1935

"On Jan. 11, 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean. "   From today’s New York Times.

 

In 1935, my mother turned eighteen;  my dad was twenty-two.  They weren’t even dating yet, making this year seem eons,instead of just 72 years, ago.

 

Some of the events of 1935:

 

• Nazis repudiate Versailles Treaty and reintroduce compulsory military service
• Silver Jubilee Celebrations held in Britain
• President Roosevelt signs U.S. Social Security Act
• Huey Long assassinated in Louisiana
• Chiang Kai-shek named president of China
• German Luftwaffe formed
• Persia changes its name to Iran
• Literature:  TS Eliot: "Murder in the Cathedral," James T. Farrell:  "Studs Lonigan,"  Clarence Day:  "Life With Father," Thomas Wolfe:  "Of Time and the River,"  John Steinbeck:  "Tortilla Flat"
• Fine arts:  Salvador Dali:  "Giraffe on Fire,"  Exhibition of Chinese art at Burlington House, London
• Films:  "Anna Karenina" (Garbo);  "David Copperfield"; "Mutiny on the Bounty";  "Becky Sharp"; "Pasteur"
• Music:  electric organs become popular in the U.S.;  Gershwin:  "Porgy and Bess"
• Popular songs:  "Begin the Beguine,"  "The Music Goes ‘Round and ‘Round,"  "I got Plenty of Nuthin’,"  "It Ain’t Necessarily So," and "Just One of Those Things"
• Oil pipelines between Iraq, Haifa, and Tripolis opened
• Longest bridge in the world opened over the Zambesi
• Domagk, a German chemist, announces discovery of the first sulfa drug for treating streptococcal infections
• Bank of Canada established
• Rumba becomes the fashionable dance
• Moscow subway opened
• Alcoholics Anonymous organized in New York City
• CIO organized by John L. Lewis
• "Omaha" wins Belmont, Preakness Stakes, and Kentucky Derby
• Detroit beats Chicago to win World Series

I’ve heard my parents talk about those economically depressed times, and right along with the financial worries, heard their fond memories of music and dancing, jazz clubs in Albany, baseball games, great movies and all the other joys of the young.  Germany was gearing up for what at that time could only be guessed at;  labor was getting well organized; and subways and banks were being opened.  The world was moving on, depression in the U.S. or not.

The details change, but life seems to roll along in about the same fashion, doesn’t it?  And, since I’m at "that age,"  let me thank Roosevelt for the Social Security Act.  🙂