1930's

9/8/15

1934

Many things were happening during 1934...the US was in the middle of the Great Depression, changes were occurring in Germany with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, labor/union disputes in many cities, but especially the waterfront in San Francisco, CA. Below are some facts/videos associated with 1934.

January -

• Alcatraz "The Rock" officially became a prison, but prisoners didn't arrive until August

• Babe Ruth signed a contract with the New York Yankees for $35,000
• 8.4 earthquake hit India & Nepal killing 15,000 people
• John Dillenger, bank robber, killed police officer Patrick O'Malley, adding to his "Most Wanted" status by the police and FBI
• John Dillenger and his gang were hiding out at the Hotel Congress in Tucson, AZ when there was a fire. Firefighters recognized some of the men from wanted posters and police arrested Dillenger, his girlfriend, Evelyn Frechette and some of his gang....but not for long!
• Germany signed a 10-year non-aggression pact with Poland, breaking the French alliance system
• 1st rope ski tow began operation in Woodstock, Vermont

February - 

• San Francisco Police Commission set of regulations regarding dance permits to Barbory Coast nightclubs, including prohibition against whites and non-whites dancing together

March - 

• John Dillenger breaks out of jail in Crown Point, IN using a wooden pistol he carved

April - 

• In India, Mahatma Gandhi suspended his campaign of civil disobedience
• New Hampshire weather station on Mt. Washington recorded a wind gust of 231 mph before the anemometer broke!
• 4.7 million US families were reported to be receiving welfare checks
• 1st laundromat opened in Fort Worth, TX called "Washateria"

May - 

• Nazi Germany began "People's Court"
• San Francisco waterfront strike began. Shut down seaports in WA, OR and CA for 3 months. Strikers wanted 6 hour work days and a hiring hall to replace the company operating the Blue Book Union on the waterfront. Strike breakers were housed on the ships to avoid getting beat up.
• The Great Dust Bowl Storm occurred

• US Dept of Justice offered reward for John Dillenger, dead or alive!
• Congress approved the "Lindbergh Act" which made kidnapping a capital offense
• Wallace Carothers manufactured the 1st nylon, polymer 66
• Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow were shot 4 dozen times early in the morning in a police ambush by Texas Rangers. This ended their crime spree of killing and bank robberies over a 2 year period. 

• The Dionne quintuplets - Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie & Yvonne - were born to a family in Ontario, Canada. The children were removed from their home by the government and put on public display where people would pay to see them at Quintland.

June - 

• Donald Duck made his 1st screen appearance in "The Wise Little Hen"

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) created by Congress - requirements for public companies to disclose information
• US Corporate Bankruptcy Act allowed corporations to reorganize
• US Farm Mortgage Foreclosure Act allows federal loans to farmers to recover property lost to foreclosure
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the US Communications Act and established the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to supervise radio, telephone and telegraph communications
• US National Archives & Records Administration established by FDR

July -

• First x-ray of the entire body was made in Rochester, NY
• Joe Louis, boxer, won his first professional fight, knocking out Jack Kracken in the first round in Chicago.
• Madame Curie, died in Paris of leukemia from her long exposure to radiation
• Taking their cue from strikers in San Francisco, cotton mill workers in Alabama went on strike, but it was ineffective as many employers welcomed the strike so they didn't have to pay their employees and they had lots of product in their warehouses that weren't selling. So by going on strike, the employers were actually saving money!
• John Dillenger was shot and killed by FBI outside the Chicago's Biograph Theater.

August - 

• German President Paul von Hindenburg died. Within hours of his death, Hitler announced a law that made Hitler Reichsfuhrer, an office that combined the duties of president and chancellor.
• The satirical comic strip, "Lil Abner" by Al Capp made its debut

• US ended their occupation of Haiti
• 38 million Germans voted to make Adolf Hitler the official successor of President von Hindenberg
• Prisoners began to arrive at Alcatraz including Al Capone and 42 other "most dangerous prisoners"

September - 

• The luxury liner "Morro Castle" enroute from Havana to New York City caught fire and ran aground at Asbury Park, NJ killing 134 people. The crew of the ship let the fire get out of control and took the majority of the spots on the lifeboats (119 crew members and 15 passengers survived!)
• A typhoon struck Honshu Island, Japan killing 4,000 people
• Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. He was arrested carrying $14,000 of the ransom money.
• Babe Ruth made his farewell appearance as a New York Yankee player in a game against the Boston Red Sox and the Sox won the game 5-0!!!

October -

• Adolf Hitler expanded the German army & navy and created the air force, violating the Treaty of Versailles
• Bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd (not related to Pink Floyd ;) ) was killed by federal agents in Liverpool, Ohio 
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• November - 

• Carl Sagan was born
• "Baby Face" Nelson was killed by the FBI

December - 

• 1st streamlined steam locomotive was introduced in Albany, NY
• Woodrow Wilson appeared on the largest note of currency ever issued by the US. Between 12/18/34 - 1/9/35 and used only for federal reserve bank transactions. He appeared on the $10,000 bill, James Madison appeared on the $5,000 bill, and Grover Cleveland was on the $1,000 bill.

11/3/15

1933: 

• Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA.

• Adolf Hitler begins his new job in government as the new chancellor of Germany appointed by President Hindenburg.
• The Lone Ranger debuted on radio.
• Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, is set afire. The fire is described as the work of Communists trying to overthrow the government. The public accepts the explanation. An emergency decree is passed, nullifying some rights of all German citizens and allowing their "preventive detainment." Communist Party leaders are arrested.
• Giuseppe Zangara is arrested for an assassination attempt of President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami. Zangara fired six shots, hitting five people, but the President-Elect was unharmed. Zangara did fatally wound Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. It was suggested that Zangara's real target all along was Cermak and hinted that he had connections to organized crime in Chicago. Giuseppe Zangara was executed in March 1933.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt takes office as the 32nd President of the United States of America.

• Roosevelt closes banks for a few days in order to stop "heavy and unwarranted withdrawals of gold and currency" and to stop "increasingly extensive speculative activity."
• In Germany, elections for parliament are held. Hitler's party wins 43.9 percent rather than the more than 50 percent that Hitler was expecting. He is forced to maintain a coalition with the German National People's Party. The Nazis begin a boycott of Jewish businesses throughout Germany.
• Delivery of the first singing telegram to Rudy Vallee in New York City!
• President Roosevelt delivers his first "fireside chat." He begins: "I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking." He goes on to say, "Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans."
• Heinrich Himmler, Hitler's SS paramilitary leader, opens the first Nazi concentration camp, at Dachau.

• Chancellor Hitler has moved for a vote in the Reichstag that allows him to make laws without consulting the Reichstag – the Enabling Act. He describes the German people as having been a victim of fourteen years of treason while under the Social Democrats and his party, the National Socialists as also having been victimized. He claims that the Social Democrats allowed Germany to be dictated to by foreign powers. He ends his speech saying that "the first and foremost task of the Government to bring about inner consensus with his aims... The rights of the Churches will not be curtailed and their position vis-à-vis the State will not be altered." Support for the Enabling Act is given by the Centre Party, and the previous jailing of Communist delegates allows Hitler the two-thirds majority he needs for passage. The Enabling Act passes, and President Hindenburg on this same day, signs it into law.
• Japan's military expansion in Manchuria has been condemned in the League of Nations. Forty-four nations in the League's assembly have moved to penalize Japan by not recognizing its territory in Manchuria: Manchuokuo. Japan announces its intent to withdraw from the League of Nations.
• Germany announces its withdrawal from the League of Nations.
• Blondie Boopadoop and Dagwood Bumstead finally marry in the comic strip Blondie.

• The US Senate accepted the Blaine Act which repealed Prohibition. During the Prohibition (1920-1933) it was illegal to manufacture, drink, and distribute alcohol. This was a crippling blow to organized crime, bootlegging and speakeasys. 
• The first genuine aircraft carrier, USS Ranger was christened.

• Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, is the first female appointed to the cabinet.
• Game of "Monopoly" invented.
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• Nazi Germany begins persecution of Jews and boycotts any Jewish owned businesses. Jewish students are barred from attending schools.
• Nazis stage public book burnings in Germany.

• In Scotland, Loch Ness Monster is 1st reportedly sighted by John Mackay. The newspaper Inverness Courier related an account of a local couple who claimed to have seen “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface.” 

• Walt Disney's "The Three Little Pigs" debuted.

• The first drive-in theater opens in Camden, NJ.
• German Secret State Police, Gestapo, established. Nazi Party also decides that married women are not allowed to work.
• Work begins on the Oakland Bay Bridge.
• Germany began mandatory sterilization of those with hereditary illness.
• Wiley Post completes 1st round-the-world solo flight.
• Albert Einstein arrives in U.S., a refugee from Nazi Germany.