Events from the year 1930 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government President: Herbert Hoover (R-California) Vice President: Charles Curtis (R-Kansas) Chief Justice: William Howard Taft (Ohio) (until February 3) Charles Evans Hughes (New York) (starting February 13) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nicholas Longworth (R-Ohio) Senate Majority Leader: James Eli Watson (R-Indiana) Congress: 71st

State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors

Lieutenant governors

Demographics

Events

January–March January 6 The first diesel engine automobile trip is completed (Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City). The first literary character licensing agreement is signed by English author A. A. Milne, granting Stephen Slesinger U.S. and Canadian merchandising rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works. January 13 – The Mickey Mouse comic strip makes its first appearance. January 19–23 – Watsonville riots: violent assaults on Filipino American farm workers by white residents in California. February 18 Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane, and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane. While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh confirms the existence of Pluto, a heavenly body considered a planet until 2006, when officially redefined as a dwarf planet. March 6 – The first frozen foods of Clarence Birdseye go on sale in Springfield, Massachusetts. March 17 – The Empire State Building begins construction in New York City. March 20 – Colonel Sanders opens the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in North Corbin, Kentucky. March 31 – The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next 40 years.

April–June

April 3 – The 2nd Academy Awards, hosted by William C. DeMille, are presented at the Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles), with Harry Beaumont's The Broadway Melody winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh's In Old Arizona and Ernst Lubitsch's The Patriot jointly receive the most nominations with five. April 6 – Jimmy Dewar invents Hostess Twinkies (snack cakes). April 19 – Warner Bros. in the United States release their first cartoon series, called Looney Tunes, which runs until 1969. April 21 – A fire in the Ohio Penitentiary near Columbus kills 320 people. April 22 – The United States, United Kingdom and Japan sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding. April 28 – The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas. May 10 – The National Pan-Hellenic Council is founded in Washington, D.C. May 14 – Carlsbad Caverns National Park is established in New Mexico. May 15 – Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess, aboard a Boeing tri-motor flying from Oakland, California, to Chicago, Illinois. May 27 – The Chrysler Building is completed in New York City, becoming the world's first man-made structure taller than . May 30 Film director Sergei Eisenstein arrives in Hollywood to work for Paramount Pictures; they part ways by October. Shedd Aquarium, one of the first inland aquariums in the world, opens in Chicago. June 9 – Chicago Tribune journalist Jake Lingle is shot in Chicago. Newspapers promise $55,000 reward for information. Lingle is later found to have had contacts with organized crime. June 14 – An act of Congress establishes the Federal Bureau of Narcotics as a replacement for the Narcotics Division of the Prohibition Unit. June 17 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law.

July–September July 4 – Nation of Islam founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad in Detroit. July 21 – The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established. July 26 – Charles Creighton and James Hargis leave New York City for Los Angeles on a roundtrip journey, driving 11,555 km using only a reverse gear; the trip lasts the next 42 days. July 30 – New York City television station W2XBS is put in charge of NBC broadcast engineers. July 31 – The radio drama The Shadow airs for the first time. August 6 – Judge Joseph Force Crater steps into a taxi in New York City and disappears. August 7 – Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. They are hanged; James Cameron survives. This will be the last recorded lynching of African Americans in the Northern United States. August 9 – Cartoon character Betty Boop premieres in the animated film Dizzy Dishes. September 8 – 3M introduces Scotch Tape. September 9 – Governor of Louisiana Huey P. Long wins the 1930 Democratic Senate primary election in Louisiana, he would later win the Senate election.

October–December October 8 – The Philadelphia Athletics defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 2, to win their 5th World Series Title. November 4 W9XAP in Chicago, Illinois, broadcasts the U.S. senatorial election returns, the first time a senatorial race, with non-stop vote tallies, is televised. Benjamin M. Miller is elected the 39th governor of Alabama defeating Hugh A. Locke. November 5 – The 3rd Academy Awards, hosted by Conrad Nagel, are presented at the Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles). Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Milestone winning Best Director. The film and George Hill's The Big House both receive the most awards with two, while Ernst Lubitsch's The Love Parade receives the most nominations with six. November 15 – Jean Harlow has her first major film role, in Howard Hughes' epic war film Hell's Angels. Her platinum hair and sensual persona cause an immediate sensation, turning her into one of the decade's most iconic and discussed film stars. December 2 – Great Depression: U.S. President Herbert Hoover goes before Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy. December 7 – W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts, broadcasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers. The broadcast also includes the first television commercial in the United States, an advertisement for I. J. Fox Furriers, who sponsored the radio show.

Undated A Jamaican ginger ("Jake") paralysis outbreak occurs across the South and Midwest. 1930–1931 – Crazy Horse’s lifelong friend, He Dog, is interviewed by journalist Eleanor Hinman and Nebraska writer Mari Sandoz. A record drought in the eastern part of the nation sees Upper Tract, West Virginia record only of precipitation for the year – the record lowest for a calendar year in the US east of the Mississippi. Averaged over the contiguous US the twelve months from July 1930 to June 1931 remains the driest such period on record.

Ongoing Lochner era (c. 1897 – c. 1937) U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) Prohibition (1920–1933) Great Depression (1929–1933) Dust Bowl (1930–1936)

Births

January

January 1 Ty Hardin, actor (d. 2017) Frederick Wiseman, film maker (d. 2026) January 2 – Julius La Rosa, pop singer (d. 2016) January 3 Ray Barra, ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 2025) Robert Loggia, actor (d. 2015) Barbara Stuart, actress (d. 2011) January 4 Sorrell Booke, actor (d. 1994) Don Shula, American football player and coach (d. 2020) January 5 Edward Givens, United States Air Force officer, test pilot and NASA astronaut (d. 1967) Don Rondo, singer (d. 2011) January 6 W. Wallace Cleland, biochemist and educator (d. 2013) Professor Tanaka, wrestler and actor (d. 2000) Vic Tayback, actor (Alice) (d. 1990) January 7 Ann Bedsole, politician (d. 2025) Jack Greene, country music singer-songwriter (d. 2013) Eddie LeBaron, American football player, manager and sportscaster (d. 2015) January 8 Dorothi Fox, actress Bill James, politician (d. 2022) Doreen Wilber, archer (d. 2008) January 10 – Roy E. Disney, film and television executive (d. 2009) January 12 – Glenn Yarbrough, singer (d. 2016) January 13 – Frances Sternhagen, actress (d. 2023) January 14 – C. Arlen Beam, judge January 15 James Millstone, journalist and editor (d. 1992) Margaret Mary Vojtko, linguist (d. 2013) January 16 – Mary Ann McMorrow, judge (d. 2013) January 17 Dick Contino, American accordionist (d. 2017) Lucille Miller, American murderer (d. 1986) January 18 – James M. Bobbitt, chemist and professor (d. 2021) January 19 – Tippi Hedren, actress January 20 – Buzz Aldrin, astronaut, Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11 and second person to walk on the Moon January 22 – David Rosen, businessman (d. 2025) January 23 William R. Pogue, astronaut (d. 2014) Benjamin Tatar, actor (d. 2012) January 24 Edward Diego Reyes, politician (d. 2018) Rita Lakin, screenwriter (d. 2023) John Romita Sr., comic book artist (d. 2023)John Romita Sr obituary January 25 – Ruth Kligman, artist (d. 2010) January 26 – Thomas Gumbleton, Roman Catholic prelate (d. 2024)Retired Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit dies at 94 January 27 – Bobby Bland, African-American singer (d. 2013) January 28 Ruth Cohen (actress), actress (d. 2008) Ralph Engelstad, businessman (d. 2002) January 30 Gene Hackman, actor and novelist (d. 2025) Frank O'Bannon, politician, 47th governor of Indiana (d. 2003) January 31 – Al De Lory, record producer, arranger, musician (d. 2012)

February

February 2 Ruth M. Kirk, politician (d. 2011) C. M. Newton, basketball player, coach and administrator (d. 2018) February 3 – David Edward Foley, Roman Catholic prelate (d. 2018) February 4 – Jim Loscutoff, basketball player (d. 2015) February 5 – Don Goldie, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1995) February 7 – Jack Biddle, politician (d. 2022)32-year former state legislator Jack Biddle dies in Gardendale February 8 Jim Dooley, American football player and coach (d. 2008) Arlan Stangeland, American farmer and politician (d. 2013) February 10 Anne Wexler, American political consultant and public policy advisor (d. 2009) Robert Wagner, American actor February 11 – James Polshek, American architect (d. 2022) February 12 Bert Clark, American football player and coach (d. 2004) Arlen Specter, American politician (d. 2012) February 13 – Frank Buxton, American actor, television writer, director and author (d. 2018) February 14 – Bernie Papy Jr., American politician (d. 1995) February 15 Sara Jane Moore, attempted assassin of President Gerald Ford (d. 2025) Robert Edward Mulvee, Roman Catholic Prelate (d. 2018) February 16 Ricou Browning, stuntman and film director (d. 2023) Noah Weinberg, American-born Israeli rabbi, founder of Aish HaTorah (d. 2009 in Israel) February 17 – Roger Craig, American baseball player, coach and manager (d. 2023) February 18 – Pauline Bart, American sociologist (d. 2021) February 19 – John Frankenheimer, American film director (d. 2002) February 22 James McGarrell, American painter (d. 2020) Marni Nixon, American vocalist (d. 2016) February 24 Joan Diener, American theater actress and singer (d. 2006) Barbara Jo Lawrence, American actress and model (d. 2013) Anita Steckel, American feminist artist (d. 2012) February 25 Roger A. Madigan, American politician (d. 2018) Delford M. Smith, American aviator (d. 2014) February 26 – Robert Francis, American actor (d. 1955) February 27 Barney Glaser, American sociologist (d. 2022) Peter Stone, American writer (d. 2003) Joanne Woodward, American actress February 28 – Leon Cooper, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2024)

March

March 2 John Cullum, actor and singer Tom Wolfe, author, journalist (d. 2018) March 5 – Del Crandall, baseball player and manager (d. 2021) March 6 – Allison Hayes, actress (d. 1977) March 9 – Ornette Coleman, jazz saxophonist (d. 2015) March 16 Olen Lovell Burrage, American native businessman (d. 2013) Hobie Landrith, baseball player (d. 2023) March 17 – James Irwin, astronaut (d. 1991)