January 26
January 26
Sam Goldwyn buys rights to The Wizard of Oz
One of America’s best‑loved movie projects gets underway on this day in 1934, when the producer Samuel Goldwyn buys the film rights to the children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of…
A Year In History: 1934
This Year in History:
1934
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
February 5
February 5
Hank Aaron is born
On February 5, 1934, Henry Louis Aaron Jr., the baseball slugger who broke Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers, is born in Mobile, Alabama. Aaron began his professional baseball…
February 12
February 12
Basketball great Bill Russell born
Bill Russell, the legendary center for the Boston Celtics during the 1960s, is born in Monroe, Louisiana. During his 13‑year career with the Celtics, Russell helped the team to 11…
February 19
February 19
Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade
On this day in 1934, the legendary comic actor and entertainer Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade in Erie, Pennsylvania. Their marriage would last until Hope’s death 69 years later, making…
February 27
February 27
Auto safety crusader Ralph Nader born
On this day in 1934, the auto safety advocate and activist Ralph Nader, whose 1965 book “Unsafe at Any Speed” criticized the auto industry for poor safety standards and ultimately…
March 20
March 20
Babe Didrikson goes to the mound for Philly
On March 20, 1934, Mildred “Babe” Didrikson pitches one inning of exhibition baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics in a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She started the first inning, and…
March 22
March 22
First Masters golf tournament begins
On March 22, 1934, the first Masters golf championship tees off in Augusta, Georgia. The Augusta National Golf Club course presents difficulties for many of the golfers, but Emmet French,…
April 22
April 22
Gangster “Baby Face” Nelson kills FBI agent during raid
George “Baby Face” Nelson kills Special Agent W. Carter Baum during an FBI raid in northern Wisconsin. Nelson was holed up with notorious bank robber John Dillinger’s gang at the…
May 11
May 11
This Day in History Video: What Happened on May 11
This Day in History – May 11, 1934, was the day of the black blizzard. Dust and dirt storms poured upon the country making it very hard for farmers to…
May 11
May 11
Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern states
On May 11, 1934, a massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New…
May 23
May 23
Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde
On May 23, 1934, notorious criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police near Sailes, Louisiana. Bonnie Parker met the charismatic Clyde…
May 23
May 23
Outlaws Bonnie and Clyde shot to death in stolen Ford
On this day in 1934, wanted outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police officers as they attempt to escape apprehension in…
May 23
May 23
Bonnie and Clyde are killed by police
Famed fugitives Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are killed in a police ambush near Sailes, Louisiana. A contingent of officers from Texas and Louisiana set up along the highway, waiting…
May 30
May 30
Nissan Motor Company founded
On May 30, 1934, the Tokyo‑based Jidosha‑Seizo Kabushiki‑Kaisha (Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in English) takes on a new name: Nissan Motor Company. Jidosha‑Seizo Kabushiki‑Kaisha had been established in December 1933.…
June 4
June 4
FDR asks Congress for drought‑relief funds
On this day in 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt asks Congress to appropriate $52.5 million to battle economic and social disaster in the American Midwest caused in part by a series…
June 18
June 18
Indian Reorganization Act is signed into law
In a major reversal of federal policy toward Native Americans, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Indian Reorganization Act into law on June 18, 1934. Also known as the IRA,…
June 19
June 19
Nathanael West’s novel “A Cool Million” is published
On this day, Nathanael West’s novel A Cool Million, a satire of rags‑to‑riches morality tales, is published. West, the son of Jewish immigrants, was born in New York in 1903.…
June 23
June 23
Even without the corpse, a murderer is uncovered
William Bayly is convicted of murder in New Zealand despite the fact that the body of one of his alleged victims was never found. Most of the evidence against Bayly…
June 30
June 30
Hitler purges members of his own Nazi party in Night of the Long Knives
In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in…
July 22
July 22
John Dillinger gunned down
Outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre, notorious criminal John Dillinger—America’s “Public Enemy No. 1″—is killed in a hail of bullets fired by federal agents. In a fiery bank‑robbing career that lasted just…
