| January 1 | 1st newspaper to microfilm its current issues, New York Herald Tribune |
| January 2 | 1st electron tube to enable night vision described, St. Louis, Missouri |
| January 2 | Bradman scores 357 for SA vs. Vic, 424 minutes, 40 fours |
| January 4 | Billboard magazine publishes its 1st music hit parade |
| January 4 | Grimmett becomes world record wicket taker with no 190 vs. South Africa |
| January 6 | Barbara Hanley became Canada's 1st woman mayor (Webbwood, Ontario) |
| January 7 | Tennis champs Helen Moody and Howard Kinsley volley 2,001 times (1h18m) |
| January 9 | Noel Coward's "Astonished Heart," premieres in London |
| January 9 | Semi-automatic rifles adopted by U.S. army |
| January 11 | Charles Anderson enters Kentucky House of Representatives |
| January 14 | L M (Mario) Giannini elected president of Bank of America |
| January 15 | 1st all-glass windowless structure in U.S. completed, Toledo, Ohio |
| January 15 | Horace Stoneham elected president of New York Giants |
| January 15 | Non-profit Ford Foundation incorporates |
| January 16 | 1st photo finish camera installed at Hialeah Race track in Hialeah Fla |
| January 16 | Screen Actors Guild incorporates with King Vidor as president |
| January 16 | Spanish socialists/communists/anarchists form Unidad Popular |
| January 20 | Edward VIII succeeds British king George V |
| January 22 | French Laval government falls |
| January 23 | Catholic People's Party (KVP) of Curacao forms |
| January 24 | Benny Goodman and orchestra record "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records |
| January 28 | Pravda criticizes Sjostakovitsj' "Lady Macbeth" opera |
| January 29 | 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame - Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson |
| January 30 | New owners of Boston Braves ask newspapermen to pick a new nickname |
| January 30 | Victoria need 442 to win against NSW, but lose, all out for 415 They pick "The Bees" it doesn't catch on and is scrapped by 1940 season |
| January 31 | "Green Hornet" radio show is 1st heard on WXYZ Radio in Detroit |
| February 4 | 1st radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E) |
| February 5 | National Wildlife Federation forms |
| February 6 | 4th Winter Olympic games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany |
| February 6 | Pravda criticizes Shostakovich' ballet "Clear Brook" |
| February 7 | A flag is authorized for Vice President |
| February 7 | Felix the Cat, Cartoon Character, by Van Beuren from Otto Messmer |
| February 8 | 1st NFL draft, Eagles select Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger |
| February 8 | 1st ski jumping tournament, Red Wing, Minnesota |
| February 8 | 1st successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher vs Rangers |
| February 8 | Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party |
| February 11 | Pumping begins to build Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay |
| February 14 | U.S. Female Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson |
| February 14 | U.S. Male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee |
| February 15 | -60 degrees F (-51 degrees C), Parshall, North Dakota (state record) |
| February 15 | Hitler announce building of Volkswagens (starting slug-bug game) |
| February 15 | Sonja Henie, Norway, wins 3rd consecutive Olympic figure skating gold |
| February 16 | 4th Winter Olympic games close at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany |
| February 16 | Spanish Frente Popular (People's Front) wins elections |
| February 17 | -58 degrees F (-50 degrees C), McIntosh, South Dakota (state record) |
| February 17 | "Phantom" cartoon strip by Lee Falk debuts |
| February 17 | SN Behrmann's "End of Summer," premieres in New York City |
| February 18 | NHL record 32 points scored, New York Americans (28) and Mont Maroons (24) |
| February 19 | Manuel Azana becomes Spanish premier |
| February 22 | Construction on Ypenburg Netherlands airport begins |
| February 23 | 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake, New York |
| February 26 | Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche's "Volkswagen" |
| February 26 | Military coup in Japan |
| February 27 | Willy den Ouden swims world record 100 m free style (1:04.6) |
| February 29 | Franklin D. Roosevelt signs 2nd neutrality act |
| March 2 | Bradman scores 369 in 253 minutes, SA vs. Tasmania, 46 fours 4 sixes |
| March 3 | Grimmett ends his Test career with 13 wkts in 5th Test vs. South Africa |
| March 4 | 1st flight of airship Hindenburg, Germany |
| March 5 | Spitfire makes it's 1st flight (Eastleigh Aerodrome in Southampton) |
| March 6 | Belgium ends Locarno-pact |
| March 7 | Hitler breaks Treaty of Versailles, sends troops to Rhineland |
| March 9 | Babe Ruth turns down Reds to make a comeback as a player |
| March 14 | Federal Register, 1st magazine of the U.S. government, publishes 1st issue |
| March 23 | Italy, Austria and Hungary sign Pact of Rome |
| March 24 | Red Wings beat Montreal Maroons in 16 minutes and 30 seconds of 6th period Stanley Cup game lasts 9 periods (176 minutes), ends 1-0 |
| March 25 | 200" mirror blank leaves for California to be ground |
| March 25 | Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Maroons in NHL longest game (2h56m30s) |
| March 26 | 1st parliamentary debate on New Zealand radio |
| March 26 | 200" telescope lens shipped, Corning Glass Works, New York-Cal Tech |
| March 26 | Mary Joyce ends a 1,000 mile trip by dog in Alaska |
| March 27 | WOS-AM in Jefferson City Missouri goes off the air |
| March 29 | 10,000 watch the 200" mirror blank passing through Indianapolis |
| March 29 | Nazi propaganda claims 99% of Germans voted for Nazi candidates |
| April 1 | Orissa constituted a province of British India |
| April 3 | Al Carr KOs Lew Massey on 1 punch, :07 of 1st round |
| April 3 | Shortest boxing bout with gloves lasts only 10 seconds |
| April 5 | Tupelo Mississippi virtually annihilated by a tornado, 216 die |
| April 6 | 3rd Golf Masters Championship: Horton Smith wins, shooting a 285 |
| April 6 | ANP begins telex service in Amsterdam |
| April 6 | Tornado, kills 203 and injuring 1,800 in Gainesville Georgia |
| April 10 | 200" mirror blank arrives in Pasadena |
| April 11 | Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "On Your Toes," premieres in New York City |
| April 11 | Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 3 games to 1 |
| April 13 | Metaxas proclaims himself dictator of Greece |
| April 18 | Pan-Am Clipper begins regular passenger flights from San Francisco to Honolulu |
| April 19 | Anti-Jewish riots break out in Palestine |
| April 20 | 40th Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown of RI in 2:33:40.8 |
| April 20 | Jews repel an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah Palestine |
| April 23 | Carl Hubbell's 1st start of season is his 17th straight win |
| April 26 | Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 4th Symphony |
| April 29 | 1st pro baseball game in Japan is played Nagoya defeats Daitokyo, 8-5 |
| May 1 | Emperor Haile Selassie leaves Ethiopia as Italian invades |
| May 1 | FBI's J. Edgar Hoover arrests Alvin Karpis |
| May 2 | 62nd Kentucky Derby: Ira Hanford aboard Bold Venture wins in 2:03.6 |
| May 2 | Emperor Haile Selassie and family flee Abyssinia |
| May 2 | "Peter and Wolf" premieres in Moscow |
| May 3 | French People's Front wins elections |
| May 3 | New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio makes his major-league debut, gets 3 hits |
| May 4 | Pulitzer prize awarded to Harold L Davis (Honey in the Horn) |
| May 5 | Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip |
| May 5 | Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa |
| May 8 | Jockey Ralph Neves unexpectedly revived after being declared dead after a fall. His wife fainted when he returned to track |
| May 9 | 1st KLM airplane to land on Bonaire |
| May 9 | Italy takes Addis Abba, annexing Absynnia (Ethiopia) |
| May 10 | Manuel Azana elected president of Spain |
| May 10 | Nahas Pasja becomes premier of Egypt |
| May 12 | Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Poisoned Kiss," premieres in London |
| May 13 | Quiroga government takes office in Spain |
| May 15 | Amy Johnson arrives in Croydon England from South Africa in record 4d16h |
| May 16 | 1st British air hostess (Daphne Kearley) flight to France |
| May 16 | 62nd Preakness: George Woolf aboard Bold Venture wins in 1:59 |
| May 24 | Dutch bishops forbid membership of Nazi party |
| May 24 | Tony Lazerri 2 grand slams (11 RBIs); Ben Chapman sets record by reaching 1st 7 times safely, Yankees beat A's 25-2 |
| May 26 | 1st government of Zealand in Belgium ends |
| May 27 | RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton for New York on maiden voyage |
| June 1 | "Lux Radio Theater" moved from New York City to Hollywood |
| June 1 | Queen Mary completes its maiden voyage, arriving in New York |
| June 2 | Gen. Anastasio Somoza takes over as dictator of Nicaragua |
| June 6 | 40th U.S. Golf Open: Tony Manero shoots a 282 at Baltusrol Golf Club New Jersey |
| June 6 | 68th Belmont: James Stout aboard Granville wins in 2:30 |
| June 6 | Aviation gasoline 1st produced commercially Paulsboro, New Jersey |
| June 8 | 1st parking meters are invented |
| June 9 | Olin Dutra beats Gene Sarazen by 1 stroke for U.S. Open |
| June 9 | Page Miss Glory (1936), premieres in USA |
| June 11 | Presbyterian Church of America founded at Philadelphia |
| June 12 | 1st 50 KW U.S. radio station, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| June 13 | 2nd Belgian government of Van Zealand forms |
| June 14 | Oranienburg Concentration Camp opens |
| June 16 | Dutch queen Wilhelmina opens the Waal bridge |
| June 16 | Pope Pius XI receives Anton Mussert, Dutch Nazi collaborator |
| June 18 | 1st bicycle traffic court in America established, Racine, Wisconsin |
| June 18 | Polish parliament gives President Ignacy Moscicki dictatorial power |
| June 19 | Dutch Premier Colijn denies relation with German call-girl |
| June 19 | German boxer Max Schmeling World Champion KOs Joe Louis |
| June 19 | Joe McCarthy is named to manage AL All-Stars, rather than high-strung Mickey Cochrane, who is very close to a nervous breakdown |
| June 20 | Jesse Owens of U.S. sets 100 meter record at 10.2 |
| June 22 | Harry Froboess dives 110 m from airship into Bodensee and survives |
| June 22 | Virgin Islands receives a constitution from U.S., Organic Act |
| June 24 | Joe DiMaggio becomes 5th to hit 2 home runs in 1 inn, Yankees beat Browns 18-4 |
| June 26 | 1st flight of Fw61 helicopter |
| June 26 | Everett Marshall beats Ali Baba in Columbus, to become wrestling champ |
| June 29 | Empire State Building emanates high definition TV-343 lines |
| June 29 | Pope Pius XI encyclical to U.S. bishops "On motion pictures" |
| June 30 | 40 hour work week law approved |
| June 30 | "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell, published |
| June 30 | Haile Selassie asks League of Nations for sanctions against Italy |
| June 30 | Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" published |
| July 1 | AVRO radio broadcast studios in Hilversum opens |
| July 1 | Watchfulness Committee forms in Amsterdam |
| July 3 | Jahangir Khan kills a sparrow while cricket bowling, Cambridge U vs. MCC |
| July 4 | 49th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Hull Jacobs beats H Sperling (62 46 75) |
| July 4 | League of Nations starts sanctions against Italy |
| July 5 | 120 degrees F (49 degrees C), Gannvalley, South Dakota (state record) |
| July 6 | 114 degrees F (46 degrees C), Moorhead, Minnesota (state record) |
| July 6 | 121 degrees F (49 degrees C), Steele, North Dakota (state record) |
| July 7 | 4th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-3 at Braves Field, Boston |
| July 10 | 109 degrees F (43 degrees C) Cumberland and Frederick, Maryland (state record) |
| July 10 | 110 degrees F (43 degrees C) at Runyon, New Jersey (state record |
| July 10 | 111 degrees F (44 degrees C) Phoenixville, Pennsylvania (state record) |
| July 10 | 112 degrees F (44 degrees C) at Martinsburg, West Virginia (state record |
| July 10 | New Straits Convention allows Turkish rearmament of Dardanelles |
| July 10 | Phillies Chuck Klein becomes 4th to hit 4 home runs in a game |
| July 11 | Triborough Bridge linking Manhattan, Bronx and Queens opens |
| July 13 | 112 degrees F (44 degrees C), Mio, Michigan (state record) |
| July 13 | 114 degrees F (46 degrees C), Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin (state record) |
| July 14 | 1 million demonstrate to support French People's Front government |
| July 14 | 116 degrees F (47 degrees C), Collegeville, Indiana (state record) |
| July 15 | Dutch 2nd Chamber agree to temporarily increase defense budget |
| July 16 | 1st x-ray photo of arterial circulation, Rochester, New York |
| July 16 | New York Giants are 10 games back in NL, and go on to win pennant |
| July 17 | Carl Hubbell begins winning streak, beating Pittsburgh 6-0, |
| July 17 | Military uprising under General Franco/begins Spanish civil war |
| July 18 | Spanish Civil War begins, General Francisco Franco led uprising |
| July 19 | Indians' Bob Feller makes his major league debut in relief |
| July 19 | Spanish premier Casares Quiroga succeeded by Jose Giral |
| July 22 | Phillies John Moore hits 3 consecutive home runs |
| July 24 | 118 degrees F (48 degrees C), Minden, Nebraska (state record) |
| July 24 | 121 degrees F (49 degrees C), near Alton, Kansas (state record) |
| July 24 | General Mola and Cabanellas form Spanish anti-govt |
| July 25 | 115 acre Orchard Beach opens in the Bronx |
| July 29 | RCA shows 1st real TV program (dancing, film on locomotives, Bonwit Teller fashion show and monologue from Tobacco Road and comedy) |
| July 31 | Tokyo, Japan is awarded the 1940 Olympics, later cancelled |
| August 1 | Adolph Hitler opens 11th Olympic Games in Berlin |
| August 1 | Benjamin E. Mays named president of Morehouse College |
| August 4 | Ioannis Metaxas names himself dictator of Greece |
| August 5 | At Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens wins his 3rd Olympic medal |
| August 6 | 1st time in 20th century, 1st 2 batters in a game-Roy Johnson and Rabbit Warstler of Boston Bees-lead off with home runs |
| August 9 | Jesse Owens wins 4th gold medal at Berlin Olympics |
| August 10 | 114 degrees F (46 degrees C) at Plain Dealing, Louisiana (state record) |
| August 10 | 120 degrees F (49 degrees C) at Ozark, Arkansas (state record) |
| August 11 | Chaing Kai-shek's troops conquers Kanton |
| August 12 | 120 degrees F (49 degrees C), Seymour, Texas (state record) |
| August 12 | Demo baseball game at 1936 Olympics in Berlin, world beats U.S., 6-5 |
| August 12 | Diver Marjorie Gestring is youngest Olympic gold medalist (13y 268d) |
| August 14 | 1st Olympic basketball game (Berlin) |
| August 16 | 11th Olympic games closes in Berlin |
| August 18 | 106.5 degrees F-Hottest afternoon ever in Iowa |
| August 19 | Trial against Ljev Kamenev and Grigori Zinovjev because of "Trotskyism" opens in Moscow |
| August 21 | Red Sox Wes Ferrell, walks off mound when he feels he did no get good feilding, Sox suspend him |
| August 23 | 17 year old Bob Feller's 1st game, he strikes out 15 St. Louis Browns |
| August 24 | Australian Antarctic Territory created |
| August 24 | Franklin D. Roosevelt gives FBI authority to pursuit fascists and communists |
| August 25 | 3 Braves hit twice in an inning getting 2 hits each |
| September 1 | Middleweight Staff Roth KOs Heinz Lazek |
| September 2 | 1st transatlantic round-trip air flight |
| September 3 | 3rd NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 7, Detroit 7 (76,000) |
| September 4 | Franco troops conquer Irun and Talavera de la Reina Spain |
| September 4 | Largo Caballero becomes Spanish premier |
| September 5 | Red Sox turn a triple-play on Yankees |
| September 7 | Boulder Dam, now Hoover Dam, begins operation |
| September 8 | Princess Juliana and German prince Bernard Lippe-Biesterfeld get engaged |
| September 9 | Yankees sweep Indians, New York clinches pennant on earliest date in history |
| September 11 | A's pitcher Horace Lisenbee gives up 26 hits in a game |
| September 11 | Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates Boulder Dam, now known as Hoover Dam |
| September 12 | 50th U.S. Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (46 63 62) |
| September 12 | 56th U.S. Mens Tennis: Fred Perry beats J Donald Budge (26 62 86 16 108) |
| September 13 | Cleveland Bob Feller strikes out then record 17 in a game (vs Philadelphia A's) |
| September 14 | Paul Waner ties Rogers Hornsby's NL record of 200 hits for 7 times |
| September 21 | Spanish fascist junta names Franco to generalissimo/supreme commander |
| September 23 | Giants Carl Hubbell notches his 16th en route to 24 consecutive wins |
| September 25 | Joe Medwick sets a still-standing NL record with his 64th double |
| September 27 | 1st baseman Walter Alston plays in his only major league game |
| September 27 | Franco troops conquer Toledo |
| September 27 | Netherlands leave Gold Standard/devaluate guilder |
| September 28 | Bachelor's Children debuts on CBS radio (at 9:45 am) |
| September 28 | Brooklyn and Boston play a penalty free NFL game |
| September 29 | Radio used for 1st time for a presidential campaign |
| September 30 | International Commission of Straits (Dardanelles and Bosphorus) ends |
| September 30 | Pinewood Studios opens in Buckinghamshire, England |
| October 1 | Generalissimo Francisco Franco establishes state of Spain |
| October 2 | 1st alcohol power plant forms, Atchison, Kansas |
| October 2 | Amsterdam's Calvinist Churches reject nazism |
| October 2 | French franc devalued |
| October 2 | New York Yankees score World Series record 18 runs, beating Giants 18-4 |
| October 2 | Tony Lazzeri becomes 1st Yank to hit a World Series grand slam |
| October 3 | Yankees set new attendance record of 64,842 in 3rd game of World Series |
| October 4 | Italian lire devalued |
| October 4 | Record 66,669 at Yankee Stadium for 4th game of World Series |
| October 6 | New York Yankees beat Giants 4 games to 2 in 33rd World Series |
| October 7 | 7th-place Brooklyn Dodgers fire manager Casey Stengel |
| October 9 | Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to Los Angeles |
| October 10 | Bradman scores 212 in 202 minutes in a cricket testimonial game |
| October 11 | "Professor Quiz," 1st radio quiz show premieres |
| October 13 | Explosion caused by leaking gas rips out section 12 of Cleveland Stadium |
| October 16 | Lou Gehrig, is voted AL MVP by BBWAA |
| October 19 | H. R. Ekins of "NY World-Telegram" beats 2 other reporters in a race around the world on commercial flights, by 18 days |
| October 20 | Carl Hubbell, 26-6, edges out Dizzy Dean, 24-13, for MVP honors in NL |
| October 20 | Spanish government moves to Barcelona |
| October 22 | 1st commercial flight from mainland to Hawaii |
| October 28 | Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary |
| November 1 | Mussolini describes alliance between Italy and Germany as an "axis" |
| November 1 | Rodeo Cowboy's Association founded |
| November 2 | 1st high-definition TV broadcast service, by BBC in London |
| November 3 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt wins landslide victory over Alfred M. Landon |
| November 5 | French writer Andre Gide criticizes Soviet regime |
| November 6 | RCA displays TV for press |
| November 6 | Terence Rattigans "French Without Tears," premieres in London |
| November 7 | Battle of Madrid begins |
| November 9 | Albanian government of Frasheri falls |
| November 12 | Nobel for literature awarded to Eugene O'Neill |
| November 12 | Oakland Bay Bridge opens |
| November 12 | St. Louis Browns sold to Donald L Barnes and William O DeWitt |
| November 14 | Bradman scores 192 for S A vs. Vic before a MCG crowd of 21000 |
| November 15 | Nazi-Germany and Japan sign Anti-Komintern pact |
| November 16 | German air force begins bombing of Madrid |
| November 17 | Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy become overnight success on radio |
| November 18 | Germany and Italy recognized Spanish government of Francisco Franco |
| November 18 | Main span of Golden Gate Bridge joined |
| November 22 | 19th PGA Championship: Denny Shute at Pinehurst CC Pinehurst NC |
| November 23 | 1st issue of Life, picture magazine created by Henry R Luce |
| November 23 | Life magazine hit newsstands |
| November 24 | Noel Coward's "Tonight at 8:30," premieres in New York City |
| November 24 | Pacifist/anti fascist writer Carl Von Ossietzky sent to concentration camp, award Nobel Peace Prize |
| November 25 | Germany and Japan sign anti-Komintern pact |
| November 30 | London's Crystal Palace (built 1851), destroyed by fire |
| December 1 | 2nd Heisman Trophy Award: Larry Kelley, Yale (E) |
| December 1 | Bell Labs tests coaxial cable for TV use |
| December 1 | EW Brundin and FF Lyon obtain patent on soilless culture of plants |
| December 5 | 24th CFL Grey Cup: Sarnia Imperials defeats Ottawa Rough Riders, 26-20 |
| December 5 | Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR and Kirghiz SSR becomes constituent republics of Soviet Union |
| December 8 | Anastasio Somoza elected President of Nicaragua |
| December 8 | NAACP files suit to equalize salaries of black and white teachers |
| December 9 | AL OKs night baseball for St. Louis |
| December 10 | England replaces King Edward VIII stamp series with King George VI |
| December 10 | King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson |
| December 10 | Stockholm: physicist PBJ Debije receives Nobel prize for chemistry |
| December 11 | King Edward VIII marries Mrs. Wallis Simpson; abdicates throne Duke of York becomes King George VI |
| December 12 | Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan |
| December 13 | Final Boston Redskin NFL game, lose to Packers 21-6, move to Washington D.C. |
| December 13 | Green Bay Packers win NFL championship |
| December 15 | KVL-AM in Seattle Washington changes call letters to KEEN (now KING) |
| December 16 | John Monks/Fred Finklehoff's "Brother Rat," premieres in New York City |
| December 17 | Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and dummy Charlie McCarthy, appear on TV |
| December 18 | 1st giant panda imported into US |
| December 18 | Queensland cricket all out for 49 vs. Vic, Fleetwood-Smith 7-17 |
| December 18 | Su-Lin, 1st giant panda to come to U.S. from China, arrives in SF |
| December 21 | Bradman's 2nd consecutive Test Cricket duck! Australia all out 80 |
| December 22 | 1st common carrier license issued by ICC, Scranton, Pa |
| December 24 | 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered, Berkeley, California |
| December 25 | Belgian bishops condemn fascism and communism |
| December 25 | Ron Hamence scores 104 for SA vs. Queensland before 4,865 |
| December 26 | Israel Philarmonic Orchestra forms |
| December 30 | United Auto Workers stage 1st sit-down strike, at Fisher Body Plant |
