1937

Years: 1934 1935 1936 - 1937 - 1938 1939 1940
Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s - 1930s - 1940s 1950s 1960s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1937 in art 1937 in aviation 1937 in film 1937 in literature 1937 in music 1937 in science 1937 in sports 1937 in radio 1937 in television 1937 state leaders 1937 in Canada

Events

January 1 - Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua
January 11 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.
January 19 - Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
January 23 - In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders.
January 31 - Ohio river floods
January 31 - 31 people executed in Soviet Union for "Trotskyism"
February 5 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.
February 8 - Falangist troops take Malaga
February 11 - A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognises the United Automobile Workers Union
February 16 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.
March 10 - The Encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge of pope Pius XI is published in Nazi Germany
March 18 - A natural gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas kills 298 (most are children).
March 26 - In Crystal City, Texas spinach growers erect a statue of the cartoon character Popeye.

April 1 - Aden becomes a British crown colony.
April 17 - Release of the animated short Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery for the Merrie Melodies series, featuring the debut of Daffy Duck.
April 26 - Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
April 27 - Golden Gate bridge opene for traffic
May 1 - General strike in Paris, France
May 6 - In United States, the German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst.
May 7 - Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He-51 biplanes arrive in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
May - Dáil Éireann passes the Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937 which retrospectively abolished the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State. The abolition was retrospectively dated back to December 1936.
May 12 - Coronation of King George VI.
May 27 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushes a button in Washington, DC signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge.

June 8 - First total solar eclipse to exceed 7 minutes of totality in over 800 years; visible in the Pacific and Peru.
June 14 - Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
June 21 - Coalition government of Leon Blum resigns in France
July 1 - Gestapo arrests priest Martin Niemöller
July 1 - In a referendum the people of the Irish Free State accept the new Constitution by 685,105 votes to 527,945.
July 5 - Highest recorded temperature in Canada, at July 7 - Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Lugou Bridge - Japanese forces invade China.
June/July - Dáil Éireann debates and passes the draft new constitution of Éire, to be called Bunreacht na hÉireann. The new constitution is then submitted for public approval by plebiscite.
July 21 - Eamon de Valera elected president of Eire
July 22 - New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
July 24 - Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called "Scottsboro Boys."
July 28 - IRA bombing against the king of England in Belfast

August 6 - Falangist artillery bombards Madrid
October 1 - Marijuana Tax Act in USA
October 3 - Japanese troops advance toward Nanking
October 21 - The whole Spanish northern seaboard in the Falangists' hands
October 21 - Roberto Ortiz elected president of Argentina
October 27 - Spanish Civil War - Republican forces in Gijon, Spain, set fire to petrol reserves before they retreat before the advancing Falangists
November 5 Spanish Civil War - Massacre of Republican supporters in Piedrafita de Babia, near Leon. Possibly 35.000 executed
November 5 - World War II: In the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people
November 9 - Japanese troops take Shanghai

December - The Marijuana Tax Act is signed, killing the US hemp industry just as it was about to benefit from a mechanised brake and compete with cotton and wood pulp.
December 3 - The Dandy, the world's longest running comic, was first published.
December 12 - Panay incident
December 13 - Battle of Nanjing ends and the Nanjing Massacre, also called the Rape of Nanking, begins. Japanese troops would slaughter over 250,000 civilians and prisoners over three months.
December 29 - New Irish Constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann comes into force. The Irish Free State becomes Éire. Eamon de Valera becomes the first Taoiseach (prime minister) of the new state. A Presidential Commission (made up the Irish Chief Justice, the Speaker of Dáil Éireann and the President of the High Court) assumes the powers of the new presidency of Ireland pending the election of the first president in June 1938.

Japan invades Manchuria. (Some consider this the start of World War II. Most historians disagree).
New Irish constitution bans divorce
First science fiction convention in Leeds, United Kingdom
Italy joins Antikomintern Pact
The National House Builders Registration Council (now the NHBC) was formed in the United Kingdom

1937 in film
- The Life of Emile Zola
- A Star Is Born
- Snow White, first feature-length animated movie
1937 in literature
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
- U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
- Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
- And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street! by Dr. Seuss
1937 in music
1937 in sports
- January 1 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas
1937 in television
- May - Gilbert Seldes becomes the first television critic, with his Atlantic Monthly article, the "Errors of Television".
- May 15 - RCA demonstrates projection television, with images enlarged to 8 by 10 feet, at the Institute of Radio Engineers convention.
- CBS announces their efforts to develop television broadcasts
1937 in theatre
- Orson Welles draws loud comment with his 'Fascist' production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.