1938

Germany and Austria unify
Mexico nationalizes British and American oil companies
Frank Lloyd Wright builds Taliesen West
US minimum wage is 40¢ per hour
Nearly 8 million jobless in the US
Howard Hughes flies around the world in 3 days, 19 hours and 17 minutes
Kate Smith sings "God Bless America" for the 1st time
Benny Goodman becomes all the rage
40 hour work week established in the US
20,000 television sets in service in New York City
1st appearance of Superman
Thornton Wilder's Our Town
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
The ballpoint pen invented
1st artificial hip
1st working computer to use binary code
Flourescent lighting
Instant coffee
Film - "You Can't Take it With You"
Orson Welles' radio production of "War of the Worlds" panics American listeners
Rudolf Nureyev and Jerry West born
Harvey Firestone, Clarence Darrow, James Weldon Johnson, Max Factor, Thomas Wolfe, Kamal Ataturk die