1937 in the United States

Incumbents

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

• President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Vice President: John Nance Garner
• Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: William B. Bankhead
• Senate Majority Leader: Joseph Taylor Robinson , Alben W. Barkley
• Congress: 74th, 75th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January–March

• January 11 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale.
• January 12 - Adventurer and filmmaker Martin Johnson, of Martin and Osa Johnson fame, is killed along with four others in the crash of Western Air Express Flight 7 in mountainous terrain near Saugus, California.
• January 19 - Howard Hughes sets a new record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
• January 20 - Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in Franklin D. Roosevelt for a second term. This is the first time Inauguration Day in the United States occurs on this date, in response to the ratification in 1933 of the 20th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Inauguration has occurred on January 20 ever since.
• January 26 - Michigan celebrates its Centennial Anniversary of statehood.
• January 31 - The Ohio River floods.
• February 5 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.
• February 6 - John Steinbeck's novella of the Great Depression Of Mice and Men is published.
• February 11 - A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union.
• March 2 - The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, precursor to United Steelworkers, signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel.
• March 26 - William Henry Hastie becomes the first African-American appointed to a federal judgeship.
• March - The first issue of the comic book Detective Comics is published in the United States. Twenty-seven issues later, Detective Comics introduces Batman. The comic goes on to become the longest continually published comic magazine in American history; it is still published as of 2017.
• March 17 - The Atherton Report is released.
• March 18
• *In the worst school disaster in American history in terms of lives lost, the New London School in New London, Texas suffers a catastrophic natural gas explosion, killing in excess of 295 students and teachers.
• *Mother Frances Hospital opens in Tyler, Texas in response to the New London School explosion.
• March 26 - In Crystal City, Texas, spinach growers erect a statue of the cartoon character Popeye.
• March 28 - Sculptor Robert George Irwin kills three people in Turtle Bay, Manhattan.

  April–June

• April 12 - NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the National Labor Relations Act is constitutional.
• April 13 – Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is established.
• April 17 - The animated short Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery for the Looney Tunes series, featuring the debut of Daffy Duck, is released.
• May - 7 million unemployed in the USA.
• May 6 - Hindenburg disaster: The German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
• May 7 - An enquiry begins into the Hindenburg disaster.
• May 27 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushes a button in Washington, D.C., signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the Golden Gate Bridge.
• May 30 - Labor strike at US Steel in Chicago; crackdown.
• June 14 - Pennsylvania becomes the first of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
• June 25 - In The Bronx, an extended Orchard Beach recreation area opens, turning Hunter Island into a peninsula.

  July–September

• July 2
• * Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear after taking off from New Guinea during Earhart's attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world.
• * A guard first stands post at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, D.C.; continuous guard has been maintained there ever since.
• July 4 - The Lost Colony historical drama is first performed in an outdoor theater in the location where it is set, Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
• July 5 - The canned precooked meat product Spam is introduced by the Hormel company.
• July 22 - New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
• July 24 - Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called Scottsboro Boys.
• September 7 - CBS broadcasts a two-and-a-half hour memorial concert nationwide on radio in memory of George Gershwin, live from the Hollywood Bowl. Many celebrities appear, including Oscar Levant, Fred Astaire, Otto Klemperer, Lily Pons, and members of the original cast of Porgy and Bess. The concert is recorded and released complete years later in what is excellent sound for its time, on CD. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is the featured orchestra.
• September 18 - African American writer Zora Neale Hurston publishes her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
• September 20 – USS Yorktown is commissioned.
• September 26 - Street & Smith launches a half-hour radio program, The Shadow, with Orson Welles in the title role.

  October–December

• October 1
• *The Marijuana Tax Act becomes law in the United States.
• *U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Hugo Black, in a nationwide radio broadcast, refutes allegations of past involvement in the Ku Klux Klan.
• October 5 - Roosevelt gives his famous Quarantine Speech in Chicago.
• October 10 - The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants, 4 games to 1, to win their 6th World Series Title.
• October 15 - Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not is first published.
• December 12
• *Panay incident: Japanese bombers sink the American gunboat USS Panay.
• *Mae West makes a risque guest appearance on the NBC Chase and Sanborn Hour that eventually results in her being banned from radio.
• December 21 - Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated cartoon with sound, opens and becomes a smash hit.
• December 22 - The Lincoln Tunnel, connecting New York City to Weehawken, New Jersey, under the Hudson River opens to road traffic.
• December 25 - At the age of 70, legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra on radio for the first time, beginning his successful 17-year tenure with that orchestra. This first concert consists of music by Vivaldi, Mozart, and Brahms. Millions tune in to listen, including U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Undated

• Napoleon Hill's self-help book Think and Grow Rich is published.

  Ongoing

• Lochner era
• New Deal
• Recession of 1937–1938

  Births

January

• January 4
• * Grace Bumbry, American opera singer
• * Dyan Cannon, American actress, director, screenwriter, editor and producer
• * Lorene Mann, American country music singer, songwriter
• January 6 – Underwood Dudley, American mathematician
• January 13 – George Reisman, American economist
• January 14
• * Leo Kadanoff, American physicist
• * Tom McEwen, American drag racer
• * Billie Jo Spears, American country music singer
• January 15 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress
• January 16 – Francis George, American cardinal
• January 19 – Fred J. Lincoln, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
• January 22 – Joseph Wambaugh, American author
• January 29 – Bobby Scott, American musician, producer and songwriter
• January 31
• * Philip Glass, American composer
• * Suzanne Pleshette, American actress

  February

• February 1
• * Don Everly, American rock and roll musician
• * Garrett Morris, African-American comedian, actor
• February 2
• * Remak Ramsay, American actor
• * Tom Smothers, American musician, comedian
• February 4
• * Bill Ham, American music impresario and manager
• * David Newman, American screenwriter
• February 5 – Stuart Damon, American actor
• February 9
• * Francis William Lawvere, American mathematician
• * Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr., American blues guitarist
• February 10 – Roberta Flack, African-American singer
• February 12 – Charles Dumas, American athlete
• February 14 – Magic Sam, American musician
• February 15
• * Terry Everett, American politician
• * Gregory Mcdonald, American novelist
• February 17 – Mary Ann Mobley, American actress
• February 20
• * Roger Penske, American race car driver
• * Nancy Wilson, African-American jazz singer and actress
• February 23 – J. W. Lockett, American football player
• February 25 – Bob Schieffer, American television journalist
• February 27 – Barbara Babcock, American actress

  March

• March 3 – Bobby Driscoll, American actor
• March 4 – Leslie H. Gelb, American foreign policy expert 1993
• March 8 – Richard Fariña, American folk music singer, novelist
• March 16 – William L. Armstrong, American politician
• March 17
• * Frank Calabrese, Sr., American gangster in the Chicago Outfit
• * Vince Martin, American singer, songwriter
• March 20
• * Jerry Reed, American singer, songwriter, actor, and guitarist
• * Eddie Shaw, African-American saxophonist and songwriter
• March 23
• * Craig Breedlove, American race car driver
• * Tony Burton, African-American actor, boxer and football player
• * Robert Gallo, American biomedical researcher
• March 27 – Thomas Aquinas Daly, American painter
• March 29 – Billy Carter, American farmer, businessman, brewer and politician
• March 30 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director

  April

• April 2 – Paul Kanjorski, American politician
• April 3 – Sandra Spuzich, American professional golfer
• April 5
• * Colin Powell, African-American politician, 65th United States Secretary of State
• * Maryanne Trump Barry, American attorney
• April 6
• * Merle Haggard, American country musician
• * Billy Dee Williams, African-American actor
• April 7 – Charlie Thomas, American R&B musician
• April 8 – Seymour Hersh, American investigative journalist and political writer
• April 12
• * Dennis Banks, leader of the American Indian Movement
• * Gene Lenz, American competition swimmer
• April 13 – Lanford Wilson, American playwright
• April 15 – Robert W. Gore, American inventor
• April 16 – George Steele, American professional wrestler and actor
• April 17 – Don Buchla, American electronic-instrument designer
• April 18 – Robert Hooks, African-American actor, producer and activist
• April 19 – Elinor Donahue, American actress
• April 20 – George Takei, Japanese-American actor, director, author and activist
• April 21 – David Lucas, American rock and roll composer, singer, and music producer
• April 22
• * Bobbi Fiedler, American politician
• * Jack Nicholson, American actor, film director, producer and writer
• * Jack Nitzsche, American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer and record producer
• April 23 – Don Massengale, American professional golfer
• April 24 – Joe Henderson, American rhythm and blues, gospel music singer
• April 26 – Bob Boozer, American professional basketball player
• April 27 – Sandy Dennis, American actress

  May

• May 2 – Lorenzo Music, American voice actor
• May 4
• * Ron Carter, American jazz musician
• * Dick Dale, American surf rock guitarist
• May 6 – Rubin Carter, African-American boxer wrongfully convicted of murder
• May 8 – Dennis DeConcini, American politician
• May 9 – Alison Jolly, American primatologist
• May 10
• * Jim Hickman, American baseball outfielder
• * Mike Melvoin, American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger
• May 12 – George Carlin, American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and social critic
• May 13
• * Roger Zelazny, American writer
• * Beverley Owen, American actress
• May 15
• * Madeleine Albright, American politician and diplomat, 64th U.S. Secretary of State
• * Trini Lopez, American singer, guitarist, and actor
• * Joe Tait, American sportscaster
• May 16 – Yvonne Craig, American actress
• May 17 – Hazel R. O'Leary, U.S. Secretary of Energy
• May 18 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player
• May 24
• * Roger Peterson, American pilot who flew the plane on The Day the Music Died
• * Timothy Brown, American professional football player and actor
• May 30 – Deanna Lund, American actress

  June

• June 1 – Morgan Freeman, African-American actor
• June 2 – Sally Kellerman, American actress
• June 3
• * Phyllis Baker, American professional baseball player
• * Crawford Hallock Greenewalt, Jr., American archaeologist
• * Solomon P. Ortiz, American soldier and politician
• * John Walker, politician
• June 4 – Gorilla Monsoon, American professional wrestler, announcer
• June 7 – Red Grooms, American painter and illustrator
• June 8
• * Toni Harper, American child singer
• * Bruce McCandless II, American astronaut
• June 11 – David Mumford, American mathematician
• June 13 – Eleanor Holmes Norton, African-American politician
• June 15 – Waylon Jennings, American country singer
• June 16 – Jim Dine, American painter
• June 18
• * Wray Carlton, American football player
• * Jay Rockefeller, American politician
• June 21
• * Barbara Carlson, American politician
• * Gerald Clarke, American author
• * Jon Huntsman Sr., American businessman, philanthropist
• June 25 – Eddie Floyd, African-American soul-R&B singer and songwriter
• June 26
• * Donald J. Albanese, American politician
• * Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996
• June 27
• * Joseph P. Allen, American astronaut
• * Abraham Karem, American aerospace engineer
• June 28 – Ron Luciano, American baseball umpire, writer
• June 30
• * Ron Husmann, American actor
• * Walton McLeod, American politician

  July

• July 2
• * Polly Holliday, American actress
• * Dennis Keeney, American soil science, water chemistry scientist
• * Richard Petty, American stock car racer, 7-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion
• July 4
• * Richard Rhodes, American historian, journalist and author
• * Ray Pillow, American country music singer
• July 6 – Ned Beatty, American actor
• July 7
• * Carroll Hubbard, American politician
• * Carol Nugent, American actress
• July 12
• * Bill Cosby, African-American actor, comedian, educator and convicted sex offender
• * Bruce W. Klunder, American Presbyterian minister and civil right activist
• July 16 – Richard Bryan, American politician
• July 18 – Hunter S. Thompson, American author, journalist
• July 19
• * George Hamilton IV, American country music singer
• * Bibb Latané, American social psychologist
• July 20 – Dick Hafer, American Christian cartoonist
• July 27 – Don Galloway, American actor
• July 29 – Daniel McFadden, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• July 31 — Sab Shimono, American actor

  August

• August 1 – Al D'Amato, American politician
• August 3 – Roland Burris, American politician
• August 4
• * Paul Abels, American United Methodist minister
• * David Bedford, American musician
• * David Holliday, American actor
• August 5 – Herb Brooks, American hockey coach
• August 6 – Charlie Haden, American jazz bassist
• August 7 – Magic Slim, African-American blues singer and guitarist
• August 8 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor, director
• August 14 – Alberta Nelson, American actress
• August 21
• * Robert Stone, American novelist
• * Chuck Traynor, American pornographer
• August 26 – Don Bowman, American comedian, country music singer, songwriter, and radio host
• August 27 – Alice Coltrane, African-American jazz harpist, organist, pianist and composer
• August 31 – Bobby Parker, American rock musician

  September

• September 5 – A. George Pradel, American police officer, politician
• September 6 – Jo Anne Worley, American actress, comedian
• September 7 – John Phillip Law, American actor
• September 8 – Barbara Frum, American radio and television journalist
• September 10
• * Jared Diamond, American geographer, anthropologist, and author
• * Tommy Overstreet, American country singer
• September 13 – Don Bluth, American animator, film director, producer, writer, production designer, video game designer and animation instructor
• September 15
• * King Curtis Iaukea, American professional wrestler
• * Robert Lucas, Jr., American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• September 19 – Abner Haynes, American football player
• September 26 – Jerry Weintraub, American film producer, talent agent
• September 28
• * Rod Roddy, American television announcer
• * Bob Schul, American Olympic athlete

  October

• October 2 – Johnnie Cochran, African-American attorney
• October 5 – Barry Switzer, American football coach
• October 15 – Linda Lavin, American actress and singer
• October 20 – Wanda Jackson, American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist
• October 24 – John Goetz, American professional baseball player
• October 25 – Jeanne Black, American singer
• October 26 – John "Jabo" Starks, African-American drummer
• October 28 – Lenny Wilkens, American basketball player, coach
• October 31 – Tom Paxton, American folk singer-songwriter

  November

• November 1 – Bill Anderson, American country music singer, songwriter and game show host
• November 2
• * Earl Carroll, African-American lead vocalist for The Cadillacs
• * Bob Spoo, American football coach
• November 4 – Loretta Swit, American actress
• November 5 – Harris Yulin, American actor
• November 9 – Vernon Taylor, American rockabilly musician
• November 12
• * Mills Lane, American boxer, referee, lawyer and judge
• * Richard H. Truly, American admiral, pilot and astronaut
• November 15 – Little Willie John, African-American rock and roll, rhythm and blues singer
• November 20 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist
• November 21 – Marlo Thomas, American actress, producer and social activist
• November 30 – Luther Ingram, African-American R&B singer, songwriter

  December

• December 1 – Bruce Brown, American documentary film director
• December 3
• * Bobby Allison, American race car driver
• * John F. Seymour, American politician
• December 7 – Thad Cochran, American politician
• December 8
• * Michael Bowen, American artist
• * James MacArthur, American actor
• December 9 – Darwin Joston, American actor
• December 11 – Jim Harrison, American writer
• December 12 – Flukey Stokes, American mobster
• December 16 – Ed Ruscha, American painter
• December 17 – Art Neville, African-American singer, songwriter
• December 21
• * Jane Fonda, American actress and political activist
• * Donald F. Munson, American politician
• December 27 – Tom Tall, American singer
• December 30
• * John Hartford, American musician, composer
• * Jim Marshall, American football player
• * Noel Paul Stookey, American singer

  Deaths

• January 1 - John Gresham Machen, Presbyterian theologian
• January 2 - Ross Alexander, actor
• January 13 - Martin Johnson, adventurer and filmmaker
• February 7 - Elihu Root, statesman and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912
• February 11 - Walter Burley Griffin, architect and town planner
• March 15 - H. P. Lovecraft, horror fiction author
• March 29 - William Edward White, African American baseball player
• April 10 - Ralph Ince, film director
• April 14 - Ned Hanlon, baseball manager
• April 16 - Jay Johnson Morrow, military engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone
• May 14 - John Burke, 24th Treasurer of the United States
• May 23 - John D. Rockefeller, oil industry business magnate and philanthropist
• June 7 - Jean Harlow, actress and sex symbol
• July 2 - Amelia Earhart, aviator, missing on flight
• July 9 - Oliver Law, labor organizer and Army officer, killed in Spanish Civil War
• July 11 - George Gershwin, popular composer
• July 14 - Joseph Taylor Robinson, politician
• August 11 - Edith Wharton, novelist
• August 27 - Andrew W. Mellon, banker and Secretary of the Treasury
• September 8 - Anna Hempstead Branch, poet
• September 13 - Ellis Parker Butler, humorist
• September 21 - Osgood Perkins, actor
• September 22 - Ruth Roland, actress
• September 26 - Bessie Smith, African American blues singer
• September 29 - Ray Ewry, field athlete
• October 22 - George Horace Lorimer, newspaper editor
• November 6 - Colin Campbell Cooper, painter
• November 25 - Raymond Stanton Patton, admiral
• November 30 - James O. McKinsey, accountant and pioneer of management consulting
• December 6 - Florence Griswold, curator
• December 21
• * Ted Healy, vaudeville actor
• * Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929
• December 25 - Newton D. Baker, United States Secretary of War
• December 29 - Don Marquis, poet
• Undated - Redoshi, last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade