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January 19
US Geological survey says US oil supply would be depleted in 20 years -
A treaty limiting naval armament is signed by the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. The limits set for total tonnage of major naval ships are: USA 525,000, Great Britain 525,000, France 175,000, Italy 175,000, Japan 315,000.
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March 20
The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier. -
August 4
13 million telephones in the U.S. and Canada go dead as the Bell System shuts down all its switchboards and switching stations at 6:25PM for one minute, in memory of Alexander Graham Bell. -
February 2
US signs friendship treaty with Central American countries -
March 21
US foreign minister Charles Hughes refuses USSR recognition. -
April 10
Adolf Hitler demands "hatred and more hatred" in Berlin, Germany. -
April 15
Insulin first becomes generally available for use by diabetics. -
September 1
Earthquake strikes Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan; kills 106,000 -
September 4
The first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah, makes its maiden flight -
December 8
German-US friendship treaty signed. -
March 24
Greece becomes a republic. -
April 6
Four planes leave Seattle, Washington on attempt at around-the-world flight -
March 4
Calvin Coolidge is inaugurated as US President, broadcast live on 21 radio stations -
April 25
Paul von Hindenburg elected second President of Germany. -
October 16
In Locarno, Switzerland, the Pact of Locarno is signed by Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy, Poland, and Czechslovakia. The nations agree to a mutual guarantee of existing borders, and to make peaceful settlements of disputes -
January 27
US Senate agrees to join World Court. -
March 16
In Auburn, Massachusetts, USA, Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, which rises 41 feet, flies 2.5 seconds, travelling 184 feet -
September 18
Hurricane hits Miami and south Florida, USA, destroying hotels, piers, marinas, mansions built in preceding years. 400 killed, 50,000 made homeless. -
February 16
US restores diplomatic relations with Turkey. -
April 7
Telephone lines are used for the first time to transmit a television signal, from Washington DC to New York City. The audience to the demonstration sees an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. -
May 20
At 7:52 AM, American pilot Charles Augustus Lindbergh takes off from New York in his Spirit of St. Louis Ryan monoplane to cross Atlantic for Paris. -
September 7
The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in San Francisco, California, USA. -
January 1
First US air-conditioned office building opens, San Antonio, New Mexico. -
January 31
Scotch tape first marketed by 3-M Company. -
May 15
Walt Disney's first silent film featuring Mickey Mouse, Plane Crazy premieres as a sneak preview at a theatre on Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California. -
The Pact of Paris (Kellogg-Briand Pact) is signed by the USA, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Poland. The countries condemn recourse to war, renouncing it as an instrument of national policy in relations with one another.
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November 18
The Colony Theater in New York debuts Disney's Mickey Mouse film Steamboat Willie. This is the sound debut of Mickey Mouse, with Minnie Mouse (unnamed) as co-star. The film is the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. -
December 11
Buenos Aires (Argentina) police thwart an attempt on US President-elect Herbert Hoover. -
March 4
Herbert Hoover inaugurated as 31st US President. -
June 27
First color TV demonstration (New York City) -
July 24
The Treaty of Paris becomes effective, with 31 more countries signing compliance. -
October 29
"Black Tuesday" New York stock market crashes, triggers "Great Depression" -
June 30
First round-the-world radio broadcast, Schenectady, New York. -
March 19
Nevada legalizes casino gaming and most other forms of gambling. -
April 12
Spanish voters reject the monarchy. -
May 1
U.S. President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City's Empire State Building. At 102 stories and 1,250 feet high it is the world's tallest skyscraper (a record held until 1972) -
The Huang He floods kill between 850,000 and 4,000,000 people (the deadliest historic natural disaster).
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February 25
Immigrant Adolf Hitler gets German citizenship. -
November 8
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat) elected President of US. -
January 4
In an attempt to gain power, Franz von Papen makes a deal with Adolf Hitler and is able to have him appointed chancellor of Germany. Von Papen believed he would be able to control Hitler and the Nazis. -
February 2
Two days after becoming chancellor, Adolf Hitler dissolves German Parliament. [1]
Adolf Hitler meets with a group of generals and admirals at the home of General von Hammerstein. He assures them they could begin a rearmament program, in defiance of the Versailles Treaty. -
April 26
Jewish students are barred from school in Germany -
October 17
Albert Einstein arrives in the US, a refugee from Germany. -
December 26
FM radio is patented -
May 11
Over two days, the most severe dust storm to date in the USA sweeps an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil from the Great Plains across to the eastern seaboard. -
In Germany, two days of officially instigated murders begin. Between 100 and 2000 opponents of Adolf Hitler are killed. Heinrich Himmler's Schutzstaffel (SS) kill mostly Sturm Abteilung (SA) leaders, including head Ernst Roehm. The period becomes known as the "Night of the Long Knives"..
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March 16
In Germany, Adolf Hitler denounces the disarmament clauses of the Versailles Treaty, and begins open re-armament and conscription of soldiers. -
February 29
US President Franklin Roosevelt signs second neutrality act. -
May 27
In California, the Golden Gate Bridge officially opens to pedestrian traffic. -
February 4
Adolf Hitler announces a reorganization of the German army, abolishing the post of war minister, appointing General Wilhelm Keitel as chief of the armed forces high command (OKW), and appointing Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. -
March 12
German troops march into Austria, annexing the country -
June 22
The German government initiates civil defense measures. -
October 30
Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, causing a nationwide (USA) panic. About a million radio listeners believe that a real Martian invasion is underway. -
November 9
(evening) Nazis terrorize Jews in Germany and Austria. Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues are looted and burned. 91 Jews are killed, and 20,000 are taken to concentration camps. This becomes known as Reichskristallnacht, Crystal Night, or Night of Broken Glass -
January 20
Adolf Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews. -
March 15
German troops occupy the Czech parts of Bohemia and Moravia. [10]
Czech president Emil Hacha accepts Adolf Hitler's demand to surrender the entire country. [10]
German troops enter the capital of Czechoslovakia, Prague. Adolf Hitler declares "Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist". -
August 21
Adolf Hitler reads a telegram from Josef Stalin, acknowledging agreement on a non-aggression pact. Hitler responds by banging his fist on the supper table, exclaiming "I have them! I have them! -
August 30
Adolf Hitler orders German armed forces to begin an attack on Poland. -
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' formal entry into World War II the next day
