1928 in the United States

1928 in the United States
Years:	1925 1926 1927 – 1928 – 1929 1930 1931
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48 stars (1912–59)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1918–45)

Events from the year 1928 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Calvin Coolidge (R-Massachusetts)
• Vice President: Charles G. Dawes (R-Illinois)
• Chief Justice: William Howard Taft (originally now residing in from of the U.S. state of Ohio)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nicholas Longworth (R-Ohio)
• Senate Majority Leader: Charles Curtis (R-Kansas)
• Congress: 70th

Governors and Lieutenant Governors
Governors 2 Lieutenant Governors 2

Events

January

• January 16 – U.S. murderer Ruth Snyder is executed at Ossining.

February

• February 8 – British inventor John Logie Baird broadcasts a transatlantic television signal from London to Hartsdale, New York.
• February 25 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.

March

• March 12 – In California, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles fails, killing 400.
• March 21 – Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.

April

• April 10 – "Pineapple Primary": The U.S. Republican Party primary elections in Chicago are preceded by assassinations and bombings.

May

• May 10 – The first regular schedule of television programming begins in Schenectady, New York by the General Electric's television station W2XB (the station is popularly known as WGY Television, after its sister radio station WGY).
• May 15 – The animated short Plane Crazy is released by Disney Studios in Los Angeles, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

June

• June 17 – Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean (she succeeds the next day). Wilmer Stultz was the pilot.
• June 29 – New York Governor Alfred E. Smith becomes the first Catholic nominated by a major political party for U.S. President, at the Democratic National Convention in Houston, Texas.
• June 29 – Outerbridge Crossing and Goethals Bridge in Staten Island, New York is opened

July

• July 4 - Jean Lussier goes over Niagara Falls in a rubber ball.
• July 6 – The world's largest hailstone falls in Potter, Nebraska.
• July 7 – The first machine-sliced and machine-wrapped loaf of bread is sold in Chillicothe, Missouri, using Otto Frederick Rohwedder's technology.
• July 12 – Mexican aviator Emilio Carranza dies in a solo plane crash in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, while returning from a goodwill flight to New York City.
• July 25 – The United States recalls its troops from China.

August

• August 16 – Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, D.C. after killing about 20 people.
• August 22 – Alfred E. Smith accepts the Democratic presidential nomination, with WGY/W2XB simulcasting the event on radio and television.

September

• September 1 – Richard Byrd leaves New York for the Arctic.
• September 11 – Kenmore's WMAK station starts broadcasting in Buffalo, New York.
• September 16 – The 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane kills at least 2,500 people in Florida.

October

• October 12 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
• October 22 – The Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity is founded at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus.

November

• November 4 – At Park Central Hotel in Manhattan, Arnold Rothstein, New York City's most notorious gambler, is shot to death over a poker game.
• November 6 – U.S. presidential election, 1928: Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin over Democratic Governor of New York Alfred E. Smith.
• November 17 – The Boston Garden opens in Boston.
• November 18 – Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the third Mickey Mouse cartoon released, but the first sound film.

December

• December 5 – Police disperse a Sicilian gangs' meeting in Cleveland.
• December 21 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam.

Undated

• Eliot Ness begins to lead the prohibition unit in Chicago.
• The first (and last) Best Title Writing Academy Award is given.
• The Episcopal Church in the United States of America ratifies a new revision of the Book of Common Prayer.
• W2XBS, RCA's first television station, is established in New York City.

Ongoing

• Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
• U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
• Prohibition (1919–1933)
• Roaring Twenties (1920–1929)

Births

• January 5 – Walter Mondale, Vice President of the U.S. from 1977 to 1981
• January 8 – Slade Gorton, U.S. Senator from Washington from 1981 to 1987 and from 1989 to 2001
• January 14 – Lauch Faircloth, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1993 to 1999
• January 20 – Rudy Boesch, soldier
• January 22 – Birch Bayh, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1963 to 1981
• February 22 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969)
• March 11 – Frank Borman, astronaut
• April 4
  • Maya Angelou, African American poet and novelist (died 2014)
  • Estelle Harris, actress.
• April 6 – James D. Watson, geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• April 23 – Shirley Temple, child film actress and ambassador (died 2014)
• May 4 – Joseph Tydings, U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1965 to 1971
• May 8 – Robert Conley, journalist (died 2013)
• May 11 – Vern Rapp, baseball player, coach, and manager
• June 3 – Louise Daniel Hutchinson, American historian and academic (died 2014)
• June 12 – Richard M. Sherman, songwriter
• June 13 – John Forbes Nash, Jr., mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (died 2015)
• July 4 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
• July 18 – Billy Harrell, American baseball player and scout (d. 2014)
• July 26 – Stanley Kubrick, film director (died 1999)
• September 14 – Dick Clark, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1973 to 1979
• September 19 – Adam West, actor
• September 22 – Richard Stone, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1975 to 1981
• October 7 – Herb Rich, football player (died 2008)
• November 13 – Steve Bilko, baseball player (d. 1978)
• November 15 – Seldon Powell, jazz and soul musician (died 1997)
• November 29 – Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1985 to 1997 (died 2003)
• December 23 – Roger Jepsen, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1979 to 1985

Deaths

• January 1 – Loie Fuller, dancer (born 1862)
• January 3
  • Dorothy Donnelly, actress and songwriter (born 1880)
  • Emily Stevens, actress (born 1882)
• January 6 – Alvin Kraenzlein, American athlete (born 1876)
• January 12 – Ruth Snyder, murderer (born 1895)
• March 7 – Robert Abbe, surgeon (born 1851)
• March 19 – Nora Bayes, singer and actress (born 1880)
• April 2 – Theodore William Richards, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (born 1868)
• April 22
  • Warner B. Bayley, admiral (born 1845)
  • Frank Currier, actor (born 1857)
• April 25 – Floyd Bennett, aviator (born 1890)
• May 8 – Clara Williams, actress (born 1888)
• May 18 – Big Bill Haywood, labor leader (born. 1869)
• June 6 – John D. Works, U.S. Senator from California from 1911 to 1917 (born 1847)
• June 22
  • A. B. Frost, illustrator (born 1851)
  • George Siegmann, actor (born 1882)
• June 24 – Holbrook Blinn, actor (born 1872)
• July 1 – Frankie Yale, gangster (born 1893)
• October 24 – Arthur Bowen Davies, artist (born 1863)
• October 30 – Robert Lansing, Secretary of State (born 1864)
• December 11 – Lewis Latimer, inventor (born 1848)
• December 14 – Theodore Roberts, actor (born 1861)
• December 16 – Elinor Wylie, poet and novelist (born 1885)
• December 25 – Fred Thomson, silent film actor (born 1890)

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons