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1931 in the United States
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Events from the year 1931 in the United States.
Incumbents
[[Federal government of the United States|Federal government]]
- President: Herbert Hoover (R-California)
- Vice President: Charles Curtis (R-Kansas)
- Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes (New York)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives:
- Senate Majority Leader: James Eli Watson (R-Indiana)
- Congress: 71st (until March 4), 72nd (starting March 4)
State governments
| Governors and lieutenant governors |
|---|
Events
January
- January – The American Federation of Labor's National Committee for Modification of the Volstead Act is formed to work for the repeal of Prohibition in the United States.
- January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
- January 3 – Albert Einstein begins doing research at the California Institute of Technology, along with astronomer Edwin Hubble.
- January 6
- Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
- In Chicago, CBMC hosts the first meeting to address a greater purpose for business during The Great Depression; over 800 people attend the meeting, in Chicago's Garrick Theatre.
- January 30 – Charlie Chaplin comedy drama film City Lights receives its public premiere at the Los Angeles Theater with Einstein as guest of honor. Contrary to the current trend in cinema, it is a silent film, but with a score by Chaplin. Critically and commercially successful from the start, it will place consistently in lists of films considered the best of all time.
February
- Food riots break out in Minneapolis and other parts of the United States.
- February 14 – The original film version of Dracula, with Bela Lugosi, is released in the United States.
- February 20 – California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.
March
- March 1 – Battleship is placed back in full commission after a refit.
- March 3 – The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States national anthem.
- March 17 – Nevada legalizes gambling.
- March 25 – The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with sexual activity.
April
- April 1 – Canyon de Chelly National Monument is established.
- April 15 – The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as capo di tutti i capi ("boss of all bosses") and undisputed ruler of the American Mafia. Maranzano is himself assassinated less than 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families.
- April 18 – Cheverly, Maryland is incorporated.
- April 22 – The U.S., Austria, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Sweden recognize the Spanish Republic.
May

- May 1 – Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City.
- May 7 – "Siege of West 91st Street": 18-year-old serial murderer Francis "Two Gun" Crowley surrenders after a 2-hour gun battle with New York City Police Department witnessed by 15,000 bystanders.
- May 20 – Lake of the Ozarks completed.
June
- June 1 – New York City Fire Department Rescue 3 is put in service for service in the Bronx and above 116th Street (Manhattan). Rescue 4 is founded the same day for Queens
- June 19 – In an attempt to stop the banking crisis in Central Europe from causing a worldwide financial meltdown, President Herbert Hoover issues the Hoover Moratorium.
- June 23 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.
July
- July – John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts, perfects the Emerson iron lung just in time for the growing polio epidemic.
- July 26 – The International Bible Students Association adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses at a convention in Columbus, Ohio.
August
- Warner Brothers releases the first Merrie Melodies cartoon, Lady, Play Your Mandolin.
- August 16 – Texas experiences an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.5, the most powerful earthquake in its recorded history.
September
- September – Construction of Rockefeller Center on Manhattan begins.
October
- October – The Caltech Department of Physics Faculty and graduate students meet with Albert Einstein as a guest.
- October 4 – Dick Tracy, the comic strip detective character created by cartoonist Chester Gould, makes his first appearance in the Detroit Mirror newspaper.
- October 10 – The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4 games to 3, to win their second World Series title in baseball.
- October 17 – American gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion in Chicago.
- October 24 – The George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River is dedicated; it opens to traffic the following day. At 3500 ft, it nearly doubles the previous record for the longest main span in the world.
November
- November 10 – The 4th Academy Awards, hosted by Lawrence Grant, are presented at Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, with William LeBaron's Cimarron winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film also receives the most nominations and awards, with seven and three respectively. Norman Taurog wins Best Director for Skippy.
- November 21 – James Whale's film of Frankenstein is released in New York City.
- November 26 – Deuterium is discovered by Harold Urey.
December
- December 10 – Jane Addams becomes the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- December 26 – Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest surviving Latino fraternity, is founded.
- December – Ess Bee Dress Company is incorporated.
Undated
- Elizabeth Dilling begins anti-communist activism.
- The Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc. (ARE) founded in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as an open-membership group to research the collected transcripts of Edgar Cayce's continuing trances, stored at the Edgar Cayce Foundation.
Ongoing
- Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
- U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
- Prohibition (1920–1933)
- Great Depression (1929–1933)
- Dust Bowl (1930–1936)
Births
January

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- January 1 – Bobbie Nelson, pianist and singer (d. 2022)
- January 5
- Alvin Ailey, choreographer (d. 1989)
- Robert Duvall, actor and director
- January 6
- January 7 – Mack Mattingly, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1981 to 1987
- January 10 – Ron Galella, photographer (d. 2022)
- January 16 – Ellen Holly, actress (d. 2023)
- January 17 – James Earl Jones, African-American actor (d. 2024)
- January 20
- Jack Grinnage, actor
- Preston Henn, businessman, founder of Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop (d. 2017)
- David Lee, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996
- January 22
- January 25 – Dean Jones, actor (d. 2015)
- January 27 – Red Bastien, wrestler, trainer and promoter (d. 2012)
- January 29 – Jim Baumer, baseball player and manager (d. 1996)
- January 30 – Allan W. Eckert, historian, naturalist, and author (d. 2011)
- January 31
February


- February 6
- Rip Torn, actor (d. 2019)
- Mamie Van Doren, film actress
- February 8
- February 9
- February 10 – Carl Rettenmeyer, biologist (d. 2009)
- February 11 – Larry Merchant, author and boxing commentator
- February 13 – Geoff Edwards, actor, game show host (d. 2014)
- February 15 – Maxine Singer, molecular biologist (d. 2024)
- February 16 – George E. Sangmeister, politician (d. 2007)
- February 18
- February 20 – John Milnor, mathematician
- February 23 – Betty Ray McCain, politician (d. 2022)
- February 24
- James Abourezk, politician (d. 2023)
- Dominic Chianese, actor, singer
- February 28
March

- March 3 – Paul Clayton, folk singer and folklorist (d. 1967)
- March 4
- March 6
- March 12 – Herb Kelleher, businessman (d. 2019)
- March 15
- March 18 – Shirley Stovroff, American baseball player (d. 1994)
- March 20
- Norman Francis, American lawyer
- Hal Linden, American actor, singer (Barney Miller)
- Karen Steele, American actress and model (d. 1988)
- March 22
- Paul G. Hewitt, American physicist, boxer, uranium prospector, author and cartoonist
- Burton Richter, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976
- March 24 – Connie Hines, American actress (d. 2009)
- March 26 – Leonard Nimoy, American actor and film director (d. 2015)
- March 27 – David Janssen, American actor (d. 1980)
April
- April 5 – Jack Clement, singer-songwriter, record producer (d. 2013)
- April 8
- April 10 – James L. Dozier, U.S. Army officer
- April 11 – Johnny Sheffield, child actor (d. 2010)
- April 13 – Dan Gurney, race car driver (d. 2018)
- April 14 – Hugh Leatherman, politician (d. 2021)
- April 16 – Julian Carroll, lawyer and politician, Governor of Kentucky (d. 2023)
- April 18 - Noel Marshall, agent and producer (d. 2010)
- April 19 – Fred Brooks, computer scientist (d. 2022)
- April 22 – Joe Cuba, musician (d. 2009)
- April 23 - Chuck Feeney, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2023)
- April 26 – Ted Stanley, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
- April 29 – Don Leo Jonathan, American-Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2018)
- April 30
May



- May 2 – Cruz Reynoso, civil rights lawyer and jurist (d. 2021)
- May 6
- May 7
- May 8 – Bob Clotworthy, American diver (d. 2018)
- May 9 – Don Gardner, American singer-songwriter (d. 2018)
- May 13 – Jim Jones, American People's Temple cult leader (d. 1978)
- May 14
- May 15
- Joseph A. Califano Jr., Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
- Ken Venturi, golfer (d. 2013)
- May 16
- May 17
- May 18
- May 19 — David Wilkerson, Christian evangelist (d. 2011)
- May 20 – Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1982)
- May 23
- Barbara Barrie, actress
- Patience Cleveland, actress and diarist (d. 2004)
- May 28 – Carroll Baker, actress
- May 30
- May 31
June


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- June 1 – Hal R. Smith, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
- June 2
- June 6 – Ken Knowlton, American computer graphics pioneer (d. 2022)
- June 9
- June 11 – Paul Hardin III, American academic administrator (d. 2017)
- June 12 – Rona Jaffe, American novelist (d. 2005)
- June 13
- Marla Gibbs, African-American actress, comedian and singer
- Junior Walker, saxophonist, singer (d. 1995)
- June 20
- June 21
- June 22 – Martin Lipton, American lawyer
- June 23 – Doris Cook, American baseball pitcher, outfielder
- June 24
- June 26
- Robert Colbert, actor
- George Lois, art director, designer and author (d. 2022)
- June 28
- Junior Johnson, NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s (d. 2019)
- Tom Stolhandske, American football linebacker
- June 29
- June 30
July




- July 1 – Marilyn Hickey, American televangelist, speaker and author
- July 3
- July 4
- Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013)
- Bobby Malkmus, American Major League Baseball infielder, scout
- Lyndell Petersen, American politician
- July 6
- July 7 – J. Joseph Curran Jr., American politician
- July 8
- Lowell N. Lewis, American plant physiology professor (d. 2021)
- Zach Monroe, American baseball player
- July 9
- July 10
- July 11 – Tab Hunter, American actor, singer (d. 2018)
- July 13
- July 15
- July 16 – Norm Sherry, American Major League Baseball catcher, manager, and coach (d. 2021)
- July 18 – Maury Duncan, American quarterback
- July 19
- July 27 – Jerry Van Dyke, American comedian, actor (d. 2018)
- July 31
- Nick Bollettieri, American tennis coach (d. 2022)
- Kenny Burrell, American jazz guitarist
August

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- August 1 – Hal Connolly, American athlete (d. 2010)
- August 2 – Hugh Aynesworth, American journalist (d. 2023)
- August 6 – Ron Feiereisel, American basketball player, coach (d. 2000)
- August 7 – Charles E. Rice, American legal scholar, author (d. 2015)
- August 10 – Tom Laughlin, American actor (Billy Jack) (d. 2013)
- August 12 – William Goldman, American author (d. 2018)
- August 13 – William D. Mullins, American politician and baseball player (d. 1986)
- August 14 – Frederic Raphael, American screenwriter, novelist and non-fiction author working in the UK
- August 15
- August 16 – William Luce, American writer (d. 2019)
- August 19 – Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (d. 2003)
- August 20 – Don King, African-American boxing promoter
- August 23
- Barbara Eden, American actress, singer (I Dream of Jeannie)
- Lyle Lahey, American cartoonist (d. 2013)
- Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978
- August 25
- August 27 – Joe Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2021)
- August 30 – Jack Swigert, American astronaut (d. 1982)
- August 31 – Noble Willingham, American actor (d. 2004)
September


- September 1 – Richard Hundley, American pianist, composer (d. 2018)
- September 2
- September 3 – Tom Brewer, American baseball player (d. 2018)
- September 4 – Mitzi Gaynor, American actress, singer and dancer (d. 2024)
- September 10
- September 11 – John Reger, American football player (d. 2013)
- September 12
- September 13 – Barbara Bain, American actress (Mission: Impossible)
- September 16 – Little Willie Littlefield, American R&B pianist and singer (d. 2013)
- September 17 – Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)
- September 19
- September 20 – Malachy McCourt, American actor and writer (d. 2024)
- September 21
- September 29 – James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1980 (d. 2016)
- September 30
- Angie Dickinson, American actress
- Wesley L. Fox, U.S. Marine Corps officer (d. 2017)
October


- October 1 – Alan Wagner, opera critic (d. 2007)
- October 2 – Morris Cerullo, televangelist (d. 2020)
- October 3 – Denise Scott Brown, architect
- October 7
- October 13 – Eddie Mathews, baseball player (d. 2001)
- October 15
- October 16
- October 20
- October 22 – Ann Rule, true-crime writer (d. 2015)
- October 23 – Jim Bunning, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1999 to 2011 (d. 2017)
- October 26
- Hank Garrett, actor, comedian
- Larry Lieber, comic book artist and writer
- October 28
- October 30
- October 31
- Jack Molinas, basketball player (d. 1975)
- Dan Rather, television news reporter (CBS Evening News)
November

- November 1 – Jack Morris, American football player (d. 2022)
- November 2 – Phil Woods, saxophonist (d. 2015)
- November 4
- Marie Mansfield, professional baseball player (d. 2024)
- Bernard Francis Law, cardinal (d. 2017 in Italy)
- November 5 – Ike Turner, African-American rock musician (d. 2007)
- November 8
- November 9
- November 11 – Leslie Parnas, cellist (d. 2022)
- November 12
- Norman Mineta, politician (d. 2022)
- Mary Louise Wilson, actress, singer
- November 14 – Dolores Crow, politician, legislator (d. 2018)
- November 15 – John Kerr, actor (d. 2013)
- November 16
- November 16 – Hubert Sumlin, blues musician (d. 2011)
- November 24 – Tommy Allsup, musician (d. 2017)
- November 30
December


- December 1
- December 2
- Wynton Kelly, Jamaican-American jazz pianist, composer (d. 1971)
- Edwin Meese, American attorney, law professor, and author
- December 3
- Jaye P. Morgan, American singer, chanteuse
- Jolene Unsoeld, American politician (d. 2021)
- December 7 – Richard N. Goodwin, American writer (d. 2018)
- December 11 – Benny Spellman, American R&B singer (d. 2011)
- December 15 – Minnie Lou Bradley, American rancher and cattlewoman d. 2025)
- December 16 – Ralph Wolfe Cowan, American portrait artist (d. 2018)
- December 17 – Dave Madden, actor (The Partridge Family) (d. 2014)
- December 18 – Gene Shue, American basketball player and coach (d. 2022)
- December 19 – Bud Clark, American politician and businessman (d. 2022)
- December 20
- Terry Sanders, American film director, producer and screenwriter
- Ike Skelton, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
- December 23 – Ronnie Schell, actor
- December 24 – Ray Bryant, jazz pianist, composer, arranger (d. 2011)
- December 25 – Lefty Driesell, American baseball coach (d. 2024)
- December 27
- Edward E. Hammer, electrical engineer, inventor (d. 2012)
- Scotty Moore, guitarist (d. 2016)
- December 28 – Martin Milner, actor (Adam-12) (d. 2015)
- December 30
Undated
- Don Whiteside, sociologist, native author, Canadian civil servant, and association founder. (d. 1993)
Deaths
- January 4
- January 12 – Anna Manning Comfort, physician (born 1845)
- January 14 – Hardy Richardson, baseball player (born 1855)
- January 21 – Alma Rubens, actress (born 1897)
- January 31 – Zina P. Young Card, Mormon leader and women's rights activist (born 1850)
- February 14 – Clarence Ransom Edwards, army officer (born 1859)
- February 18 – Louis Wolheim, actor (born 1880)
- February 28
- March 20 – Joseph B. Murdock, United States Navy admiral and New Hampshire politician (born 1851)
- March 24 – Robert Edeson, actor (born 1868)
- March 25 – Ida Wells, African-American lynching crusader (born 1862)
- March 28 – Ban Johnson, baseball executive (born 1864)
- March 31 – Knute Rockne, football coach (born 1888)
- April 1 – Macklyn Arbuckle, actor (born 1866)
- April 9 – Nicholas Longworth, politician, Speaker of the House (born 1869)
- April 17 – Ernesto Rossi, racketeer (born 1903)
- April 26 – George Herbert Mead, philosopher (born 1863)
- May 2 – George Fisher Baker, financier and philanthropist (born 1840)
- May 14 – David Belasco, Broadway impresario, theater owner and playwright (born 1853)
- June 2 – Joseph W. Farnham, screenwriter (born 1884)
- June 8 – Virginia Frances Sterrett, artist and illustrator (born 1900)
- June 14 – Jimmy Blythe, pianist (born 1901)
- July 5 – Arthur Starr Eakle, mineralogist (born 1862)
- July 24 – George Arthur Boeckling, businessman, president of Cedar Point Pleasure Company (born 1862)
- August 6 – Bix Beiderbecke, jazz trumpeter (born 1903)
- August 27 – Francis Marion Smith, businessman (born 1846)
- August 29 – David T. Abercrombie, businessman, co-founder of Abercrombie & Fitch (born 1867)
- September 6 – Juliana Walanika, the "Hawaiian Nightingale", court singer (born 1846 in the Kingdom of Hawaii)
- September 17 – Marvin Hart, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion (born 1876)
- September 19 – David Starr Jordan, ichthyologist, educator, eugenicist, and peace activist (born 1851)
- September 30 – Jane Meade Welch, historian (born 1854)
- October 6
- October 7 – Daniel Chester French, sculptor (born 1850)
- October 18 – Thomas Edison, inventor (born 1847)
- October 26 – Charles Comiskey, baseball owner (born 1859)
- October 31 – Charles E. Rushmore, businessman, attorney, namesake of Mount Rushmore (born in 1857)
- November 4 – Buddy Bolden, African American musician (born 1877)
- November 6 – Jack Chesbro, baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer (born 1874)
- December 5 – Vachel Lindsay, poet (born 1879)
- December 18 – Jack Diamond, gangster (born 1897)
- December 23 – Tyrone Power Sr., actor (born 1869)
- December 26 – Melvil Dewey, librarian, inventor of Dewey Decimal Classification (born 1851)
References
References
- (November 16, 2015). "CBMC History".
- Vance, Jeffrey. "City Lights". [[Library of Congress]].
- "Wiley Post". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission.
- [[Corporations of Jehovah's Witnesses#International Bible Students Association]]
- "The long legacy of the U.S. occupation of Haiti". Washington Post.
- "Volstead Act {{!}} History, Definition, & Significance {{!}} Britannica".
- (2018). "Chase's Calendar of Events 2019 : the ultimate go -to guide for special days, weeks and months". Bernan Press.
- Jerome, Jim. (April 14, 2003). "Dance Fever".
- (1997). "Contemporary Jewish-American Novelists: A Bio-critical Sourcebook". Greenwood Publishing Group.
- [https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/in-memoriam-ron-galella-1931-2022-dv/ In Memoriam : Ron Galella (1931-2022)]
- (September 9, 2024). "James Earl Jones Dies: Revered ‘Field Of Dreams’ Star, Darth Vader Voice & Broadway Regular Was 93". Deadline.
- "David Lee".
- (2006). "Midnight Mover: My Autobiography: the True Story of the Greatest Soul Singer in the World". John Blake.
- Flaherty, Mike. (September 2, 2015). "Dean Jones, Affable Star in 'Love Bug' and a Disney Fixture, Dies at 84". [[The New York Times]].
- [https://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/honor-pioneering-microbiologist-science-educator-maxine-frank-singer-’52-h’78 In Honor of Pioneering Microbiologist, Science Educator Maxine Frank Singer ’52, H’78]
- (August 6, 2019). "Obituary: Toni Morrison".
- [https://restorationnewsmedia.com/articles/local-news/betty-mccain-remembered-for-lifetime-of-service/ Betty McCain remembered for lifetime of service]
- [https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-11-12/hugh-leatherman-stalwart-south-carolina-senator-dies-at-90 Hugh Leatherman, Stalwart South Carolina Senator, Dies at 90]
- [https://apnews.com/article/former-kentucky-governor-julian-carroll-obituary-dead-785894176558f5ec06ee7f3af492b87c Former Kentucky Gov. Julian Carroll dies at age 92]
- [https://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/15886-fred-brooks.html A Giant of Computer Science - Fred Brooks]
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/09/business/charles-f-feeney-dead.html Charles Feeney, Who Made a Fortune and Then Gave It Away, Dies at 92]
- [https://thetowerlight.com/former-tu-president-james-l-fisher-dies-at-91/ Former TU President James L. Fisher dies at 91]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20220627074905/https://www.dtnext.in/edit/2022/06/27/in-memoriam-ken-knowlton-a-pioneer-of-computer-art-and-animation In memoriam: Ken Knowlton, a pioneer of computer art & animation]
- [https://eu.news-leader.com/story/news/2021/11/23/former-mlb-star-bill-virdon-springfield-dies-90/8734410002/ Ex-Major League Baseball player and longtime Springfield resident Bill Virdon dies at 90]
- (February 11, 2015). "Billy Casper: Golfer who won prolifically but who became unfairly".
- (October 24, 2022). "Parnas, Leslie".
- [https://www.columbian.com/news/2021/dec/03/in-our-view-unsoeld-left-indelible-impression-on-washington/ In Our View: Unsoeld left indelible impression on Washington]
- [https://roanoke.com/sports/college/va_tech/kenny-brooks-virginia-tech-womens-basketball-lefty-driesell-jmu/article_d162d540-d266-11ee-9b44-cb1b745cbc79.html Virginia Tech's Kenny Brooks remembers late mentor Lefty Driesell]
- (August 2014). "Aboriginal collections and library services in Canadian research libraries". Canadian Association of Research Libraries.
- (April 2, 1931). "Maclyn Arbuckle dies". The Lewiston Daily Sun.
- (April 18, 1931). "RACKETEER SHOT DEAD AT DETECTIVE'S HOME; Slain as Auto Stops in Front of Brooklyn House--Believed Reprisal in Joe the Boss Killing.". New York Times.
- (November 18, 2011). "Take a Gander at Virginia Frances Sterrett's Fairy Tale Illustrations".
- . (September 19, 1931). ["Dr. David Starr Jordan Dies; Family With Educator As Passes Away: Fifth Attack Ends an Illness of Two Years"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=HT19310919.2.20). *[[Healdsburg Tribune]]*.
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