1932

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Surveying damage after the 1932 tornado outbreak.

1932 was the 61st year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

Business

Government

Sports

Individuals

Births

Jim Pyburn, born November 1, 1932

Marriages

Awards

Graduations

Deaths

Works

Books

Buildings

Jefferson County Courthouse, completed in 1932

Music

  • Boogie-woogie pianist Jabo Williams signed with Paramount Records.
  • Brunswick Records re-released several of Lucille Bogan's blues recordings under the name "Bessie Jackson".

Context

1932 was a leap year in the height of the Great Depression, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index bottoming out at 41.22 in May. The 1932 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid, New York and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Charles Lindbergh's son was kidnapped and murdered. Jack Benny debuted on radio and Johnny Weismuller appeared for the first time as Tarzan. The "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans marched on Washington. The United States passed its first gasoline tax. Positrons and neutrons were discovered. Soviet agricultural policies resulted in unprecedented famine. Babe Ruth made his famous "called shot" in game 3 of the 1932 World Series. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover in a landslide. A Christmas Day earthquake in in China killed 70,000 people. Radio City Music Hall opened in New York. The first Mars bars and Zippo lighters were sold.

1932 saw the births of actors Omar Sharif, Pat Morita, Peter O'Toole and Liz Taylor, authors Umberto Eco and John Updyke, primatologist Dian Fossey, poet Sylvia Plath, composer John Williams, singers Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, pianist Glenn Gould, radio host Casey Kasem, boxer Sonny Liston, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Deaths in 1932 included those of gum tycoon William Wrigley, bandleader John Philip Sousa, inventor George Eastman, and poet Hart Crane.

Literature of 1932 included Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road, 1919 by John Dos Passos, William Faulkner's Light in August, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Top grossing films included "Shanghai Express", "A Farewell to Arms", and "Grand Hotel", which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Colgate, Michigan and USC claimed national titles in college football. Jack Sharkey won the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Max Schmeling. Gene Sarazen won the U.S. Open and British Open in golf and was named the Associated Press male athlete of the year. Burgoo King won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

1930s
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