1934

January 1

• Alcatraz officially becomes a federal prison. [1]
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (US bank guarantor) effective. [1]
• International Telecommunication Union established. [1]
• Death of Jakob Wassermann in Altausee, Austria at age 60 (born in Furth, Germany); novelist: Die Juden von Zirndorf, Caspar Hauser, Christian Wahnschaffe. [1] [37]

January 2

• First state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania. [1]

January 4

• First Dutch talkie movie, Jan Teunissen's "Willem of Orange" premieres. [1]

January 5

• Fenway Park catches fire for second time (May 8th 1926 also). [1]

January 7

• "Flash Gordon" comic strip (by Alex Raymond) debuts. [1]
• Princess Juliana marries German prince Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld. [1]

January 8

• Alexandre Stavisky French swindler, dies. [1]
• Jaap Speyers "Bluejackets" premieres in Amsterdam. [1]

January 10

• Marinus van der Lubbe Dutch communist, beheaded in Berlin at age 24. [1]

January 13

• Jean-Baptiste Marchand soldier/explorer (Sudan), dies at age 70. [1]

January 15

• 8.4 earthquake in India/Nepal, 10,700 die. [1]
• Babe Ruth signs a 1934 contract for $35,000 ($17,000 cut). [1]
• Death of Hermann Bahr in Munich, Germany, at age 70; dramatist. [1] [37]
• Patrick O'Malley US policeman, killed by John Dillinger. [1]

January 16

• Annie Patterson composer, dies at age 65. [1]

January 17

• Electric Home and Farm Authority incorporated. [1]

January 18

• Eugene O'Neill's "Days Without End" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

January 19

• Armand Parent composer, dies at age 70. [1]
• Kenesaw Mountain Landis denies Joe Jackson's appeal for reinstatement. [1]

January 20

• Japan sends Henry Pu Yi as regent to emperor of Manchuria. [1]

January 22

• Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady MacBeth" premieres in Leningrad. [1]

January 26

• Germany and Poland sign a ten-year Declaration of Non-Aggression. [10]

January 27

• French government of Chautemps falls (Stavisky Affair). [1]
• VARA refuses to hire after commemoration of Marinus Van de Lubbe. [1]

January 28

• First US ski tow (rope) begins operation (Woodstock Vermont). [1]

January 29

• Fritz Haber German chemist (Nobel Prize 1918), dies at age 65. [1]

January 30

• First theatrical presentation sponsored by the US government, New York City, New York. [1]
• Bert Ironmonger ends Sheffield Shield career age 51 years 298 days. [1]
• Hitler proclamation on German unified states. [1]

January 31

• Franklin Roosevelt devalues the dollar in relation to gold at $35 per ounce (was $20.67 since 1837). [1] [500.F7]

February 1

• Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss dissolves all political parties but his own. [1]

February 2

• Dutch Roman Catholic Bishops warn against fascism/Nazism. [1]

February 7

• First contract for TVA power, Tupelo Mississippi. [1]

February 8

• Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington DC. [1]
• Gaston Doumergue forms new French government. [1]

February 9

• -14.3 degrees F (-25.8 degrees C), coldest day in New York City, New York. [1]
• -51 degrees F (-46 degrees C), Vanderbilt Michigan (state record). [1]
• Balkan Entente alliance forms (Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Romania). [1]

February 10

• First Jewish immigrant ship to break the English blockade in Palestine. [1]
• Byrd souvenir sheet issued, New York City; first unperforated ungummed US stamp. [1]
• Howard Hanson's "Merry Mount" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• Stalin ends 17th CPSU-congress, says "Life becomes merrier". [1]
• Thomson/Gertrude Stein's opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

February 12

• Export-Import Bank incorporates. [1]
• France hit by a general strike against fascists and royalists. [1]

February 13

• Austrian Dollfuss government bans socialistic party. [1]

February 16

• Eduard Bagritsky [Dzjubin], Russian poet/journalist, dies at age 38. [1]

February 17

• First high school auto driving course offered (State College PA). [1]
• Albert I LCMM von Saksen-Coburg king of Belgium (1909-34), dies at age 58. [1]

February 19

• Bob and Dolores Hope marry. [1]
• US contract air mail service canceled, replaced by US army for six months. [1]

February 20

• Virgil Thomson's opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" opens in New York City, New York. [1]

February 21

• Nicaraguan patriot Augusto Cesar Sandino assassinated by National Guard. [1]

February 22

• "It Happened One Night" opens at New York's Radio City Music Hall. [1]
• Willem Kes violinist/composer/conductor, dies at age 78. [1]

February 23

• Augusto Sandino Nicaraguan patriot, assassinated by National Guard. [1]
• Coronation of King Leopold III of Belgium. [1]
• Edward William Elgar English composer (Coronation Ode), dies at age 76. [1]

February 25

• Daniel Protheroe composer, dies at age 67. [1]

March 1

• Henry Pu Yi crowned emperor Kang Teh of Manchuria. [1]

March 2

• Union Pacific tests light-weight high-speed passenger train, Omaha. [1]

March 3

• John Dillinger breaks out of jail using a wooden pistol. [1]
• Norman Houstoun O'Neill composer, dies at age 58. [1]

March 4

• Easter Cross on Mount Davidson (San Francisco) dedicated. [1]

March 5

• Mother-in-law's day first celebrated (Amarillo Texas). [1]

March 6

• Sidney Howard and Paul de Kruif's "Yellowjacket" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

March 8

• Edwin Hubble photo shows as many galaxies as Milky Way has stars. [1]

March 10

• Longest undefeated streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (18 games). [1]

March 12

• Acting President Constantine Päts commits coup in Tallinn Estonia. [1]
• Josip Broz (Tito) freed from jail. [1]
• Paul Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler" premieres in Berlin. [1]

March 13

• Fritz Cortolezis composer, dies at age 56. [1]

March 15

• US Information Service opens. [1]

March 16

• US Congress passes Migratory Bird Conservation Act. [1]

March 17

• Dollfuss, Mussolini and Gömbös sign Donau Pact (protocols of Rome). [1]

March 19

• Anthony J Block lawyer (Dutch strafproces), dies at age 66. [1]

March 20

• A Emma W T von Waldeck-Pyrmont Dutch queen (and regent), dies at age 76. [1]
• Test of practical radar apparatus made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Kiel Germany. [1]

March 21

• Fire destroys Hakodate Japan, killing about 1,500. [1]
• Franz Schreker composer, dies at age 55. [1]
• Lilyan Tashman actor (Bulldog Drummond), dies at age 34. [1]

March 22

• Fire destroys Hakodate Japan (kills 1,500, injures 1,000). [1]

March 23

• US Congress accepts Philippines independence in 1945. [1]

March 26

• The driving test is first introduced in the United Kingdom. [1] [5]
• Grete Gulbransson writer, dies at age 51. [1]

March 27

• British Parliament passes a bill to advance 9.5 million pounds sterling to Cunard White Star to complete construction of "Job No. 534" (the Queen Mary ship). [274.197]

March 29

• Bank of Travail in Belgium, socialist worker's movement bankrupt. [1]

March 31

• Franz Ehrle German jesuit/head of Vatican library, dies at age 88. [1]
• Netherlands Indies BC Ltd begain radio transmission (Indonesia). [1]

April 1

• Bonnie and Clyde kill two police officers. [1]

April 4

• Braulio Dueno Colon composer, dies at age 80. [1]

April 5

• Salvatore Di Giacomo composer, dies at age 74. [1]

April 6

• 418 Lutheran ministers arrested in Germany. [1]

April 7

• In India, Mahatma Gandhi suspends his campaign of civil disobedience. [1]
• William Monroe Trotter civil rights activist/journalist, dies on 62nd birthday in Boston. [1]

April 12

• Highest velocity wind ever recorded on Mount Washington New Hampshire, 231 mph. [1]

April 13

• 4.7 million US families report receiving welfare payments. [1]
• US Congress passes Johnson Debt Default Act. [1]

April 14

• Gerald du Maurier British actor-manager (Unmarried, Escape), dies. [1]
• Karl Dane dies at age 57. [1]

April 18

• First "Washateria" (laundromat) opens (Fort Worth Texas). [1]
• Hitler names Joachim von Ribbentrop, ambassador for disarmament. [1]

April 19

• Shirley Temple appears in her first movie, "Stand Up and Cheer". [1]

April 20

• Heinrich Himmler becomes inspector Prussian secret state police. [1]

April 28

• Franklin Roosevelt signs Home Owners Loan Act. [1]
• Spanish government of Samper forms. [1]

April 30

• Austria gets "Austrian facist" constitution. [1]
• Dr William Henry Welch pathologist who played a major role in the introduction of modern medical practice and education dies at age 75. [1]

May 1

• Alexander Alexandrovich Davidenko composer, dies at age 35. [1]
• Austria signs pact with Vatican. [1]
• Philippine legislature accepts US proposal for independence. [1]
• Water state kingdom dismisses NSB-leader Anton Mussert. [1]

May 2

• Nazi-Germany begins People's court. [1]

May 5

• The 1932 non-aggression pact betwen the Soviet Union and Poland is extended to the end of 1945. [10]

May 7

• Edward Naylor composer, dies at age 67. [1]
• Netherlands Princess Juliana opens Juliana Canal. [1]
• Part of Khabarovsk becomes a Jewish Autonomous Region. [1]
• Pulitzer prize awarded to Sidney Kingsley (Men in White). [1]
• World's largest pearl (6.4kg) found at Palawan, Philippines. [1]

May 10

• Cunard Line and White Star Line are amalgamated as the Cunard White Star Line. [274.7]

May 11

• Over two days, the most severe dust storm to date in the USA sweeps an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil from the Great Plains across to the eastern seaboard. [129]

May 12

• "Cocktails For Two" by Duke Ellington hits #1. [1]

May 13

• Great dustbowl storm. [1]

May 15

• Department of Justice offers $25,000 reward for Dillinger, dead or alive. [1]
• Karlis Ulmanis names himself fascist dictator of Latvia. [1]

May 18

• Academy Award first called Oscar in print (Sidney Skolsky). [1]
• US Congress approves "Lindbergh Act", makes kidnapping a capital offense. [1]
• TWA begins commercial service. [1]

May 19

• Military coup by Colonel Damian Veltsjev in Bulgaria. [1]
• Sherlock Holmes crossword puzzle in "Saturday Review of Literature"; Males who solved puzzle become members of Baker Street Irregulars. [1]

May 21

• Oskaloosa Iowa, becomes first US city to fingerprint its citizens. [1]

May 23

• Texas and Louisiana state police shoot to death notorious criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow near Sailes, Louisiana. The Barrow Gang was believed responsible for the deaths of 13 people, including nine police officers. [1] [129]
• Wallace Carothers manufactures first nylon (polymeer 66). [1]

May 24

• Colombia and Peru sign accord about harbor city Leticia. [1]

May 25

• Béla Bartòk's "Enchanted Deer" premieres. [1]
• Gustav Theodore Holst English composer (Ode to Death), dies at age 59. [1]

May 27

• Meijer Linnewiel [Professor Kokadorus] Amsterdam street hawker, dies. [1]

May 29

• Eugenie Besserer actress (Anna Christie, Madame X), dies at age 65. [1]
• Heihatjirô Tôjô Japanese Admiral (Russian-Japanese War), dies. [1]

June 3

• Dr Frederick Banting co-discoverer of insulin, is knighted. [1]

June 4

• C Jackson discovers asteroid #2066 Palala. [1]

June 5

• First formal meeting of The Baker Street Irregulars (New York City). [1]

June 6

• Securities and Exchange Commission established. [1]

June 9

• The Walt Disney Silly Symphony film The Wise Little Hen is released to theaters in the USA. Donald Duck makes his film debut, with a voice supplied by Clarence Nash. [1] [6]

June 12

• Black-McKeller Bill passes causes Bill Boeing empire to break up. [1]

June 13

• C Jackson discovers asteroid #1349 Bechuana. [1]

June 14

• WOQ-AM in KC Missouri goes off the air. [1]

June 15

• C Jackson discovers asteroid #1324 Knysna. [1]
• Great Smokey Mountains National Park dedicated. [1]
• K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1322 Coppernicus. [1]

June 18

• US Highway planning surveys nationwide authorized. [1]

June 19

• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created. [1]

June 24

• In Germany, Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Reinhard Heydrich begin planning the murders of opponents to prevent a supposed putsch by the SA. [10]

June 26

• Franklin Roosevelt signs Federal Credit Union Act establishing credit unions. [1]
• W E B Du Bois resigns position at NAACP. [1]

June 27

• Federal Savings and Loan Association created. [1]

June 30

• In Germany, two days of officially instigated murders begin. Between 100 and 2000 opponents of Adolf Hitler are killed. Heinrich Himmler's Schutzstaffel (SS) kill mostly Sturm Abteilung (SA) leaders, including head Ernst Roehm. The period becomes known as the "Night of the Long Knives". [10]
• French Equitorial Africa constituted a single administrative unit. [1]

July 1

• First x-ray photo of entire body, Rochester, New York. [1]

July 3

• C Jackson discovers asteroid #1367 Nongoma. [1]
• FDIC pays off first insured depositors, Fon du Lac Bank, East Peoria Illinois. [1]

July 4

• Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb. [5]
• Chaim Nachman Bialik zionist poet, dies. [1]

July 10

• First sitting US president to visit South America, Franklin Roosevelt in Colombia. [1]

July 11

• Franklin Roosevelt became first president to travel through Panama Canal. [1]

July 12

• US Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island abandoned. [1]

July 14

• 116 degrees F (47 degrees C), Orogrande, New Mexico (state record). [1]
• C Jackson discovers asteroids #1325 Inanda and #1326 Losaka. [1]

July 16

• K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1334 Lundmarka. [1]

July 20

• 118 degrees F (48 degrees C), Keokuk, Iowa (state record). [1]

July 21

• 113 degrees F (45 degrees C), near Gallipolis, Ohio (state record). [1]

July 22

• John Dillinger shot dead at Biograph Theater in Chicago. [1]

July 25

• Nazis assassinate Chancellor Dollfuss of Austria. [10]

July 28

• 118 degrees F (48 degrees C), Orofino, Idaho (state record). [1]

August 2

• First airplane train, plane tows three mail gliders behind it. [1]
• In Germany, President Paul von Hindenburg dies. [10]
• In Germany, following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, Chancellor Adolf Hitler assumes the office of Reich President as well. The Wehrmacht oath of allegiance is changed to be directly to Adolf Hitler. [10]
• William Franks twirls an indian club overhead 17,280 times in one hour. [1]

August 6

• US troops leave Haiti, which had been occupied since 1915. [1]

August 7

• US Court of Appeals upheld lower court ruling striking down government's attempt to ban controversial James Joyce novel "Ulysses". [1]

August 11

• First federal prisoners arrive at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay. [1]

August 16

• US ends occupation of Haiti (been there since 1915). [1]
• US explorer William Beebe descends 3,028 feet (1922 m) in Bathysphere. [1]

August 19

• Plebiscite in Germany approved sole executive power to Adolph Hitler. [1]
• The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio. [5]

September 3

• Tunisia begins its move for independence. [1]

September 8

• American luxury liner Morro Castle (11,500 tons) burns off New Jersey, killing 134. The ship is beyond repair. [1] [260.99]

September 12

• Baltic Pact signed by Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. [1]

September 17

• First 33 1/3 rpm recording released (Beethoven's 5th). [1]

September 19

• Bruno Hauptmann arrested for kidnapping the Linbergh baby. [1]

September 21

• Typhoon strikes Honshu Island Japan, kills 4,000. [1]

September 26

• British ocean liner RMS Queen Mary is launched; 80,700 tons, 1018-foot hull, 2139 passengers. The launch ceremony is performed by Queen Mary. [1] [5] [260.60] [274.13,37]

September 30

• Babe Ruth's final game as a Yankee, goes 0 for 3. [1]
• Franklin Roosevelt dedicates Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam). [1]

October 8

• Bruno Hauptmann is indicted for murder of Lindbergh's son. [1]

October 9

• King Alexander of Yugoslavia, by Georgief, a Croatian terrorist. [1]

October 14

• "Lux Radio Theatre" premieres. [1]

October 17

• "The Aldrich Family" premieres on radio. [1]

October 22

• Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd shot dead by FBI in Ohio. [1]

November 1

• In Great Britain, Winston Churchill speaks to his constituency: "Germany is arming, secretly, illegally, and rapidly.". [10]

November 2

• Babe Ruth tours Tokyo Japan. [1]

November 11

• WOC-AM in Davenport Iowa splits from WHO-WOC and becomes KICK-AM. [1]

November 17

• Lyndon B Johnson marries Claudia Alta Taylor. [1]

November 27

• Baby Face Nelson shot by FBI agents. [1] [5]

November 30

• The steam locomotive Flying Scotsman becomes the first to officially exceed 100mph. [5]

December 1

• Sergei M Kirov Josef Stalin's collaborator, assassinated in Leningrad. [1]

December 2

• 5.08-m (200") Mount Palomar Observatory mirror is cast. [1]

December 3

• Italian colonial Tripoli and Cyrenaica annexed to Libya. [1]
• KYW-AM in Chicago Illinois moves to Philadelphia Pennsylvania. [1]

December 7

• Wiley Post discovers the jet stream. [1]

December 8

• Bernhard Seklas composer, dies at age 62. [1]
• Friedrich Wolf's "Professor Mamlock" premieres in Zürich. [1]

December 10

• Fascist dictator of Latvia Ulmanis begins building concentration camp. [1]
• Saint-Adelbert cooperation formed by Catholic elite. [1]

December 13

• Mark Hellinger Theater (Warner Brothers) opens at 237 W 51st Steet New York City, New York. [1]

December 14

• First streamlined steam locomotive introduced (Albany New York). [1]

December 15

• Fokker F18 Snip flies to Netherlands West Indies. [1]
• Maggis Lena Walker first US (black) woman to head a bank, dies at age 69. [1]

December 19

• Japan agress to fleet treaty of 1922 and 1930. [1]

December 22

• First flight from Netherlands to Curaçao (Christmas flight 1934). [1]

December 24

• Grimmett takes 9-180 for South Africa as Queensland make 430. [1]

December 25

• Samson Raphaelson's "Accent on Youth" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

December 27

• First youth hostel in US opens (Northfield Massachusetts). [1]
• Shah of Persia declares Persia now Iran. [1]

December 29

• Federico García Lorca's "Yerma" premieres in Madrid. [1]
• Japan renounces Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and London Treaty of 1930. [1]

December 31

• Helen Richey becomes first woman to pilot an airmail transport. [1]