1938

Events from the year **1938 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Bibb Graves (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Rawghlie Clement Stanford (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Carl Edward Bailey (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Frank Merriam (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Teller Ammons (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: Wilbur Lucius Cross (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: Richard C. McMullen (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: Fred P. Cone (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Eurith D. Rivers (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Barzilla W. Clark (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Henry Horner (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: M. Clifford Townsend (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: Nelson G. Kraschel (Democratic)
* Governor of Kansas: Walter A. Huxman (Democratic)
* Governor of Kentucky: Happy Chandler (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Richard W. Leche (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Lewis O. Barrows (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Harry W. Nice (Republican)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Charles F. Hurley (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: Frank Murphy (Democratic)
* Governor of Minnesota: Elmer A. Benson (Farmer-Labor)
* Governor of Mississippi: Hugh L. White (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Lloyd C. Stark (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Roy E. Ayers (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Robert Leroy Cochran (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Richard Kirman Sr. (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Francis P. Murphy (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Harold G. Hoffman (Republican) (until January 18), A. Harry Moore (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of New Mexico: Clyde Tingley (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Herbert H. Lehman (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Clyde R. Hoey (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: William Langer (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Martin L. Davey (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Ernest W. Marland (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Charles H. Martin (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: George Howard Earle III (Democratic)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Robert E. Quinn (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: Olin D. Johnston (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Leslie Jensen (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Gordon Browning (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: James V. Allred (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Henry H. Blood (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: George David Aiken (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: George C. Peery (Democratic) (until January 15), James H. Price (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Washington: Clarence D. Martin (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: Homer A. Holt (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Philip La Follette (Wisconsin Progressive)
* Governor of Wyoming: Leslie A. Miller (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Thomas E. Knight (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Robert L. Bailey (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: George J. Hatfield (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Frank J. Hayes (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: T. Frank Hayes (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Edward W. Cooch (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Charles C. Gossett (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John H. Stelle (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Henry F. Schricker (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: John K. Valentine (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: William M. Lindsay (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Keen Johnson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Earl K. Long (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Francis E. Kelly (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Leo J. Nowicki (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Gottfrid Lindsten (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Jacob Buehler Snider (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Frank Gaines Harris (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Hugh R. Adair (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Walter H. Jurgensen (Democratic) (until November 8), Nate M. Parsons (Democratic) (starting November 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Fred S. Alward (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Hiram M. Dow (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: M. William Bray (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Wilkins P. Horton (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Thorstein H. H. Thoresen (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Paul P. Yoder (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Thomas Kennedy (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Raymond E. Jordan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Joseph Emile Harley (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Donald McMurchie (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Bryan Pope (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Walter Frank Woodul (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: William H. Wills (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: James H. Price (Democratic) (until January 15), Saxon W. Holt (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Victor A. Meyers (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: vacant (until May 16), Herman L. Ekern (Progressive) (starting May 16)

## Events

### January - March

* January 1
	+ The California Golden Bears defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide in this year's Rose Bowl Game in college football, with a final score of 13-0.
	+ The *Merrie Melodies* cartoon short *Daffy Duck & Egghead* is released, being the first cartoon to give Daffy Duck his continuing name, as well as his second appearance.
* January 3 – The March of Dimes is established as a foundation to combat infant polio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* January 11 – Leading Korean dancer Choi Seung-hee arrives in San Francisco to begin her international tour in the United States. She is the first Korean Wave entertainer.
* January 16 – *The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert* is recorded live when Benny Goodman and his orchestra become the first jazz musicians to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
* January 22 – Thornton Wilder's play *Our Town* is performed for the first time anywhere in Princeton, New Jersey. It premieres in New York City on February 4.
* January 27 – The Niagara Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York collapses due to an ice jam.
* January 28 – The first ski tow in America begins operation in Vermont.
* February 4 – Walt Disney's *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*, the first cel-animated feature in motion picture history, is released in the U.S. following last year's premiere.
* March 3 – The Santa Ana River in California spills over its banks during a rainy winter, killing 58 people in Orange County and causing trouble as far inland as Palm Springs.
* March 10 – The 10th Academy Awards, hosted by Bob Burns, are presented at Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, with William Dieterle's *The Life of Emile Zola* winning the most awards with three, including the Academy Award for Outstanding Production, and receiving the most nominations with ten. Leo McCarey wins Best Director for *The Awful Truth*.

### April - June

* April 15
	+ Huey, Dewey and Louie make their first appearance, in the Disney animated short *Donald's Nephews*.
	+ *Vine Street* a television soap opera series is first broadcast in Los Angeles.
* April 18 – First appearance of comic book superhero Superman (as a backup story), in *Action Comics* #1 (cover date June).
* April 25 – *Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins*: The Supreme Court of the U.S. holds that federal courts do not have the judicial power to create general federal common law when hearing state law claims under diversity jurisdiction, overturning almost a century of federal civil procedure case law.
* April 28 – The towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott in Massachusetts are disincorporated to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.
* April 30 – The first cartoon to feature a prototypical Bugs Bunny, *Porky's Hare Hunt*, is released.
* May 12
	+ U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull rejects the Soviet Union's offer of a joint defense pact, to counter the rise of Nazi Germany.
	+ USS *Enterprise* is commissioned.
* May 17 – *Information Please* debuts on NBC Radio.
* June 22 – Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium in New York City.
* June 23
	+ The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the U.S. (effective August 22).
	+ Marineland opens near St. Augustine, Florida.
* June 24 – A 450-metric-ton (496-short-ton) meteorite explodes about 12 miles (19 km) above the earth near Chicora, Pennsylvania.
* June 25 – Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is signed into law by president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* June 29 – Olympic National Park is established in Washington state.

### July - September

* July 3 – The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
* July 5 – The Non-Intervention Committee reaches an agreement to withdraw all foreign volunteers from the Spanish Civil War. The agreement is respected by most Republican foreign volunteers, notably by those from England and the United States, but is ignored by the governments of Germany and Italy.
* July 6 – The Evian Conference on Refugees is convened in France. No country in Europe is prepared to accept Jews fleeing persecution, and the United States will take only 27,370.
* July 14 – Howard Hughes sets a new record, by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.
* July 18 – Wrong Way Corrigan takes off from New York City, ostensibly heading for California. He lands in Ireland instead.
* July 28 – Pan Am flying boat *Hawaii Clipper* disappears with 6 passengers and 9 crew members en route from Guam to Manila.
* August 6 – The Looney Tunes animated short *Porky & Daffy* is released.
* August 18 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* August 31 – Winston Churchill, still believing France and Britain mean to honor their promises to defend Czechoslovakia against Nazi aggression, suggests in a personal note to Neville Chamberlain that His Majesty's Government may want to set up a broad international alliance including the United States (specifically mentioning U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as possibly receptive to the idea) and the Soviet Union.
* September 1 – Haggar debuts a new pant concept, "Slacks", as the appropriate pant to wear during a man's "Slack Time."
* September 4 – During the ceremony marking the unveiling of a plaque at Pointe de Grave, France celebrating Franco-American friendship, U.S. Ambassador William Bullitt in a speech states, "France and the United States were united in war and peace", leading to much speculation in the press that if war did break out over Czechoslovakia, then the United States would join the war on the Allied side.
* September 9 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt disallows the popular interpretation of Bullitt's speech at a press conference at the White House. Roosevelt states it is “100% wrong” the U.S. would join a “stop-Hitler bloc” under any circumstances, and makes it quite clear that in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral.
* September 12 – Hitler makes his much-anticipated closing address at Nuremberg, in which he vehemently attacks the Czech people and President Beneš. American news commentator H. V. Kaltenborn begins his famous marathon of broadcast bulletins over the CBS Radio Network with a summation of Hitler's address.
* September 20 – The first patents for nylon (first synthesized in 1935) are granted in the name of Wallace Carothers to DuPont, which on October 27 announces the new product's name. The first items produced in the new material (February 24) are toothbrush bristles.
* September 21 – The New England Hurricane of 1938 strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and approximately 600 in total.
* September 22 – Olsen and Johnson's musical comedy revue *Hellzapoppin'* begins its 3-year run on Broadway.

### October - December

* October 3 – Production of the Jefferson nickel begins, replacing the buffalo nickel (last struck in April). The new nickel is released on November 15.
* October 9 – The New York Yankees defeat the Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 0, to win their 7th World Series Title.
* October 10 – The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.
* October 16 – Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the United States, condemns the Munich Agreement as a defeat and calls upon America and western Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Adolf Hitler.
* October 17 – The American stunt performer Evel Knievel was born in Butte, Montana.
* October 24 – The minimum wage is established by law in the U.S.
* October 30 – Orson Welles's radio adaptation of *The War of the Worlds* (with script by Howard Koch) is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.
* October 31 – Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a 15-point program intended to upgrade protection for the investing public.
* November 1 – Horse racing: Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral by four lengths in their famous match race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
* November 10 – On the eve of Armistice Day, Kate Smith sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" for the first time on her weekly radio show.
* November 18 – Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
* December 1 – President Franklin Roosevelt agrees to lend $25 million to Chiang Kai-shek, cementing the Sino-American relationship and angering the Japanese government.
* December 16 – MGM releases its successful film version of Charles Dickens's *A Christmas Carol*.

## Memoriam

* January 1 – George H. Collin, politician (aged 81; Spokane, WA, USA)
* January 9 – Johnny Gruelle, cartoonist and children's book author (aged 57; Miami Springs, FL, USA)
* January 10 – William McCall, actor (aged 67; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* January 24 – Rosamond Pinchot, socialite and actress (aged 33; Old Brookville, NY, USA)
* January 26 – Zitkala-Sa, Yankton Dakota writer (aged 61; Washington, DC, USA)
* February 7 – Harvey S. Firestone, tire manufacturer (aged 69; Miami Beach, FL, USA)
* February 10 – Richard A. Whiting, composer (aged 46; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* February 17 – T. D. Crittenden, silent film actor (aged 59; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 18 – David King Udall, politician (aged 86; St. Johns, AZ, USA)
* February 21 – George Ellery Hale, solar astronomer (aged 69; Pasadena, CA, USA)
* March 2 – Ben Harney, composer and pianist (aged 65; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* March 6 – Walt McDougall, cartoonist (aged 80; Waterford, CT, USA)
* March 13 – Clarence Darrow, attorney (aged 80; Chicago, IL, USA)
* March 21 – Oscar Apfel, film actor and director (aged 60; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* March 27 – Helen M. Winslow, editor, author, and publisher (aged 76; Shirley, MA, USA)
* April 5 – Reine Davies, actress (aged 54; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* April 8 – King Oliver, jazz cornet player (aged 56; Savannah, GA, USA)
* April 24 – George Grey Barnard, sculptor (aged 74; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 14 – Aaron Daggett, general during the American Civil War (aged 100; West Roxbury, MA, USA)
* May 16
	+ Fred Baker, physician and naturalist (aged 84; San Diego, CA, USA)
	+ Joseph Strauss, bridge engineer (aged 68; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* May 22 – William Glackens, realist painter (aged 68; Westport, CT, USA)
* May 23 – Frederick Ruple, painter (aged 66; Tulsa, OK, USA)
* May 26 – John Jacob Abel, pharmacologist (aged 81; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* June 3 – Carrie Langston Hughes, African-American writer and actress (aged 65; Brooklyn, NY, USA)
* June 8 – Caleb Harrison, politician (aged 58; Chicago, IL, USA)
* June 13 – Beverly Thomas Galloway, plant pathologist (aged 74; Washington, DC, USA)
* June 17 – George E. Barnett, economist (aged 65; Cambridge, MD, USA)
* June 26 – James Weldon Johnson, author, politician and diplomat (aged 67; Wiscasset, ME, USA)
* June 29 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, railway magnate (aged 82; Hyde Park, NY, USA)
* July 7 – Magdalena Hergert Becker, pioneer Mennonite missionary (aged 59; Indiahoma, OK, USA)
* July 9 – Benjamin N. Cardozo, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (aged 68; Port Chester, NY, USA)
* July 14 – James H. Preston, 35th Mayor of Baltimore (aged 78; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* July 19 – Harvey Clark, actor (aged 52; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* July 21 – Owen Wister, Western fiction writer and historian (aged 78; Saunderstown, RI, USA)
* August 1 – Edmund C. Tarbell, impressionist painter (aged 76; New Castle, NH, USA)
* August 4 – Pearl White, film actress (aged 49; Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)
* August 9 – W. W. Conner, politician (aged 55; Seattle, WA, USA)
* August 16 – Robert Johnson, blues singer (aged 27; Greenwood, MS, USA)
* August 30 – James Scott, ragtime composer (aged 53; Kansas City, KS, USA)
* September 10 – Andrew Breen, Roman Catholic priest and reverend (aged 75; St. Francis, WI, USA)
* September 12 – Robert L. Bacon, politician (aged 54; Lake Success, NY, USA)
* September 15 – Thomas Wolfe, author (aged 37; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* September 19 – Pauline Frederick, stage and film actress (aged 55; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* September 21 – Andrew Arbuckle, actor (aged 51; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 25 – Anna Laurens Dawes, author and suffragist (aged 87; Pittsfield, MA, USA)
* September 28
	+ Con Conrad, songwriter (aged 47; Van Nuys, CA, USA)
	+ Charles Duryea, engineer and manufacturer of motor vehicles (aged 76; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* October 3 – Richard Teller Crane II, diplomat (aged 56; Charles City County, VA, USA)
* October 13 – E. C. Segar, comics artist, creator of Popeye (aged 43; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* October 21 – Dorothy Hale, socialite, suicide (aged 33; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 27 – Alma Gluck, soprano (aged 54; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 28 – Fred Kohler, actor (aged 50; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* October 30 – Robert Woolsey, film comedian (aged 50; Malibu, CA, USA)
* November 1 – Charles Weeghman, restaurateur and owner of Chicago Cubs (aged 64; Chicago, IL, USA)
* November 4 – Samuel W. Bryant, admiral (aged 61; Asheville, NC, USA)
* November 11 – Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary), first known (in the United States) asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever (aged 69; North Brother Island, NY, USA)
* November 15 – Harry Grant Dart, cartoonist (aged 70; Laconia, NH, USA)
* December 16 – Ed Davis, criminal (aged 38; San Rafael, CA, USA)
* December 20
	+ Annie Armstrong, missionary leader (aged 88; Baltimore, MD, USA)
	+ Edwin Hall, physicist (aged 83; Cambridge, MA, USA)
	+ Matilda Howell, archer (aged 79; Norwood, OH, USA)
* December 25 – Richard Cummings, actor (aged 80; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 31
	+ Lucien Grant Berry, general (aged 74; Corning, NY, USA)
	+ James F. Carey, cobbler and politician (aged 71; Haverhill, MA, USA)