- After Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg offers up a referendum on Austria's independence, Adolf Hitler uses this moment to force Schuschnigg to resign from within, allowing the National Socialist party to take control in Austria. Four days later, German troops "invade" Austria, declaring it part of German territory, and demand annexation of the Sudetenland, causing a major crisis in Europe.
- One month after Britain, France, and Italy agree to the German Demands at the Munich Agreement (despite overwhelming cries of "appeasement"), a night of terror swoops down over German Jews as their windows are shattered by government-supported thugs in what would become known as Kristallnacht.
- Germans also found Volkswagen, giving their first car (designed by Ferdinand Porsche) a succinct and egalitarian design. It would later become the Beetle.
- As a result of all of this activity, Time magazine names Adolf Hitler their Man of the Year for 1938, noting: "To those who watched the closing events of the year it seemed more than probable that the Man of 1938 may make 1939 a year to be remembered."
- Meanwhile, Japan continues to invade and annex large swaths of Manchuria. Jiang Jieshi retreats to Chongqing, while Chiang Kai-Shek works hard to maintain his government in the face of the oncoming invasion.
- Generalissimo Fransisco Franco continues to lead a rebellion of fascist insurgents against the Communist Catalan government in the Spanish Civil War. Heavy fighting against the government in Aragon and the 5 month long Battle of the Ebro left over 100,000 Spaniards dead.
- Construction begins on the Shasta Dam on Sacramento River, one in a series of dams being built in America to provide job relief for those suffering from the Great Depression. It will be completed in 1945, making the largest manmade waterfall in the world.
- Another statute of the Roosevelt Presidency, the Fair Labor Standards Act is passed, creating laws governing minimum wage, child labor, overtime, and on the job safety.
- Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General
- Beatrix, queen of the Netherlands.
- John Bellairs, science fiction writer.
- Judy Blume, children's author.
- Ian Brady, British serial killer.
- Pat Buchanan, American pundit and sometimes Presidential hopeful.
- Victor Buono, actor.
- Raymond Carver, postmodern writer.
- Tommy Chong, pothead and sometimes actor.
- Eddie Cochran, doomed rock star ("Summertime Blues", "Twenty Flight Rock").
- Ronny Cox, actor (Deliverance, Robocop, Beverly Hills Cops).
- Brian Dennehy, actor (Tommy Boy, F/X, Cocoon).
- Alan Dershowitz, famous criminal attorney.
- Bob Eubanks, game show host.
- Curt Flood, baseball player famous for his role in the creation of free agency.
- Connie Francis, singer ("Stupid Cupid", "Who's Sorry Now").
- Bart Giamatti, Yale president and Major League Baesball Commissioner.
- Carl Gottlieb, screenwriter (Jaws, Jaws 2, The Jerk).
- Elliott Gould, actor (MASH, Ocean's Eleven, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice).
- Sherman Hemsley, George Jefferson.
- Etta James, singer.
- Peter Jennings, news personality.
- Deacon Jones, member of the Fearsome Foursome on the Los Angeles Rams, NFL Hall of Famer.
- Jim Kaat, baseball player and author of Ball Four.
- Juan Carlos, king of Spain.
- Ben E. King, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer ("Stand By Me", "Who Wrote The Book Of Love?")
- Phil Knight, CEO and co-founder of Nike.
- Wim Kok, prime minister of The Netherlands.
- Rod Laver, tennis legend.
- Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer.
- Rich Little, celebrity impersonator.
- Christopher Lloyd, actor (Back To The Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, "Taxi").
- Ali MacGraw, actress (Love Story, The Getaway).
- Willie McCovey, baseball Hall of Famer.
- Nico, Velvet Underground chanteuse and Andy Warhol disciple.
- Larry Niven, science fiction author.
- Manuel Noriega, Panamanian despot.
- Rudolf Nureyev, ballet choreographer.
- Joyce Carol Oates, mystery writer.
- Johnny PayCheck, country singer.
- Charley Pride, country singer.
- Oliver Reed, actor.
- Rex Reed, forgiving film critic.
- Janet Reno, Attorney General for the United States (1992-2000).
- Diana Rigg, actress ("The Avengers", On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Hospital)
- Kenny Rogers, singer.
- Ted Turner, media mogul.
- Paul Verhoeven, director (Robocop, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers).
- Jon Voight, actor (Midnight Cowboy, Anaconda, Catch-22).
- Dawn Wells, forever Mary Ann Symmers.
- Jerry West, NBA Hall of Famer.
- Billy Williams, baseball Hall of Famer.
- Fred Williamson, actor (MASH, Boss Nigger)
- Bill Withers, Motown songwriter.
- Natalie Wood, tragic actress (West Side Story, Rebel Without A Cause, Splendor In The Grass)
- Stuart Woods, prolific writer.
- The New York Yankees sweep the Chicago Cubs in 4 games in the 1938 World Series, led by Lou Gehrig (in his final season), MVP Joe DiMaggio, and Red Ruffing. The first night game is played on June 15 at Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Johnny Van Der Meer stuns fans when he threw two consecutive no-hitters for the Cincinnati Reds. Early baseball pioneer Alexander Cartwright and box score inventor Henry Chadwick are named to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame by special committee, while Grover Cleveland Alexander is elected in by the BBWAA. 1938 proved to be the final year for future Hall of Famers Kiki Cuyler, Goose Goslin, and Waite Hoyt; however, it also was the debut season for Hall of Famers Lou Boudreau, Joe Gordon, and Enos Slaughter.
- The New York Giants win a nailbiter over the Green Bacy Packers 23-17 to claim the NFL Championship, led by their multitalented halfback Ken Strong and the league's first MVP, linebacker/center Mel Hein. Corbett Davis of Arkansas is chosen with the first pick of the draft, with future Supreme Court Chief Justice Byron "Whizzer" White chosen 4th by Pittsburgh.
- Texas Christian University wins the NCAA Football Championship with an 11-0-0 record, led by Heisman Trophy winner Davey O'Brien (who later had a stellar career with the Chicago Bears).
- The Chicago Blackhawks claim the Stanley Cup over the fierce Dick Irvin-led Toronto Maple Leafs, despite a 14-25-9 regular season record. Chicago's Cully Dahlstrom claims Rookie of the Year honors, while Boston's Eddie Shore earns the Hart Trophy as the league's Most Valuable Player.
- Italy captures its second consecutive World Cup title on the fields of France, defeating Hungary in the final 4-2. They are led by Silvio Piola and reserve Luigi Colaussi, who scores a hat trick in the final game. Before the match, Benito Mussolini sends a telegram to head cotach Vittorio Pozzo with the ominous pep talk: "Win or die." The World Cup would not resume play until 1950 due to World War II, the Rimet trophy safely hidden under a bed during the fighting.
- Don Budge wows the tennis world by achieving a Grand Slam - winning the French Open, U.S. Open, Wimbledon, and Australian Open. He also leads the United States team to victory in the Davis Cup over a heavily favored Australian squad.
- Paul Runyan defeats a crowded field on the final hole of the PGA Championship to claim his second year-end victory, edging out Tour rookie Sam Snead. On the women's side, future Hall of Famer Patty Berg continues her dominance of the field, winning the U.S. Amateur and being named AP Athlete of the Year.
Daryl F. Zanuck
- The Life Of Emile Zola (starring the exquisitely restrained Paul Muni) claims Best Picture at the March 10 Oscar ceremony. Spencer Tracy captures the Best Actor award for Captains Courageous, while Luise Rainer's subtle grace in The Good Earth wins her Best Actress. Other winners include:
- Best Director - Leo McCrary, The Awful Truth
- Best Supporting Actor - Joseph Schildkraut, The Life Of Emile Zola
- Best Supporting Actress - Alice Brady, In Old Chicago
- Best Original Screenplay - A Star Is Born, William A. Wellman and Robert Carson
- Best Adapted Screenplay - The Life Of Emile Zola, Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, and Norman Reilly Raine
- Best Song - "Sweet Leilani", Waikiki Wedding, Harry Owens
- Best Score - One Hundred Men And A Girl, Charles Previn
is given the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
for lifetime achievement in film. Strangely, the best performing film of 1937, Walt Disney
's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
, is only nominated for Best Score (it would later be given a special award by the Academy for pioneering a new entertainment field - one normal statuette and seven smaller statuettes in tow.)
1938 proves Hollywood even more lush and extravagant in its productions: Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood leads the pack, followed by Boys Town, Jezebel, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Bringing Up Baby, the classic gangster film Angels With Dirty Faces, the lavish Marie Antoinette, and the Frank Capra gusher You Can't Take It With You. Production continues on the Zanuck Southern gothic epic to be known as Gone With The Wind, as well as MGM's top secret adaptation of L. Frank Baum's fantastic The Wizard of Oz.
Two Disney short classics are also released: "Ferdinand The Bull" and "The Brave Little Tailor". In contrast, perhaps the most adventurous Warner Brothers cartoon ever made is released: "Porky in Wackyland" tells the tale of Porky Pig's attempt to capture the mysterious Dodo. Porky would appear in 16 other shorts for Merrie Melodies in 1938.
Future Bob Hope staple "Thanks For The Memories", Louie Armstrong's "When The Saints Go Marching In", Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit", Artie Shaw's "Begin The Beguine", and Johnny Mercer's "Jeepers Creepers" are all released to radio success. Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Shaw, and Count Basie are officially kings of the new swing generation, culminating in Goodman's June 19 appearance at Carnegie Hall. This newfound success is at the expense of older more established songwriters such as George B. Cohan and Irving Berlin, whose movie Alexander's Ragtime Band, while a critical success, fails to resonate at the box office, despite its patriotic showstopper "God Bless America".
Orson Welles's famous "War Of The Worlds" broadcast airs for the first time, causing a mass panic throughout the United States as tales of unstoppable alien forces dominate the airwaves.
Thornton Wilder's wonderful, cryptic, grandiose Our Town plays on Broadway and wins the Pulitzer Prize. Other Pulitzer Prize winners include John Philips Marquand's The Late George Apley for fiction and Paul Buck's "The Road To Reunion 1865-1900" for nonfiction. Other best-selling books include Marjorie Rawling's The Yearling, a sad tale of growing up in the Florida swamplands, Daphne du Maurier's thriller Rebecca, Rachel Field's All This and Heaven Too (later a Hollywood blockbuster), Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Listen! The Wind, and the Ogden Nash collection I'm A Stranger Here Myself.
The first Caldecott Award (named for children's illustrator Randolph Caldecott) is given to Dorothy P. Lathrop for her drawings in Animals of the Bible.
Action Comics #1 is published, marking the first appearance of the red-caped do-gooder Superman.
- http://www.kirkwood.cc.ia.us/faculty/ryost/stereographs/WWIIsources/WWII Stuff/Man of the Year 1938.doc
1937 << 1938 >> 1939