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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. -
Mein Kampf is Published
On 18 July 1925, Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf (‘My Struggle’) was published. He wrote it in prison, where he was serving a sentence for a failed coup he attempted in 1923. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about his ideology and presented himself as the leader of the extreme right. He talked about his life and his youth, his 'conversion' to antisemitism (the hatred of Jews), and his time as a soldier in the First World War. -
Stock Market Crash Begins Great Depression
The epic boom ended in a cataclysmic bust. On Black Monday, October 28, 1929, the Dow declined nearly 13 percent. On the following day, Black Tuesday, the market dropped nearly 12 percent. By mid-November, the Dow had lost almost half of its value. On Black Monday, October 28, 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined nearly 13 percent. Federal Reserve leaders differed on how to respond to the event and support the financial system. -
The Dust Bowl Begins
Between 1930 and 1940, the southwestern Great Plains region of the United States suffered a severe drought. Once a semi-arid grassland, the treeless plains became home to thousands of settlers when, in 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act. -
CCC is Created
The Emergency Conservation Work Act of 1933 mandated that the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recruit unemployed young men from urban areas to perform conservation work throughout the nation's forests, parks, and fields. One of several prongs in the New Deal's attack on economic stagnation, President Franklin D. -
Franklin Roosevelt is Elected President (1st Time)
In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory. -
Adolf Hitler Become Chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933 following a series of electoral victories by the Nazi Party. He ruled absolutely until his death by suicide in April 1945. -
WPA is created
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the WPA with an executive order on May 6, 1935. It was part of his New Deal plan to lift the country out of the Great Depression by reforming the financial system and restoring the economy to pre-Depression levels. The unemployment rate in 1935 was at a staggering 20 percent. -
J.J. Braddock Wins Heavyweight Boxing Title
Braddock (born June 7, 1905, New York, New York, U.S.—died November 29, 1974, North Bergen, New Jersey) was an 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, until June 22, 1937, when he was knocked out by Joe Louis -
Olympic Games in Berlin
Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, athletic festival held in Berlin that took place August 1–16, 1936. The Berlin Games were the 10th occurrence of the modern Olympic Games. The event was held in a tense, politically charged atmosphere, occurring just two years after Adolf Hitler became Führer. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, was the Nazi dictatorship's declaration of war against German and Austrian Jews in November 1938. -
The Four Freedoms Speech
This speech, delivered by President Franklin Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, became known as his "Four Freedoms Speech" due to a short closing portion in which he described his vision for extending American ideals throughout the world. These "four freedoms" - the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear - symbolized America's war aims. -
Grapes of Wrath is Published
The Grapes of Wrath, the best-known novel by John Steinbeck, published in 1939. It evokes the harshness of the Great Depression and arouses sympathy for the struggles of migrant farmworkers. The book came to be regarded as an American classic. -
Wizard of Oz Premiers in Movie Theaters
On August 25, 1939, The Wizard of Oz, which will become one of the best-loved movies in history, opens in theaters around the United States. -
Germany Invades Poland
The invasion lasted from September 1 to October 5, 1939. As dawn broke on September 1, 1939, German forces launched a surprise attack on Poland. The attack was sounded with the predawn shelling, by the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, of Polish fortifications at the Baltic port of Danzig (modern Dansk).