Timeline

1938

Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.

Oct

30

Arts & Entertainment

Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” radio play is broadcast

The War of the Worlds”—Orson Welles's realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth—is broadcast on the radio on October 30, 1938.

The War of the Worlds.

Orson Welles rehearsing a radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' classic, The War of the Worlds on October 10, 1938. The broadcast, which claimed that aliens from Mars had invaded New Jersey, terrified thousands of Americans. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

Universal Images Group via Getty

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