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1938
Albert Bel Fay and his brother, Ernest Fay, found the Seabrook Shipyard, which will go on to
build submarine chasers and rescue boats during the coming war.
TIME MAGAZINE picks Adolf Hitler as its “Man of the Year.”
January 3, 1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the March of Dimes.
January 11, 1938 – Frances Moulton is named as the first female president of a United States
national bank.
January 16, 1938 – Benny Goodman and his orchestra become the first jazz musicians to record
a live concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
January 27, 1938 – The Niagara Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York, collapses due to an ice jam.
January 28, 1938 – The first ski tow in the United States begins operations in Vermont.
February 4, 1938 – Adolph Hitler abolishes the German War Ministry and creates the
Oberkommando der Wermacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), taking direct control of
the German military. In addition, Hitler removes political and military leaders considered
unsympathetic to his philosophy and/or policies.
February 10, 1938 – Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers.
February 12, 1938 – Kurt von Schuschnigg, Chancellor of Austria, meets with Adolf Hitler at
Berchtesgaden. Under the threat of an invasion, he is forced to yield to German demands for
greater Nazi participation in the Austrian government.
February 24, 1938 – The first commercial product made with nylon yarn, the nylon-bristled
toothbrush, is created.
March 3, 1938 – The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia. Also on this date, Sir Neville Henderson,
the British Ambassador to Germany, presents a proposal to Adolf Hitler for an international
consortium to rule much of Africa in exchange for a German promise to not resort to war to
change Germany’s frontiers. Hitler rejects the British offer.
March 12, 1938 – In Anschluss, German military troops occupy Austria and annex it to Nazi
Germany.
March 14, 1938 – Leon Blum, Premier of France, reassures the Czechoslovak government that
France will honor its treaty obligations for aid in case of a German invasion.
March 18, 1938 – Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.
April 10, 1938 – Edouard Daladier becomes prime minister of France. Appointing Georges
Bonnet, a leading advocate of the policy of appeasement, as Foreign Minister, Daladier
effectively negates Blum’s reassurances to the Czechoslovak government on March 14.
May 5, 1938 – The Vatican recognizes Franco’s government in Spain. Also on this date,
General Ludwig Beck, Chief of the German Army’s General Staff, submits a memorandum to
Hitler in opposition to Fall Grun (Case Green). Fall Grun is the plan for war with
Czechoslovakia. General Beck’s reasons: Germany is ill-prepared for the world war likely to
follow.
May 14, 1938 – Chile withdraws from the League of Nations.
May 17, 1938 – The United States Congress passes the Naval Expansion Act.
May 20, 1938 – Czechoslovakia orders a partial mobilization of its armed forces along its border
with Germany.
May 23, 1938 – Due to frustration caused by the mobilization of Czech military forces and the
international diplomatic unity to Germany’s demands for the Sudetenland, Hitler orders his
Foreign Office to assure Czechoslovakia that Germany has no demands on their territory.
May 25, 1938 – Alicante, Spain, is bombed, resulting in 313 deaths.
May 28, 1938 – Hitler declares his decision to destroy Czechoslovakia by military force during a
conference at the Reich Chancellery, ordering the immediate mobilization of 96 Wermacht
divisions.
June 12-18, 1938 – In both Germany and Austria, the Roma and Sinti peoples are arrested,
beaten, and jailed.
June 15, 1938 – Lazlo Biro patents the ballpoint pen in Great Britain.
June 23, 1938 – The United States Congress signs the Civil Aeronautics Act into law, forming
the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
June 28, 1938 – The United States Congress enacts the National Minimum Wage Act within the
Fair Labor Standards Act, establishing a minimum wage of $0.25 an hour, plus time and a half
for overtime, as well as prohibiting the employment of most minors.
June 30, 1938 – Action Comics #1 publishes SUPERMAN for the first time.
July 3, 1938 – The 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in held in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, with the final reunion of the Blue and the Gray. Also on this date, the steam
locomotive MALLARD sets the world speed record for steam by reaching 126 mph.
July 5, 1938 – The League of Nations’ Non-Intervention Committee reaches an agreement to
withdraw all foreign volunteers from the Spanish Civil War. While respected by most
Republican foreign volunteers, especially those from England and the United States, the
governments of both Germany and Italy ignore the agreement.
July 10, 1938 - Howard Hughes sets another aviation record by completing a flight around the
world in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours), beating the previous record by more than four days.
Departing from New York City in a Lockheed Super Electra fitted with all of the latest radio and
navigational equipment, Hughes and his flight crew proceeded to Paris, Moscow, Omsk,
Yakutsk, Anchorage, Minneapolis, and, finally back to New York City. Hughes’ stated goal is to
prove that safe, long-distance air travel is possible, as well as a technological triumph. He
succeeds on both accounts.
July 18, 1938 – Due to a faulty compass, “Wrong Way” Douglas Corrigan, lands in Dublin,
Ireland, after departing from Brooklyn, New York, on a trip to California.
August 6, 1938 – The Looney Tunes releases the animated short, PORKY & DAFFY.
August 10, 1938 – During a secret summit with his top generals, Hitler is critical of General
Beck’s arguments against Fall Grun, and wins over the majority of his senior officers.
August 18, 1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Thousands Islands Bridge,
connecting the United States with Canada. Also on this date, Colonel General Ludwig Beck,
convinced that Hitler’s decision to attack Czechoslovakia will lead to a general European war,
resigns his position as Chief of the Army General Staff in protest.
August 23, 1938 – Hitler, while hosting a dinner on board the ocean liner PATRIA in Kiel Bay,
tells Admiral Horthy, Regent of Hungary, that action against Czechoslovakia is imminent and
that “he who wants to sit at the table must at least help in the kitchen.” The reference is to
Horthy’s designs on Carpathian Ruthenia.
September 2, 1938 – Ivan Maisky, Soviet Ambassador to Britain, calls on Winston Churchill, to
tell him that Soviet Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov has expressed to the French charge
d’affaire in Moscow that the Soviet Union is willing to fight over the territorial integrity of
Czechoslovakia.
September 6, 1938 – In what proves to be the last of the Nuremberg Rallies, world-wide
attention is drawn to Hitler who, during closing remarks, signals whether there will be peace or
war over Czechoslovakia.
September 9, 1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt states it is “100% wrong” that the United
States would join a “stop-Hitler bloc” under any circumstances, and makes it quite clear that in
the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the United States would remain neutral.
September 10, 1938 – In a speech at Nuremburg, Hermann Goring calls the Czechs a “miserable
pygmy race” who are “harassing the human race.” On the same date, Edward Benes, President
of Czechoslovakia, makes a radio broadcast appealing for calm.
September 12, 1938 – Adolf Hitler makes his much anticipated closing address at Nuremburg in
which he vehemently attacks both the Czech people and their president. Hans von Kalterborn,
an American news commentator, begins his famous marathon of broadcast bulletins over the
CBS Radio Network with a summation of Hitler’s address.
September 13, 1938 – Konrad Henlein’s followers start an armed revolt against the
Czechoslovak government in Sudetenland. After much bloodshed and the declaration of martial
law, order is temporarily restored. Neville Chamberlain personally sends a telegram to Adolf
Hitler urgently requesting that they both meet.
September 15, 1938 – Neville Chamberlain arrives in Berchtesgaden to begin negotiations with
Adolf Hitler over the Sudetenland.
September 17, 1938 – Neville Chamberlain returns temporarily to London to confer with his
cabinet.
September 18, 1938 – During a meeting between Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, the
recently-elected Premier of France, and Georges Bonnet, the French Foreign Minister, it
becomes apparent that neither the English government nor the French government is prepared to
go to war with Germany over the Sudetenland.
September 21, 1938 – Representatives of both the French and British governments contact
Czechoslovak President Edward Benes early in the morning notifying him that both countries
will not fight Hitler’s forceful annexation of Sudetenland. By the late afternoon, the
Czechoslovak government submits to both the French and British governments’ demands. On
this same date, Winston Churchill warns of the grave consequences to the security of Europe
concerning breaking up Czechoslovakia. The same day, Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim
Litvinov makes a similar statement to the League of Nations.
September 22, 1938 – Czechoslovak Premier Milan Hodza resigns due to the previous day’s
events. General Jan Syrovy takes his place. Also on this date, Neville Chamberlain arrives in
Godesberg for another round of talks with Adolf Hitler over the Sudetenland crisis. Hitler ups
his demands to include occupation of all German Sudeten territories by October 1. That night,
after a telephone conference, Chamberlain reverses himself and advises the Czechoslovaks to
mobilize.
September 23, 1938 – The Czechoslovak Army mobilizes.
September 24, 1938 – The British Ambassador to France, Sir Eric Phipps, reports to London that
“all that is best in France is against war, almost at any price,” being opposed only by a “small,
but noisy and corrupt, war group.” Phipps’ report causes major doubts in the British government
about the ability and/or willingness of France to actually go to war. Adolf Hitler and Neville
Chamberlain conclude their talks on the Sudetenland at 1:30 AM, with Chamberlain agreeing to
take Hitler’s demands, codified in the Godesnerg Memorandum, personally to the Czech
government. The Czech government, as well as Chamberlains own cabinet, rejects the demands.
The French government initially rejects the terms, and orders a partial mobilization of the French
Army.
September 26, 1938 – In a venomous speech at Berlin’s Sportplast, Adolf Hitler defies the world
and implies that war with Czechoslovakia will begin at any time.
September 28, 1938 – With the deadline of October 1st for the occupation of the Sudetenland
approaching, Adolf Hitler invites Italian Duce Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edourd
Deladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to one last conference in Munich,
Germany. However, the Czechs themselves are not invited.
September 29, 1938 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler informs Colonel Graham Christie, assistant
British military attaché in Berlin, that the mobilization of the Royal Navy has badly damaged the
popularity of the Nazi regime, as the German people realize that Fall Grun is likely to cause a
world war. Also on this date, in the Munich Agreement, German, Italian, British, and French
leaders agree to Germany’s demands regarding the annexation of the Sudetenland in
Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government ostracized from the negotiations and is not a
signatory to the agreement.
September 30, 1938 – Neville Chamberlain returns to Britain from meeting with Adolf Hitler
and declares “Peace in our Time.”
October 1, 1938 – German troops march into the Sudetenland. The Polish government gives the
Czech government and ultimatum stating that Teschen must be surrendered within 24 hours.
The Czechs are forced to comply.
October 2, 1938 – In the Tiberias Massacre, Arabs murder 20 Jews. Also on this date, Duff
Cooper, disgusted with the conduct of Neville Chamberlain at Munich, resigns as the First Lord
of the Admiralty. With this resignation, formal debate begins in Parliament concerning the
Munich Agreement.
October 4, 1938 – The Republican forces fighting in the Spanish Civil War begin withdrawing
their foreign volunteers from combat as agreed on July 5th.
October 5, 1938 – The President of Czechoslovakia, Edward Benes, resigns.
October 10, 1938 – The Blue Water Bridge, connecting Port Huron, Michigan, with Sarnia,
Ontario, Canada, opens to vehicular traffic.
October 16, 1938 – In a radio broadcast address to the United States, Winston Churchill
condemns the Munich Agreement as a defeat. Churchill tells the United States and western
Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Hitler.
October 18, 1938 – The German government expels 12,000 Polish Jews living in Germany. The
Polish government accepts 4,000, but refuses admittance to the remaining 8,000, forcing them to
live in the “No-Man’s Land” area on the German-Polish border.
October 21, 1938 – In direct breach of the recently signed Munich Agreement, Adolf Hitler
circulates among his own high command a secret memorandum stating that Germany should
prepare for the “liquidation of the rest of Czechoslovakia” as well as the occupation of Memel.
October 24, 1938 – The United States Congress establishes the law regarding the minimum
wage. Also on this date, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet carries out a major purge of
the Qui d.Orsay, sacking or exiling a number of anti-appeasement officials such as Pierre Comert
and Rene Massigli. And, at a “friendly luncheon” in Berchtesgaden, German Foreign Minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop tells Polish Ambassador to Germany Jozef Lipski, that the Free City of
Danzig must return to Germany, that Germany must have extra-territorial rights in the Polish
Corridor, and that Poland must sign the Anti-Comintern Pact.
October 27, 1938 – Du Pont Chemical Company announces a name for its new synthetic yarn:
“Nylon.”
October 30, 1938 – Orson Welles broadcasts “The War of the Worlds” radio drama scaring the
nation with a simulated Martian invasion.
October 31, 1938 – In an effort to try to restore investor confidence, the New York Stock
Exchange unveils a 15-point program aimed at upgrading protections for the investing public.
November 4, 1938 – At a public meeting in Epping, Winston Churchill narrowly survives an
attempt by fellow Conservative and constituent Sir Colin Thornton-Kemsley to remove him from
Parliament.
November 7, 1938 – Herschel Grynszpan assassinates the Third Secretary at the German
Embassy in Paris, Ernst vom Rath.
November 9, 1938 – In Germany, Kristallnacht, or the “night of broken glass,” begins as Nazi
activists and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses. Over 7,500 Jewish businesses are
destroyed, 267 synagogues are burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men are
arrested.
November 10, 1938 – On the Marine Corps birthday, Kate Smith sings GOD BLESS AMERICA by
Irving Berlin for the first time on her weekly radio show.
November 12, 1938 – French Finance Minister Paul Reynard brings into effect a series of laws
aimed at improving French productivity, and manages to undo most of the economic laws of the
Popular Front. By improving French productivity, his aim is to undo the economic weaknesses
which led to Munch.
November 18, 1938 – Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations.
November 25, 1938 – French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet informs Leon Noel, the French
Ambassador to Poland, that France should find an excuse for terminating the 1921 Franco-Polish
alliance.
November 30, 1938 – The Czechoslovak parliament elects Emil Hacha as the new President of
Czechoslovakia. Benito Mussolini and his Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano order
“spontaneous” demonstrations in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, demanding that France
surrender Tunisia, Nice, Cosrsica, and French Somaliland to Italy. Also on this date, Corneliu
Zelea Codreanu, leader of the Romanian fascist Iron Guard, is murdered on the orders of King
Carol II. The official version is that Codreanu and the 13 other Iron Guard leaders are “shot
while trying to escape.” And, the French Communist Party calls a general strike in France to
protest the laws of November 12th.
December 6, 1938 – German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop visits Paris, and is
“informed” by French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet that France now recognizes all of
Eastern Europe as being in Germany’s exclusive sphere of influence. Bonnet denies making the
remark to Ribbentrop which becomes a major factor in German policy in 1939.
December 11, 1938 – During the Kingdom of Yugoslavia parliamentary election, the opposition
gains votes but not seats.
December 13, 1938 – The Neuengamme concentration camp opens near Hamburg.
December 16, 1938 – MGM Studios releases its successful film version of Charles Dickens’ A
CHRISTMAS CAROL. Reginald Owen takes over for Lionel Barrymore, originally set to star as
Ebenezer Scrooge until adversely affected by arthritis.