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J. Edgar Hoover became the acting Director of the Bureau of Investigation (later the FBI) on May 10, 1924, and was appointed Director by President Calvin Coolidge later that year. He was appointed to professionalize the bureau, which was then a small organization with only about 650 employees. -
Mein Kampf is a 1925 autobiographical and political manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The book outlines many of Hitler's political beliefs, his political ideology, and his future plans for Germany and the world. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. -
The stock market crash that marked the onset of the Great Depression occurred in late October 1929, primarily over the course of Black Thursday, October 24, and Black Tuesday, October 29. -
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt was first elected president in November 1932, defeating incumbent Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression. He was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, and his first term was marked by the implementation of the "New Deal" to provide relief, recovery, and reform through a series of programs -
Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, by President Paul von Hindenburg. This event marked the beginning of the end for the democratic Weimar Republic and the start of the Nazi dictatorship. -
The acronym "CCC" can refer to several different organizations that were created, but most commonly refers to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established in the U.S. in 1933 as part of the New Deal. Other examples include the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), founded in 1944, and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) in the Philippines, established in 2009. -
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created on May 6, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's executive order to address unemployment during the Great Depression. It was part of the New Deal and funded by Congress through the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act. -
James J. Braddock won the heavyweight boxing title on June 13, 1935, by defeating the reigning champion, Max Baer, in a 15-round unanimous decision. The victory was considered a major upset, earning Braddock the nickname "The Cinderella Man" from columnist Damon Runyon -
"Berlin Olympics" typically refers to the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin, Germany, under the Nazi regime. The event is known as the "Nazi Olympics" because Adolf Hitler's government used the Games for propaganda, temporarily downplaying antisemitism and creating an image of a peaceful Germany to impress the world. -
Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. -
The Grapes of Wrath was published on April 14, 1939, by John Steinbeck. The novel, which follows the Joad family's migration from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression, was an immediate bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940. -
The Wizard of Oz premiered in theaters on August 25, 1939, after several preview showings and a formal premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, 1939. The film later had its New York premiere on August 17, 1939, before its national release date. -
The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939, was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of World War II -
The "Four Freedoms" speech was a 1941 address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that proposed four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The speech aimed to justify greater U.S. involvement in World War II by arguing these freedoms were threatened by Axis powers and needed to be defended globally.