Directory

1932 CE

A year in which the Great Depression reached its nadir, Franklin Roosevelt won the U.S. presidential election in a landslide, the Bonus Army was dispersed from Washington, and James Chadwick discovered the neutron.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt won the U.S. presidential election in November by a landslide, defeating incumbent Herbert Hoover with promises of a New Deal for the American people.
  • Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria in March, installing the former Qing emperor Puyi as its nominal head of state.
  • The League of Nations debated the Lytton Commission's findings on Japan's seizure of Manchuria, but proved unable to take meaningful action against Japanese aggression.
  • The World Disarmament Conference opened in Geneva in February, bringing together 60 nations to discuss arms reduction, though the conference ultimately failed to produce agreement.
  • Thailand became a constitutional monarchy following a bloodless coup in June by a group of military and civilian officials known as the People's Party.
  • António de Oliveira Salazar became Prime Minister of Portugal in July, consolidating the authoritarian Estado Novo regime.
  • The Ottawa Imperial Economic Conference in July-August established a system of imperial preference tariffs among Britain and its dominions.
  • Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations in October, becoming the first former mandate territory to achieve full membership.
  • The Irish Free State's Fianna Fáil party under Éamon de Valera won the general election in February, beginning a long period in government.
  • The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formally proclaimed on September 23 by King Abdulaziz ibn Saud, unifying the Hejaz and Nejd into a single state.

Conflict & Security

  • The Bonus Army of approximately 17,000 World War I veterans camped in Washington, D.C., demanding early payment of their service bonuses; U.S. Army troops under General MacArthur forcibly dispersed them in July.
  • The Battle of Shanghai erupted in January when Japanese forces attacked the Chinese section of the city, leading to fierce urban combat before a ceasefire was arranged in May.
  • The Chaco War began in earnest between Bolivia and Paraguay in June, as both nations fought over the disputed Gran Chaco region in a bloody conventional conflict.
  • Japanese forces consolidated control of Manchuria, suppressing Chinese resistance and establishing military garrisons throughout the region.
  • The Colombian-Peruvian War began in September when Peruvian civilians and soldiers seized the port of Leticia on the Amazon River.
  • The Soviet Union's forced collectivization campaign continued to cause mass resistance and starvation in Ukraine and other agricultural regions.
  • Street violence in Germany between Nazi paramilitaries and communists killed hundreds, as the Weimar Republic's democratic institutions weakened.
  • The Salvadoran military massacred an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 peasants in January in what became known as La Matanza, crushing an indigenous uprising.
  • Chiang Kai-shek launched his fourth encirclement campaign against Communist forces in Jiangxi province, attempting to destroy the Chinese Soviet Republic.
  • Political assassinations destabilized Japan, with Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi shot and killed by young naval officers on May 15 in an attempted coup.

Economy & Finance

  • U.S. unemployment peaked at approximately 24 percent, with over 12 million Americans out of work at the depth of the Great Depression.
  • The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was established by President Hoover in January to provide emergency loans to banks, railroads, and other institutions.
  • The Revenue Act of 1932 raised the top marginal income tax rate in the United States from 25 to 63 percent in an attempt to balance the federal budget.
  • Global industrial production fell to roughly 60 percent of its 1929 level, marking the worst contraction of the modern industrial era.
  • The Lausanne Conference in June effectively ended German reparation payments, with a final settlement that was never ratified.
  • The Glass-Steagall Act of 1932 expanded the types of collateral the Federal Reserve could use to issue currency, attempting to ease the credit crunch.
  • Farm foreclosures in the United States reached crisis levels, with angry farmers in some states organizing to prevent foreclosure auctions.
  • Deflation continued in most industrialized nations, with prices falling and debts becoming more burdensome in real terms.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its Depression low of 41.22 on July 8, having lost nearly 90 percent of its value from the 1929 peak.
  • The British Empire's system of imperial preference trade agreements, established at Ottawa, aimed to shield member economies from the worst effects of the global downturn.

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The Sydney Harbour Bridge opened on March 19, connecting the northern and southern shores of Sydney Harbour and becoming an iconic Australian landmark.
  • Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20-21, flying from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland.
  • The first Polaroid sunglasses were produced by Edwin Land, using his synthetic polarizing filter technology.
  • The Zippo lighter was manufactured for the first time by George Blaisdell in Bradford, Pennsylvania.
  • BBC radio launched its Empire Service in December, broadcasting programs via shortwave radio to audiences across the British Empire.
  • The Autobahn concept was advanced in Germany with the opening of a stretch of highway between Cologne and Bonn in August.
  • Auguste Piccard made his second stratospheric balloon flight, reaching an altitude of approximately 53,000 feet over Switzerland.
  • The Norris Dam project was authorized as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority planning, aimed at flood control and electrification in the rural South.
  • Kodak introduced the first commercially successful 8mm home movie camera system, making amateur filmmaking more accessible.
  • RCA demonstrated an improved all-electronic television system developed by Vladimir Zworykin, advancing the technology toward practical broadcasting.

Science & Discovery

  • James Chadwick discovered the neutron in February at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, fundamentally changing the understanding of atomic structure.
  • Carl Anderson discovered the positron, the first antimatter particle, in cosmic ray experiments using a cloud chamber at Caltech.
  • Werner Heisenberg received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle.
  • John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton at Cambridge became the first to split an atomic nucleus using artificially accelerated protons, transmuting lithium into helium.
  • Linus Pauling published The Nature of the Chemical Bond, a landmark paper applying quantum mechanics to chemistry.
  • Ernest Lawrence's cyclotron at Berkeley produced its first high-energy proton beams, demonstrating the potential of circular particle accelerators.
  • The discovery of deuterium by Harold Urey was confirmed, earning him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry two years later.
  • Karl Jansky confirmed that the radio emissions he detected originated from the center of the Milky Way galaxy, establishing radio astronomy.
  • Gerhard Domagk began testing Prontosil, a red dye compound, as an antibacterial agent in animal experiments, pioneering sulfonamide drug research.
  • The cosmic ray shower phenomenon was investigated by Bruno Rossi and others, advancing understanding of high-energy particle interactions in the atmosphere.

Health & Medicine

  • The Tuskegee syphilis study began in Alabama, enrolling African American men in an unethical experiment that would withhold treatment for decades.
  • Gerhard Domagk tested the antibacterial properties of Prontosil in laboratory animals, laying the groundwork for the sulfonamide revolution in medicine.
  • Polio outbreaks continued to strike communities in the United States and Europe, with the disease disproportionately affecting children.
  • Malnutrition and hunger-related illness increased worldwide as the Depression left millions unable to afford adequate food.
  • The March of Dimes would not yet exist, but President Roosevelt's personal experience with polio helped raise awareness of the disease.
  • Public health spending was cut in many countries as government budgets contracted during the Depression, weakening disease surveillance and prevention.
  • Insulin treatment for diabetes continued to improve, though the drug remained expensive and difficult for many patients to obtain.
  • Typhus and cholera outbreaks affected famine-stricken regions in the Soviet Union, where forced collectivization was causing mass hunger.
  • Research into vitamins and nutritional deficiency diseases advanced, with scientists identifying the chemical structures of several essential nutrients.
  • Hospital admissions declined in many countries not because populations were healthier but because people could not afford medical care during the Depression.

Climate & Environment

  • Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was approximately 307 parts per million.
  • Severe dust storms swept across the American Great Plains, with wind erosion stripping topsoil from millions of acres of overgrazed and overplowed farmland.
  • Flooding in China continued to cause devastation, as the country suffered from a combination of natural disasters and political instability.
  • A devastating earthquake struck Jalisco, Mexico, on June 3, killing over 400 people and causing widespread destruction.
  • The Civilian Conservation Corps concept was proposed as a way to employ young men in conservation and reforestation projects, though it would not launch until 1933.
  • Hugh Hammond Bennett continued his campaign for federal soil conservation, warning that unchecked erosion threatened America's agricultural future.
  • The dust storm problem intensified on the southern Plains as drought conditions worsened and more marginal grassland was plowed for wheat farming.
  • An earthquake in Gansu, China, on December 25 killed approximately 275 people in the mountainous northwestern province.
  • Deforestation for agricultural expansion continued in tropical regions, particularly in Southeast Asia, Central America, and West Africa.
  • Several national parks were established or expanded around the world, though conservation remained a secondary concern during the economic crisis.

Culture & Society

  • Grand Hotel won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the ceremony held in November.
  • The Lindbergh baby was kidnapped on March 1 from the family home in Hopewell, New Jersey, sparking a massive investigation and nationwide media sensation.
  • Aldous Huxley published Brave New World, a dystopian novel depicting a future society controlled through biological engineering and psychological conditioning.
  • The Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles in July and August, with the United States topping the medal count and several world records being set.
  • Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City on December 27, becoming the world's largest indoor theater.
  • Jack Benny's radio show debuted on NBC in May, launching one of the most successful careers in American comedy and broadcasting.
  • Shirley Temple made her first film appearance at the age of three, beginning a child acting career that would make her the most popular movie star in America.
  • The Lindbergh baby was found dead on May 12 near the family home, turning the kidnapping case into a murder investigation.
  • The world population was approximately 2.12 billion.
  • Johnny Weissmuller starred in Tarzan the Ape Man, the first of his highly popular Tarzan films for MGM.