What Happened in 1933 — Events, Births & Deaths

Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.

Anarchist insurrection of January 1933 breaks out in Barcelona, Spain.

Casas Viejas incident: 22 peasants killed by the Security and Assault Corps in Casas Viejas, Spain.

The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.

The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.

Adolf Hitler's rise to power: Hitler takes office as the Chancellor of Germany.

Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Nazi foreign policy.

Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.

In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.

LAPD Red Squad raid on John Reed Club art show in the U.S. results in the destruction of a dozen political artworks.

In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate US President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6.

The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.

Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.

Launch of the USS Ranger at Newport News, Virginia. It is the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned by the US Navy.

Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility.

The film King Kong premieres in Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in New York City.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States.

The United States Senate confirms Frances Perkins as United States Secretary of Labor and she is sworn in the same day, making her the first female member of the United States Cabinet.

The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure – Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.

Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.

Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.

The Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area, leaving around 108 people dead.

Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats".

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler orders the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appoints Theodor Eicke as the camp commandant.

Cullen–Harrison Act: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an amendment to the Volstead Act, legalizing the manufacture and sale of "3.2 beer" (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume) and light wines.

Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau.

The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.

Japanese invasion of Manchuria: Japan leaves the League of Nations after it approves the Lytton Report that ruled in favour of China.

The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool is believed to be the first airliner lost to sabotage when a passenger sets a fire on board.

The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.

First flight over Mount Everest, the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.

Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage.

The Australian state of Western Australia votes to secede from the federation in a non-binding referendum, although efforts to implement the result prove unsuccessful.

Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.

Nazi Germany issues the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities limiting the number of Jewish students able to attend public schools and universities.

The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Göring.

Germany's independent labor unions are replaced by the German Labour Front.

The Deutsche Studentenschaft attack Magnus Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books.

Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.

Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act, which restricts agricultural production through government purchase of livestock for slaughter and paying subsidies to farmers when they remove land from planting, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt signs legislation creating the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the predecessor of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany are officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.

Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway.

New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Finnish cavalry general C. G. E. Mannerheim is appointed the field marshal.

The Walt Disney Company cartoon Three Little Pigs premieres at Radio City Music Hall, featuring the hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

The first drive-in theater opens in Camden, New Jersey.

The National Industrial Recovery Act is passed in the United States, allowing businesses to avoid antitrust prosecution if they establish voluntary wage, price, and working condition regulations on an industry-wide basis.

Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.

The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4–2.

In a decree called the Gleichschaltung, Adolf Hitler abolishes all German political parties except the Nazis.

Nazi eugenics programme begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders.

Aviator Wiley Post returns to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City, completing the first solo flight around the world in seven days, 18 hours and 49 minutes.

Anti-Fascist activists Bruno Tesch, Walter Möller, Karl Wolff and August Lütgens are executed by the Nazi regime in Altona.

The Kingdom of Iraq slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. This date is recognized as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory of the Simele massacre.

Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn; destroying 240,000 acres (970 km2) of land.

Christie Pits riot takes place in Toronto, Ontario.

The Volksempfänger is first presented to the German public at a radio exhibition; the presiding Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, delivers an accompanying speech heralding the radio as the 'eighth great power'.

The Crescent Limited train derails in Washington, D.C., after the bridge it is crossing is washed out by the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane.

The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.

Nazi Germany and the Zionist Federation of Germany signed the Haavara Agreement. The agreement was a major factor in breaking the anti-Nazi boycott of 1933 and facilitated Jewish emigration from Germany and into British Mandate of Palestine.

The first Afrikaans Bible is introduced during a Bible Festival in Bloemfontein.

The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage.

Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m).

Ghazi bin Faisal became King of Iraq.

Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament.

Salvador Lutteroth establishes Mexican professional wrestling.

As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrenders to the FBI, he shouts out, "Don't shoot, G-Men!", which becomes a nickname for FBI agents.

A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.

The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.

Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.

Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City.

Great Depression: New Deal: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than four million unemployed.

The United States and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations.

The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition in the United States.

In United States v. One Book Called Ulysses Judge John M. Woolsey rules that James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene despite coarse language and sexual content, a leading decision affirming free expression.

Anarchist insurrection breaks out in Zaragoza, Spain.

Anarchist insurrection suppressed in Zaragoza, Spain.

The first NFL Championship Game is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. The Bears win 23–21.

James J. Corbett, American boxer and actor (born 1866)