January 5
Construction of the 4,200 feet long Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco, California above the Golden Gate Strait. The mammoth project will be completed in just over four years, at a cost of $35 million dollars. The bridge will be the world's largest suspension bridge and will hold that record for the next 27 years.
January 23
The 20th Amendment to the US Constitution is passed. Among other things it determines beginning and ending dates and times for office terms for President, Vice-President, Senators and members of Congress. The amendment also details the rules of succession should a president die in office.
January 31
Adolph Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. He will illegally seize power and proclaim the Third Reich within 45 days of becoming chancellor.
March 1
Japan withdraws from League of Nations and Geneva Disarmament Conference.
March 4
Franklin Delano Roosevelt sworn in as President; states "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
March 31
The Civilian Conservation Corps is created.
May 18
Congress passes the Tennessee Valley Authority Act "to improve the navigability and to provide for the flood control of the Tennessee River; to provide for reforestation and the proper use of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley; to provide for the agricultural and industrial development … to provide for the national defense by the creation of a corporation for the operation of Government properties at and near Muscle Shoals…and for other purposes.
May 27
Century of Progress International Exposition (World’s Fair) opens in Chicago. Henkels & McCoy loses a bundle of its landscaping contract there. The problem: winning a contract that was meant to go to local ‘favorites.’
June 13
Congress passes the National Industrial Recovery Act in an attempt to reverse effects of the Great Depression. The Public Works Administration (PWA), the first of many "alphabet soup" agencies, is created.
July 15-22
Wiley Post is first person to fly solo around the world, in the aircraft Winnie Mae.
October 17
Theoretical mathematician and physicist Albert Einstein immigrates to the United States from Germany.
December 5
Congress ratifies 21st Amendment, thus ending Prohibition.
December 17
Chicago Bears defeat the New York Giants at Wrigley Field, 23-21 to become league champions.
Also in 1933:
National Football League splits into two conferences: East and West.
Radical Party wins control of Spanish government in national elections. Employers and landowners celebrate victory by cutting wages, firing workers, evicting tenants, and raising rents.
Hi Ho, Silver. The Lone Ranger debuts on radio, with thrilling tales of yesteryear.
First female US Cabinet member, Frances Perkins, is appointed. She will head FDR's Labor Department.
In film, Mae West invites the boys to "come up and see me."