Events from the year 1934 in the United States .
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(August 2021 )
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March
March 3 – John Dillinger escapes from jail in Crown Point, Indiana , using a wooden pistol.
March 12 – The 6.5 Hansel Valley earthquake affects a sparsely populated area of northern Utah with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe ), causing light damage and two deaths.[1]
March 13 – John Dillinger and his gang rob the First National Bank in Mason City, Iowa .
March 16 – The 6th Academy Awards , hosted by Will Rogers , are presented at Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles , with Frank Lloyd 's Cavalcade winning the Academy Award for Best Picture . It also receives the most awards with three, including Best Director for Lloyd, and is among three films (the others being Frank Borzage 's A Farewell to Arms and Frank Capra 's Lady for a Day ) to each receive the most nominations with four. It is the final awards season until 2021 to accommodate two calendar years.
March 24 – The Tydings–McDuffie Act comes into effect, establishing the Philippine Commonwealth which allows greater self-government of the Philippines, and scheduling full independence from the U.S. for 1944. Sugar imports are reduced and immigration is limited to 50 Filipino people per year.
November
November 2 – Bibb Graves is elected a second consecutive term as the 38th governor of Alabama defeating Edmund H. Dryer .
November 5 – Kelayres massacre : An election-eve rally by Democrats in the coal-mining village of Kelayres, Pennsylvania , is fired on as it passes the home of a leading local Republican family, resulting in 5 deaths.
November 20– 21 – Business Plot : An alleged coup to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt is investigated by the McCormack–Dickstein Committee and is reported by the Philadelphia Record .
November 21 – Cole Porter 's musical Anything Goes , starring Ethel Merman , premieres in New York City .
November 26 – Universal Pictures releases the first film version of Fannie Hurst 's novel, Imitation of Life , starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers . It gives Beavers, usually featured in small roles as a maid, her best screen role, and features the largest supporting role played by a black person in a Hollywood film up until then. Its storyline is extremely daring for a 1934 film – part of it revolves around a young mulatto girl rejecting her mother and trying to "pass for white". It is the first Hollywood film to seriously deal with this subject. The 1936 film version of Show Boat , also from Universal, will deal with a similar storyline.
November 27 – A running gun battle between FBI agents and bank robber Baby Face Nelson results in the death of one FBI agent and the mortal wounding of special agent Samuel P. Cowley , who was still able to mortally wound Nelson.
January
Bill Bixby
Lou Antonio
January 1
January 7
January 9 – Bart Starr , American football player and coach (d. 2019 )
January 10 – Leonard Boswell , American politician (d. 2018 )
January 16 – Marilyn Horne , American mezzo-soprano[6]
January 17 – Cedar Walton , American jazz pianist (d. 2013 )
January 19 – Phil Rollins , American basketball player
January 20 – Dave Hull , American former radio personality
January 21 – Ann Wedgeworth , American actress (d. 2017 )
January 22 – Bill Bixby , actor and television director (d. 1993 )
January 23
January 24
January 26
January 30 – Tammy Grimes , American actress (d. 2016 )
January 31 – Stephen H. Sachs , American lawyer and politician (d. 2022 )
February
Hank Aaron
Bill Russell
Florence Henderson
February 1 – Bob Shane , American folk singer and guitarist (The Kingston Trio ) (d. 2020 )
February 5 – Hank Aaron , African-American baseball player (d. 2021 )
February 7
February 9
February 11
February 12
February 13 – George Segal , American actor (d. 2021 )
February 14 – Florence Henderson , American actress, singer and television personality (d. 2016 )
February 15 – William Newsom , American judge (d. 2018 )
February 16
February 18 – Ronald F. Marryott , American admiral (d. 2005 )
February 19 – Michael Tree , American violist (d. 2018 )
February 20 – Bobby Unser , American race car driver (d. 2021 )
February 21 – Rue McClanahan , American actress (d. 2010 )
February 22
February 24 – George Ryan , politician, Governor of Illinois
February 26 – Joe Holup , American basketball player (d. 1998 )
February 27
March
Charley Pride
Alan Arkin
Richard Chamberlain
Shirley Jones
March 1 – Joan Hackett , American actress (d. 1983 )
March 4
March 5 – Bob Skoronski , American football player (d. 2018 )
March 6
March 7
March 9
March 11 – Sam Donaldson , American reporter
March 13 – Barry Hughart , American author and screenwriter (d. 2019 )
March 14
March 17 – Fred T. Mackenzie , American sedimentary, global biogeochemist
March 18 – Charley Pride , African-American baseball player and country musician (d. 2020 )
March 20 – Willie Brown , African-American Mayor of San Francisco
March 21 – Al Freeman Jr. , African-American actor (d. 2012 )
March 22 – Orrin Hatch , American politician (d. 2022 )[9]
March 25
March 26
March 27 – Arthur Mitchell , African-American ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 2018 )[12]
March 28 – Lester R. Brown , American environmentalist
March 31
May
Frankie Valli
Gary Owens
Harlan Ellison
May 3 – Frankie Valli , American musician (The Four Seasons )
May 5
May 6 – Richard Shelby , American politician
May 9 – Nathan Dean , American soldier and politician (d. 2013 )
May 10 – Gary Owens , American disc jockey, voice actor and announcer (Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In ) (d. 2015 )
May 11
May 12 – John Amirante , American singer (d. 2018 )
May 13 – Leon Wagner , baseball player (d. 2004 )
May 18 – Dwayne Hickman , actor
May 19 – Jim Lehrer , television journalist (d. 2020 )
May 22 – Peter Nero , pianist
May 23 – Robert Moog , inventor of the synthesizer (d. 2005 )
May 24
May 27
May 28
May 29 – Grandma Lee , stand-up comedian (d. 2020 )
July
Jamie Farr
Sydney Pollack
Louise Fletcher
July 1
July 6 – LaFarr Stuart , American computer music pioneer, computer engineer
July 8
July 9 – Michael Graves , American architect (d. 2015 )[17]
July 10
July 11
July 12 – Van Cliburn , American pianist (d. 2013 )
July 13 – Phillip Crosby , American actor, singer (d. 2004 )
July 14 – Lee Elder , American professional golfer (d. 2021 )
July 16
July 18 – Joan Evans , actress
July 19 – Bobby Bradford , jazz trumpeter, cornetist, bandleader, and composer
July 21 – Edolphus Towns , politician
July 22 – Louise Fletcher , actress (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ) (d. 2022 )
July 26 – Kathryn Hays , American actress (d. 2022 )
July 27 – Ajahn Sumedho , Theravada Buddhist representative in the West
July 28
July 30 – Bud Selig , Major League Baseball commissioner
August
Donnie Dunagan
Norman Schwarzkopf
August 2 – Carl Cain , Olympic basketball player (d. 2024 )[19]
August 3 – Haystacks Calhoun , professional wrestler (d. 1989 )[20]
August 4 – Dallas Green , baseball player, manager, executive (d. 2017 )
August 5
August 10 – James Tenney , experimental composer (d. 2006 )
August 16
August 18
August 19
August 22 – Norman Schwarzkopf , U.S. Army general (d. 2012 )
August 26 – Tom Heinsohn , basketball player, coach, and broadcaster (d. 2020 )
August 27 – Dave Piontek , basketball player (d. 2004 )
August 29 – David Pryor , politician (d. 2024 )
September
Chuck McCann
Wilford Brimley
September 2
September 4 – Ronald Ludington , figure skating coach and pair skater (d. 2020 )
September 7 – Little Milton , American musician (d. 2005 )
September 10
September 10 – Mr. Wrestling II , American professional wrestler (d. 2020 )
September 12 – Albie Pearson , American baseball player d. 2023 )
September 14 – Kate Millett , American sculptor and feminist activist (d. 2017 )
September 15 - Tomie dePaola , children's author and illustrator (d. 2020 )
September 16 – Elgin Baylor , American basketball player, executive (d. 2021 )
September 17 – Maureen Connolly , American tennis player (d. 1969 )
September 19 – Lloyd Haynes , American actor and television writer (d. 1987 )
September 20
September 21 – Ron Sobieszczyk , American basketball player (d. 2009 )
September 22 – Lute Olson , American basketball coach
September 26 – Suzi Gablik , American artist and art critic (d. 2022 )
September 27
November
Carl Sagan
November 2 – Joseph E. Brennan , American politician, governor of Maine (d. 2024 )
November 3 – Bob Hopkins , American basketball player (d. 2015 )
November 6 – Barton Myers , American architect
November 9 – Carl Sagan , American cosmologist (d. 1996 )
November 10 – Joanna Moore , American actress (d. 1997 )
November 12 – Charles Manson , American cult leader and criminal (d. 2017 )
November 13 – Garry Marshall , American film producer, director and actor (d. 2016 )
November 17 – Jim Inhofe , American politician
November 21 – Laurence Luckinbill , American actor
November 23 – Michael Wayne , American film producer and actor (d. 2003 )
November 27
November 28 – Margaret Farrow , American politician (d. 2022 )
November 29 – Willie Morris , American writer (d. 1999 )
November 30 – Steve Hamilton , American basketball and baseball player (d. 1997 )
December
Billy Paul
Victor French
Joan Didion
December 1 – Billy Paul , African-American singer (d. 2016 )
December 2 – Andre Rodgers , American baseball player (d. 2004 )
December 3 – Eddie Bernice Johnson , African-American politician (d. 2023 )
December 4 – Victor French , American actor, director (d. 1989 )
December 5 – Joan Didion , American novelist (d. 2021 )
December 6 – Nick Bockwinkel , American professional wrestler (d. 2015 )
December 7 – Joey Powers , American singer-songwriter (d. 2017 )
December 9
December 10 – Howard Martin Temin , geneticist (d. 1994 )
December 13 – Richard D. Zanuck , producer (d. 2012 )[22]
December 16
December 19 – Al Kaline , baseball player (d. 2020 )
December 22
December 23 – Dan Swartz , basketball player (d. 1997 )
December 25 – Bob Martinez , politician, 40th Governor of Florida
December 26 – Mari Hulman George , motorsport executive (d. 2018 )
December 29 – Ed Flanders , actor (d. 1995 )
December 30
February 25
March 21 – Lilyan Tashman , vaudeville, Broadway and film actress (born 1896 )
April 27 – Joe Vila , sportswriter (born 1866 )
May 17 – Cass Gilbert , architect (born 1859 )
May 23
May 24 – Brand Whitlock , journalist and politician (born 1869 )
May 31 – Lew Cody , film actor (born 1884 )
June 8 – Dorothy Dell , film actress (automobile accident) (born 1915 )
June 15 – George W. Fuller , sanitation engineer (born 1868 )[24]
June 20 – Andrew Jackson Zilker , philanthropist (born 1858 )[25]
June 21 – Thorne Smith , humorist and fantasy author (heart attack) (born 1892 )
June 24 – Charles S. Thomas , U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1913 to 1921 (born 1849 )
July 15 – Louis F. Gottschalk , composer (born 1869 )
July 18 – Sy Sanborn , sportswriter (born 1866 )
July 21 – Julian Hawthorne , journalist and novelist (born 1846 )
July 22 – John Dillinger , criminal (shot) (born 1903 )
July 26 – Winsor McCay , comic creator and animator (born 1871 )
August 8 – Wilbert Robinson , baseball manager (born 1863 )
August 10 – George W. Hill , film director (born 1895 )
August 13 – Mary Hunter Austin , travel writer (born 1868 )
August 14 – Raymond Hood , architect (born 1881 )
September 2
October 6 – James Taliaferro , U.S. Senator from Florida from 1899 to 1911 (born 1847 )
October 20 – Josephine White Bates , Canadian-born American author (born 1862 )
October 22 – Pretty Boy Floyd , bank robber (shot) (born 1904 )
November 10 – Ion Farris , politician, Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (born 1878 )
November 22 – Harry Steppe , vaudeville performer (born 1888 )
November 27 – Baby Face Nelson , gangster (shot) (born 1908 )
December 10 – Theobald Smith , bacteriologist (born 1859 )
December 26 – Wallace Thurman , African American novelist (TB) (born 1902 )
December 28 – Lowell Sherman , film actor and director (born 1885 )
December 29 – Elnora Monroe Babcock , suffragist (born 1852 )
December 31 – Cornelia Clapp , marine biologist (born 1859 )[26]
"Gloria Steinem" . Britannica Presents 100 Women Trailblazers . 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2021 .
Austin History Center (2001). "Andrew Zilker" . City of Austin. Retrieved 22 May 2015 .
Reynolds, Moira Davison (2004). American Women Scientists: 23 Inspiring Biographies, 1900-2000 . Jefferson NC: McFarland. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-78642-161-9 .