Henkels & McCoy Timeline: 1932
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| 1932 |
In the United States, at the depth of the Great Depression, there
are 16 million Americans unemployed -- about one third of the
available labor force. The gross national product declines
from the1929 figure of $103,828,000,000 to $55,760,000,000 in 1933,
a loss of nearly 50% in just three years.
The world banking system is near collapse. The Great Depression also
produces severe effects abroad, especially in Europe, where many
countries have not fully recovered from the aftermath of the Great
War (the First World War). In Italy, Benito Mussolini rises to power
as head of a new Fascist state; in Germany, the economic disaster
and resulting social dislocation, civil unrest, spiraling inflation
and political chaos contribute to a power grab by Adolf Hitler.
In the Soviet Union, Stalin’s 1929 forced collectivization of
formerly privately held farms results in a famine eventually causing
the deaths of between six and seven million Ukrainians. The proceeds
of the collectivization program are to finance an industrial buildup
of the backward nation. Stalin raises grain production quotas by an
additional 44% over the past year’s quota, which crush ordinary
peasants. Resistance to this and other draconian measures often
means deportation, prison or execution. Those who do not appear to
be starving are often accused of "hoarding" grain. |
May 21
Amelia Earhart is first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
October 3
A melancholy song from a flopped Broadway musical, "New Americana"
captures the bleakness of everyday life in the early 1930s: It is
recorded by both Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby. Both versions go to
Number 1 on the charts.
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Bing Crosby
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Brother,
Can You Spare A Dime?
(click to listen)
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
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November 8
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected President.December 27
Rockefeller Center erected in NYC. Radio City Music Hall opens in
New York's Rockefeller Center.
Also in 1932:
Pennsylvania’s Regional Planning Federation (the predecessor agency
to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission) proposes a
parkway system around the Philadelphia area, similar to the Robert
Moses designed parkways around New York City. The four-lane parkways
feature controlled access, stone-arch bridges, timber lampposts and
natural vegetation. Proposed name for the roadway will be the Valley
Forge Parkway. Plans are shelved, however, and will be partially
resurrected in fifteen years’ time.
The Ozzie Nelson Orchestra hires a new vocalist, Harriet Hilliard.
The mellow musicians, right, will eventually marry, have two sons
and a hit TV sitcom about the trials of suburban life, beginning in
the mid-1950s, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. To hear
the
Ozzie Nelson Orchestra, click here.
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