1929 in the United States

Events from the year 1929 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government">Federal government of the United States">Federal government

President:
[Vice President of the United States|President of the United States|Vice President]:
Chief Justice: William Howard Taft
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nicholas Longworth
Senate Majority Leader:
Congress: 70th, 71st

Events

January–March

January 1 - In college football, [University of University of California, Berkeley|California, Berkeley|California] loses to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the 27th Rose Bowl by a score of 8–7.
January 29 - The Seeing Eye is established with the mission to train guide dogs to assist the blind, by Dorothy Harrison Eustis and Morris Frank in Nashville, Tennessee.
February 11 - Eugene O'Neill's Dynamo premieres in New York.
February 14 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangsters, rivals of Al Capone, are murdered in Chicago.
February 26 - The Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming is established by Congress.
March 4 - Herbert Hoover is sworn in as the 31st president of the United States, and Charles Curtis is sworn in as the 31st vice president.
March 16 - A part-talkie film version of Show Boat, based on Edna Ferber's novel rather than the musical, premieres in Palm Beach. It is critically panned and not successful at the box office.

April–June

April 2–6 - The Bombing of Naco by Irish pilot Patrick Murphy, the first aerial assault on the United States by a foreign combatant
May 13 - The National Crime Syndicate is founded in Atlantic City.
May 15 - Cleveland Clinic Fire of 1929
* A leak and explosion of methyl chloride refrigerant in a Cleveland hospital kills one hundred and twenty-eight and becomes regarded as the catalyst for the development of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants.
May 16 - The 1st Academy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California, with William A. Wellman's Wings winning Academy Award for Best Picture. Joseph W. Farnham wins the only award ever given for Best Writing, Title Writing. Frank Borzage's 7th Heaven received the most nominations with five, while both it and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise jointly received the most awards with three.
May 17 - Al Capone and his bodyguard are arrested for concealing deadly weapons.
May 20 - The Wickersham Commission begins its investigation of alcohol prohibition in the United States.
May 27 - United States v. Schwimmer decided in the Supreme Court affirms that pacifism is sufficient ground to deny an applicant citizenship of the United States.
June 12 - Lou Hoover has tea at the White House with Jessie De Priest, wife of Oscar De Priest, the first black congressman of the 20th century.
June 16 - Otto E. Funk, 62, ends his marathon walk.
June 21 - An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico.
June 27 - The first public demonstration of color television is held, by H. E. Ives and his colleagues at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. The first images are a bouquet of roses and an American flag. A mechanical system is used to transmit 50-line color television images between New York and Washington, D.C.

July–September

August 11 - The first Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, the oldest and largest US African-American parade, is held in Chicago.
August 19 - The radio comedy show Amos and Andy makes its debut, starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.
August 31 - The Young Plan, which sets the total World War I reparations owed by Germany at US$26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 58½ years, is finalized.
September 3 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average peaks at 381.17, a height it will not reach again until November 1954.

October–December

October 11 - J. C. Penney opens Store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with department stores in all 48 states.
October 14 - The Philadelphia Athletics defeat the Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 1, to win their 4th World Series Title.
October 24-29 - Wall Street crash of 1929: Three multi-digit percentage drops wipe out more than $30 billion from the New York Stock Exchange.
October 24 - The Mount Hope Bridge, connecting Portsmouth to Bristol in Rhode Island, opens to traffic.
October 25 - Former U.S. Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall is convicted of bribery for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal, becoming the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison for actions in office.
November 7 - The Museum of Modern Art in New York City opens to the public.
November 29 - Bernt Balchen, U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd, Captain Ashley McKinley, and Harold June, become the first to fly over the South Pole.
December 3 - Great Depression: U.S. President Herbert Hoover announces to the U.S. Congress that the worst effects of the recent stock market crash are behind the nation, and that the American people have regained faith in the economy.

Undated

Sunglasses mass-produced from celluloid are first made by Foster Grant for sale in Austin Texas

Ongoing

Lochner era
On the roof gang, group of cryptologists and radiomen during World War II
U.S. occupation of Haiti
Prohibition
Roaring Twenties

Sport

March 29 – For the first time in Stanley Cup history two American teams face off for hockey's ultimate prize when the Boston Bruins defeat the New York Rangers 2 games to 0 for the Bruins first Stanley Cup victory. The deciding game is played in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Births

January

January 1 – Joseph Lombardo, American mafioso
January 3
* Marilyn Lloyd, American politician and businesswoman
* Gordon Moore, American computing entrepreneur and benefactor, inventor of Moore's Law
January 4 – Darrell Mudra, American football coach
January 5
* Wilbert Harrison, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
* Robert K. Massie, American journalist and historian
January 7 – Terry Moore, American actress
January 8 – Gerry Spence, American lawyer and author
January 9 – Tom Riley, American lawyer and politician
January 13
* Joe Pass, American jazz guitarist
* Moe Savransky, American baseball player
January 14 – Billy Walker, American country music singer
January 15 – Martin Luther King Jr., African-American civil rights leader, Nobel laureate
January 17
* Eilaine Roth, American professional baseball player
* Elaine Roth, American professional baseball player
January 19 – Red Amick, American race car driver
January 20
* Jimmy Cobb, American jazz drummer
* Arte Johnson, American comedian and actor
* Frank Kush, American football player and coach
January 21 – Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, American writer and literary scholar
January 25 – Benny Golson, American jazz musician
January 26 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist and author
January 27 – Richard Ottinger, American politician
January 28 – Edith M. Flanigen, American chemist

February

February 1 – Stuart Whitman, American film, television actor
February 2 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist
February 3 – Huntington Hardisty, American admiral
February 4
* Jerry Adler, American actor
* Stanley Drucker, American clarinetist
* Thomas H. Paterniti, American politician
February 5 – Hal Blaine, American drummer and session musician
February 6 – Chuck Nergard, American politician
February 10
* Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor
* Jim Whittaker, mountaineer
* Lou Whittaker, mountaineer
February 14
* Vic Morrow, American actor, director
* James Nelligan, American politician
February 15
* Bob Moore, American food executive
* James R. Schlesinger, American politician
February 22
* James Hong, Chinese-American actor, director
* Rebecca Schull, American actress
February 28 – Hayden Fry, American football player and coach

March

March 1 – Lynwood E. Clark, American Air Force lieutenant general
March 6 – Gale McArthur, American basketball player
March 7 – Marion Marlowe, American singer and actress
March 8
* Elaine Edwards, American politician
* Nicodemo Scarfo, American mafioso
March 9 – Jay Weston, American film producer and restaurant critic
March 11 – Hugh Newell Jacobsen, American architect
March 13
* Peter Breck, American actor
* Joseph Mascolo, American musician, actor
March 14
* Michael D. Coe, archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher and author
* Bob Goalby, golfer
March 16 – Betty Johnson, singer
March 17 – Howie Winter, gang boss
March 19 – Michael M. Ryan, American actor
March 25
* Harris W. Fawell, American politician
* Cecil Taylor, African-American jazz pianist, composer, and poet
March 26 – Edward Sorel, American illustrator and caricaturist
March 27
* Rita Briggs, American baseball player
* Don Warden, American country musician and manager
March 29 – Richard Lewontin, American biologist, geneticist and academic
March 31 – Bert Fields, American lawyer and author

April

April 1
* Jane Powell, actress, singer, dancer
* Bo Schembechler, American football player and coach
April 2
* Ed Dorn, poet
* Frank Farrar, governor of South Dakota
April 4
* William F. Clinger Jr., politician
* John Dee Holeman, Piedmont Blues musician
April 5 – Richard Jenrette, businessman
April 6 – Joi Lansing, actress
April 8 – Morton B. Panish, physical chemist
April 9 – Paule Marshall, novelist
April 12
* Tony Douglas, country music singer
* Dale Haupt, American football coach
April 13 – Yvonne Clark, engineer
April 16
* Dorne Dibble, American football player
* Roy Hamilton, African-American singer
April 20 – John Andreason, politician
April 27 – Michael Harner, anthropologist, author
April 29
* Tom Cornsweet, psychologist
* Billy Mize, steel guitarist, band leader, vocalist, songwriter, TV show host
* April Stevens, singer
April 30 – Beverly LaHaye, conservative activist

May

May 2 – Link Wray, rock and roll musician
May 3
* Denise Lor, popular music singer, actress
* Emily Anne Staples, American politician
May 4
* Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-born actress and humanitarian
* Sydney Lamb, American linguist
* Paige Rense, American writer and editor
May 5 – Ilene Woods, American singer, actress
May 6 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, Nobel laureate
May 7
* Sally Liberman Smith, American educator
* Dick Williams, American baseball player
May 8
* Ethel D. Allen, African-American Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and physician
* John C. Bogle, American investor
* Jane Roberts, American writer
May 10 – Betty Foss, American female professional baseball player
May 11 – Margaret Kerry, American actress, dancer, and motivational speaker
May 12 – Bernard Marcus, American businessman
May 15
* Frank Heart, American computer engineer
* William Luers, American diplomat and museum executive
May 16
* Betty Carter, African-American jazz singer
* John Conyers, African-American politician
* Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist
May 18 – Walter Pitman, American educator, politician
May 21 – Charles Wadsworth, American music promoter
May 22 – Neave Brown, American-British architect
May 25 – Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano, director of the New York City Opera
May 27 – Thomas E. Brennan, American jurist
May 29 – Harry Frankfurt, American philosopher
May 30 – Marshall Loeb, American business journalist

June

June 1
* James H. Billington, American academic and author
* Chuck Ortmann, American football player
June 2 – Norton Juster, American writer and academic
June 3 – Chuck Barris, American television game show host, producer
June 6 – Mary Hatcher, American soprano, actress
June 8 – Marion Marshall, American actress
June 9 – Johnny Ace, African-American rhythm and blues singer
June 10
* James McDivitt, American astronaut
* Grace Mirabella, American fashion journalist
* E. O. Wilson, American biologist
June 11 – Frank Thomas, American baseball player
June 16 – Paul Cain, American Pentecostal Christian evangelist
June 20 – Bonnie Bartlett, American actress
June 21
* Bob Gain, American football player
* Stephen B. Wiley, American politician
June 22 – Alex P. Garcia, American politician
June 23
* June Carter Cash, American singer
* Gail Peters, American competition swimmer
* Gerald Eustis Thomas, American naval officer, diplomat and academic
June 24
* Vic Carrabotta, American comic-book artist, advertising art director
* Connie Hall, American country music singer
* Carolyn S. Shoemaker, American astronomer
June 25 – Eric Carle, American designer, illustrator and writer
June 26 – Milton Glaser, American graphic designer, illustrator and teacher
June 27 – J. C. Duncan, politician
June 28 – Glenn D. Paige, political scientist
June 29
* Pat Crawford Brown, actress
* Pete George, weightlifter

July

July 1 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist, Nobel laureate
July 3
* Joanne Herring, American socialite, businesswoman, political activist, philanthropist, diplomat, and former television talk show host
* Lavelle White, American Texas blues and soul blues singer, songwriter
July 4
* Peter Angelos, American trial lawyer
* Bill Tremel, American professional baseball player
July 5 – Katherine Helmond, American actress
July 6 – Angelo LiPetri, American former professional baseball player
July 8 – Shirley Ann Grau, American writer
July 9 – Jesse McReynolds, American bluegrass musician
July 10 – John Glenn, Major League Baseball outfielder
July 12 – Monte Hellman, director
July 11 – Sandy Frank, American television producer, distributor, and marketer of TV shows
July 14 – Pat Scott, American pitcher
July 15 – Walter Hirsch, American basketball player
July 17 – Arthur Frommer, American writer, publisher and consumer advocate
July 18 – Dick Button, American figure skater
July 19 – Alice Pollitt, American female professional baseball player
July 21
* Antonia Handler Chayes, American lawyer, educator
* Paul V. Gadola, American judge
July 23 – Robert Quackenbush, American author and children's illustrator
July 26 – Patrick Flores, American Roman Catholic prelate
July 28 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American socialite, conservationist, 35th First Lady of the United States
July 31 – Don Murray, American actor

August

August 1 – Samuel Charters, American writer, music historian and record producer
August 2 – Irwin Fridovich, American biochemist
August 4 – Joe Pignatano, American baseball player and coach
August 7
* Jo Baer, American artist
* Don Larsen, American baseball player
* Dick Schulze, American politician
August 9 – Fred Fredericks, American cartoonist
August 10 – Vincent McEveety, director, producer
August 12 – Buck Owens, singer, bandleader, and TV host
August 13 – Pat Harrington Jr., voice actor
August 14
* Thomas Meehan, playwright
* Louise Slaughter, politician
August 15
* Louise Shivers, writer
* Marcia Hafif, painter
August 16 – Fritz Von Erich, wrestler
August 17
* Francis Gary Powers, U-2 spy plane pilot
* Rex White, auto racer and NASCAR champion
August 21
* John McMartin, American actor
*Marie Severin, comics artist and colorist
August 22 – Roy Clay, American computer scientist
August 23 – Vera Miles, American actress
August 24 – Betty Dodson, American sex educator
August 26 – Chuck Renslow, American businessman, LGBT activist
August 27 – Ralph T. Coe, American art historian of Native American art
August 28 – Roxie Roker, African-American actress
August 29 – Yale Kamisar, American legal scholar
August 31 – C. C. Torbert Jr., American jurist

September

September 1 – Murray Fromson, American journalist
September 2 – Hal Ashby, American film director and editor
September 3 – Whitey Bulger, Irish-American gangster and multiple murderer
September 4 – Thomas Eagleton, American politician
September 5 – Bob Newhart, American comedian, actor
September 6 – Dow Finsterwald, American professional golfer
September 9 – Stanford Parris, American lawyer and politician
September 10 – Arnold Palmer, American professional golfer
September 11
* Eve Brent, American actress
* David S. Broder, American journalist
September 12 – Harvey Schmidt, American composer
September 14
* Larry Collins, American writer
* John Gutfreund, American banker, businessman and investor
* Mel Hancock, American politician
September 15 – Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, Nobel laureate
September 16
* Dale Kildee, American politician
* Maxine Kline, American female professional baseball player
September 19
* Marge Roukema, American politician
* Mel Stewart, African-American actor
September 20 – Anne Meara, American actress, comedian
September 22
* William E. Dannemeyer, American politician
* Cecil Williams, African-American pastor and civil rights activist
September 25
* Barbara Walters, American television journalist
* Kevin White, American politician
September 26 – Meredith Gourdine, American athlete
September 28 – Skip Bafalis, American politician
September 30 – Helen M. Marshall, American politician

October

October 2 – Moses Gunn, African-American actor
October 4
* Scotty Beckett, American actor
* Leroy Van Dyke, American country music singer and guitarist
* Judith Jarvis Thomson, American moral philosopher
October 5 – Richard F. Gordon Jr., American astronaut
October 8 – Arthur Bisguier, American chess grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer
October 15 – Hubert Dreyfus, American philosopher
October 18 – Jay Last, American physicist
October 21 – Ursula K. Le Guin, American science fiction and fantasy author
October 22 – Patsy Elsener, American diver
October 24
* Jim Brosnan, American baseball player and sportscaster
* George Crumb, American composer and educator
* Gustav Ranis, American economist and academic
*Ronald E. Rosser, Medal of Honor recipient
October 25
* LaDell Andersen, American college and basketball coach
* David McReynolds, American political activist
October 26 – Roland Hemond, American baseball executive
October 28 – Mitchell Torok, American country music singer
October 30 – Roy Kramer, American football coach and athletics administrator
October 31 – C. O. Brocato, American football player and scout

November

November 1 – Nicholas Mavroules, American politician
November 2
* Rachel Ames, American actress
* Harold Farberman, American conductor, composer and percussionist
* Lee Hedges, American football coach
November 4 – Jane Davis Doggett, American graphic designer
November 6 – June Squibb, American actress
November 8
* Bert Berns, American songwriter, record producer
* Bobby Bowden, American football player and coach
November 9 – Severn Darden, American comedian, actor
November 11 – LaVern Baker, American singer
November 12 – Grace Kelly, American actress
November 13 – Fred Phelps, American pastor, activist
November 14 – Jimmy Piersall, American baseball player and sportscaster
November 15
* Ed Asner, American actor
* Joe Hinton, African-American soul music singer
November 17 – Jackie Ferrara, American sculptor d. 2025)
November 23
* John F. Keenan, American judge
* Hal Lindsey, American Christian evangelist
* Gloria Lynne, American jazz singer
* Shirley Palesh, baseball player
November 24
* Marvin Kitman, author and television critic
* George Moscone, attorney, politician
November 26 – Betta St. John, actress, singer and dancer
November 28
* Berry Gordy, African-American record producer, songwriter
* Frederick D. Reese, African-American civil rights activist
November 30
* Dick Clark, American television entertainer
* Joan Ganz Cooney, television producer

December

December 1 – David Doyle, American actor
December 2
* Dan Jenkins, American journalist and author
* Leon Litwack, American historian and author
December 9 – John Cassavetes, American actor
December 17 – William Safire, American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter
December 20 – David H. Gambrell, politician
December 21 – Newton Morton, geneticist
December 23 – Chet Baker, jazz musician
December 26 – Kathleen Crowley, actress
December 29
* Theodore V. Buttrey Jr., American educator, classicist and numismatist
* Susie Garrett, African-American actress
* Matt "Guitar" Murphy, American blues musician
December 31 – Robert B. Silvers, American literary editor

Undated

David Fintz Altabé, scholar and poet

Deaths

January 5 – Marc McDermott, actor
January 13
* Wyatt Earp, gunfighter
* Emil Fuchs, sculptor and painter
January 15
* Leonard Cline, novelist, poet and journalist
* George Cope, painter
January 21 – Maria Taylor Beale, author
January 30 – Franklin J. Drake, admiral
February 4 – William Rankin Ballard, businessman
February 11 – Frank Putnam Flint, U.S. Senator from California from 1905 to 1911
February 14 – Thomas Burke, sprinter
February 18 – William Russell, silent film actor
February 22 – Louise Upton Brumback, landscape painter
February 24
* Adaline Hohf Beery, songbook compiler
* Frank Keenan, actor
February 27 – Briton Hadden, co-founder of Time magazine
March 1 – Royal Hurlburt Weller, politician
March 5 – David Dunbar Buick, inventor
March 6 – Moses E. Clapp, politician
March 12 – Asa Griggs Candler, businessman and politician
March 15 – Pinetop Smith, blues pianist
March 18 – William P. Cronan, Naval Governor of Guam
March 28 – Katharine Lee Bates, librettist, author of "America the Beautiful"
April 4 – William Michael Crose, United States Navy Commander and 7th Governor of American Samoa
April 28 – May Jordan McConnel, Australian trade unionist and suffragist
June 2 – Don Murray, jazz clarinettist
June 4 – Harry Frazee, Broadway producer and baseball owner
June 5 – Adolph Coors, brewer
June 9 – murder–suicide
* Louis Bennison, silent Western film actor
* Margaret Lawrence, actress
June 11 – William D. Boyce, entrepreneur and founder of the Boy Scouts of America
July 2 – Gladys Brockwell, film actress
July 3 – Dustin Farnum, silent Western film actor
July 9 – Cack Henley, baseball player
July 12 – Robert Henri, painter
July 20 – Noble Drew Ali, prophet
August 3
* Emile Berliner, inventor
* Thorstein Veblen, economist
August 19 – Chris Kelly, jazz trumpeter
August 27 – James Knox Taylor, official architect
September 2 – Paul Leni, filmmaker
September 4 – Frederick Freeman Proctor, vaudeville impresario
September 25 – Miller Huggins, baseball manager
October 3 – Jeanne Eagels, actress
October 15 – Annie Lowrie Alexander, physician and educator
November 14 – Joe McGinnity, baseball player
November 17 – Herman Hollerith, businessman and inventor
November 24 – Raymond Hitchcock, actor and producer
December 10 – Harry Crosby, publisher and poet
December 19 – Blind Lemon Jefferson, blues musician
December 21 – I. L. Patterson, politician, 18th Governor of Oregon
Undated
* Timothy Francis Donovan Aaron, New Jersey politician
* Adelaïde Alsop Robineau, ceramicist
* Dallas Lore Sharp, nature writer