August 1937

The following events occurred in August 1937:

August 1, 1937 (Sunday)

• The Meuse-Argonne American Memorial was dedicated in Montfaucon-d'Argonne, France.
• Born: Al D'Amato, lawyer and politician, in Brooklyn, New York

August 2, 1937 (Monday)

• The Marihuana Tax Act was enacted in the United States.

August 3, 1937 (Tuesday)

• The 20th biennial World Zionist Congress opened in Zürich, Switzerland.^[1]
• A Pan American-Grace Airways Sikorsky S-43 amphibious aircraft plunged into the ocean 20 miles off Cristóbal, Panama, killing all 14 aboard.^[2]
• Generalissimo Francisco Franco informed Italy that he had intelligence that the Soviets were shipping arms to the Republic. Franco urged Italian action to stop the transports.^[3]

August 4, 1937 (Wednesday)

• The Venezuelan National Guard was founded.
• In Little Rock, Arkansas, the newly formed Society for the Booing of Commercial Advertisements in Motion Picture Theatres made its debut, booing loudly when corporate advertising appeared on the movie screen. Similar "booing clubs" soon began springing up elsewhere. In the 1930s and '40s movie houses experimented with running ads for commercial products alongside movie trailers, but many theatregoers resented the practice because, unlike the radio where ads were recognized as necessary, movies were not free.^[4]
• Born: David Bedford, composer and musician, in Hendon, London, England (d. 2011)
• Died:
  K.P. Jayaswal, 55, Indian historian and lawyer; Hans Reck
  , 51, German volcanologist and paleontologist

August 5, 1937 (Thursday)

• Japanese Emperor Hirohito ratified a directive removing the constraints of international law on the treatment of Chinese prisoners of war.^[5]
• Boston Bees.^[6]
• Born: Herb Brooks, ice hockey player and coach, in Saint Paul, Minnesota (d. 2003)

August 6, 1937 (Friday)

• The Soviet Union and the United States agreed to extend their trade pact for one additional year.^[7]
• The National Cancer Institute was established in the United States.
• Born: Barbara Windsor, actress, in Shoreditch, London, England (d. 2020)

August 7, 1937 (Saturday)

• The Japanese began to evacuate their
  concession at Hankou, citing "the steadily growing tension and a desire to prevent an incident likely to aggravate the general situation."^[8]
• Born: Magic Slim, blues singer and guitarist, in Torrance, Mississippi (d. 2013)
• Died: Henri Lebasque, 71, French post-Impressionist painter

August 8, 1937 (Sunday)

• 3,000 Japanese soldiers conspicuously entered
  Beiping without resistance. Japanese warplanes dropped propaganda leaflets on the populace proclaiming that the "Japanese army has driven out your wicked rulers and their wicked armies and will keep them out."^[9]
• Born: Dustin Hoffman, actor and director, in Los Angeles
• Died: Jimmie Guthrie, 40, Scottish motorcycle racer (killed competing in the German motorcycle Grand Prix)

August 9, 1937 (Monday)

• It was announced in Berlin that The Times correspondent Norman Ebbutt had been ordered out of Germany. The move was made in retaliation for Britain expelling three German journalists on suspicion of espionage.^[10]
• The adventure film Souls at Sea starring Gary Cooper, George Raft and Frances Dee premiered at the Globe Theatre in New York City.^[11]
• Died: Duff Cooley, 64, American baseball player

August 10, 1937 (Tuesday)

• The Republican tanker Campeador was sunk off Tunis by Italian destroyers.^[3] 28 members of the crew were saved but 12 were lost.^[12]
• The Regional Defence Council of Aragon was dissolved.
• An Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-2 struck a power pole while taking off from Daytona Beach Airport. Both crew members and 2 of the 7 passengers aboard were killed.^[13]
• Claude Shannon wrote A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits, later described by Howard Gardner as "possibly the most important, and also the most famous, master's thesis of the century".^[14]
• One of the leading camera and business equipment brand in world, Canon is founded, as predecessors for Precision Optical Company in Japan.^{[page needed]}

August 11, 1937 (Wednesday)

• The Battle of Albarracín ended in a Nationalist victory.
• Chiang Kai-shek ordered some of his best units deployed to Shanghai.^[15]
• The World Zionist Congress voted 300–158 to oppose the Peel Commission plan to partition Palestine.^[16]
• The biographical film The Life of Emile Zola starring Paul Muni premiered at the Hollywood Theatre in New York City.^[11]
• Died: Edith Wharton, 75, American author

August 12, 1937 (Thursday)

• The Spanish destroyer Churruca was torpedoed and damaged near Cartagena. The ship was able to limp into port but 3 crew were killed and 9 were injured.^[12][17]
• Died: Bakr Sidqi, 47, Iraqi nationalist and general (assassinated)

August 13, 1937 (Friday)

• The Battle of Shanghai began.
• The freighter Conde de Absolo was sunk off Pantelleria by the Italians.^[3]
• Died: Walter Runciman, 1st Baron Runciman, 90, English shipping magnate

August 14, 1937 (Saturday)

• The Battle of Santander began.
• Chinese warplanes attacked Japanese ships in Shanghai harbour, but most of the bombs missed their targets and struck civilian areas instead, killing over 1,000.^[15][18]
• Born: Alberta Nelson, actress, in Erie, Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
• Died:
  Herman Cyril McNeile, 48, British popular author. West Chiltington
  , England.

August 15, 1937 (Sunday)

• Japanese planes bombed Nanking for the first time.^[19]
• The Shanghai Expeditionary Army was raised a second time.
• Félix Paiva became 37th President of Paraguay.

August 16, 1937 (Monday)

• A general mobilization of the military was ordered in Japan.^[20]
• The Polish peasant strike began.
• France protested to the Chinese government over the air raid that killed more than 1,000 people in the French concession and international settlement of Shanghai.^[21]
• Born: David Anderson, politician, in Victoria, British Columbia; Uncle Elmer, professional wrestler, in Philadelphia, Mississippi (d. 1992)

August 17, 1937 (Tuesday)

• The U.S. Senate confirmed
  United States Supreme Court by a 63–16 vote despite his controversial past involvement with the Ku Klux Klan.^[22]
• Born: Diego Seguí, baseball player, in Holguín, Cuba

August 18, 1937 (Wednesday)

• The
  Blackwater fire began in Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming
  .
• The U.S. government ordered all 12,600 American citizens in China to evacuate.[23]
• The musical film
  Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.^[24]
• Born: Jean Alingué Bawoyeu, Prime Minister of Chad, in Fort-Lamy, French Equatorial Africa; Willie Rushton, cartoonist and comedian, in Chelsea, London, England (d. 1996)
• Died: Luigi Pernier, 62, Italian archaeologist and academic