1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-May

• January 3 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• January 11 - Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
• January 20 - Wedding of King Farouk I of Egypt and Queen Farida Zulficar in Cairo
• January 28 - The first ski tow in America begins operation in Vermont.
• January 31 - Crown princess Beatrix is born in Netherlands
• February 4 - Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens (New York City).
• February 10 - Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers
• February 12 - World War II: German troops enter Austria
• February 24 - A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.
• March 3 - Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
• March 12 - Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
• March 15 - Soviet Union announces officially that Nikholai Bukharin has been executed
• March 18 - Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.
• April 12 - Edouard Daladier becomes president of France
• April 28 - The towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott in Massachusetts are disincorporated to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.
• May 5 - Vatican recognizes Franco's government in Spain

June-September

• June 1 - Action Comics issues the first Superman comic.
• June 11 - Fire destroys 212 buildings in Ludes, Latvia
• June 23 - The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
• June 23 - Marineland opens near St. Augustine, Florida.
• June 25 - Dr. Douglas Hyde is elected the first President of Ireland.
• June 28 - A 450 metric ton meteorite struck the earth in a empty field near Chicora, Pennsylvania
• July 3 - Steam locomotive "Mallard" sets the world speed record for steam by reaching 126 mph.
• July 3 - The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemerates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
• July 10 - Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.
• July - Building of the concentration camp Mauthausen
• August 18 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• September - European crisis over German demand for annexation of Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia.
• September 21 - A large hurricane strikes Long Island, killing 600 people.
• September 29 - Munich agreement of German, Italian, British and French leaders agrees to German demands regarding annexation of Sudetenland.

October-December

• October 1 - German troops march into Sudetenland
• October 5 - Eduard Benes, 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 30 - Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing mass panic in the eastern 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.

the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.

• November 30 - Czech parliament elects Emil Hácha as the new president of Czechoslovakia.
• December 23 - Coelacanth caught off the coast of South Africa.

unknown dates

• Italian mathematician Ettore Majorano disappears
• In Québec, the St. Jean Baptiste Society raised a petition of 128,000 names, demanding restrictions on Jews living in Quebec. Abbe Groulx, the spiritual father of modern Quebec, denounced Jews as a race that refused to be assimilated.
• In West Java, Daeng Soetigna tuned traditional angklung to play also diatonic scale.

Ongoing events

• Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Year in topic

• 1938 in film
  • January - MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming The Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence, the roles are switched between the two actors.
  • April 5 - Noel Langley completes the first script for The Wizard of Oz.
  • May 7 - Lyricist Edgar Yipsel Harburg and composer, Harold Arlen, begin work on the musical score for The Wizard of Oz.
  • July 25 - MGM announces that Bert Lahr has been cast as the "Cowardly Lion" in The Wizard of Oz.
  • October 13 - Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz.
  • October 21 - Buddy Ebsen suffers from a near fatal allergic reaction to the aluminum dust used in his "Tinman" make-up on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Ebsen is replaced by Jack Haley.
  • December 23 - Margaret Hamilton is severely burned during a mishap on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Hamilton, who was cast in the role of the "Wicked Witch", left the film for six weeks.
• 1938 in literature
• 1938 in music
  • January 16 - Benny Goodman plays Carnegie Hall
• 1938 in rail transport
• 1938 in sports
• 1938 in television
  • May 31 - W2XBS telecasts the film The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel, starring Leslie Howard. The staff projectionist accidentally played the last reel out of order, ending the film 20 minutes early. NBC was unable to obtain the rights to first run movies for many years to follow.
  • November 15 - NBC's W2XBT airs what was the first telecast of an unscheduled event, a fire which broke out on Ward's Island.

Births

January

• January 2 - Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
• January 5 - King Juan Carlos of Spain
• January 8 - Bob Eubanks, game show host
• January 10 - Donald Knuth, American mathematician and computer scientist
• January 10 - Willie McCovey, Baseball Hall of Famer
• January 14 - Jack Jones, singer, actor
• January 18 - Curt Flood, baseball star (d. 1997)
• January 23 - Georg Baselitz, painter and sculptor
• January 25 - Etta James, singer
• January 31 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

February-March

• February 1 - Sherman Hemsley, comedian, actor
• February 11 - Boris Majorov , Soviet ice hockey player
• February 11 - Yevgeniy Majorov , Soviet ice hockey player
• February 11 - Bevan Congdon , New Zealand cricket player
• February 11 - Willy Correa de Oliveira , composer
• February 11 - Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator
• February 12 - Judy Blume, author
• February 13 - Oliver Reed, actor (d. 1999)
• February 18 - Istvan Szabo, director
• February 24 - Phil Knight,founder of Nike, Inc.
• February 25 - Herb Elliott, Australian runner
• February 28 - Klaus Staeck , graphic artist
• March 4 - Don Perkins, American football player
• March 13 - Erma Franklin, singer (d. 2002)
• March 17 - Rudolf Nureyev, dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
• March 7 - Janet Guthrie , automobile racer
• March 18 - Charley Pride, country musician
• March 25 - Hoyt Axton, musician, actor (d. 1999)

April-July

• April 4 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, president of Yale Univ. and baseball commissioner (d. 1989)
• April 8 - Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations
• April 10 - Don Meredith, American football player and broadcaster
• April 11 - Kurt Moll, German bass
• April 26 - Duane Eddy, musician
• April 29 - Larry Niven, author
• May 22 - Richard Benjamin, actor
• May 26 - William Bolcom, American composer
• May 26 - Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
• May 28 - Osvaldo Romberg , painter, architect
• May 31 - Johnny PayCheck, country music singer (d. 2003)
• May 31 - Peter Yarrow, singer
• June 5 - Karin Balzer, East German athlete
• June 7 - Goose Gonsoulin, American football player
• June 15 - Billy Williams, Baseball Hall of Famer
• June 19 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (d. 2002)
• June 28 - Moy Yat, Chinese martial artist
• July 4 - Bill Withers, singer and songwriter
• July 20 - Natalie Wood, actress (d. 1981)
• July 23 - Bert Newton, actor and TV show host
• July 27 - Gary Gygax, author

August-November

• August 9 - Ezola Broussard Foster, U.S. Vice President candidate for the Reform Party
• August 9 - Rod Laver, Australian tennis player
• August 15 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish science-fiction writer
• August 19 - Diana Muldaur, actress
• August 22 - Paul Maguire, American football player
• August 28 - Maurizio Costanzo, Italian television anchorman
• August 28 - Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada
• August 31 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician
• September 10 - Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer and photographer
• September 22 - Gene Mingo, American football player
• September 25 - Jonathan Motzfeldt, first Prime Minister of Greenland
• September 29 - Wim Kok, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• October 9 - Heinz Fischer, Austrian politician
• October 14 - Farah Diba, Empress of Iran
• October 23 - H. John Heinz III, member U.S. Senate (d. 1991)
• November 2 - Patrick Joseph Buchanan, conservative journalist, television political commentator and Reform Party USA Presidential candidate
• November 6 - Mack Jones, Major League Baseball player (d. 2004)
• November 13 - Jean Seberg, actress
• November 16 - Robert Nozick, (philosopher)

December

• December 4 - Andre V. Marrou, United States Libertarian Party Presidential candidate
• December 4 - Yvonne Minton, Australian soprano
• December 15 - Billy Shaw, Pro Football Hall of Famer
• December 16 - Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
• December 17 - Peter Snell, New Zealand athlete

Deaths

• January 20 - Émile Cohl, French caricaturist and animator.
• January 21 - Georges Méliès, French film director, allegedly the first
• February 2 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, railway magnate
• February 7 - Harvey Firestone, manufacturer
• March 1 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian poet, dramatist, daredevil, war hero and politician (b. 1863)
• March 2 - Ben Harney, US composer and ragtime pianist (b. 1871)
• March 13 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Soviet politician and intellectual
• March 13 - Clarence Darrow, attorney
• April 8 - Joe "King" Oliver, jazz musician (b. 1885)
• April 12 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b. 1873)
• April 16 - Steve Bloomer, footballer, prolific striker for Derby, Middlesbrough and England (b. 1874)
• April 21 - Allama Iqbal, philosopher-poet
• August 7 - Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian stage actor
• August 16 - Robert Johnson, blues musician
• September 17 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (b. 1901)
• October 22 – May Irwin, actress, singer
• October 27 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic.
• November 10 - Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic, (b. 1881)
• November 11 - Mary Mallon, Irish servant and cook, famous carrier of Typhoid fever.
• December 25 - Karel Čapek, Czech author, inventor of the word robot (b. 1890)
• December 28 - Florence Lawrence, Hollywood's first "star"
• John Jacob Abel - American pharmacologist.

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Enrico Fermi
• Chemistry - Richard Kuhn
• Medicine - Corneille Jean François Heymans
• Literature - Pearl S. Buck
• Peace - Nansen International Office For Refugees, Geneva.