by Xinyi & Nicole

1930   1931   1932   1933   1934   1935   1936   1937   1938   1939

The year 1933 is one of the most significant years in American history. The Great Depression worsens and the economy is in deep trouble. President Roosevelt takes office promising to do whatever he can to end the depression. Roosevelt's famous "Hundred Days" introduced the New Deal to America. At least a million U.S. farm families receive government relief. Gasoline is selling for 18 cents a gallon. French researchers develop a vaccine against yellow fever. The mural Man at the Crossroad by Diego Rivera is destroyed because it contains a portrait of V.I. Lenin. Frequency modulation (FM) provides static free radio reception. It was a year of invention, reform and hard times.

• In January Adolf Hitler comes to power as chancellor. Hitler promises to end the depression and make Germany the greatest nation in the world.
• President Roosevelt enters the White House in March 4 with more than 15 million Americans out of work and says, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." President Roosevelt introduces the New Deal to America in the effort to end the Depression.
• On March 4 President Roosevelt nominates Francis Perkins to be Secretary of Labor. She is the first woman to hold a cabinet position.
• On March 6, President Roosevelt issues a presidential order, the Emergency Banking Act. It requires that all private gold holdings be give to the Federal Reserve banks in exchange for other coin or currency. The president is trying to bring stability to the banking industry.
• "Fireside Chats" start on radio March 12. President Roosevelt begins, "My friends . . .," He asks the country to have faith in the banks. He wants to calm the country's fears. He wants their support for the New Deal.
• The Nazis open the first German concentration camp at Dachau on March 20. The camp is for Jews, gypsies, and political prisoners.
• The Agricultural Adjustment Act is approved by Congress on May 12. It authorizes the establishment of an Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) within the Department of Agriculture. This act is a New Deal program that is aimed at helping the farmers.
• The Kansas City Massacre occurs on June 17. Gangster Pretty Boy Floyd and friends open fire with machine guns in front of Kansas City's Union Station. They are trying to free prisoner Frank Nash. Floyd and friends kill Nash and four law enforcement officers who were escorting Nash.
• On July 15 Wiley Post took off in an attempt to be the first person to fly around the world. He landed successfully on July 22.
• Prohibition ends on December 5 when Utah becomes the thirty-sixth state to ratify the Twenty-First Amendment. It repeals the Eighteenth Amendment which banned the sale of liquor.
• The Tennessee Valley Act starts in 1933 as part of the New Deal. It will improve agriculture in the Tennessee Valley region and give jobs to many workers.
• The Federal Housing Authority is created.
• The Drackett Co. introduces Windex in 1933.
• Lynchings spread across the South in 1933. Forty-two blacks are killed by lynch mobs.
• King Kong opens.

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last updated 12/04/05