January 7
January 7
Chrysler is Time magazine’s Man of the Year
Walter Chrysler, the founder of the Chrysler Corporation, one of America’s Big Three automakers, is featured on the cover of Timemagazine as its Man of the Year. In 1928, under…
A Year In History: 1929
Also Within This Year in History:
1929
The final year of the Roaring Twenties, 1929 is etched in history as the year of the great stock market crash that launched a worldwide Great Depression, wiping out jobs, savings and housing security for millions. But 1929 was eventful in other respects, too: The Graf Zeppelin made the first nonstop flight around the world, Hollywood celebrated its own with the first-ever Academy Awards and the first car radio was introduced, bringing a whole new dimension to road tripping.
January 13
January 13
Wyatt Earp dies in Los Angeles
Nearly 50 years after the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp dies quietly in Los Angeles at the age of 80. The Earp brothers had long been competing…
January 15
January 15
Martin Luther King Jr. born
On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of a Baptist minister. King received a doctorate degree in theology and in 1955 helped…
February 14
February 14
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
Four men dressed as police officers enter gangster Bugs Moran’s headquarters on North Clark Street in Chicago, line seven of Moran’s henchmen against a wall, and shoot them to death.…
February 14
February 14
Valentine’s Day Massacre takes place
In Chicago, gunmen in the suspected employment of organized‑crime boss Al Capone murder seven members of the George “Bugs” Moran North Siders gang in a garage on North Clark Street.…
February 18
February 18
First Academy Awards announced
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the winners of the first Academy Awards on February 18, 1929. It was a far cry from the suspense, glamour and…
February 26
February 26
Coolidge establishes Grand Teton National Park
On this day in history, in one of his final acts as president, Calvin Coolidge dedicates acreage in the Grand Teton mountain range as a national park. A Vermont native,…
February 26
February 26
Grand Teton National Park is established
In a controversial move that inspires charges of eastern domination of the West, Congress establishes Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Home to some of the most stunning alpine scenery…
March 2
March 2
President Coolidge signs the Jones Act, targeting bootleggers
The Jones Act, the last gasp of the Prohibition, is signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge. Since 1920 when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect, the United States had…
March 5
March 5
David Buick dies
On March 5, 1929, David Dunbar Buick, the founder of the Buick Motor Company, dies in relative obscurity and meager circumstances at the age of 74. In 1908, Buick’s company…
March 27
March 27
Herbert Hoover has telephone installed in Oval Office
On March 27, 1929, President Herbert Hoover has a phone installed at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House. It took a while to get the line…
April 16
April 16
Cleveland becomes first MLB team to play with numbers on back of jerseys
On April 16, 1929, the Cleveland Indians open the season with numbers on the back of each player’s jersey, the first Major League Baseball team to do so. The numbers make…
May 4
May 4
Legendary actress Audrey Hepburn is born
On May 4, 1929, Edda van Heemstra Hepburn‑Ruston—who will one day be better known to legions of film fans as Audrey Hepburn—is born near Brussels, Belgium. The daughter of an…
May 16
May 16
First Academy Awards ceremony is held
May 16, 1929 marks the first‑ever Academy Awards ceremony, Hollywood’s annual celebration of the best its creative artists have to offer over the previous year. The official Academy Awards banquet…
May 16
May 16
First Academy Awards ceremony
On May 16, 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out its first awards, at a dinner party for around 250 people held in the Blossom Room…
May 31
May 31
Ford Motor Company signs agreement with Soviet Union
After two years of exploratory visits and friendly negotiations, Ford Motor Company signs a landmark agreement to produce cars in the Soviet Union on May 30, 1929. The Soviet Union,…
June 23
June 23
Michael Shaara, author of The Killer Angels, is born
Pulitzer Prize‑winning author Michael Shaara is born today in Jersey City, New Jersey. Shaara attended Rutgers and later did graduate work at Columbia and the University of Vermont before becoming…
July 18
July 18
Hunter S. Thompson is born
Pioneer of “gonzo” journalism, Hunter S. Thompson is born in Louisville, Ky., on this day. By age 10, Thompson was publishing his own two‑page newspaper, which he sold for four…
July 28
July 28
Future first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy is born
On July 28, 1929, President John F. Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, is born into a prominent New York family. Jacqueline, or “Jackie” as she was called, grew up an…
October 12
October 12
Athletics score 10 in eighth inning of championship game
On October 12, 1929, the Philadelphia Athletics score 10 runs in a single inning of a World Series game against the Chicago Cubs. They went on to win the game…
