Events from the year 1936 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government President: Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-New York) Vice President: John Nance Garner (D-Texas) Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes (New York) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph W. Byrns, Sr. (D-Tennessee) (until June 4) William B. Bankhead (D-Alabama) (starting June 4) Senate Majority Leader: Joseph Taylor Robinson (D-Arkansas) Congress: 74th
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January–March
January 4 – Billboard magazine publishes its first music hit parade. January 15 – The first American building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. February 17 – The first superhero to wear a skin-tight costume and mask, The Phantom, makes his appearance in U.S. newspapers. March – German American Bund formed in Buffalo, New York, in support of Nazi Germany to succeed the Friends of New Germany, with German-born American citizen Fritz Julius Kuhn elected as its first leader. March 1 – Construction of Hoover Dam is completed. March 5 – The 8th Academy Awards, hosted by Frank Capra, are presented at Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, with Frank Lloyd's Mutiny on the Bounty winning the Academy Award for Outstanding Production. The film receives the most nominations with eight, while John Ford's The Informer wins the most awards with four, including Best Director for Ford. March 17–18 – Pittsburgh Flood of 1936 ("St. Patrick's Day Flood"): Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suffers the worst flooding in its history. March 26 – The longest game in the history of the National Hockey League is played. The Montreal Maroons and Detroit Red Wings are scoreless until 16½ minutes into the sixth overtime when Mud Bruneteau ends it at 2:25 am.
April–June
April 3 – Richard Hauptmann, convicted of the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder in 1932, is executed by electrocution in New Jersey State Prison. April 5 – A tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 216 and injuring over 700 (the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history). May Lawrence Warehouse Company, based in San Francisco, California has an initial public stock offering. May 12 – The Santa Fe railroad inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles. May 25 – Remington Rand strike of 1936–37 begins. June A major heat wave strikes North America; high temperature records are set and thousands die. The first production model PCC streetcar, built by St. Louis Car Company, is placed in service by Pittsburgh Railways. June 7 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee is founded. June 10 – Margaret Mitchell's epic historical romance Gone with the Wind is published. June 19 – Max Schmeling knocks out Joe Louis in the 12th round of their heavyweight boxing match at Yankee Stadium in New York City. June 29 – United States Maritime Commission is formed.
July–September
July 11 – Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic. July 13–14 – Peak of July 1936 heat wave: The U.S. states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana all set new state records for high temperature. At Mio in northern Michigan, it soars to . August 3 – African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics. August 14 Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky, in the last public execution in the United States 1936 Summer Olympics: The United States men's national basketball team wins its first ever Olympic basketball tournament in the final game over Canada, 19–8.
October–December October 6 – The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants, 4 games to 2, to win their 5th World Series Title. October 11 – Earl Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and builds Mississippi's first permanent rodeo arena at Columbia, Mississippi. October 19 – H.R. Ekins, reporter for the New York World-Telegram, wins a race to travel around the world on commercial airline flights, beating Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of The New York Times. The flight takes 18 ½ days. October 29 – The historic Uptown Theater opens in Washington, D.C. November 3 – 1936 United States presidential election: Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term in a landslide victory over Republican governor of Kansas Alf Landon. November 12 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic. November 23 – Life magazine begins publication as a weekly news magazine under the management of Henry Luce. November 25 – The Abraham Lincoln Brigade sails from New York City on its way to the Spanish Civil War. December 3 – Radio station WQXR is officially founded in New York City. December 29 – The United Auto Workers begins the Flint Sit-Down Strike in Flint, Michigan.
Undated The YMCA Youth and Government program is founded in Albany, New York. Society of American Archivists established.
Ongoing Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) Dust Bowl (1930–1936) New Deal (1933–1939)
Births
January
January 1 Don Nehlen, American football player and coach James Sinegal, American billionaire, businessman and co-founder of Costco Richard V. Allen, American public servant and national security advisor (d. 2024) January 2 – Roger Miller, American singer, songwriter, musician and actor (d. 1992) January 4 – Mike White, American football player and coach (d. 2025) January 5 Florence King, American novelist, essayist and columnist (d. 2013) Daryl Robertson, American baseball player (d. 2018) January 6 – Darlene Hard, American professional tennis player (d. 2021) January 7 – G. Robert Blakey, American lawyer and academic January 9 Anne Rivers Siddons, American author (d. 2019) Ralph Terry, American baseball player (d. 2022) January 10 Stephen E. Ambrose, American historian and biographer (d. 2002) Al Goldstein, American publisher and pornographer (d. 2013) Robert Wilson, American physicist and radioastronomer, recipient of 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics January 14 – Clarence Carter, African-American soul musician January 23 Arlene Golonka, American actress (d. 2021) Jerry Kramer, American football player January 27 Barry Barish, American gravitational physicist, recipient of 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics Troy Donahue, American actor and singer (d. 2001) Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist January 28 – Alan Alda, American actor January 29 – James Jamerson, American bass guitarist (d. 1983)
February
February 1 – Azie Taylor Morton, 35th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003) February 3 Jeanine Basinger, American film historian Jim Marshall, American photographer (d. 2010) Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (d. 1984) February 4 David Brenner, American comedian (d. 2014) Gary Conway, American actor February 6 – J. Howard Marshall III, American businessman February 8 – Larry Verne, American singer, songwriter (d. 2013) February 11 Russell Morash, American television producer and director (d. 2024) Burt Reynolds, American actor, director and producer (d. 2018) February 12 – Joe Don Baker, American actor (d. 2025) February 14 – Andrew Prine, American actor (d. 2022) February 16 – Carl Icahn, American businessman, investor and philanthropist February 17 – Jim Brown, African American football player and actor (d. 2023) February 19 – Sam Myers, American musician, songwriter (d. 2006) February 20 Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003) Sharpe James, African-American politician, mayor of Newark (d. 2025) February 21 – Barbara Jordan, African-American lawyer, politician and civil rights campaigner (d. 1996) February 22 J. Michael Bishop, American immunologist and microbiologist (d. 2026) Elizabeth MacRae, American actress (d. 2024) February 24 – Carol D'Onofrio, American public health researcher (d. 2020) February 27 – Roger Mahony, American cardinal February 29 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
March
March 3 – Peter G. Davis, American opera and classical music critic (d. 2021) March 5 – Dean Stockwell, American actor (d. 2021) March 6 – Marion Barry, African-American politician and civil rights activist (d. 2014) March 7 – Loren Acton, American astronaut March 8 Sue Ane Langdon, American actress Earl J. Silbert, American attorney (d. 2022) March 9 Mickey Gilley, American country singer and musician (d. 2022) Marty Ingels, American actor and theatrical agent (d. 2015) Tom Sestak, American football player (d. 1987) March 11 – Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. from 1986 to 2016 (d. 2016) March 12 – William Foege, American physician, epidemiologist (d. 2026) March 15 Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (d. 1986) Don Sundquist, American businessman and politician, Governor of Tennessee from 1995 to 2003 (d. 2023) Jerry Walsh, American basketball coach (d. 2025) March 16 – Raymond Damadian, Armenian-American MRI inventor (d, 2022) March 17 Patty Maloney, American actress (d. 2025) Ken Mattingly, American astronaut (d. 2023) March 22 – Edith Grossman, American translator (d. 2023) March 24 – Don Covay, American singer, songwriter (d. 2015) March 26 – Harry Kalas, American sportscaster (d. 2009) March 28 – Bill Gaither, American singer and songwriter March 31 Marge Piercy, American poet, activist Walter E. Williams, American economist (d. 2020)
April
April 3 Jerry Krause, American basketball coach (d. 2023)Former Gonzaga Director of Basketball operations, EWU coach Jerry Krause dies at 87 Scott LaFaro, American jazz musician (d. 1961) Jimmy McGriff, American jazz musician (d. 2008) April 9 Bob Albright, American politician (d. 2023)Bob Albright, former state House member who represented north Alabama, dead at 87 Valerie Solanas, American radical feminist, attempted murderer of Andy Warhol (d. 1988) April 10 John Madden, American football player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2021) Bobby Smith, American singer, songwriter (d. 2013) April 12 – Charles Napier, American actor (d. 2011) April 14 Bobby Nichols, American professional golfer Frank Serpico, American police officer April 18 Roger Graef, American-born British theatre director and filmmaker (d. 2022) Tommy Ivo, American actor, drag racer Michael M. Thomas, American novelist and investment banker (d. 2021) April 19 Ruby Johnson, American singer (d. 1999) Andy Romano, American actor (d. 2022) April 20 – Pat Roberts, American politician April 21 Bob Cleary, American ice hockey player (d. 2015) James Dobson, American child psychologist, conservative evangelical political activist (d. 2025) April 22 – Glen Campbell, American musician and actor (d. 2017) April 23 – Roy Orbison, American singer, songwriter (d. 1988) April 24 Glen Hobbie, American baseball player (d. 2013) Jim Rountree, American CFL football player (d. 2013) April 26 – Doug Sax, American mastering engineer (d. 2015) April 28 – Charles Hill, American diplomat and academic (d. 2021) April 29 – Lane Smith, American actor (d. 2005) April 30 Bobby Gregg, American musician (d. 2014)
May
May 1 – Jerry Mander, American author and activist (d. 2023) May 2 Sam DeLuca, American football offensive lineman, sports broadcaster (d. 2011) Perdita Huston, American journalist (d. 2001) May 4 – Eleanor Coppola, American documentary filmmaker, artist, and writer (d. 2024) May 7 – Jimmy Ruffin, African-American singer (d. 2014) May 8 – Clyde Bellecourt, Native American rights organiser (d. 2022) May 9 Terry Drinkwater, American television and radio journalist (d. 1989) Floyd Robinson, African-American baseball player May 11 – Carla Bley, American jazz musician (d. 2023) May 12 Tom Snyder, American talk show host (d. 2007) Frank Stella, American minimalist painter (d. 2024) May 14 Bobby Darin, American singer and actor (d. 1973) Dick Howser, American baseball shortstop, manager (d. 1987) May 15