One of the worst years of the Great Depression, when one in four Americans lacked work and nearly 9,000 banks had failed, 1932 brought the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the U.S. presidency for the first of his four terms. Amelia Earhart flew the Atlantic in triumph, while the kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s young son ended in tragedy. In the Middle East, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud united the regions under his control to establish the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Mar
01
On March 1, 1932, in a crime that captured the attention of the entire nation, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, is kidnapped from the family’s new mansion in Hopewell, New Jersey. Lindbergh, who became an international celebrity when he flew the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, and his wife Anne discovered a ransom note demanding $50,000 in their son’s empty room. The kidnapper used a ladder to climb up to the open second-floor window and left muddy footprints in the room.
(Original Caption) 3/2/1932-Hopewell, NJ- Every available means have been rushed into service by police of 4 states in their efforts to trace the kidnappers of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., son of the famous "Lone Eagle". Passing the baby through the window of the Lindbergh estate at Hopewell NJ, the kidnappers fled to a waitng auto and sped away. Photo shows a state trooper on guard at the Lindburgh home in Hopewell, on 3/2., while detectives examined the back porch. (For complete caption info see neg sleeve).
Bettmann Archive
Apr
14
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12
May
21
Five years to the day that American aviator Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to accomplish a solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, female aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first pilot to repeat the feat, landing her plane in Ireland after flying across the North Atlantic. Earhart traveled over 2,000 miles from Newfoundland in just under 15 hours.
Amelia Earhart in the cockpit of her plane
The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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27
At the height of the Great Depression, thousands turn out for the opening of Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theater in New York City. Radio City Music Hall was designed as a palace for the people, a place of beauty where ordinary people could see high-quality entertainment. Since its 1932 opening, more than 300 million people have gone to Radio City to enjoy movies, stage shows, concerts and special events.
A queue for Josef von Sternberg's musical, 'The King Steps Out' outside Radio City Music Hall in the Rockefeller Center, New York, 1936. (Photo by Frederic Lewis/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Getty Images
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