World Events

• Winston Churchill becomes Britain's Prime Minister.
• Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico.
• Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania annexed by U.S.S.R.
• Hitler invades Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.
• Lascaux caves with Cro-Magnon art discovered by French schoolboy.

 

U. S. Events

 

President: Franklin D Roosevelt
Vice President: John N. Garner
Population: 132,122,446

·        Selective Service Act signed.

·        The first Social Security benefit checks are paid out (Jan 30).

·        The Pennsylvania Turnpike opens. It is the first multilane U.S. superhighway. The first Los Angeles freeway opens.

·        The first McDonald's hamburger stand opens in Pasadena, Calif.

Economics

Federal spending:   $9.47 billion
Federal debt:   $50.7 billion
Consumer Price Index:   14
Unemployment:   14.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03

Sports

Stanley Cup
NY Rangers d. Toronto (4-2)

Wimbledon
Women: Not held (World War II)
Men: Not held (World War II)

Kentucky Derby Champion
Gallahadion

NCAA Basketball Championship
Indiana d. Kansas (60-42)

NCAA Football Champions
Minnesota (8-0-0)

Baseball

World Series
Cincinnati d. Detroit (4-3)

• Dom DiMaggio debuted April 16; Pee Wee Reese debuted April 23.
• Final season for Wally Berger.
• Trade: June 12, the Brooklyn Dodgers traded four players and $125,000 cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Medwick and another player.

Births

• February 25 - Ron Santo, baseball player
• January 20 - Jack Nicklaus, American golfer.
• March 6 - Willie Stargell, baseball player
• April 15 - Willie Davis, baseball player
• April 15 - Woody Fryman, baseball player
• May 20 - Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball legend
• May 20 - Stan Mikita, Hockey Hall of Famer
• June 23 - Wilma Rudolph (+1994), American runner.
• July 3 - Cesar Tovar, baseball player
• July 18 - Joe Torre, baseball player and manager
• July 20 - Tony Oliva, baseball player
• September 12 - Mickey Lolich, baseball player
• October 9 - Joe Pepitone, baseball player
• October 23 - Pelé, Brazilian soccer player.
• November 23 - Luis Tiant, baseball player

Entertainment

Events

• CBS demonstrates color television in New York.
• WNBT, the first regularly operating television station, debuts in New York with an estimated 10,000 viewers.
• It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman! The radios show debuts.
• The first Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Births

• July 7 - Ringo Starr, English drummer (Beatles)
• August 3 - Martin Sheen, American actor
• November 27 - Bruce Lee
• October 9 - John Lennon, English musician, songwriter and singer (Beatles)
• December 21 - Frank Zappa, English musician, songwriter and singer

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Drama: The Time of Your Life, William Saroyan

Top Grossing Films of the Year

·        Pinocchio (Disney)

·        Fantasia (Disney)

Academy Awards

·        Best Picture: Rebecca - Selznick, United Artists

·        Best Actor: James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story

• Best Actress: Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle

Miss America: Frances Marie Burke (PA)

Popular Television Shows

Births

• February 6, Tom Brokaw, journalist
• February 8, Ted Koppel, journalist
• February 27, Howard Hesseman, actor
• March 7, Daniel J. Travanti, actor
• March 8, Susan Clark, actress

Science

• Freeze drying is adapted for food preservation.
• Plasma is discovered to be a substitute for whole blood in transfusions.
• Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Weiner discover the Rh factor in blood.