 - Lester Bird, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (d. 2021)
March
April
April 26 - Duane Eddy, American guitarist
May
May 22 - Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
May 31 - John Prescott, British politician
June
July
July 13 - David Mitton, English model-maker (d. 2008)
July 20 - Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
August 21 - Kenny Rogers, American singer (d. 2020)
August
August 29 - Elliott Gould, American actor
September
October
October 23 - H. John Heinz III, American Senator (d. 1991)
October 29 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia
November
November 17 - Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer
November 19 - Hank Medress, American singer (The Tokens) (d. 2007)
December
December 29 - Jon Voight, American actor
Deaths
January 20 - Emile Cohl, French caricaturist and animator (b. 1857)
January 21 - Georges Melies, 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)
March 21 - Oscar Apfel, American actor, director, screenwriter, producer (b. 1878)
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 Jasienski, 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)
October 31 - Robert Woolsey, American actor and Comedian in a Double Act with Bert Wheeler (b. 1888).
November 9 - Vasily Blyukher, Soviet military commander (b.1889)
November 10 - Kemal Ataturk, 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 Capek, Czech writer (b. 1890)
December 28 - Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (b. 1886)
Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by Belgian doctor, Corneille Heymans