1931 in the United States
Events from the year 1931 in the United States.
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Incumbents
Federal Government
- President: Herbert Hoover (R-California)
- Vice President: Charles Curtis (R-Kansas)
- Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes (New York)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nicholas Longworth (R-Ohio) (until March 4), John Nance Garner (D-Texas) (starting December 7)
- Senate Majority Leader: James Eli Watson (R-Indiana)
- Congress: 71st (until March 4), 72nd (starting March 4)
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 ("boss of all bosses") 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: Empire State Building completed
- 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.[1]
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[2] adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses at a convention in Columbus, Ohio.
August
- August 16 – Texas experiences an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.5, the most powerful earthquake in its recorded history.
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 in baseball.
- October 17 – American gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion in Chicago.
- October 24 – The George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River is dedicated; it opens to traffic the following day. At 3,500 feet (1,100 m), it nearly doubles the previous record for the longest main span in the world.
November
- November 10 – The 4th Academy Awards, hosted by Lawrence Grant, are presented at Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, with William LeBaron's Cimarron winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film also receives the most nominations and awards, with seven and three respectively. Norman Taurog wins Best Director for Skippy.
- 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 surviving Latino fraternity, is founded.
Undated
- Elizabeth Dilling begins anti-communist activism.
Ongoing
- Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
- U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
- Prohibition (1919–1933)
- Great Depression (1929–1933)
- Dust Bowl (1930–1936)
Births
January
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- January 5
- Alvin Ailey, choreographer (d. 1989)
- Robert Duvall, actor and director
- January 6
- Fern Battaglia, baseball player (d. 2001)
- E. L. Doctorow, novelist (d. 2015)
- 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 (d. 2017)
- David Lee, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996
- January 22 – Sam Cooke, African-American singer (d. 1964)
- January 25 – Dean Jones, American actor (d. 2015)
- January 27 – Red Bastien, wrestler, trainer and promoter (d. 2012)
- January 29 – Jim Baumer, baseball player and manager (d. 1996)
- January 30 – Allan W. Eckert, American historian, naturalist, and author (d. 2011)
- January 31
- Ernie Banks, African-American baseball player (d. 2015)
- Lorraine Ellison, African-American soul singer (d. 1983)
- Jack Taylor, swimmer (d. 1955)
February
- February 6
- Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)
- Mamie Van Doren, American film actress
- February 8 – James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
- February 9 – Jack Van Impe, American televangelist (d. 2020)
- February 11 – Larry Merchant, American author and boxing commentator
- February 13 – Geoff Edwards, American actor, game show host (d. 2014)
- February 16 – George E. Sangmeister, American politician (d. 2007)
- February 18
- Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)
- Toni Morrison, African-American novelist, essayist, editor, teacher and professor (d. 2019)
- Bob St. Clair, American football player (d. 2015)
- February 24
- James Abourezk, American politician
- Dominic Chianese, American actor, singer
- February 28
- Gavin MacLeod, American actor, Mayor of Pacific Palisades (d. 2021)
- Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
March
- March 3
- Paul Clayton, American folksinger and folklorist (d. 1967)
- John Smith, American actor (d. 1995)
- March 4
- Wally Bruner, American journalist and television host (d. 1997)
- Alice Rivlin, born Georgianna Alice Mitchell, American economist (d. 2019)
- March 15
- D. J. Fontana, American drummer (d. 2018)
- Ted Marchibroda, American football player (d. 2016)
- March 18 – Shirley Stovroff, American baseball player (d. 1994)
- March 20
- Norman Francis, American lawyer
- Hal Linden, American actor, singer (Barney Miller)
- Karen Steele, American actress and model (d. 1988)
- March 22
- Paul G. Hewitt, American physicist, boxer, uranium prospector, author and cartoonist
- Burton Richter, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976
- March 24 – Connie Hines, American actress (d. 2009)
- March 26 – Leonard Nimoy, American actor and film director (d. 2015)
- March 27 – David Janssen, American actor (d. 1980)
April
- April 5 – Jack Clement, American singer-songwriter, record producer (d. 2013)
- April 8
- John Gavin, American actor, diplomat (d. 2018)
- Jack Stallings, American baseball head, coach (d. 2018)
- April 10 – James L. Dozier, U.S. Army officer
- April 11 – Johnny Sheffield, American child actor (d. 2010)
- April 13 – Dan Gurney, American race car driver (d. 2018)
- April 14 – Hugh Leatherman, American politician (d. 2021)[3]
- April 26 – Ted Stanley, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
- April 29 – Don Leo Jonathan, American-Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2018)
- April 30
- Eugene John Gerber, American Catholic prelate (d. 2018)
- Peter La Farge, American singer, songwriter (d. 1965)
May
- May 2 – Cruz Reynoso, civil rights lawyer and jurist (d. 2021)
- May 6
- Louis Gambaccini, civil servant (d. 2018)
- Willie Mays, African-American baseball player
- May 7
- Teresa Brewer, pop and jazz singer (d. 2007)
- Jerry Chesnut, songwriter (d. 2018)
- May 8 – Bob Clotworthy, American diver (d. 2018)
- May 9 – Don Gardner, American singer-songwriter (d. 2018)
- May 13 – Jim Jones, American People's Temple cult leader (d. 1978)
- 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 (d. 2013)
- May 16
- Jack Dodson, actor (d. 1994)
- Lowell Weicker, politician
- May 17
- Stan Albeck, basketball coach (d. 2021)
- Marshall Applewhite, Heaven's Gate religious sect founder (d. 1997)
- May 18
- Don Martin, artist (MAD Magazine) (d. 2000)
- Robert Morse, actor
- May 20 – Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1982)
- May 23
- Barbara Barrie, actress
- Patience Cleveland, actress and diarist (d. 2004)
- May 28 – Carroll Baker, actress
- May 31
- John Schrieffer, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 (d. 2019)
- Shirley Verrett, mezzo-soprano (d. 2010)
June
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- June 1 – Hal Smith, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
- June 2
- William H. Donaldson, banker and businessman, co-founded Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
- Larry Jackson, American baseball player and politician (d. 1990)
- June 9
- Jackie Mason, American comedian
- Joe Santos, American actor (d. 2016)
- Bill Virdon, American baseball player (d. 2021)[4]
- June 11 – Paul Hardin III, American academic administrator (d. 2017)
- June 13
- Marla Gibbs, African-American actress, comedian and singer
- Junior Walker, American saxophonist, singer (d. 1995)
- June 20 – Olympia Dukakis, American screen actress (d. 2021)
- June 21
- Margaret Heckler, American Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2018)
- Les Vandyke, American musician
- June 22 – Martin Lipton, American lawyer
- June 23 – Doris Cook, American baseball pitcher, outfielder
- June 24
- Billy Casper, American golfer (d. 2015)[5]
- Juanita Quigley, American child actress (d. 2017)
- 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 (d. 2019)
- Tom Stolhandske, American football linebacker
- June 29
- Richard L. Berkley, American politician
- Ed Gilbert, American actor, voice actor (d. 1999)
- June 30
- Don Gross, American baseball player (d. 2017)
- 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 (d. 2018)
- Ray Rogers, American politician (d. 2020)
- July 4
- Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013)
- Bobby Malkmus, American Major League Baseball infielder, scout
- Lyndell Petersen, American politician
- July 6
- Robert Dunham, American actor, writer (d. 2001)
- Maralou Gray, American film, television, and theater actress
- Della Reese, African-American actress, singer and evangelist (d. 2017)
- 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 (d. 1968)
- Jerry Herman, American composer, lyricist (d. 2019)
- Julian May, American science fiction, fantasy, horror, and science writer (d. 2017)
- July 11 – Tab Hunter, American actor, singer (d. 2018)
- July 13
- Ernie Colón, American-born Puerto Rico comics artist
- Frank Ramsey, American professional basketball player, coach (d. 2018)
- July 15
- Clive Cussler, American thriller writer and underwater explorer (d. 2020)
- Joanna Merlin, American actress
- July 16 – Norm Sherry, American Major League Baseball catcher, manager, and coach (d. 2021)
- July 18 – Maury Duncan, American quarterback
- July 19
- Marilyn Lewis, American politician (d. 2020)
- Mary Lou Studnicka, American female professional baseball player
- July 27 – Jerry Van Dyke, American comedian, actor (d. 2018)
August
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- August 1 – Hal Connolly, American athlete (d. 2010)
- August 6 – Ron Feiereisel, American basketball player, coach (d. 2000)
- August 7 – Charles E. Rice, American legal scholar, author (d. 2015)
- August 10 – Tom Laughlin, American actor (Billy Jack) (d. 2013)
- August 12 – William Goldman, American author (d. 2018)
- August 14 – Frederic Raphael, American screenwriter, novelist and non-fiction author working in the UK
- August 15
- Joe Feeney, American singer (d. 2008)
- Richard F. Heck, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010 (d. 2015)
- Janice Rule, American actress (d. 2003)
- August 16 – William Luce, American writer (d. 2019)
- August 19 – Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (d. 2003)
- August 20 – Don King, African-American boxing promoter
- August 23
- Barbara Eden, American actress, singer (I Dream of Jeannie)
- Lyle Lahey, American cartoonist (d. 2013)
- 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 (d. 2007)
- Regis Philbin, American television personality (d. 2020)
- August 27 – Joe Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2021)
- August 30 – Jack Swigert, American astronaut (d. 1982)
- August 31
- Kenny Burrell, American jazz musician
- Noble Willingham, American actor (d. 2004)
September
- September 1 – Richard Hundley, American pianist, composer (d. 2018)
- September 2
- Alan K. Simpson, American politician
- Ernest E. West, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2021)
- September 3 – Tom Brewer, American baseball player (d. 2018)
- September 4 – Mitzi Gaynor, American actress, singer and dancer
- September 10
- Mathew Ahmann, American Catholic civil rights activist (d. 2001)
- Philip Baker Hall, American actor
- September 11 – John Reger, American football player (d. 2013)
- September 12
- George Jones, American country music singer, songwriter (d. 2013)
- Bill McKinney, American actor (d. 2011)
- September 13 – Barbara Bain, American actress (Mission: Impossible)
- September 16 – Little Willie Littlefield, American R&B pianist and singer (d. 2013)
- September 17 – Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)
- September 19
- Brook Benton, American singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
- Ray Danton, American actor (d. 1992)
- September 21
- Gertrude Alderfer, American female professional baseball player (d. 2018)
- Gloria Cordes, American female professional baseball player (d. 2018)
- Larry Hagman, American actor, director (Dallas) (d. 2012)
- September 29 – James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1980 (d. 2016)
- September 30
- Angie Dickinson, American actress
- Wesley L. Fox, U.S. Marine Corps officer (d. 2017)
October
- October 1 – Alan Wagner, American opera critic (d. 2007)
- October 2 – Morris Cerullo, American televangelist
- October 3 – Denise Scott Brown, American architect
- October 7 – Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball coach (d. 2004)
- October 13 – Eddie Mathews, American baseball player (d. 2001)
- October 15
- Freddy Cole, singer and pianist
- Gail Harris, baseball player and coach (d. 2012)
- October 16
- James Chace, American historian (d. 2004)
- Charles Colson, American politician, Watergate conspirator, later evangelist (d. 2012)
- October 20 – Mickey Mantle, American baseball player (d. 1995)
- October 22 – Ann Rule, American true-crime writer (d. 2015)
- October 23 – Jim Bunning, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1999 to 2011 (d. 2017)
- October 26
- Hank Garrett, American actor, comedian
- Larry Lieber, American comic book artist and writer
- October 28 – Harold Battiste, American composer, arranger (d. 2015)
- October 30
- Dick Gautier, American actor (d. 2017)
- Rita Crocker Clements, American political organizer (d. 2018)
- October 31
- Jack Molinas, American basketball player (d. 1975)
- Dan Rather, American television news reporter (CBS Evening News)
November
- November 2 – Phil Woods, American saxophonist (d. 2015)
- November 4
- Marie Mansfield, American professional baseball player
- Bernard Francis Law, American cardinal (d. 2017)
- November 5 – Ike Turner, African-American rock musician (d. 2007)
- November 8
- Jack Collom, American poet, essayist and poetry teacher (d. 2017)
- Darla Hood, American child actress, and singer (d. 1979)
- November 9
- Pascal F. Calogero Jr., American judge (d. 2018)
- Whitey Herzog, American baseball player
- November 12 – Mary Louise Wilson, American actress, singer
- November 14 – Dolores Crow, American politician, legislator (d. 2018)
- November 15 – John Kerr, American actor (d. 2013)
- November 16 – Hubert Sumlin, American blues musician (d. 2011)
- November 24 – Tommy Allsup, American musician (d. 2017)
December
- December 1
- Jimmy Lyons, American musician (d. 1986)
- Jim Nesbitt, American country music singer (d. 2007)
- December 2 – Edwin Meese, American attorney, law professor, and author
- December 3
- Jaye P. Morgan, American singer, chanteuse
- Jolene Unsoeld, American politician (d. 2021)[6]
- December 7 – Richard N. Goodwin, American writer (d. 2018)
- December 11 – Benny Spellman, American R&B singer (d. 2011)
- December 16 – Ralph Wolfe Cowan, American portrait artist (d. 2018)
- December 20
- Terry Sanders, American film director, producer and screenwriter
- Ike Skelton, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
- December 23 – Ronnie Schell, American actor
- December 24 – Ray Bryant, American jazz pianist, composer, arranger (d. 2011)
- December 27
- Edward E. Hammer, American electrical engineer, inventor (d. 2012)
- Scotty Moore, American guitarist (d. 2016)
- December 28 – Martin Milner, American actor (Adam-12) (d. 2015)
- December 30
- Charles Bassett, American electrical engineer, astronaut (d. 1966)
- Skeeter Davis, American country singer (d. 2004)
Deaths
- January 4
- Art Acord, actor (born 1890)
- Roger Connor, baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer (born 1857)
- January 14 – Hardy Richardson, baseball player (born 1855)
- January 21 – Alma Rubens, actress (born 1897)
- January 31 – Zina P. Young Card, Mormon leader and women's rights activist (born 1850)
- February 14 – Clarence Ransom Edwards, army officer (born 1859)
- February 18 – Louis Wolheim, actor (born 1880)
- February 28
- Laton Alton Huffman, photographer of the American frontier and Native American life (born 1854)
- Thomas S. Rodgers, admiral (born 1858)
- March 20 – Joseph B. Murdock, United States Navy admiral and New Hampshire politician (born 1851)
- March 24 – Robert Edeson, actor (born 1868)
- March 25 – Ida Wells, African-American lynching crusader (born 1862)
- March 28 – Ban Johnson, baseball executive (born 1864)
- March 31 – Knute Rockne, football coach (born 1888)
- April 9 – Nicholas Longworth, politician, Speaker of the House (born 1869)
- April 26 – George Herbert Mead, philosopher (born 1863)
- May 2 – George Fisher Baker, financier and philanthropist (born 1840)
- May 14 – David Belasco, Broadway impresario, theater owner and playwright (born 1853)
- June 2 – Joseph W. Farnham, screenwriter (born 1884)
- July 5 – Arthur Starr Eakle, mineralogist (born 1862)
- July 24 – George Arthur Boeckling, businessman, president of Cedar Point Pleasure Company (born 1862)
- August 6 – Bix Beiderbecke, jazz trumpeter (born 1903)
- August 27 – Francis Marion Smith, businessman (born 1846)
- August 29 – David T. Abercrombie, businessman, co-founder of Abercrombie & Fitch (born 1867)
- September 6 – Juliana Walanika, the "Hawaiian Nightingale", court singer (born 1846 in the Kingdom of Hawaii)
- September 17 – Marvin Hart, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion (born 1876)
- October 6 – Carrie Babcock Sherman, Second Lady of the United States as wife of James S. Sherman (born 1856)
- October 18 – Thomas Edison, inventor (born 1847)
- October 26 – Charles Comiskey, baseball owner (born 1859)
- October 31 – Charles E. Rushmore, businessman, attorney, namesake of Mount Rushmore (born in 1857)
- November 4 – Buddy Bolden, African American musician (born 1877)
- November 6 – Jack Chesbro, baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer (born 1874)
- December 5 – Vachel Lindsay, poet (born 1879)
- December 18 – Jack Diamond, gangster (born 1897)
- December 23 – Tyrone Power, Sr., actor (born 1869)
- December 26 – Melvil Dewey, librarian, inventor of Dewey Decimal Classification (born 1851)
References
- "Wiley Post". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
- Corporations of Jehovah's Witnesses#International Bible Students Association
- Hugh Leatherman, Stalwart South Carolina Senator, Dies at 90
- Ex-Major League Baseball player and longtime Springfield resident Bill Virdon dies at 90
- "Billy Casper: Golfer who won prolifically but who became unfairly". The Independent. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
- In Our View: Unsoeld left indelible impression on Washington
External links
Media related to 1931 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
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