1938
1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).
Events January-March April-June July-September October-December October 1 - German troops march into Sudetenland October 5 - Edvard Beneš , president of Czechoslovakia , resigns October 10 - The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario October 17 - Jan Syrovy 's government begins in Czechoslovakia October 27 - Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: "Nylon ". October 30 - Orson Welles 's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds United States . October 31 - Great Depression : In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public. November 9 - Holocaust : Kristallnacht begins - In Germany , the "night of broken glass" begins as Nazi troops and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses (the all night affair saw 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested). November 10 - On the eve of Armistice Day , Kate Smith sings Irving Berlin 's God Bless America for the first time on her weekly radio show. November 18 - Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations . November 30 - Czech parliament elects Emil Hácha as the new president of Czechoslovakia. December 23 - Coelacanth , a fish thought to have been extinct , caught off the coast of South Africa near Chalumma River Unknown dates Ongoing events Births January-February January 2 - Hans Herbjřrnsrud , Norwegian author January 2 - Ian Brady , British serial killer January 5 - King Juan Carlos I of Spain January 8 - Bob Eubanks , American game show host January 10 - Donald Knuth , American mathematician and computer scientist January 10 - Willie McCovey , baseball player January 14 - Jack Jones , American singer and actor January 18 - Curt Flood , baseball player (d. 1997 ) January 23 - Georg Baselitz , German painter and sculptor January 25 - Etta James , American singer January 31 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands February 1 - Sherman Hemsley , American comedian and actor February 8 - Prentice Gautt , American football player February 11 - Bevan Congdon , New Zealand cricketer February 11 - Manuel Noriega , Panamanian general and dictator February 12 - Judy Blume , American author February 13 - Oliver Reed , English actor (d. 1999 ) February 18 - Istvan Szabo , Hungarian director February 24 - Phil Knight , American sportswear entrepreneur February 25 - Herb Elliott , Australian runner March-April March 4 - Don Perkins , American football player March 7 - Janet Guthrie , American race car driver March 13 - Erma Franklin , American singer (d. 2002 ) March 17 - Rudolf Nureyev , Russian-born dancer and choreographer (d. 1993 ) March 18 - Charley Pride , American baseball player and musician March 23 - Maynard Jackson , mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (d. 2003 ) March 25 - Hoyt Axton , American musician and actor (d. 1999 ) March 26 - Anthony James Leggett , American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate April 1 - John Quade , American actor April 4 - A. Bartlett Giamatti , American president of Yale University and baseball commissioner (d. 1989 ) April 8 - Kofi Annan , Ghanaian Secretary General of the United Nations , recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize April 10 - Don Meredith , American football player and broadcaster April 11 - Kurt Moll , German bass April 12 - Roger Caron , Canadian author April 26 - Duane Eddy , American musician April 29 - Larry Niven , American author May-July May 17 - Jason Bernard , American actor (d. 1996 ) May 22 - Richard Benjamin , American actor May 26 - William Bolcom , American composer May 26 - Teresa Stratas , Canadian soprano May 31 - Johnny PayCheck , American singer (d. 2003 ) May 31 - Peter Yarrow , American singer June 5 - Karin Balzer , German athlete June 7 - Goose Gonsoulin , American football player June 15 - Billy Williams , baseball player June 19 - Wahoo McDaniel , American football player and professional wrestler (d. 2002 ) June 28 - Moy Yat , Chinese martial artist July 4 - Bill Withers , American singer and songwriter July 6 - Tony Lewis , English cricketer July 20 - Natalie Wood , American actress (d. 1981 ) July 23 - Juliet Anderson , American actress July 23 - Bert Newton , Australian actor and televison show host July 27 - Gary Gygax , American author July 28 - Alberto Fujimori , Peruvian president July 29 - Peter Jennings , Canadian-born television news reporter (d. 2005 ) August-October August 9 - Ezola Broussard Foster , Vice President of the United States August 9 - Rod Laver , Australian tennis player August 15 - Janusz A. Zajdel , Polish writer August 19 - Diana Muldaur , American actress August 22 - Paul Maguire , American football player August 24 - Halldór Blöndal , Icelandic politician August 24 - David Freiberg , American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship ) August 28 - Maurizio Costanzo , Italian television news reporter August 28 - Paul Martin , Prime Minister of Canada August 31 - Martin Bell , British journalist and politician September 2 - Clarence Felder , American actor September 3 - Ryoji Noyori , Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate September 10 - Karl Lagerfeld , German fashion designer and photographer September 13 - John Smith , Scottish politician (d. 1994 ) September 22 - Gene Mingo , American football player September 25 - Jonathan Motzfeldt , Prime Minister of Greenland September 29 - Wim Kok , Prime Minister of the Netherlands October 3 - Eddie Cochran , American singer (d. 1960 ) October 4 - Kurt Wüthrich , Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate October 9 - Heinz Fischer , Austrian politician October 14 - Farah Diba , Empress of Iran October 15 - Fela Kuti , Nigerian musician and activist (d. 1997 ) October 23 - H. John Heinz III , U.S. Senator (d. 1991 ) November-December Deaths January 20 - Émile Cohl , French caricaturist and animator (b. 1857 ) January 21 - Georges Méličs , French film director (b. 1861 ) January 28 - Bernd Rosemeyer , German racing driver (b. 1909 ) February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt , American railway magnate (b. 1856 ) February 7 - Harvey Firestone , American manufacturer (b. 1868 ) February 18 - David King Udall , American politician (b. 1851 ) February 19 - Edmund Landau , German mathematician (b. 1877 ) March 1 - Gabriele D'Annunzio , Italian writer, war hero, and politician (b. 1863 ) March 2 - Ben Harney , American composer and pianist (b. 1871 ) March 13 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , Soviet politician (b. 1888 ) March 13 - Clarence Darrow , American attorney (b. 1857 ) April 8 - Joe 'King' Oliver, American musician (b. 1885 ) April 12 - Feodor Chaliapin , Russian bass (b. 1873 ) April 16 - Steve Bloomer , English footballer (b. 1874 ) April 21 - Allama Iqbal , Indian philosopher and poet (b. 1877 ) April 26 - Edmund Husserl , Austrian philosopher (b. 1859 ) May 4 - Carl von Ossietzky , German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1889 ) May 13 - Charles Edouard Guillaume , French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861 ) May 26 - John Jacob Abel , American pharmacologist (b. 1857 ) August 1 - Edmund Charles Tarbell , American artist (b. 1862 ) August 7 - Konstantin Stanislavski , Russian actor (b. 1863 ) August 16 - Robert Johnson , American musician (b. 1911 ) September 17 - Bruno Jasieński , Polish poet (b. 1901 ) October 22 - May Irwin , Canadian actress and singer (b. 1862 ) October 24 - Ernst Barlach , German sculptor and poet (b. 1870 ) October 27 - Lascelles Abercrombie , English poet and critic (b. 1881 ) November 10 - Kemal Atatürk , President of Turkey (b. 1881 ) December 11 - Christian Lous Lange , Norwegian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1869 ) December 25 - Karel Čapek , Czech author (b. 1890 ) December 28 - Florence Lawrence , Canadian actress (b. 1886 ) Nobel Prizes
