Events of 1937

January

January 19: Howard Hughes sets record.

• January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua.

• January 3 – The first science fiction convention is held in Leeds, England.

• January 11 – The first issue of LOOK Magazine goes on sale in the United States.

• January 19 – Howard Hughes sets a new record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

• January 20 – Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in Franklin D. Roosevelt for a second term. This is the first time Inauguration Day in the United States occurs on that date, on which it has occurred ever since; the change is due to the ratification in 1933 of the 20th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

• January 23 – In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial, accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders.

• January 26 – Michigan celebrates its Centennial Anniversary of statehood.

• January 31

• *The Ohio River floods.

• *The Soviet Union executes 31 people for alleged Trotskyism.

February

• February 5 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.

• February 8 – Spanish Civil War: Falangist troops take Málaga.

• February 8–February 27 – Spanish Civil War – Battle of Jarama: Nationalist and government troops fight to a stalemate.

• February 11 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers Union.

• February 16 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.

• February 19

• *Airliner VH-UHH (Stinson) goes down over Lamington National Park, bound for Sydney, killing 5 people.

• *During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Eritrean nationalists attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades. The Italian security guard fire into the crowd of Ethiopian onlookers, and over the passing weeks indiscriminately slaughter native Ethiopians in reprisal..

• February 21

• *The first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Aerobile, makes its initial flight.

• *The League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee bans foreign nationals from fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

March

• March – The first issue of the comic book Detective Comics is published in the United States. Twenty-seven issues later, Detective Comics introduces Batman. The comic goes on to become the longest continually published comic magazine in American history; it is still published as of 2009.

• March 10 – The Encyclical Mit brennender Sorge of Pope Pius XI is published in Nazi Germany.

• March 15 – Howard Phillips Lovecraft science fiction writer dies.

• March 17 – The Atherton Report (private investigator Edwin Atherton's report detailing vice and police corruption in San Francisco) is released.

• March 18

• * In the worst school disaster in American history in terms of lives lost, the New London School in New London, Texas suffers a catastrophic natural gas explosion, killing in excess of 295 students and teachers.

• *Mother Frances Hospital opens 1 day later in Tyler, Texas in response to the New London School explosion.

• March 26

• *In Crystal City, Texas, spinach growers erect a statue of the cartoon character Popeye.

• *William Henry Hastie becomes the first African-American appointed to a federal judgeship .

April

• April 1 – Aden becomes a British crown colony.

• April 9 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London; it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

• April 12 – NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the National Labor Relations Act is constitutional.

• April 17 – The animated short Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery for the Looney Tunes series, featuring the debut of Daffy Duck, is released.

• April 20 – A cinefilm fire in an elementary school in Kilingi-Nõmme, Estonia kills 17 students and injures 50.

• April 26 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain is bombed. In his report of the Falangist attack on Guernica, British journalist George Steer reports finding German bomb casings, connecting Luftwaffe planes with the attack.

May

• May – The Dáil Éireann passes the Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937, which retrospectively abolishes the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State; the abolition is retrospectively dated to December 1936.

• May – 7 million unemployed in the USA.

• May 1 – A general strike occurs in Paris, France.

• May 6 – In the United States, the German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

• May 7 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.

• May 12 – The coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth takes place at Westminster Abbey, London.

• May 21

• *A Soviet station becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.

• *As one of the reprisals for the attempted assassination of Italian viceroy Rodolfo Graziani, a detachment of Italian troops massacres the entire community of Debre Libanos, killing 297 monks and 23 laymen.

• May 27 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushes a button in Washington, D.C., signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the Golden Gate Bridge.

• May 28 – Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

• May 30 – Spanish ship Ciudad de Barcelona is torpedoed in the fight against "Republicans" and "Nationalists".

June

• June 3 – Wallis Simpson marries the former Edward VIII of the United Kingdom.

• June 8

• *The first total solar eclipse to exceed 7 minutes of totality in over 800 years, is visible in the Pacific and Peru.

• *Carl Orff's Carmina Burana premieres in Frankfurt, Germany.

• June 14 – Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.

• June 21 – The coalition government of Léon Blum resigns in France.

• June/July – The Dáil Éireann debates and passes the draft new constitution of Éire, to be called Bunreacht na hÉireann. The new constitution is then submitted for public approval by plebiscite.

July

• July 1

• *The Gestapo arrests priest Martin Niemöller.

• *In a referendum the people of the Irish Free State accept the new Constitution by 685,105 votes to 527,945.

• *First sighting of the White River Monster.

• July 2

• *Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear after taking off from New Guinea during Earhart's attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world.

• * A guard takes his place at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, DC; continuous guard has been maintained there ever since.

• July 5 – The highest recorded temperature in Canada, at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan, is 45°C.

• July 7 – Sino-Japanese War – Battle of Lugou Bridge (aka Marco Polo Bridge Incident): Japanese forces invade China (often seen as the beginning of World War II in Asia).

• July 11 – George Gershwin dies in Los Angeles of a brain tumor, age 38.

• july 13 – Krispy Kreme opened for the first time, MB

• July 20 – The Geibeltbad Pirna is opened in Dresden, Germany.

• July 21 – Eamon de Valera is elected president of Éire (Ireland).

• July 22 – New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.

• July 24 – Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called Scottsboro Boys.

• July 28 – The IRA attempts a bombing assassination against King George VI in Belfast.

August

• August 2 – The 1937 Marihuana Tax Act Pub. 238, 75th Congress, 50 Stat. 551 (Aug. 2, 1937), was a significant bill on the path[1] that led to the criminalization of cannabis. It was introduced to U.S. Congress by Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger. The Act is now commonly referred to using the modern spelling as the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

• August 5 – The Soviet Union commences one of the largest campaigns of the Great Purge, to "eliminate anti-Soviet elements". Within the following year, at least 724,000 people are killed on order of the troikas, many of them chosen for shooting by their ethnicity.

• August 6 – Spanish Civil War: Falangist artillery bombards Madrid.

• August 26 – Sino-Japanese War: Japanese aircraft attack the car carrying the ambassador of Great Britain during a raid on Shanghai.

September

• September 2 – The Great Hong Kong Typhoon of 1937 kills an estimated 11,000 persons.

• September 5 – Spanish Civil War: The city of Llanes falls to the Falangists.

• September 7 – CBS broadcasts a two-and-a-half hour memorial concert nationwide on radio in memory of George Gershwin, live from the Hollywood Bowl. Many celebrities appear, including Oscar Levant, Fred Astaire, Otto Klemperer, Lily Pons, and members of the original cast of Porgy and Bess. The concert is recorded and released complete years later in what is excellent sound for its time, on CD. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is the featured orchestra.

• September 21 – George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London publishes the first edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

• September 25 – Sino-Japanese War – Battle of Pingxingguan: The Communist Chinese National Revolutionary Army defeats the Japanese.

• September 26 – Street and Smith Publications launches a half-hour radio program , The Shadow, with Orson Welles in the title role.

• September 27 – The last Bali tiger dies.

October

• October 1

• *The Marijuana Tax Act becomes law in the United States.

• *U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Hugo Black, in a nationwide radio broadcast, refutes allegations of past involvement in the Ku Klux Klan.

• October 3 – Japanese troops advance toward Nanking.

• October 5 – Roosevelt gives his famous Quarantine Speech in Chicago.

• October 13 – Germany, in a note to Brussels, guarantees the inviolability and integrity of Belgium so long as the latter abstains from military action against Germany.

• October 15 – Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not is first published.

• October 18 - On this day on some hour and possible a minuet thrown in there somewhere as well. Edmund John Cleary was born. Thus ripping time and space its self untill one holy sperm was made. This sperm, this fantastic and wonderfull even magical sperm would bide its time in the depths of the testi. Until it found a suitible host to fuse with and create the greatest leader of the new world. Rise sir king Michael, lancelot, The Doctor Man Cleary. all cream, all cream.

• October 21

• *The whole Spanish northern seaboard falls into the Falangists' hands.

• *Roberto Ortiz is elected president of Argentina.

• October 27 – Spanish Civil War: Republican forces in Gijon, Spain, set fire to petrol reserves before they retreat before the advancing Falangists.

November

• November 3 – underdog Maurice J. Tobin resoundingly defeats former governor and mayor James Michael Curley in a Boston mayoral election that shocks the political establishment.

• November 5

• *Spanish Civil War – 35,000 Republican supporters are massacred in Piedrafita de Babia, near León.

• *World War II: In the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people (Hossbach Memorandum).

• November 6 – Italy joins the Anti-Comintern Pact.

• November 9 – Japanese troops take Shanghai.

• November 10 – Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas announces the Estado Novo (New State), thence becoming dictator of Brazil until 1945.

• November 11 – The Kogushi sulfur mine collapse, in western Gunma, Japan, kills at least 245 people.

December

• December 4 – The Dandy, the world's longest running comic strip, is first published.

• December 11 – Italy withdraws from the League of Nations.

• December 12

• *Panay incident: Japanese bombers sink the American gunboat USS Panay (PR-5)

• *Mae West makes a risque guest appearance on the NBC Chase and Sanborn Hour that eventually results in her being banned from radio.

• December 13 – The Battle of Nanjing ends and the Nanjing Massacre begins. Japanese troops slaughter over 300,000 civilians and prisoners over 3 months.

• December 16 – The original production of the musical Me and My Girl opens at the West End Victoria Palace Theatre. A later revival of this musical would win an award.

• December 21 – Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated cartoon with sound, opens and becomes a smash hit.

• December 25 – At the age of 70, legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra on radio for the first time, beginning his successful 17-year tenure with that orchestra. This first concert consists of music by Vivaldi (at a time when he was still seldom played), Mozart, and Brahms. Millions tune in to listen, including U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

• December 29 – The new Irish constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, comes into force. The Irish Free State becomes Éire. Eamon de Valera becomes the first Taoiseach (prime minister) of the new state. A Presidential Commission (made up the Irish Chief Justice, the Speaker of Dáil Éireann and the President of the High Court) assumes the powers of the new presidency of Ireland pending the election of the first president in June 1938.

Undated

• The new Irish constitution bans divorce.

• The National House Builders Registration Council (now the NHBC) is formed in the United Kingdom.

• Jimmie Angel lands his plane on top of Devil's Mountain; however, the plane gets damaged and he has to trek through the rainforest for help.

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is published.

• Italian psychiatrist Amarro Fiamberti is the first to document a transorbital approach to the brain, which becomes the basis for the controversial medical procedure of transorbital lobotomy.

• Japan occupies Beijing.

• Soviet industry produces about 4 times as much as it had in 1928.

Ongoing

• Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

• Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)

• Harlem Renaissance (1920–1940)

• Great Depression (1929–1940)

Births

January–February

• January 1 – Anne Aubrey, British actress

• January 4 – Dyan Cannon, American actress

• January 6 – Paolo Conte, Italian singer, Pianist and Composer

• January 6 – Underwood Dudley, American mathematician

• January 8 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer

• January 13 – George Reisman, American economist

• January 14 – Ken Higgs, English cricketer

• January 15 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress

• January 18 – John Hume, Northern Irish politician, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

• January 18 – Yukio Endo, Japanese gymnast

• January 19 – Giovanna Marini, Italian singer-songwriter

• January 21 – Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria, heir to the Bavarian Royal House

• January 22 – Joseph Wambaugh, American author

• January 27 – John Ogdon, English pianist (d. 1989)

• January 29 – James F.Simpson, Australian Educator

• January 30 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress

• January 30 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player

• January 31 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)

• January 31 – Philip Glass, American composer

• February 1 – Garrett Morris, American comedian

• February 1 – Don Everly, American rock 'n' roll musician

• February 2 – Tom Smothers, American musician and comedian

• February 2 – Magic Sam, American musician (d. 1969)

• February 2 – Remak Ramsay, American actor

• February 3 – Billy Meier, Swiss Prophet

• February 8 – Manfred Krug, German actor and singer

• February 9 – Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr., American blues guitarist

• February 10 – Roberta Flack, American soul singer

• February 11 – Bill Lawry, Australian cricketer

• February 12 – Charles Dumas, American athlete

• February 13 – Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia

• February 20 – George Leonardos, Greek journalist and author

• February 20 – Robert Huber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

• February 20 – Roger Penske, American race car driver

• February 20 – Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress

• February 21 – King Harald V of Norway

• February 25 – Tom Courtenay, English actor

March–April

• March 2 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of Algeria

• March 4 – Graham Dowling, New Zealand cricketer

• March 4 – Leslie Gelb, American president of the Council on Foreign Relations

• March 4 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian cosmonaut (d. 2003)

• March 4 – Barney Wilen, French jazz saxophonist (d. 1996)

• March 6 – Valentina Tereshkova, Russian cosmonaut, first woman in space

• March 8 – Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda (d. 1994)

• March 20 – Jerry Reed, American country musician (d. 2008)

• March 22 – Armin Hary, German athlete

• March 23 – Craig Breedlove, American race car driver

• March 27 – Thomas Aquinas Daly, American painter

• March 30 – Warren Beatty, American actor and director

• April 5 – Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State

• April 6 – Merle Haggard, American country musician

• April 6 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor

• April 7 – Louise Faulkner, missing Australian woman

• April 10 – Bella Akhmadulina, Russian poet

• April 16 – Joseph Whipp, American actor

• April 18 – Jan Kaplický, British architect of Czech origin

• April 22 – Jack Nicholson, American actor

• April 24 – Rafi' Daham Al-Tikriti, director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service

• April 27 – Robin Eames, Northern Irish clergyman

• April 27 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)

• April 28 – Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq (d. 2006)

• April 29 – Jill Paton Walsh, English novelist

May–June

• May 1 – Una Stubbs, British actress

• May 3 – Frankie Valli, American musician

• May 3 – Hans Cieslarczyk, German football player

• May 4 – Ron Carter, American jazz musician

• May 6 – Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, American boxer

• May 8 – Thomas Pynchon, American writer

• May 8 – Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian justice and politician

• May 12 – George Carlin, American comedian (d. 2008)

• May 13 – Roch Carrier, Canadian writer

• May 13 – Roger Zelazny, American writer (d. 1995)

• May 13 – Trevor Baylis, English inventor

• May 15 – Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State

• May 15 – Trini Lopez, American musician

• May 16 – Yvonne Craig, American actress

• May 17 – Hazel R. O'Leary, U.S. Secretary of Energy

• May 18 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourg politician, President of the European Council

• May 21 – Sofiko Chiaureli, Georgian actress (d. 2008)

• June 1 – Morgan Freeman, American actor

• June 3 – Solomon P. Ortiz, U.S. Congressman from Texas

• June 4 – Gorilla Monsoon, American professional wrestler and announcer (d. 1999)

• June 7 – Neeme Järvi, Estonian conductor

• June 8 – Toni Harper, American child singer

• June 9 – Harald Rosenthal, German biologist

• June 10 – Luciana Paluzzi, Italian actress

• June 11 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• June 15 – Waylon Jennings, American country singer (d. 2002)

• June 15 – Alan Thornett, British Trotskyist activist

• June 16 – Charmian May, British actress (d. 2002)

• June 18 – Wray Carlton, American football player

• June 18 – Vitali Zholobov, Russian cosmonaut

• June 23 – Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland

• June 25 – Keizo Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2000)

• June 26 – Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

• June 28 – Ron Luciano, American baseball umpire and writer (d. 1995)

July–August

• July 4 – Sonja Haraldsen, Queen of Norway and wife to King Harald V of Norway

• July 6 – Vladimir Ashkenazy, Russian pianist

• July 6 – Ned Beatty, American actor

• July 7 – Tung Chee-Hwa, Hong Kong administrator

• July 9 – David Hockney, English-born artist

• July 12 – Lionel Jospin, Prime Minister of France

• July 12 – Bill Cosby, American actor and comedian

• July 14 – Yoshiro Mori, Japanese politician

• July 18 – Roald Hoffmann, Polish-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

• July 18 – Hunter S. Thompson, American author and journalist (d. 2005)

• July 20 – Ken Ogata, Japanese actor (d. 2008)

• July 27 – Don Galloway, American actor (d. 2009)

• July 27 – Anna Dawson, British actress

• July 29 – Daniel McFadden, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

• August 2 – Coenraad Bron, Dutch Computer Scientist

• August 4 – David Bedford, American musician

• August 5 – Herb Brooks, American hockey coach (d. 2003)

• August 6 – Barbara Windsor, English actress

• August 8 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor

• August 16 – David Anderson, Canadian politician

• August 18 – Willie Rushton, English comedian and cartoonist (d. 1996)

• August 18 – Jean Alingué Bawoyeu, Chadian politician and former Prime Minister

• August 20 – Jim Bowen, English stand-up comedian and TV personality

• August 21 – Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (d. 2000)

• August 21 – Robert Stone, American novelist

• August 21 – Chuck Traynor, American pornographer (d. 2002)

• August 29 – James Florio, Governor of New Jersey

• August 30 – Bruce McLaren, Founder of McLaren Racing

• August 31 – Bobby Parker, American blues musician/guitarist

September–October

• September 4 – Dawn Fraser, Australian swimmer

• September 4 – Mikk Mikiver, Estonian actor and director (d. 2006)

• September 5 – William Devane, American actor

• September 6 – Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada (Keith Gordon Ham), Hare Krishna guru

• September 7 – Cüneyt Arkın, Turkish film actor

• September 11 – Paola Ruffo di Calabria, Queen of the Belgians

• September 15 – Robert Lucas, Jr., American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

• September 15 – Fernando de la Rúa, President of Argentina

• September 16 – Keith Bosley, British broadcaster (retired), poet and translator

• September 17 – Ilarion Ionescu-Galati Romanian conductor

• September 19 – Abner Haynes, American football player

• September 28 – Rod Roddy, American television announcer (d. 2003)

• October 2 – Johnnie Cochran, American attorney (d. 2005)

• October 5 – Barry Switzer, American football coach

• October 10 – Bobby Charlton, English footballer

• October 17 – Paxton Whitehead, English actor

• October 28 – Lenny Wilkens, American basketball player and coach

November–December

• November 1 – "Whisperin" Bill Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter and game show host

• November 2 – Earl Carroll, American lead vocalist for The Cadillacs

• November 4 – Michael Wilson, Canadian politician and diplomat

• November 5 –

• * Chan Sek Keong, Chief Justice of Singapore

• * Harris Yulin, American actor

• November 6 – Joe Warfield, American actor

• November 8 – Paul Mackintosh Foot, British journalist

• November 11 – Stephen Lewis, Canadian politician and diplomat

• November 17 – Peter Cook, English comedian and writer (d. 1995)

• November 26 – Boris Yegorov, Russian cosmonaut

• December 1 – Chuck Low, American actor

• December 3 – Bobby Allison, American race car driver

• December 8 –

• * Michael Bowen, American artist (d. 2009)

• * James MacArthur, American actor

• * Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountaineer and businessman (d. 2004)

• December 9 – Darwin Joston, American actor (d. 1998)

• December 11 – Jim Harrison, American writer

• December 15 – Donald Goines, American novelist (d. 1973)

• December 17 – Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)

• December 21 – Jane Fonda, American actress and social activist

• December 26 – Gnassingbe Eyadema, President of Togo (d. 2005)

• December 28 – Ratan Tata, Indian industrialist

• December 29 – Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives

• December 30 –

• * Gordon Banks, English footballer

• * John Hartford, American musician and composer (d. 2001)

• * Jim Marshall, American football player

• * Noel Paul Stookey, American singer (Peter, Paul and Mary)

• December 31 –

• * Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

• * Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor

• unknown date – Mengistu Haile Mariam, President of Ethiopia

Deaths

January–June

• January 2 – Ross Alexander, American actor (b. 1907)

• January 6 – André Besette, Canadian religious leader (b. 1845)

• January 17 – Ryszard Boleslawski, Polish film director (b. 1889)

• January 23 – Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1898)

• February 5 – Lou Andreas-Salome, Russian-born writer (b. 1861)

• February 7 – Elihu Root, American statesman and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1845)

• February 11 – Walter Burley Griffin, American architect and town planner (b. 1876)

• February 24 – Guy Standing, British actor (b. 1873)

• February 27 – Charles Donnelly, Irish poet (b. 1915)

• March 8 – Howie Morenz, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)

• March 9 – Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist (b. 1864)

• March 11 – Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist, founder of Texaco (b. 1860)

• March 12 – Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (b. 1840)

• March 15 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b. 1890)

• March 17 – Austen Chamberlain, English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1863)

• March 20 – Harry Vardon, English golf professional (b. 1870)

• March 22 – Alfred Dyke Acland, British military officer (b. 1858)

• March 29 – Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer (b. 1882)

• April 10 – Ralph Ince, American film director (b. 1887)

• April 19 – William Martin Conway, British art critic and mountaineer (b. 1856)

• April 21 – Saima Harmaja, Finnish poet (b. 1913)

• April 22 – Arthur Edmund Carewe, Armenian-American actor (b. 1884)

• April 25 – Michał Drzymała, Polish rebel (b. 1857)

• April 27 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian Communist writer and politician (b. 1891)

• April 29 – William Gillette, American actor (b. 1853)

• May 1 – Snitz Edwards, Hungarian actor (b. 1868)

• May 4 – Noel Rosa, Brazilian songwriter (b. 1910)

• May 17 – Guilląme Sebastian Furrét, Portuguese dramatist and social agitator (b. 1863)

• May 23 – John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1839)

• May 25 – Henry Ossawa Tanner, American Artist (b. 1859)

• May 28 – Alfred Adler, Austrian psychologist (b. 1870)

• June 2 – Louis Vierne, French composer (b. 1870)

• June 7 – Jean Harlow, American film actress (b. 1911)

• June 10 – Robert Laird Borden, eighth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1854)

• June 18 – Gaston Doumergue, French Prime Minister (b. 1863)

• June 19 – J. M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and dramatist (b. 1860)

• June 25 – Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900)

July–December

• July 9 – Oliver Law, American labor organizer and Army officer (killed in battle) (b. 1899)

• July 11 – George Gershwin, American composer (b. 1898)

• July 18 – Julian Bell, English poet (b. 1908)

• July 20 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian-born inventor (b. 1874)

• August 11 – Edith Wharton, American writer (b. 1862)

• August 27 – Andrew W. Mellon, American banker and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1855)

• September 2 – Pierre de Coubertin, French founder of the modern Olympic Games (b. 1863)

• September 13 – Ellis Parker Butler, American humorist (b. 1869)

• September 14 – Tomas Masaryk, Czechoslovak president (b. 1850)

• September 21 – Osgood Perkins, American actor (b. 1892)

• September 22 – Ruth Roland, American actress (b. 1892)

• September 26 – Bessie Smith, African-American singer (b. 1894)

• September 29 – Ray Ewry, American athlete (b. 1873)

• October 16 – Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (b. 1899)

• October 17 – J. Bruce Ismay, English businessman (b. 1862)

• October 19 – Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1871)

• October 26 – Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, Polish general (b. 1867)

• November 6 – Johnston Forbes-Robertson, British stage actor (b. 1853)

• November 9 – Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1866)

• November 13 – Caroline Louise Dudley (aka Mrs. Leslie Carter), stage & screen actress (b. 1862)

• November 17 – Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1860)

• November 23 – Jagdish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1858)

• November 23 – George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (b. 1858)

• December 9 – Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)

• December 12 – Alfred Abel, German actor (b. 1879)

• December 20 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)

• December 21

• *Ted Healy, American actor (b. 1896)

• *Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1856)

• December 25 – Newton D. Baker, United States Secretary of War (b. 1871)

• December 28 – Maurice Ravel, French composer (Bolero) (b. 1875)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Clinton Joseph Davisson, George Paget Thomson

• Chemistry – Walter Haworth, Paul Karrer

• Physiology or Medicine – Albert von Szent-Györgyi Nagyrapolt

• Literature – Roger Martin du Gard

• Peace – Robert Cecil

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1937

• List of ship commissionings in 1937

Other events

• In 1937 the HC Ambrì-Piotta was founded

• The Vibora Luviminda trades union's sugar plantation strike on Maui island, Hawaii

See also

• 20th century