1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February

• January 15 -- The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company .
• January 20 - Death of George V of the United Kingdom. His son Edward VIII succeedes him as King of the United Kingdom, King of Ireland and Emperor of India.
• January 24 - Albert Serraut 's government begins in France
• January 31 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
• February 4 - Radium E. becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
• February 6 - The 1936 Winter Olympic Games opens in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
• February 10-15 - Italian troops defeat Abyssinian army in Enderta
• From February 14, 1936, to March 1, 1945, AG Weser launched a total of 162 U-boats.
• February 19 - Manuel Aznar 's government begins in Spain
• February 26 - 1400 Japanese soldiers invade government offices in Tokyo. They demand arrest of general Kazushige Ugaki and that general Sadao Araki made head of the Kwantung Army and death of the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, the minister of Finance and Inspector General of Military Education
• February 29 - Emperor Hirohito orders Japanese army to arrest 123 conspirators in Tokyo government offices - 19 of them are executed in July

March-April

• March 1 - Hoover Dam is completed.
• March 5 – First flight of Spitfire fighter plane from Eastleigh aerodrome, Southampton
• March 6 - Japan's ruling junta replaces anti-war prime minister Okada Keisuke with pro-war foreign minister Hirota Koki.
• March 7 - World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
• March 8 - The first stock car race is held in Daytona Beach, Florida.
• April 1 - Universal conscription in Austria
• April 3 - Richard Bruno Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the baby son of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh.
• April 5 - A F5 tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi killing 233 people.
• April 6 - Another tornado hits in Gainesville, Georgia killing 203 people. This is the first time two large cities were hit by tornadoes within a day of each other. (see Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak)
• April 7 - Cortes in Spain fires president Alcala Zamora
• April 20 - Abyssinians evacuate Addis Ababa

May-June

• May 2 - Haile Selassie flees to Aden
• May 5 - Italians occupy Addis Ababa
• May 9 - Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.
• May 12 - The Santa Fe railroad in the United States inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles, CA.
• May 18 - Sada Abe, a Japanese former prostitute, causes the death of her lover Kichizo Ishida from asphyxia while having sexual intercourse. She performs penis removal on the corpse. She wanders the streets of Tokyo for three days with the severed penis placed in her kimono.
• May 21 - The Japanese Police apprehends Sada Abe for manslaughter. She is sentenced to six years in prison but she gains fame from the incident. She would later become an actress.
• May 27 - The first flight by the Irish airline Aer Lingus takes place.
• May 28 - Alan Turing submits "On Computable Numbers" for publication.
• June 3 - Haile Selassie arrives to London in exile.
• June 4 - Léon Blum becomes Prime Minister of France.
• June 11 - Opening of the London International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries.
• June 15 - Army laboratory explodes in Estonia - 50 dead.

July-September

• July - A major heat wave strikes the Midwestern United States, hundreds of high temperature records are set
• July 4 - Last day of the London International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries
• July 11 - Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic
• July 13 - Murder of Spanish monarchist Jose Calvo Sotelo
• July 13 to 14 - Peak of July 1936 heat wave. The states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana all set new state records for high temperature.
• July 16 – George McMahon tries to shoot Edward VIII at the Colour ceremony. Later he tries to claim he was working for MI5
• July 17 - Spanish Civil War: Francisco Franco and other generals attempt a coup d'état, starting a conservative rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain
• July 18 - Troops of Francisco Franco land on Morocco and Barcelona - Spanish Civil War begins
• July - British Police end routine armed patrols in London
• August 1 - The 1936 Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany.
• August 5 - Military coup in Greece - Ioannis Metaxas takes power
• August 25 - Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev were shot by a firing squad
• September 6 - The last surviving thylacine, Benjamin, dies alone in his cage in the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
• September 14 - Landslide in northern Norway - 74 dead

October

• October 1 - Franco elected Jefe del Estado (Head of State) in Spain.
• October 5 - In Jarrow, England, 200 unemployed shipyard workers begin a march to London to petition the government to create more jobs. On October 31, 197 of them arrive on the Houses of Parliament
• October 9 - Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begins to transmit electricity from the Colorado River 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.
• October 13 - The Jarrow March sets off for London.
• October 13 - Regular ferry traffic begins between Dover and Calais
• October 23 - Condor Legion joins the Falangists
• October 25 - Rome-Berlin axis is formed between Italy and Germany.
• October 28 - US President Franklin Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.
• October 31 - The Boy Scouts of the Philippines was formed.

November

• November 3 - U.S. presidential election, 1936: Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term in a landslide victory over Alf Landon.
• November 12 - In California, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
• November 16 - Edward VIII of the United Kingdom announces his intention to marry Wallis Simpson
• November 20 - In UK, new Matrimonial Causes Act permits divorce on the grounds of cruelty, drunkenness, willful desertion, incurable insanity, and being a prisoner on a death sentence
• November 23 - The first edition of Life is published.
• November 25 - In Berlin, Nazi-Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, thus agreeing to consult on what measures to take "to safeguard their common interests" in case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation (Adolf Hitler broke the terms of the pact when he signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact in August, 1939).
• November 25 - Abraham Lincoln Brigade sails from New York City on its way to Spanish Civil War
• November 30 - In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire (it had been built for the 1851 Great Exhibition).

December

• December 3 Radio station WQXR is officially founded
• December 10-11 - Edward VIII of the United Kingdom abdicates
• December 11 - Abdication of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom leads to accession of King George VI of the United Kingdom.
• December 12 - George VI of the United Kingdom
• December 12-26 - Men of two of his generals kidnap Chiang Kai-Shek in Xi'an (Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng do it to force him to negotiate a deal with the communists)
• December 30 - The United Auto Workers union stages its first sit-down strike.

Unknown Dates

• Inge Lehmann argues that the Earth's molten interior has a solid core.
• The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits is signed.
• YMCA Youth and Government program founded in Albany, New York
• Oswald Mosley leads an Anti-Jewish march through London's East End, where it meets with opposition
• Australia: The last Thylacine (or Tasmanian tiger) dies in captivity at Hobart Zoo

Year in topic

• 1936 in film
  • January 6 - Porky Pig premieres
  • The Great Ziegfeld
  • Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • A Tale of Two Cities
• 1936 in literature
  • The Allegory of Love by C. S. Lewis
  • Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
  • Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  • Life magazine is first published
• 1936 in music
  • January 4 - Billboard magazine publishes its first music hit parade
• 1936 in rail transport
  • May 12 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway inaugurates the all-diesel powered passenger train Super Chief between Chicago, and Los Angeles, California.
  • May 15 - The first City of Los Angeles passenger train makes its debut running from Chicago to Los Angeles, California as a joint venture of the Union Pacific Railroad and Chicago and Northwestern Railway.
• 1936 in sports
  • January 29 - First inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced
  • February 8 - Jay Berwanger becomes the first person to be selected by a National Football League draft, by the Philadelphia Eagles.
  • Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany
  • August 9 - 1936 Summer Olympics: Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympics.
• 1936 in television
  • July 7 - NBC's first attempt at actual programming is a 30-minute variety show featuring speeches, dance ensembles, monologues, vocal numbers, and film clips.
  • Approximately 2000 television sets are in use around the world

Births

January-February

• January 3 - Georgina Spelvin, pornographic film actress
• January 10 - Stephen Ambrose, historian (d. 2002)
• January 10 - Robert Wilson, physicist, radio astronomer
• January 21 - Koji Hashimoto, film director and assistant director (d. 2005)
• January 22 - Joseph Wambaugh, author
• January 23 - Jerry Kramer, US football star
• January 27 - Troy Donahue , actor (d. 2001)
• January 28 - Alan Alda, actor
• January 28 - Ismail Kadare, Albanian writer
• February 11 - Burt Reynolds, United States actor
• February 17 - Jim Brown, Pro Football Hall of Famer
• February 21 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
• February 24 – Lance Reventlow, playboy, entrepreneur, F1 driver (d. 1972)
• February 29 - Henri Richard, ice hockey player

March-April

• March 4 - Jim Clark, racing driver (d. 1968)
• March 5 - Dean Stockwell, actor
• March 6 - Marion Barry Jr., mayor of Washington, DC
• March 7 - Loren Acton, astronaut
• March 9 - Tom Sestak, American football player (d. 1987)
• March 11 - Rev. Ralph Abernathy, civil rights leader (d. 1990)
• March 11 - Antonin Scalia, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court
• March 17 - Ladislav Kupkovic, composer
• March 18 - Frederik Willem de Klerk, South African politician
• March 19 - Ursula Andress, actress
• March 24 - David Suzuki, environmentalist
• March 28 - Mario Vargas Llosa, author and politician
• March 31 - Marge Piercy, novelist
• April 10 - John Madden, sportscaster, former NFL coach
• April 14 - Kenneth Mars, actor
• April 22 - Glen Campbell, musician
• April 23 - Roy Orbison, singer (d. 1988)
• April 29 - Zubin Mehta, Indian conductor

May-August

• May 9 - Albert Finney, actor
• May 9 - Glenda Jackson, actress and politician
• May 12 - Frank Stella, painter
• May 14 - Aline Chainé, future First Lady of Canada
• May 14 - Bobby Darin, singer (d. 1973)
• May 15 - Anna Maria Alberghetti , actress
• May 15 - Paul Zindel, novelist, playwright
• May 16 - Karl Lehmann, theologian
• May 17 - Dennis Hopper, actor, director
• May 28 - Betty Shabazz, civil rights leader and wife of Malcolm X
• May 30 - Keir Dullea, actor
• June 8 - James Darren, actor, singer
• June 22 - Kris Kristofferson, country music singer, songwriter, actor, Rhodes scholar
• June 23 - Costas Simitis, later Prime Minister of Greece.
• June 26 - Robert Maclennan, British politician
• June 28 - Cathy Carr, singer
• June 28 - Chuck Howley, American football player
• June 29 - Harmon Killebrew, Baseball Hall of Famer
• July 6 - Dave Allen, comedian (d. 2005)
• July 23 - Don Drysdale, major league baseball pitcher (d. 1993)
• July 28 - Garfield Sobers, cricketer
• August 1 - Yves St. Laurent, fashion designer
• August 21 - Wilt Chamberlain, basketball legend (d. 1999)
• August 29 - Inga Artamonova world speed-skating champion (d. 1966)

September-December

• September 2 - Andrew Grove, co-founder and chairman of Intel
• September 7 - Buddy Holly, United States singer (d. 1959)
• October 3 - Steve Reich, composer
• October 7 - Charles Dutoit, Swiss conductor
• October 16 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (d. 1994)
• October 31 - Michael Landon, actor (d. 1991)
• November 12 - Mills Lane, judge, boxing referee
• November 20 - Don DeLillo, United States author
• November 21 - Dr. Victor Chang, Australian doctor, pioneer in heart transplantation
• December 25 - Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent
• December 26 - Katharine Dickson Dukakis, wife of Michael Dukakis (or 1937).
• December 29 - Mary Tyler Moore, actress (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show)

Deaths

• January 16 - Albert Fish, serial killer (executed)
• January 18 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer (b. 1865)
• January 20 - King George V of the United Kingdom
• February 4 - Wilhelm Gustloff, Swiss Nazi Party leader
• February 19 - Billy Mitchell, military aviation pioneer
• February 26 - Saito Makoto, Japanese prime minister
• February 27-Ivan Pavlov,behaviorist=>pavlov's dogs
• March 16 - Marguerite Durand, French journalist and feminist leader (b. 1864)
• April 3 - Bruno Hauptmann, convicted killer of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
• April 8 - Robert Bárány, Nobel Prize winner in medicine
• May 18 - Kichizo Ishida, Japanese hotel owner and lover of Sada Abe
• June 11 - Robert E. Howard, American fantasy author (suicide}
• June 14 - Gilbert Keith Chesterton, English author (b. 1874)
• August 2 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer
• August 9 - Lincoln Steffens, American muckraking journalist
• August 15 - Grazia Deledda, Italian writer and Nobel Prize laureate
• August 19 - Federico García Lorca , Spanish writer (b. 1898)
• October 3 - John Heisman, American football coach (b. 1869)
• December 9 - Arvid Lindman , Prime Minister of Sweden
• December 10 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer (b. 1867)
• December 10 - Bobby Abel, diminutive Surrey and England batsman (b. 1857)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Victor Franz Hess, Carl David Anderson
• Chemistry - Peter Debye
• Medicine - Sir Henry Hallett Dale, Otto Loewi
• Literature - Eugene Gladstone O'Neill
• Peace - Carlos Saavedra Lamas

Fields Medalists

• Lars Ahlfors, Jesse Douglas