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News and Events of 1939

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1939 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

population by decade

More World Statistics...

Germany invades Poland; occupies Bohemia and Moravia; renounces pact with England and concludes 10-year non-aggression pact with U.S.S.R.
Russo-Finnish War begins; Finns to lose one-tenth of territory in 1940 peace treaty.
World War II begins.

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Franklin D Roosevelt
Vice President: John N. Garner
Population: 130,879,718

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As World War II begins, Roosevelt submits $1,319-million defense budget, proclaims U.S. neutrality, and declares limited emergency.
New York World's Fair opens. Background: exposition
Daughters of the American Revolution refuses to allow Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Department of Agriculture starts first food stamp program in Rochester, N.Y. Program ends in 1943.

Economics

Federal spending:   $9.14 billion
Consumer Price Index:   13.9
Unemployment:   17.2%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03

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Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

World Series

NY Yankees d. Cincinnati (4-0)

Stanley Cup

Boston d. Toronto (4-1)

Wimbledon

Women: Alice Marble d. K. Stammers (6-2 6-0)
Men: Bobby Riggs d. E. Cooke (2-6 8-6 3-6 6-3 6-2)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Johnstown

NCAA Basketball Championship

Oregon d. Ohio St. (46-33)

NCAA Football Champions

Texas A&M (11-0-0)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Drama: Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Robert E. Sherwood

Oscars awarded in 1939
Academy Award, Best Picture: You Can't Take It With You (Columbia)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Frans Eemil Sillanpää (Finland)

Miss America: Patricia Donnelly (MI)

More Entertainment Awards...

Events

The big-screen adaptation of Gone with the Wind premieres, and will go on to gross $192 million, making it one of the most profitable films of all time. It's also one of the longest films, clocking in at 231 minutes.
Robert Kane introduces the Batman cartoon.

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Adolf Butenandt (Germany), for work on sexual hormones (declined the prize); and Leopold Ruzicka (Switzerland), for work with polymethylenes

Physics: Ernest Orlando Lawrence (US), for development of the cyclotron

Physiology or Medicine: Gerhard Domagk (Germany), for antibacterial effect of prontocilate

Albert Einstein writes a letter to President Roosevelt regarding the possibility of using uranium to initiate a nuclear chain reaction, the fundamental process behind the atomic bomb.
Paul Muller develops DDT.