Events from the year 1937 in the United States. [edit] Events [edit] January–March - January 11 – The first issue of LOOK Magazine goes on sale in the United States.
- 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 that 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 11 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union.
- 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 2009.
- March 17 – The Atherton Report (private investigator Edwin Atherton's report detailing vice and police corruption in San Francisco) 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.
- March 18 – 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.
[edit] April–June [edit] 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.
- July 2 – A guard first stands post at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, DC; continuous guard has been maintained there ever since.
- 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 26 – Street and Smith Publications launches a half-hour radio program, The Shadow, with Orson Welles in the title role.
[edit] October–December [edit] Undated [edit] External links |