1931 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Herbert Hoover
• Vice President: Charles Curtis
• Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nicholas Longworth , John Nance Garner
• Senate Majority Leader: James Eli Watson
• Congress: 71st, 72nd

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January

• January - The American Federation of Labor's National Committee for Modification of the Volstead Act is formed to work for the repeal of Prohibition in the United States.
• January 2 - South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
• January 6 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.

  February

• Food riots break out in Minneapolis and other parts of the United States.
• February 20 - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.

  March

• March 1 - Battleship USS Arizona is placed back in full commission after a refit.
• March 3 - The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States national anthem.
• March 17 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
• March 25 - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.

  April

• April 1 – Canyon de Chelly National Monument is established.
• April 15 - The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as capo di tutti i capi and undisputed ruler of the American Mafia. Maranzano is himself assassinated less than 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families.
• April 18 - Cheverly, Maryland is incorporated.
• April 22 - The U.S., Austria, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Sweden recognize the Spanish Republic.

  May

• May 1 - Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City.
• May 7 - "Siege of West 91st Street": 18-year-old serial murderer Francis "Two Gun" Crowley surrenders after a 2-hour gun battle with New York City Police Department witnessed by 15,000 bystanders.
• May 20 - Lake of the Ozarks completed.

  June

• June 19 - In an attempt to stop the banking crisis in Central Europe from causing a worldwide financial meltdown, President Herbert Hoover issues the Hoover Moratorium.
• June 23 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.

  July

• July - John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts perfects the Emerson iron lung just in time for the growing polio epidemic.
• July 26 - The International Bible Students Association adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses at a convention in Columbus, Ohio.

  September

• September - Construction of Rockefeller Center on Manhattan begins.

  October

• October - The Caltech Department of Physics Faculty and graduate students meet with Albert Einstein as a guest.
• October 10 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4 games to 3, to win their second World Series Title.
• October 17 - American gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion in Chicago, Illinois.
• October 24 - The George Washington Bridge is dedicated; it opens to traffic the following day.

  November

• November 26 - Deuterium is discovered by Harold Urey.

  December

• December 12 - The Eta chapter of Kappa Delta Phi is founded at The University of Maine at Machias.
• December 26 - Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest existing Latino fraternity, is founded.

  Undated

• Elizabeth Dilling begins anti-communist activism.

  Ongoing

• Lochner era
• U.S. occupation of Haiti
• Prohibition
• Great Depression
• Dust Bowl

  Births

January

• January 5
• * Alvin Ailey, choreographer
• * Robert Duvall, actor and director
• January 6
• * Fern Battaglia, baseball player
• * E. L. Doctorow, novelist
• January 7 – Mack Mattingly, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1981 to 1987
• January 16 – Ellen Holly, American actress
• January 17 – James Earl Jones, African-American actor
• January 20
• * Preston Henn, businessman, founder of Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop
• * David Lee, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996
• January 22 – Sam Cooke, African-American singer
• January 25 – Dean Jones, American actor
• January 27 – Red Bastien, wrestler, trainer and promoter
• January 29 – Jim Baumer, baseball player and manager
• January 30 – Allan W. Eckert, American historian, naturalist, and author
• January 31
• * Ernie Banks, African-American baseball player
• * Lorraine Ellison, African-American soul singer
• * Jack Taylor, swimmer

  February

• February 6
• * Rip Torn, American actor
• * Mamie Van Doren, American film actress
• February 8 – James Dean, American actor
• February 9 – Jack Van Impe, American televangelist
• February 11 – Larry Merchant, American author and boxing commentator
• February 13 – Geoff Edwards, American actor, game show host
• February 16 – George E. Sangmeister, American politician
• February 18
• * Johnny Hart, American cartoonist
• * Toni Morrison, African-American novelist, essayist, editor, teacher and professor
• * Bob St. Clair, American football player
• February 24
• * James Abourezk, American politician
• * Dominic Chianese, American actor, singer
• February 28
• * Gavin MacLeod, American actor, Mayor of Pacific Palisades
• * Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach

  March

• March 3
• * Paul Clayton, American folksinger and folklorist
• * John Smith, American actor
• March 4 – Wally Bruner, American journalist and television host
• March 15
• * D. J. Fontana, American drummer
• * Ted Marchibroda, American football player
• March 18 – Shirley Stovroff, American baseball player
• March 22
• * Burton Richter, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976
• * Paul G. Hewitt, American physicist, boxer, uranium prospector, author, and cartoonist
• March 23 – Ernest A. Finney Jr., American judge
• March 24 – Connie Hines, American actress
• March 26 – Leonard Nimoy, American actor and film director
• March 27
• * David Janssen, American actor
• * Stephen Reinhardt, American judge

  April

• April 5 – Jack Clement, American singer-songwriter, record producer
• April 8
• * John Gavin, American actor, diplomat
• * Jack Stallings, American baseball head, coach
• April 10 – James L. Dozier, U.S. Army officer
• April 11 – Johnny Sheffield, American child actor
• April 13 – Dan Gurney, American race car driver
• April 26 – Ted Stanley, businessman and philanthropist
• April 29 – Don Leo Jonathan, American-Canadian professional wrestler
• April 30
• * Eugene John Gerber, American Catholic prelate
• * Peter La Farge, American singer, songwriter

  May

• May 6
• *Louis Gambaccini, civil servant
• *Willie Mays, African-American baseball player
• May 7
• * Teresa Brewer, pop and jazz singer
• * Jerry Chesnut, songwriter
• May 8 – Bob Clotworthy, American diver
• May 9 – Don Gardner, American singer-songwriter
• May 13 – Jim Jones, American People's Temple cult leader
• May 14 – Alvin Lucier, American composer
• May 15
• * Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
• * Ken Venturi, golfer
• May 16
• * Jack Dodson, actor
• * Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., politician
• May 17 – Marshall Applewhite, Heaven's Gate religious sect founder
• May 18
• * Don Martin, artist
• * Robert Morse, actor
• May 20 – Ken Boyer, baseball player
• May 23
• * Barbara Barrie, actress
• * Patience Cleveland, actress and diarist
• May 28 – Carroll Baker, actress
• May 31
• * John Schrieffer, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972
• * Shirley Verrett, mezzo-soprano

  June

• June 1 – Hal Smith, American baseball player and coach
• June 2
• * William H. Donaldson, banker and businessman, co-founded Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
• * Larry Jackson, American baseball player and politician
• June 9
• * Jackie Mason, American comedian
• * Joe Santos, American actor
• June 11 – Paul Hardin III, American academic administrator
• June 13
• * Marla Gibbs, African-American actress, comedian and singer
• * Junior Walker, American saxophonist, singer
• June 20 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress
• June 21
• * Margaret Heckler, American Secretary of Health and Human Services
• * Les Vandyke, American musician
• June 22 – Martin Lipton, American lawyer
• June 23 – Doris Cook, American baseball pitcher, outfielder
• June 24
• * Billy Casper, American golfer
• * Juanita Quigley, American child actress
• June 26
• * Robert Colbert, American actor
• * George Lois, American art director, designer and author
• June 28
• * Junior Johnson, American NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s
• * Tom Stolhandske, American football linebacker
• June 29
• * Richard L. Berkley, American politician
• * Ed Gilbert, American actor, voice actor
• June 30
• * Don Gross, American baseball player
• * Ronald Rene Lagueux, American judge
• * Kaye Vaughan, American football player

  July

• July 1 – Marilyn Hickey, American televangelist, speaker and author
• July 3
• * Ed Roebuck, American Major League Baseball relief pitcher
• * Ray Rogers, American politician
• July 4
• * Rick Casares, American football player and soldier
• * Bobby Malkmus, American Major League Baseball infielder, scout
• * Lyndell Petersen, American former politician
• July 6
• * Robert Dunham, American actor, writer
• * Maralou Gray, American film, television, and theater actress
• * Della Reese, African-American actress, singer and evangelist
• July 7 – J. Joseph Curran Jr., American politician
• July 8
• * Lowell N. Lewis, American plant physiology professor
• * Zach Monroe, American baseball player
• July 9
• * Rodney Anderson, American politician
• * Sylvia Bacon, American judge
• * Thomas A. Pankok, American Democratic Party politician
• July 10
• * Nick Adams, American actor
• * Jerry Herman, American composer, lyricist
• * Julian May, American science fiction, fantasy, horror, and science writer
• July 11 – Tab Hunter, American actor, singer
• July 13
• * Ernie Colón, American-born Puerto Rico comics artist
• * Frank Ramsey, American professional basketball player, coach
• July 15
• * Clive Cussler, American thriller writer and underwater explorer
• * Joanna Merlin, American actress
• July 16 – Norm Sherry, American Major League Baseball catcher, manager, and coach
• July 18 – Maury Duncan, American quarterback
• July 19
• * Marilyn Lewis, American politician
• * Mary Lou Studnicka, American female professional baseball player
• July 27 – Jerry Van Dyke, American comedian, actor

  August

• August 1 – Hal Connolly, American athlete
• August 6 – Ron Feiereisel, American basketball player, coach
• August 7 – Charles E. "Charlie" Rice, American legal scholar, author
• August 10 – Tom Laughlin, American actor
• August 12 – William Goldman, American author
• August 14 – Frederic Raphael, American screenwriter, novelist and non-fiction author working in England
• August 15
• * Joe Feeney, American singer
• * Richard F. Heck, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010
• * Janice Rule, American actress
• August 19 – Willie Shoemaker, American jockey
• August 20 – Don King, African-American boxing promoter
• August 23
• * Barbara Eden, American actress, singer
• * Lyle Lahey, American cartoonist
• * Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978
• August 25
• * Cecil Andrus, American politician
• * Hal Fishman, Los Angeles-based American local news anchor
• * Regis Philbin, American television personality
• August 30 – Jack Swigert, American astronaut
• August 31
• * Kenny Burrell, American jazz musician
• * Noble Willingham, American actor

  September

• September 1 – Richard Hundley, American pianist, composer
• September 2 – Alan K. Simpson, American politician
• September 3 – Tom Brewer, American baseball player
• September 4 – Mitzi Gaynor, American actress, singer and dancer
• September 10
• * Mathew Ahmann, American Catholic civil rights activist
• * Philip Baker Hall, American actor
• September 12
• * George Jones, American country music singer, songwriter
• * Bill McKinney, American character actor
• September 13 – Barbara Bain, American actress
• September 16 – Little Willie Littlefield, American R&B pianist and singer
• September 17 – Anne Bancroft, American actress
• September 19
• * Brook Benton, American singer-songwriter
• * Ray Danton, American actor
• September 21
• * Gertrude Alderfer, American female professional baseball player
• * Gloria Cordes, American female professional baseball player
• * Larry Hagman, American actor, director
• September 29 – James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1980
• September 30
• * Angie Dickinson, American actress
• * Wesley L. Fox, U.S. Marine Corps officer

  October

• October 1 – Alan Wagner, American opera critic
• October 2 – Morris Cerullo, American televangelist
• October 3 – Denise Scott Brown, American architect
• October 7 – Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball coach
• October 13 – Eddie Mathews, American baseball player
• October 15
• * Freddy Cole, singer and pianist
• * Gail Harris, baseball player and coach
• October 16
• * James Chace, American historian
• * Charles Colson, American politician, Watergate conspirator, later evangelist
• October 20 – Mickey Mantle, American baseball player
• October 22 – Ann Rule, American true-crime writer
• October 23 – Jim Bunning, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1999 to 2011
• October 26
• * Hank Garrett, American actor, comedian
• * Larry Lieber, American comic book artist and writer
• October 28 – Harold Battiste, American composer, arranger
• October 30
• * Dick Gautier, American actor
• * Rita Crocker Clements, American political organizer
• October 31
• * Jack Molinas, American basketball player
• * Dan Rather, American television news reporter

  November

• November 2 – Phil Woods, American saxophonist
• November 4
• * Marie Mansfield, American professional baseball player
• * Bernard Francis Law, American cardinal
• November 5 – Ike Turner, African-American rock musician
• November 8
• * Jack Collom, American poet, essayist and poetry teacher
• * Darla Hood, American child actress, and singer
• November 9
• * Pascal F. Calogero Jr., American judge
• * Whitey Herzog, American baseball player
• November 12 – Mary Louise Wilson, American actress, singer
• November 14 – Dolores Crow, American politician, legislator
• November 15 – John Kerr, American actor
• November 16 – Hubert Sumlin, American blues musician
• November 24 – Tommy Allsup, American musician

  December

• December 1
• * Jimmy Lyons, American musician
• * Jim Nesbitt, American country music singer
• December 2 – Edwin Meese, American attorney, law professor, and author
• December 3 – Jaye P. Morgan, American singer, chanteuse
• December 7 – Richard N. Goodwin, American writer
• December 11 – Benny Spellman, American R&B singer
• December 16 – Ralph Wolfe Cowan, American portrait artist
• December 20
• * Terry Sanders, American film director, producer and screenwriter
• * Ike Skelton, American lawyer and politician
• December 23 – Ronnie Schell, American actor
• December 24 – Ray Bryant, American jazz pianist, composer, arranger
• December 27
• * Edward E. Hammer, American electrical engineer, inventor
• * Scotty Moore, American guitarist
• December 28 – Martin Milner, American actor
• December 30
• * Charles Bassett, American electrical engineer, astronaut
• * Skeeter Davis, American country singer

  Deaths

• January 4
• * Art Acord, actor
• * Roger Connor, baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer
• January 14 - Hardy Richardson, baseball player
• January 22 - Alma Rubens, actress
• January 31 - Zina P. Young Card, Mormon leader and women's rights activist
• February 14 - Clarence Ransom Edwards, army officer
• February 18 - Louis Wolheim, actor
• February 28
• *Laton Alton Huffman, photographer of the American frontier and Native American life
• *Thomas S. Rodgers, admiral
• March 20 - Joseph B. Murdock, United States Navy admiral and New Hampshire politician
• March 24 - Robert Edeson, actor
• March 25 - Ida Wells, African-American lynching crusader
• March 28 - Ban Johnson, baseball executive
• March 31 - Knute Rockne, football coach
• April 9 - Nicholas Longworth, politician, Speaker of the House
• April 26 - George Herbert Mead, philosopher
• May 2 - George Fisher Baker, financier and philanthropist
• May 14 - David Belasco, Broadway impresario, theater owner and playwright
• June 2 - Joseph Farnham, screenwriter
• August 6 - Bix Beiderbecke, jazz trumpeter
• August 27 - Francis Marion Smith, businessman
• September 6 - Juliana Walanika, the "Hawaiian Nightingale", court singer
• September 17 - Marvin Hart, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
• October 6 - Carrie Babcock Sherman, Second Lady of the United States as wife of James S. Sherman
• October 18 - Thomas Edison, inventor
• October 26 - Charles Comiskey, baseball owner
• October 31 - Charles E. Rushmore, businessman, attorney, namesake of Mount Rushmore
• November 4 - Buddy Bolden, African American musician
• November 6 - Jack Chesbro, baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer
• December 5 - Vachel Lindsay, poet
• December 18 - Jack Diamond, gangster
• December 23 - Tyrone Power, Sr., actor
• December 26 - Melvil Dewey, librarian, inventor of Dewey Decimal Classification