What Happened in 1937 — Events, Births & Deaths

Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republicans both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.

Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in seven hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.

The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime.

The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until September 18, 2009.

Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.

The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.

Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.

Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Ethiopian nationalists of Eritrean origin attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades.

The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.

The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.

Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins.

The New London School explosion in New London, Texas, kills 300 people, mostly children.

Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara.

Ponce massacre: Nineteen unarmed civilians in Ponce, Puerto Rico are gunned down by police in a terrorist attack ordered by the US-appointed Governor, Blanton Winship.

Aden becomes a British crown colony.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.

Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.

Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria.

South African medical researcher Max Theiler develops the yellow fever vaccine at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City.

The Commonwealth of the Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.

Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.

Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom are crowned in Westminster Abbey.

Spanish Civil War: The Largo Caballero government resigns in the wake of the Barcelona May Days, leading Juan Negrín to form a government, without the anarcho-syndicalist CNT, in its stead.

A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.

Walter Reuther and members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) clash with Ford Motor Company security guards at the River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan, during the Battle of the Overpass.

In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.

Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded.

Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators.

The Duke of Windsor (the former King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom) marries Wallis Simpson.

Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.

Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) state of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.

U.S. House of Representatives passes the Marihuana Tax Act.

The world's first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean and disappear while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle begins with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid.

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident (Lugou Bridge) provides the Imperial Japanese Army with a pretext for starting the Second Sino-Japanese War (China-Japan War).

The Peel Commission Report recommends the partition of Palestine, which was the first formal recommendation for partition in the history of Palestine.

Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad.

The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.

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.

Spanish Civil War: End of the Battle of Brunete with the Nationalist victory.

Tongzhou mutiny: In Tongzhou, China, the East Hebei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.

Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution "Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH" to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.

The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.

Spanish Civil War: The Regional Defence Council of Aragon is dissolved by the Second Spanish Republic.

Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Shanghai begins.

A lightning strike starts the Blackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest, killing 15 firefighters within three days and prompting the United States Forest Service to develop their smokejumper program.

Spanish Civil War: the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.

Spanish Civil War: Sovereign Council of Asturias and León is proclaimed in Gijón.

Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.

Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege.

Nine nations attend the Nyon Conference to address international piracy in the Mediterranean Sea.

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published for the first time. (September 22 is celebrated by some fans as Hobbit Day, however.)

Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Eighth Route Army gains a minor, but morale-boosting victory in the Battle of Pingxingguan.

Rafael Trujillo orders the execution of Haitians living in the border region of the Dominican Republic.

Murder of 9 Catholic priests in Zhengding, China, who protected the local population from the advancing Japanese army.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor tour Nazi Germany for 12 days and meet Adolf Hitler on 22 October.

Nazi Germany begins expulsions of 18,000 Polish Jews.

The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") opens in Munich.

Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Army withdraws from the Battle of Shanghai.

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking: Japanese troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Yasuhiko Asaka launch an assault on the Chinese city of Nanking.

Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.

Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China.

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking: The city of Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre, in which Japanese troops rape and slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians.

The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.

The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.