Mexico Declares War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afrOsaJCGm4 In the decade before WWII, Mexico was chaotic and unstable. The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) which caused widespread destruction and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives was followed by several violent uprisings against...
Japanese Hell Ships
In May 1942 Japanese "Hell Ships" began transferring Allied prisoners of war to Japan. With conditions not unlike those of the infamous Bataan death march, prisoners were often packed into stuffy cargo holds with little food or water. Many POWs died of thirst,...
American Liberty Ships
2,710 American cargo ships, popularly named liberty ships were built from 1941-1945. Of simple pre-fabricated design, relatively inexpensive and rapidly-produced, they became a symbol of American wartime industrial output. To counteract initial public disdain...
1st Around-the-World Commercial Flight
The Pacific Clipper, a Boeing 314 flying boat, was preparing to land in New Zealand when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. They backtracked to New Caledonia, then Australia. From there, they flew on to the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon, Pakistan, Sudan, Belgian Congo, Brazil...
U.S. Arms Merchant Ships
Prior to the U.S. entry into WWII, the U.S. Neutrality Act of 1936 prohibited the arming of American merchant ships carrying war supplies to the Allies. With increasing attacks by German aircraft and submarines in war zones, Congress amended the act in November...
Imperial Japanese Airways
In the late 1930s, Imperial Japanese Airways (大日本航空株式会社 Dai Nippon Kōkū Kabushiki Kaisha) flew extensive domestic and international routes. At the onset of the Pacific War in December 1941, all commercial operations were suspended, and aircraft requisitioned for...
Automatic Transmission
Shifting a manual transmission involved a complicated sequence of pressing the clutch, matching engine revolutions and the shifting gear lever.The HydraMatic transmission combined hydraulic operation of a planetary gearbox (allowing much shifting to be automated) with...
Pan Am Crosses the Atlantic
On May 20, 1939, after years of political and economic opposition (while dirigibles flew regularly across the Atlantic), Pan American’s B-314 Yankee Clipper flew the first trans-Atlantic mail service from New York to Lisbon.
Golden Gate Bridge Opens
Funded by a local bond issue, the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay opened in May 1937* after 4 years of construction.
Amelia Earhart Disappears
At 7:42 A.M. on July 2, 1937 the Coast Guard cutter Itasca, stationed offshore of Howland Island (an uninhabited coral island halfway between Hawaii and Australia) picked up this message: “We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable...
Hindenburg Disaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54rqDh2mWA The 30-year era of sublime optimism and confidence regarding passenger zeppelins came to an abrupt and tragic end in May 1937 with the fiery crash of the German airship Hindenburg. 13 passengers, 22 crew members and one...
Works Progress Administration
In 1935, a New Deal agency called the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was initiated with the main intention of employing unskilled workers for public works projects. Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA provided almost eight million jobs. One of the WPA's best known...
Japanese Tourism
To increase revenue during the Great Depression, the Japanese Government Railways opened overseas offices to promote tourism (primarily to Americans). Scenic spots were maintained, resorts developed and rail and sea transportation was improved. Visits by foreign...
Japanese Railway
With more than 15,000 kilometers of total operating distance by the mid-1930s, a major role of the Japanese Government Railways was to attract foreign tourists to Japan. Additionally, in 1935 Russia sold the Chinese Eastern Railway in northern Manchuria to Japan....
Japan Limits Foreign Auto Production
In the mid-1930s, the Japanese Automotive Manufacturing Industries Law was passed, protecting the domestic industry and limiting production by foreign-owned plants. Nissan and Toyota soon became the only authorized domestic manufacturers.
Streamlined Automobiles
There actually was quite a difference between earlier automobiles and those of the 1930s. But time still makes these "streamlined" ideas a bit amusing. The principles of reducing aerodynamic drag (streamlining) were well-established in the 1930s. But streamlining of...
Graf Zeppelin visits Japan
In the first part of the 20th Century, Japan rapidly achieved Western-style industrialization and a high level of literacy. The gulf between the great metropolitan centers and rural Japan widened.
Silent Cal & Lucky Lindy
During a time of relative prosperity, many Americans wanted pro-business, conservative leadership. President Calvin Coolidge said little and promoted a laissez-faire form of government. The sky was the limit. Charles Lindbergh became a national hero and symbol of the...