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J.Edgar Hoover Becomes Head of the FBI
On May 10, 1924, Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone appointed the 29-year-old Hoover acting director of the Bureau, and by the end of the year, Mr. Hoover was named Director. As Director, Mr. Hoover put into effect a number of institutional changes to correct criticisms made of his predecessor's administration. -
Mein Kampf is Published
This book was written by Adolf Hitler and it describes how Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. -
Stock Market Crash Begins Great Depression
The stock market crash of 1929 caused the Great Depression because everyone lost money. Investors and businesses both put significant amounts of money into the market and when it crashed, tremendous amounts of money were lost. Businesses closed and people lost their savings. -
The Dust Bowl Begins
Severe drought hit the Midwest and southern Great Plains in 1930. Massive dust storms began in 1931. -
Franklin Roosevelt is Elected President (1st Time)
In 1932 Roosevelt defeated Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide. During his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and issued a profusion of executive orders that instituted the New Deal. -
Adolf Hitler Become Chancellor of Germany
The new cabinet was sworn in during a brief ceremony in Hindenburg's office. The NSDAP gained three posts: Hitler was named chancellor, Wilhelm Frick Minister of the Interior, and Hermann Göring, Minister Without Portfolio (and Minister of the Interior for Prussia). -
CCC is Created
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. -
WPA is Created
The Works Progress Administration was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads it was set up on May 6, 1935, by presidential order, as a key part of the Second New Deal. -
J.J. Braddock Wins Heavyweight Boxing Title
Braddock, original name James Walter Braddock, (born June 7, 1905, New York, New York, U.S.—died November 29, 1974, North Bergen, New Jersey), American world heavyweight boxing champion from June 13, 1935, when he outpointed Max Baer in 15 rounds at the Long Island City Bowl in New York City. -
Olympic Games in Berlin
The Berlin Games were only a partial success for the Nazis. Germany finished top of the medal table ahead of their main rivals, the United States, but the Americans dominated the Athletics events with African American Jesse Owens winning four gold medals ahead of his blond, Aryan rivals. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung paramilitary and Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces. -
Grapes of Wrath is Published
The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. -
Wizard of Oz Premiers in Movie Theaters
The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland and featuring words and music by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and Harold Arlen, receives its world premiere in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on August 12, 1939. -
Germany Invades Poland
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, War of Poland of 1939, and Polish Defensive War of 1939, was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union; which marked the beginning of World War II. -
The Four Freedoms Speech
Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union Address, commonly known as the “Four Freedoms” speech. In it, he articulated a powerful vision for a world in which all people had freedom of speech and of religion and freedom from want and fear. It was delivered on January 6, 1941, and it helped change the world.