Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,1869 – 1948), Indian nationalist and spiritual leader, leading the Salt March in protest against the government monopoly on salt production. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)
1930
- Gandhi’s Salt March
- Pluto Discovered
- Stalin Begins Collectivizing Agriculture in the U.S.S.R.
1931
- Al Capone Imprisoned for Income Tax Evasion
- Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere
- Christ Monument Built on Rio de Janeiro Hilltop
- Empire State Building Completed
- Scottsboro Boys Accused of Rape
- U.S. Officially Gets National Anthem
1932
- Air Conditioning Invented
- Amelia Earhart First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic
- Lindbergh’s Baby Kidnapped
- Scientists Split the Atom
- Zippo Lighters Introduced
1933
- Adolf Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany
- Assassination Attempt on FDR
- FDR Launches New Deal
- First Nazi Concentration Camp Established
- Loch Ness Monster First Spotted
- Prohibition Ends in the U.S.
- Wiley Post Flies Around the World in 8 1/2 Days
1934
- Alcatraz Becomes a Federal Prison
- Bonnie and Clyde Killed by Police
- Cheeseburger Created
- The Dust Bowl
- The Great Terror Begins in the Soviet Union
- Mao Zedong Begins the Long March
Alexie Brodovitch, art director Harpers Bazaar, 1935
1935
- Alcoholics Anonymous Founded
- Frank Lloyd Wright Designs His Masterpiece, Fallingwater
- Germany Issues the Anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws
- John Maynard Keynes Suggests New Economic Theory
- Ma Barker and Son Are Killed in Police Shootout
- Monopoly Board Game Released by Parker Brothers
- Penguin Introduces the First Paperback Books
- Senator Huey Long Is Shot in the Louisiana Capitol Building
- Social Security Enacted in U.S.
- Wiley Post and Will Rogers Are Killed in a Plane Crash
1936
- All German Boys Must Join Hitler Youth
- Carnegie Publishes How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Hoover Dam Completed
- King Edward VIII Abdicates
- Nazi Olympics in Berlin
- Rome-Berlin Axis Formed
- RMS Queen Mary Makes Maiden Voyage
- Spanish Civil War Begins
- Stalin’s Great Purge Begins
- The Book Gone With the Wind First Published
- The Prototypical Superhero Phantom First Appears
Lester Beall, REA 1947
1937
- Amelia Earhart Vanishes
- Golden Gate Bridge Opened
- The Hindenberg Disaster
- Japan Invades China
1938
- Broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” Causes Panic
- Chamberlain Announces “Peace in Our Time”
- Evian Conference About Jewish Refugees From Nazi Germany
- “Extinct” Fish Found (Coelacanth)
- Hitler Annexes Austria
- House Un-American Activities Committee (a.k.a. the Dies Committee) Is Established
- March of Dimes Founded
- The Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Is the First Full-Length Animated Cartoon
- Superman First Appears in Comic Books
- Volkswagen Beetle First Produced
- “Wrong-Way” Corrigan Heads to Dublin Instead of New York
Joseph Binder, 1939
1939
- World War II Begins
- British White Paper Issued
- Einstein Writes a Letter to FDR About Building an Atomic Bomb
- First Commercial Flight Over the Atlantic
- German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Signed
- Helicopter Invented
- Major Earthquake in Chile Kills 30,000
- A Mysterious End to Richard Halliburton
- Nazi’s Euthanasia Program (Aktion T-4) Begins
- Refugees on the St. Louis Refused Entry Everywhere
- Wizard of Oz Movie Premiers