As the Depression era ended, World War II began. Nazi troops goosestepped into Poland, and in response, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. Hitler ally Francisco Franco seized power in Spain, having defeated the democratically elected government in the Spanish Civil War. In the still-neutral U.S., a terrorist bomb exploded at the New York World’s Fair, while in fictional Gotham City, Batman made his comic book debut. College students, meanwhile, battled to see who could gulp the most live goldfish.
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Six and a half months before Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, New York City’s Madison Square Garden hosted a rally to celebrate the rise of Nazism in Germany. Inside, more than 20,000 attendees raised Nazi salutes toward a 30-foot-tall portrait of George Washington flanked by swastikas. Outside, police and some 100,000 protesters gathered.
Larry Froeber/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images
Mar
15
Hitler’s forces invade and occupy Czechoslovakia, proving the futility of the Munich Pact, an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Germany’s imperial aims.
CZECH REPUBLIC - MAY 14: Invasion Of Prague By The German Nazi Troops In 1939. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
Mar
28
In Spain, the Republican defenders of Madrid raise the white flag over the city, bringing an end to the fighting of the bloody three-year Spanish Civil War. Three days later, General Francisco Franco declares the war officially over.
People knock down a barricade and gun emplacement, as life returns to normal after the end of the Spanish Civil War. | Location: Madrid, Spain. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Corbis via Getty Images
Apr
09
After being denied the opportunity to sing in a famous Washington, D.C.. concert hall due to the color of her skin, opera star Marian Anderson takes an even bigger—and more symbolic—stage: the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Marian Anderson performing at the Lincoln Memorial, 1939.
Hulton Archives/Getty Images
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