1936 Explained

Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1936

January-February

• January 4 - England celebrates its first ever win over the All Blacks in Rugby Union, in particular the 2 famous tries by "The Prince" HH Alexander Obolensky.
• January 15 - The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company.
• January 16 - Serial killer Albert Fish is executed in Sing Sing Prison.
• January 20 - King George V of the United Kingdom dies. His eldest son succeeds to the throne, becoming Edward VIII. The title Prince of Wales is not used for another 22 years.
• January 31 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
• February 4 - Radium E. becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
• February 6 - The IV Olympic Winter Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
• February 17 The first superhero to wear a skin-tight costume and mask, The Phantom, makes his first appearance in U.S. newspapers.
• February 26 - The Imperial Way Faction engineers a failed coup against the Japanese government; some politicians are killed.
• February 29 - Emperor Hirohito orders the Japanese army to arrest 123 conspirators in Tokyo government offices; 19 of them are executed in July.

March-April

• March 1 - Construction of Hoover Dam is completed.
• March 7 - In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
• March 9 - Pro-democratic militarist Keisuke Okada steps down as Prime Minister of Japan and is replaced by radical militarist Koki Hirota.
• March 17-18 - St. Patrick's Day Flood: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suffers the worst flooding in its history.
• April 3 - Bruno Richard Hauptmann, convicted of kidnapping and killing Charles Lindbergh III, is executed in New Jersey.
• April 5 - A tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 216 and injuring over 700 (the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history).
• April 6 - Two tornadoes strike Gainesville, Georgia. The smaller tornado hits north Gainsville, the stronger tornado the west side of town. 203 die and 1,600 are injured in the 5th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
• April 19 - The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine against the British government and opposition to Jewish immigration begins.

May-June

• May 2 - Peter and the Wolf, a Russian fairy tale of Sergei Prokofiev's composition, debuts at the Nezlobin Theater in Moscow, Soviet Union.
• May 5 - Italian forces occupy Addis Ababa.
• May 7 - Italy annexes Ethiopia.
• May 9 - Italian East Africa is formed from the Italian territories of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland.
• May 12 - The Santa Fe railroad in the United States inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief passenger train between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California.
• May 25 - The Remington Rand strike of 1936–1937 begins, spawning the notorious "Mohawk Valley formula," a corporate plan for strikebreaking.
• May 27
  • The first flight by the Irish airline Aer Lingus takes place.
  • British luxury liner leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic
• June
  • A major heat wave strikes North America; high temperature records are set and thousands die.
  • The first production model PCC trolley car, built by St. Louis Car Company, is placed in service by Pittsburgh Railways.
• June 7
  • The general strike in France is ended by the Matignon Agreements.
  • The Steel Workers Organizing Committee is founded in the United States.
• June 15 - An army laboratory explodes in Estonia, killing 60.
• June 19 - Max Schmeling knocks out Joe Louis in the 12th round of their heavyweight boxing match at Yankee Stadium in New York City.
• June 30 - Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind is first published.

July-August

• July 11 - Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
• July 13 - 14 - Peak of July 1936 heat wave: The states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana all set new state records for high temperature. At Mio in northern Michigan, it soars to 113°F (45°C).
• July 18 - The Spanish Civil War begins when nationalist troops under the command of General Francisco Franco rise against the existing republican government.
• August 1 - The 1936 Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany, and mark the first live television coverage of a sports event in world history.
• August 3 - African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics.
• August 14
  • Rainey Bethea is hung in Owensboro, Kentucky, in the last public execution in the United States
  • 1936 Summer Olympics

The United States men's national basketball team wins its first ever Olympic basketball tournament in the final game over Canada, 19-8.

• August 19 - The first of the Moscow Trials begins in the Soviet Union.
• August 26 - Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 is signed.
• August 30 - Ernest Nash flees Germany for Rome.

September-October

• September - Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence (1936) is signed.
• September 7 - The last surviving Tasmanian Tiger dies in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
• October 11 - Earl Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and builds Mississippi's first permanent rodeo arena at Columbia, Mississippi.
• October 19 - H.R. Ekins, reporter for the New York World-Telegram, wins a race to travel around the world on commercial airline flights, beating out Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of the New York Times. The flight takes 18 1/2 days.
• October 25 - Rome-Berlin Axis is formed.

November-December

• November 2
  • The BBC launches the world's first regular (then) high-definition television service.
  • The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) begins radio in Canada.
• November 3 - U.S. presidential election, 1936: Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term in a landslide victory over Alf Landon. Farmers support Roosevelt.
• November 12 - In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
• November 20 - A levee failure and continued massive rain at the Mitsubishi Osarizawa mine, Kazuno, northeastern Akita, Japan, results in at least 375 deaths.
• November 23 - The first edition of Life Magazine is published.
• November 25 - The Abraham Lincoln Brigade sails from New York City on its way to the Spanish Civil War.
• November 26 - The Anti-Comintern Pact is signed by Germany and Japan.
• November 30 - In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire (it had been built for the 1851 Great Exhibition).

December 1 - Hitler makes it Mandatory that Boys 10 to 18 join Hitlers Youth

• December 3 - Radio station WQXR is officially founded in New York City.
• December 5 - The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic is dissolved and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia become full Republics of the Soviet Union.
• December 10-11 - King Edward VIII signs an instrument of abdication at Fort Belvedere in the presence of his three brothers, The Duke of York, The Duke of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent.
• December 11
  • The British Parliament passes His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 on behalf of the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
  • The King performs his last act as sovereign by giving royal assent to the Act.
  • Prince Albert, Duke of York, becomes King, ruling as King George VI.
  • The abdicated King Edward VIII, now HRH Prince Edward, makes a broadcast to the nation explaining his decision to abdicate. He leaves the country for Austria.
• December 12 - The Irish Free State passes the External Relations Act to legislate for Edward VIII's abdication in that realm.
• December 12 - Xi'an Incident: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China is kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.
• December 29 - The United Auto Workers begins the Flint Sit-Down Strike in Flint, Michigan.

Undated

• The YMCA Youth and Government program is founded in Albany, New York.
• Mordecai Ham begins his radio ministry.
• Stress is first recognised as a medical condition.
• Cocoa production in the Gold Coast reaches 305,000 tons.

Births

January-February

• January 2 - Roger Miller, American singer (King of the Road) (d. 1992)
• January 5 - Florence King, American writer
• January 10
  • Stephen Ambrose, American historian (d. 2002)
  • Robert Wilson, American physicist and radio astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate
• January 11 - Eva Hesse, American artist (d. 1970)
• January 20 - Lady Frances Roche of Femoy, Princess Diana's mother (d. 2004)
• January 23 - Jerry Kramer, American football player
• January 27 - Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
• January 28 - Alan Alda, American actor (M*A*S*H)
• January 28 - Ismail Kadare, Albanian writer
• February 6 - Kent Douglas, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• February 9 - Stompin' Tom Connors, Canadian country/folk singer
• February 11 - Burt Reynolds, American actor (Dan August)
• February 14 - Andrew Prine, American actor
• February 17 - Jim Brown, African-American football player
• February 19 - Sam Myers, American musician and songwriter (d. 2006)
• February 20
  • Larry Hovis, American actor (Hogan's Heroes) (d. 2003)
  • Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese professional baseball player and coach
• February 24 - Lance Reventlow, English playboy, entrepreneur, and race car driver (d. 1972)
• February 27 - Roger Mahony, fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles

March-April

• March 4
  • Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (d. 1968)
  • Aribert Reimann, German composer
• March 5 - Dean Stockwell, American actor (Quantum Leap)
• March 6 - Marion Barry Jr., Mayor of Washington, D.C.
• March 7 - Loren Acton, American astronaut
• March 9
  • Tom Sestak, American football player (d. 1987)
  • Mickey Gilly, American musician
• March 10 - Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA
• March 11
  • Ralph Abernathy, African-American civil rights leader (d. 1990)
  • Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• March 15 - Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (d. 1986)
• March 19 - Ursula Andress, Swiss actress (James Bond: 007)
• March 20 - Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican musician
• April 10 - John Madden, American football coach and television sportscaster
• April 12 - Charles Napier, American actor
• April 14 - Kenneth Mars, American actor
• April 17 - Jiří Grygar, Czech astronomer
• April 21 - James Dobson, Ph.D. (Focus On The Family), American child psychologist and conservative political activist
• April 22 - Glen Campbell, American country musician (Wichita Lineman)
• April 23 - Roy Orbison, American singer (Oh Pretty Woman) (d. 1988)
• April 24 - Jill Ireland, English actress (d. 1990)

May-June

• May 2 - Engelbert Humperdinck, British/American singer
  • Perdita Huston, American journalist (d. 2001)
• May 9
  • Albert Finney, English actor
  • Glenda Jackson, British actress and politician
• May 12
  • Tom Snyder, American talk show host (Tomorrow) (d. 2007)
  • Frank Stella, American minimalist painter
• May 14
  • Bobby Darin, American singer (Mack The Knife) (d. 1973)
  • Dick Howser, American baseball shortstop/manager (d. 1987)
• May 17 - Dennis Hopper, American actor and director (Easy Rider)
• May 23 - Ingeborg Hallstein, German opera singer
• June 1 - Joe Doyle, Irish politician
• June 8 - James Darren, American actor and singer (The Time Tunnel)
• June 17 - Ken Loach, British director
• June 22 - Kris Kristofferson, American singer, songwriter, and actor
• June 28 - Chuck Howley, American football player
• June 29 - Harmon Killebrew, American baseball player

July-August

• July 16 - Buddy Merrill, American musician, The Lawrence Welk Show
• July 16 - Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese politician, former Prime Minister of Japan
• July 23 - Don Drysdale, American baseball player (d. 1993)
• August 1
  • Bradford Bishop, American fugitive indicted for the murders of his three children, spouse and mother in 1976
  • Yves Saint-Laurent, Algerian-born French fashion designer (d. 2008)
  • Donald Neilson, British serial killer known as the Black Panther
• August 6 - Robert Gnaizda, lawyer and social justice advocate
• August 11 - Andre Dubus, American short-story writer (d. 1999)
• August 18 - Robert Redford, American actor
• August 21 - Wilt Chamberlain, African-American basketball player (d. 1999)
• August 29 - John McCain, U.S. Senator, 2008 Republican Presidential candidate

September-October

• September 7 - Buddy Holly, American rock 'n' roll singer (d. 1959)
• September 14 - Walter Koenig, American actor (Star Trek)
• September 16- Ken Forsse, American inventor and producer, creator of Teddy Ruxpin
• September 21 - Yuriy Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow
• September 24 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer, filmmaker, and television producer (The Muppets) (d. 1990)
• September 29 - Silvio Berlusconi, Italian politician, entrepreneur, and media proprietor
• October 1 - Stella Stevens, American actress
• October 5 - Vaclav Havel, Czech playwriter, writer and politician
• October 7 - Fereydoun Farrokhzad, Iranian Entertainer (d. 1992)
• October 11 - Larry Staverman, American professional basketball player and coach (d. 2007)
• October 19
  • Tony Lo Bianco, American actor
  • James Bevel, American 1960s Civil Rights Movement strategist and organizer (d. 2008)
• October 25 - Masako Nozawa, Japanese voice actress
• October 29 - Akiko Kojima, Japanese model
• October 31 - Michael Landon, American actor and director (Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie) (d. 1991)

November-December

• November 2 - Rose Bird, American judge (d. 1999)
• November 4 - C. K. Williams, American poet
• November 9 - Teddy Infuhr, American child actor (d. 2007)
• November 17 - Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet
• November 20 - Don DeLillo, American author
• November 23 - Robert Barnard, British writer, critic and lecturer
• December 5 - James Lee Burke, American writer
• December 25 - Princess Alexandra of Kent, daughter of The Duke and Duchess of Kent
• December 29 - Mary Tyler Moore, American actress (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)

Deaths

January-June

• January 9 - John Gilbert, American actor (b. 1899)
• January 16 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1870)
• January 18 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
• January 20 - King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
• January 23 - John Mills, Jr., "Mills Brothers" basso and guitarist (b. 1911)
• February 3 - Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg, consort of William of Wied, Prince of Albania (b.1885)
• February 4 - Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi Party (b. 1895)
• February 8 - Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President of the United States (b. 1860)
• February 19 - Billy Mitchell, U.S. general and military aviation pioneer (b. 1879)
• February 26 - in the "February 26 Incident":
  • Takahashi Korekiyo, 11th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1854)
  • Saito Makoto, 19th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1858)
• February 27 - Ivan Pavlov, Russian psychologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1849)
• February 28 - Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1866)
• March 16 - Marguerite Durand, French journalist and feminist leader (b. 1864)
• March 21 - Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer and conductor (b. 1865)
• April 3 - Bruno Hauptmann, German killer of Charles Lindbergh Jr. (b. 1899)
• April 8 - Robert Bárány, Austrian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1876)
• April 18 - Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer, musicologist, and conductor (b. 1879)
• April 30 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (b. 1859)
• May 8 - Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (b. 1880)
• June 11 - Robert E. Howard, American author (suicide) (b. 1906)
• June 14
  • G. K. Chesterton, English author (b. 1874)
  • Maxim Gorky, Russian writer (b. 1868)

July-December

• July 21 - Georg Michaelis, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1857)
• August 2 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (b. 1872)
• August 9 - Lincoln Steffens, American journalist (b. 1866)
• August 15 - Grazia Deledda, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
• August 19 - Federico García Lorca, Spanish writer (b. 1898)
• September 19 - Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Indian musician (b. 1860)
• October 2 - Juho Sunila, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1875)
• October 3 - John Heisman, American football coach (b. 1869)
• October 8 - William Henry Stark, American businessman (b. 1851)
• November 25 - Andrew Harper, Scottish–Australian biblical scholar and teacher (b. 1844)
• December 9 - Arvid Lindman, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1862)
• December 10
  • Bobby Abel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
  • Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Victor F. Hess, Carl D. Anderson ("for his discovery of cosmic radiation" / "for his discovery of the positron").
• Chemistry - Petrus (Peter) Josephus Wilhelmus Debye ("for his contributions to our knowledge of molecular structure through his investigations on dipole moments and on the diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases").
• Physiology or Medicine - Sir Henry Hallett Dale, Otto Loewi ("for their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses").
• Literature - Eugene Gladstone O'Neill ("for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy").
• Peace - Carlos Saavedra Lamas (Argentina)

External links

• The 1930s Timeline: 1936 - from American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia

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