1933

Events from the year **1933 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Herbert Hoover (R-CA) (until March 4), Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-NY) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: Charles Curtis (R-KS) (until March 4), John Nance Garner (D-TX) (starting March 4)
* Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes (NY)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Nance Garner (D-TX) (until March 4), Henry Thomas Rainey (D-IL) (starting March 9)
* Senate Majority Leader: James Eli Watson (R-IN) (until March 4), Joseph Taylor Robinson (D-AR) (starting March 4)
* Congress: 72nd (until March 4), 73rd (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Benjamin M. Miller (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: George W. P. Hunt (Democratic) (until January 2), Benjamin Baker Moeur (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Arkansas: Harvey Parnell (Democratic) (until January 10), Junius Marion Futrell (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of California: James Rolph Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Billy Adams (Democratic) (until January 10), Edwin C. Johnson (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Connecticut: Wilbur Lucius Cross (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: C. Douglass Buck (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Doyle E. Carlton (Democratic) (until January 3), David Sholtz (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Georgia: Richard Russell Jr. (Democratic) (until January 10), Eugene Talmadge (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Idaho: C. Ben Ross (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Louis L. Emmerson (Republican) (until January 9), Henry Horner (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Indiana: Harry G. Leslie (Republican) (until January 9), Paul V. McNutt (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Iowa: Daniel Webster Turner (Republican) (until January 12), Clyde L. Herring (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Kansas: Harry H. Woodring (Democratic) (until January 9), Alfred M. Landon (Republican) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Kentucky: Ruby Laffoon (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Oscar K. Allen (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: William Tudor Gardiner (Republican) (until January 4), Louis J. Brann (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Maryland: Albert C. Ritchie (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Joseph B. Ely (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: Wilber Marion Brucker (Republican) (until January 1), William Comstock (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: Floyd B. Olson (Farmer-Labor)
* Governor of Mississippi: Martin Sennett Conner (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Henry S. Caulfield (Republican) (until January 9), Guy Brasfield Park (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Montana: John E. Erickson (Democratic) (until March 13), Frank Henry Cooney (Democratic) (starting March 13)
* Governor of Nebraska: Charles W. Bryan (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Fred B. Balzar (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John Gilbert Winant (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: A. Harry Moore (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: Arthur Seligman (Democratic) (until September 25), Andrew W. Hockenhull (Democratic) (starting September 25)
* Governor of New York: Herbert H. Lehman (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Oliver Max Gardner (Democratic) (until January 5), John C. B. Ehringhaus (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of North Dakota: William Langer (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: George White (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: William H. Murray (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Julius L. Meier (Independent)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Gifford Pinchot (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Norman S. Case (Republican) (until January 3), Theodore Francis Green (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of South Carolina: Ibra Charles Blackwood (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Warren Green (Republican) (until January 3), Tom Berry (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Tennessee: Henry Hollis Horton (Democratic) (until January 17), Harry Hill McAlister (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Texas: Ross S. Sterling (Democratic) (until January 17), Miriam A. Ferguson (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Utah: George Dern (Democratic) (until January 2), Henry H. Blood (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Vermont: Stanley C. Wilson (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: John Garland Pollard (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Roland H. Hartley (Republican) (until January 9), Clarence D. Martin (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Governor of West Virginia: William G. Conley (Republican) (until March 4), Herman G. Kump (Democratic) (starting March 4)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Philip La Follette (Republican) (until January 2), Albert G. Schmedeman (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Wyoming: Alonzo M. Clark (Republican) (until January 2), Leslie A. Miller (Democratic) (starting January 2)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Hugh D. Merrill (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: William Lee Cazort (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Frank Merriam (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: vacant (until January 10), Raymond Herbert Talbot (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Samuel R. Spencer (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Roy C. Wilcox (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: James H. Hazel (Republican) (until January 17), Roy F. Corley (Republican) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: G. P. Mix (Democratic) (until January 2), George E. Hill (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Fred E. Sterling (Republican) (until January 9), Thomas Donovan (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Edgar D. Bush (Republican) (until January 9), M. Clifford Townsend (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Arch W. McFarlane (Republican) (until January 12), Nelson G. Kraschel (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Jacob W. Graybill (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Charles W. Thompson (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Happy Chandler (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: John B. Fournet (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William S. Youngman (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Gaspar G. Bacon (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Luren D. Dickinson (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Allen E. Stebbins (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Henry M. Arens (Farmer Labor) (until January 3), Konrad K. Solberg (Farmer Labor) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Dennis Murphree (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Edward Henry Winter (Republican) (until January 9), Frank Gaines Harris (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana:
	+ until month and day unknown: Frank A. Hazelbaker (Republican)
	+ month and day unknown: Frank Henry Cooney (Democratic)
	+ starting month and day unknown: Tom Kane (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Theodore Metcalfe (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Walter H. Jurgensen (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Morley Griswold (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Andrew W. Hockenhull (Democratic) (until September 25), vacant (starting September 25)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: M. William Bray (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Richard T. Fountain (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: John W. Carr (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Ole H. Olson (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: William G. Pickrel (Democratic) (until January 9), Charles W. Sawyer (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Robert Burns (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Edward C. Shannon (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: James G. Connelly (Republican) (until January 3), Robert E. Quinn (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: E. B. Jackson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Odell K. Whitney (Republican) (until January 3), Hans Ustrud (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Sam R. Bratton (Democratic) (until January 17), Albert F. Officer (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Edgar E. Witt (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Benjamin Williams (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Charles M. Smith (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: James H. Price (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Arthur Gellatly (Republican) (until January 9), Victor A. Meyers (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Henry A. Huber (Republican) (until January 2), Thomas J. O'Malley (Democratic) (starting January 2)

## Events

### January - March

* January 5
	+ Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
	+ Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the U.S (1923–1929) dies of coronary thrombosis in Northampton, Massachusetts.
* January 17 – The U.S. Congress votes favorably for Philippines independence, against the view of President Herbert Hoover.
* January 23 – The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20.
* January 30 – *The Lone Ranger* debuts on American radio.
* February 6 – The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.
* February 7 – Officers on the USS *Ramapo* record a 34-meter high sea-wave in the Pacific Ocean.
* February 10 – The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the first singing telegram.
* February 15 – In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead fatally wounds Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak.
* February 17
	+ *Newsweek* magazine is published for the first time.
	+ The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.
* February 25 – USS *Ranger* (CV-4), the first ship of the United States Navy designed as an aircraft carrier, is launched at Newport News, Virginia.
* March 2 – The original film version of *King Kong*, starring Fay Wray, premieres at Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy Theatre in New York City.
* March 3 – Mount Rushmore National Memorial is dedicated.
* March 4
	+ Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in as the 32nd President of the United States, who in reference to the Great Depression, proclaims "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself" in his inauguration speech. He is sworn in by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, beginning the first 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. Roosevelt's paralytic illness is never publicly acknowledged during what will be the four terms of his Presidency. This is the last time Inauguration Day in the U.S. occurs on this date. John Nance Garner is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
	+ Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, and the first female member of the United States Cabinet.
* March 5 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions (the 'holiday' ends on March 13).
* March 6 – Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago dies of the wound he received on February 15.
* March 9 – Great Depression: The U.S. Congress begins its first 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
* March 10 – The 6.4 Mw Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (*Severe*), leaving 115–120 people dead, and causing an estimated $40 million in damage.
* March 12 – Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States, in the first of his "Fireside Chats".
* March 15 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises from 53.84 to 62.10. The day's gain of 15.34%, achieved during the depths of the Great Depression, remains to date as the largest 1-day percentage gain for the index.

### April - June

* April 1 – Civilian Conservation Corps established.
* April 4 – The U.S. airship *Akron* crashes off the coast of New Jersey, leaving 73 dead.
* April 5
	+ U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a national emergency and issues Executive Order 6102, making it illegal for U.S. citizens to own gold.
	+ Emergency Conservation Work founded.
* April 7 – Sale of some beer is legalized in the U.S. under the Cullen-Harrison Act of March 22, 8 months before the full repeal of Prohibition in December.
* April 15 – The Indiana State Police begins operations.
* April 19 – The United States officially goes off the gold standard.
* April 26 – Editors of the *Harvard Lampoon* steal the Sacred Cod of Massachusetts from the State House (it is returned two days later).
* May 3 – Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first woman to be named director of the United States Mint.
* May 5 – The detection by Karl Jansky of radio waves from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is reported in *The New York Times*. The discovery leads to the birth of radio astronomy.
* May 12 – Agricultural Adjustment Act is enacted in the U.S.
* May 18 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
* May 27
	+ New Deal: The Federal Securities Act is signed into law, requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
	+ The *Century of Progress* World's Fair opens in Chicago.
	+ Walt Disney's classic *Silly Symphony* cartoon *The Three Little Pigs* is first released.
* June 5 – The U.S. Congress abrogates the United States' use of the gold standard by enacting a joint resolution (48 Stat. 112) nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.
* June 6 – The first drive-in theater opens in Camden, New Jersey.
* June 15 – National Guard Bureau founded.
* June 17 – Union Station Massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, Pretty Boy Floyd kills four unarmed FBI agents and accidentally kills fugitive Frank Nash in an attempt to free Nash.
* June 26 – The American Totalizator Company unveils its first electronic pari-mutuel betting machine at the Arlington Park Racetrack near Chicago.

### July - September

* July 1 – Business Plot: Smedley Butler becomes involved in a secret coup attempt led by Gerald MacGuire against President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt which fails (according to his own testimony in 1934).
* July 6 – The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* July 22 – "Machine-Gun" Kelly and Albert Bates kidnap Charles Urschel, an Oklahoma oilman, and demand $200,000 ransom.
* July 24
	+ Several members of the Barrow Gang are injured or captured during a running battle with local police near Dexter, Iowa.
	+ In one of his radio *Fireside chats*, "On the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program", President Roosevelt introduces the term "first 100 days".
* August 1 – The Blue Eagle emblem of the National Recovery Administration is displayed publicly for the first time.
* August 10
	+ Division of Investigation founded.
	+ Shipping Board Bureau and Emergency Fleet Corporation founded.
* August 14 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acres (971 km2).
* September 18 – Tennessee Valley Authority is established.

### October - December

* October 7 - The New York Giants defeat the Washington Senators, 4 games to 1, to win their 4th World Series title.
* October 10 – A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed near Chesterton, Indiana, by a bomb. This is the first proven case of air sabotage in commercial airline history.
* October 12 – The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz is acquired by the United States Department of Justice, which plans to incorporate the island into its Federal Bureau of Prisons as a federal penitentiary.
* October 17 – Albert Einstein arrives in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
* November 8 – New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.
* November 11 – Dust Bowl: In South Dakota, a very strong dust storm strips topsoil from desiccated farmlands (one of a series of disastrous dust storms this year).
* November 13 – Jasper McLevy becomes mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, the first Socialist mayor in New England; he serves until 1957.
* November 16 – The United States and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations.
* November 17 – The Marx Brothers' anarchic comedy film *Duck Soup* is released in the U.S.
* December 5 – The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, repealing Prohibition, goes into effect.
* December 6 – U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that James Joyce's novel *Ulysses* is not obscene.

## Memoriam

* January 3 – Jack Pickford, film actor (The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come) (aged 36; Paris, France)
* January 5 – Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States from 1923 to 1929, 29th Vice President of the United States from 1921 to 1923 (aged 60; Northampton, MA, USA)
* January 7 – Guy D. Goff, lawyer and politician (aged 66; Thomasville, GA, USA)
* January 9 – Kate Gleason, engineer (aged 67; Rochester, NY, USA)
* January 17 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, stained glass artist, jewelry designer, son of Charles Lewis Tiffany (aged 84; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 25 – Lewis J. Selznick, film producer (aged 63; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 29 – Sara Teasdale, lyrical poet, suicide (aged 48; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 5 – James Banning, aviation pioneer (aged 32; San Diego, CA, USA)
* February 18 – James J. Corbett, heavyweight boxer (aged 66; Queens, NY, USA)
* February 26 – Spottiswoode Aitken, silent film actor and Hollywood property developer (aged 64; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 27 – Walter Hiers, silent actor (aged 39; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 28 – Lilla Cabot Perry, Impressionist painter (aged 85; Hancock, NH, USA)
* March 6 – Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago, fatally wounded in assassination attempt (aged 59; Miami, FL, USA)
* March 14 – Balto, sled dog (aged 14; Cleveland, OH, USA)
* March 30 – Giuseppe Zangara, attempted assassin of president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, killer of Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago, executed (aged 32; Raiford, FL, USA)
* April 4 – William A. Moffett, admiral, in crash of airship USS Akron (ZRS-4) (aged 63; NJ, USA)
* April 5 – Earl Derr Biggers, detective novelist and playwright, heart attack (aged 48; Pasadena, CA, USA)
* April 13 – Adelbert Ames, Governor of Mississippi from 1868 to 1870 and from 1874 to 1876 and U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1870 to 1874 (aged 97; Ormond Beach, FL, USA)
* April 16 – Henry van Dyke Jr., poet, author, educator and clergyman (aged 80; Princeton, NJ, USA)
* April 20 – William Henry Holmes, anthropologist, archaeologist, geologist and museum director (aged 86; Royal Oak, MI, USA)
* April 23 – Tim Keefe, baseball player (aged 76; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* May 19 – Thomas J. O'Brien, Michigan politician, diplomat (aged 90; Grand Rapids, MI, USA)
* May 25 – James E. Kelly, sculptor and illustrator (aged 77; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 26 – Jimmie Rodgers, country singer (aged 35; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 2 – Frank Jarvis, Olympic sprinter (aged 54; Sewickley, PA, USA)
* June 21 - Halbert Benton Cole, Georgetown University Law School Alumni, American Attorney in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and Hamilton, Montana (aged 54; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* June 29 – Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, film actor, comedian, director and screenwriter (aged 46; Manhattan, NY, USA)
* July 2 – Caroline Yale, educator (aged 84; Northampton, MA, USA)
* July 5 – Charles N. Haskell, 1st Governor of Oklahoma (aged 73; Oklahoma City, OK, USA)
* July 11 – Edward Dillon, silent film actor and director (aged 54; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* July 15
	+ Irving Babbitt, literary critic (aged 67; Cambridge, MA, USA)
	+ Freddie Keppard, jazz cornetist (aged 43; Chicago, IL, USA)
* August 5 – Charles Harold Davis, landscape painter (aged 77; Mystic, CT, USA)
* August 23 – Marie Cahill, singer and actress (aged 66; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 9 – William S. Kenyon, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1911 to 1922 (aged 64; Sebasco Estates, ME, USA)
* September 25 – Ring Lardner, satirical fiction and sports writer (aged 48; East Hampton, NY, USA)
* September 27 – Zaida Ben-Yusuf, portrait photographer (aged 63; Brooklyn, NY, USA)
* October 1 – Joan Winters, Broadway dancer, murdered in Jerusalem (aged 23; Jeursalem, Israel)
* October 23 – Orville Harrold, operatic tenor (aged 55; Norwalk, CT, USA)
* October 29 – George Luks, realist painter (aged 66; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 4 – John Jay Chapman, essayist, poet, author and lawyer (aged 71; Poughkeepsie, NY, USA)
* November 5 – Texas Guinan, actress, producer and entrepreneur (aged 49; Vancouver, BC, Canada)
* November 12 – F. Holland Day, photographer and publisher (aged 69; Norwood, MA, USA)
* November 21 – Inez Clough, African American singer, dancer and actress (aged 60; Elgin, IL, USA)
* November 28 – Minnie Earl Sears, librarian (aged 60; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 2 – Clarence Burton, silent film actor (aged 51; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* December 16 – Robert W. Chambers, fiction writer (aged 68; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 21 – Tod Sloan, jockey (aged 59; Los Angeles, CA, USA)