1932

Events in 1932 130

• 1852 – 1932 Lady Gregory (1852-1932) Died 22 May 1932, aged 80 The Irish dramatist and folklorist co-founded the Abbey Theatre with W. B. Yeats.
• 1853 – 1932 Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932) Died 4 April 1932, aged 78 The Baltic German chemist was a founder of physical chemistry. He won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on catalysis.
• 1854 – 1932 George Eastman (1854-1932) Died 14 March 1932, aged 77 The founder of Eastman Kodak made photography available to the general public with roll film and the Kodak camera. He was also a major philanthropist.
• 1854 – 1932 John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) Died 6 March 1932, aged 77 The American composer and bandmaster was known as the "March King". His works include The Stars and Stripes Forever.
• 1855 – 1932 King Camp Gillette (1855-1932) Died 9 July 1932, aged 76 The American businessman popularised the safety razor with disposable blades and founded the Gillette company.
• 1857 – 1932 Paul Doumer (1857-1932) Died 7 May 1932, aged 75 The President of France was shot in Paris by the Russian émigré Paul Gorguloff and died the next day. He had previously served as Governor-General of French Indochina.
• 1857 – 1932 Ronald Ross (1857-1932) Died 16 September 1932, aged 75 The British physician showed that mosquitoes transmit malaria, and he received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1858 – 1932 Giuseppe Peano (1858-1932) Died 20 April 1932, aged 73 The Italian mathematician formulated the Peano axioms for the natural numbers and helped develop modern mathematical logic.
• 1859 – 1932 Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) Died 6 July 1932, aged 73 The Scottish-born author wrote the children's classic The Wind in the Willows.
• 1861 – 1932 Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932) Died 14 March 1932, aged 70 The American historian developed the frontier thesis on the role of the frontier in shaping American democracy.
• 1861 – 1932 William Wrigley Jr. (1861-1932) Died 26 January 1932, aged 70 The American businessman built the Wrigley chewing gum company and owned the Chicago Cubs.
• 1862 – 1932 Aristide Briand (1862-1932) Died 7 March 1932, aged 69 Briand served eleven times as Prime Minister of France. He shared the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize for the Locarno Treaties and co-authored the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
• 1862 – 1932 Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) Died 6 January 1932, aged 69 The president of Sears, Roebuck and Company was a philanthropist who funded thousands of schools for Black children in the American South.
• 1866 – 1932 Fazer Group Foundation Karl Fazer Founder of the iconic Finnish confectionery and food service company.
• 1867 – 1932 Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (1867-1932) Died 22 July 1932, aged 65 The Broadway impresario created the Ziegfeld Follies revues and produced the musical Show Boat.
• 1873 – 1932 Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932) Died 23 July 1932, aged 59 The Brazilian aviation pioneer flew early airships and, in 1906, the 14-bis aeroplane in Paris. He is regarded as a national hero in Brazil.
• 1875 – 1932 Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) Died 10 February 1932, aged 56 The prolific English thriller writer co-wrote the story for King Kong, and he died while working on the film in Hollywood.
• 1877 – 1932 André Maginot (1877-1932) Died 7 January 1932, aged 54 As French Minister of War, Maginot pressed for the fortifications on the German border that became known as the Maginot Line.
• 1880 – 1932 Ivar Kreuger (1880-1932) Died 12 March 1932, aged 52 The Swedish "Match King" built a worldwide match monopoly and financial empire. He shot himself in Paris, and the collapse that followed revealed large-scale fraud.
• 1880 – 1932 Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) Died 21 January 1932, aged 51 The English biographer and member of the Bloomsbury Group changed the style of biography with Eminent Victorians.
• 1889 – 1932 Manuel II of Portugal (1889-1932) Died 2 July 1932, aged 42 Portugal's last king was deposed by the republican revolution of 1910 and died in exile in England.
• 1893 – 1932 Farabundo Martí (1893-1932) Died 1 February 1932, aged 38 The Salvadoran communist leader was executed by firing squad after the failed uprising of January 1932. El Salvador's FMLN later took his name.
• 1899 – 1932 Hart Crane (1899-1932) Died 27 April 1932, aged 32 The American modernist poet, author of The Bridge, died after jumping from a steamship in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 1901 – 1932 Nadezhda Alliluyeva (1901-1932) Died 9 November 1932, aged 31 The second wife of Joseph Stalin killed herself in the Kremlin after a quarrel with him.
• 1931 – 1932 Robert Johnson returns transformed The crossroads legend Back after a year away playing brilliantly — the legend says he sold his soul at the crossroads.
• 1932 Aldous Huxley publishes Brave New World Dystopian novel of an engineered society Aldous Huxley's novel imagines a future World State that keeps people content through genetic engineering, conditioning and drugs. It became one of the best-known dystopian works in English literature.
• 1932 – 2024 Anouk Aimee (1932-2024) Died 18 June 2024, aged 92 French actress of aloof, alluring presence, known above all for A Man and a Woman.
• 1932 – 2025 Athol Fugard (1932-2025) Died 8 March 2025, aged 92 South African playwright, actor and director known internationally for his unsparing analyses of society under apartheid.
• 1932 – 2023 Carlos Saura (1932-2023) Died 10 February 2023, aged 91 Spanish director whose films chronicled life under Franco and after, and who brought flamenco to the screen.
• 1932 – 2024 Dabney Coleman (1932-2024) Died 16 May 2024, aged 92 American actor who made a speciality of smug egotists in 9 to 5 and Tootsie.
• 1932 – 2026 Duane Michals (1932-2026) Died 9 June 2026, aged 94 American photographer known for sequential images dealing in myth and mystery, and for stretching what the medium could do.
• 1932 – 2026 Edward Hoagland (1932-2026) Died 17 February 2026, aged 93 American essayist, novelist and travel writer celebrated above all for his writing about nature and wildlife.
• 1932 – 1933 Famine in Stavropol kills half the village Gorbachev was an infant, and lost two aunts and an uncle Both his grandfathers were later arrested in the purges. He learned about the system early.
• 1932 – 2023 Fernando Botero (1932-2023) Died 15 September 2023, aged 91 Colombian painter and sculptor whose inflated, voluminous figures made him the most recognisable Latin American artist of his time.
• 1932 LEGO founded Ole Kirk Christiansen opens a toy workshop in Billund Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen started making wooden toys in Billund. The company took the name LEGO in 1934 and later became the world's best-known maker of plastic construction toys.
• 1932 – 2026 Marjan Berk (1932–2026) Marjan Berk, born Marie-Janne van Baaren (Zeist, 11 July 1932 – Amsterdam, 5 July 2026), was one of the Netherlands' most versatile and beloved cultural figures: actress, cabaret performer, television screenwriter, novelist, children's author and columnist for more than 40 years. She spent the first 27 years of her career on stage, in cabaret and on television before reinventing herself at 49 as a writer of more than 50 books. Her TV series Vrouwenvleugel won the Gouden Televizier-Ring in 1994. The magazine Opzij called her "the queen of the light novel." She died on 5 July 2026, six days before her 94th birthday, and was at the time of her death the oldest columnist in the Netherlands.
• 1932 – 2022 Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022) Died 30 July 2022, aged 89 American actress whose Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek was among the first non-stereotyped Black roles on American television.
• 1932 – 1963 Patsy Cline (1932-1963) Died 5 March 1963, aged 30 Patsy Cline was an American singer who helped bring country music to mainstream pop audiences with hits like "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces". She died in a small plane crash in Tennessee along with fellow performers. She is regarded as one of the most influential vocalists in country music history.
• 1932 – 2023 Piper Laurie (1932-2023) Died 14 October 2023, aged 91 American actress three times nominated for an Academy Award, for The Hustler, Carrie and Children of a Lesser God.
• 1932 – 2025 Robert Benton (1932-2025) Died 11 May 2025, aged 92 American filmmaker who won Academy Awards for directing and adapting Kramer vs. Kramer and for the original screenplay of Places in the Heart.
• 1932 – 2024 Robert Coover (1932-2024) Died 5 October 2024, aged 92 American writer of avant-garde fiction whose experimental forms mixed reality and illusion.
• 1932 Sydney Harbour Bridge opens Sydney Harbour Bridge opens The Sydney Harbour Bridge opened on 19 March 1932 after eight years of building, carrying road, rail and foot traffic across the harbour on a single steel arch. The opening ceremony was hijacked by Francis de Groot, who rode forward on horseback and slashed the ribbon with a sword before the premier could cut it. The bridge became the defining image of the city.
• 1932 – 2025 Tom Robbins (1932-2025) Died 9 February 2025, aged 92 American novelist known for eccentric characters and playful wordplay in books such as Still Life with Woodpecker and Jitterbug Perfume.
• 1932 Tuskegee syphilis study begins US Public Health Service starts an unethical study The US Public Health Service began studying untreated syphilis in hundreds of Black men in Macon County, Alabama, without their informed consent. The study ran until 1972, and the men were denied penicillin even after it became the standard cure.
• 1932 – 2026 Valentino (1932-2026) Died 19 January 2026, aged 93 Italian fashion designer whose jet-set elegance and trademark rosso Valentino red defined haute couture for half a century.
• 1932 La Matanza in El Salvador Peasant uprising put down in mass killings An uprising of mostly Indigenous peasants in western El Salvador was crushed by the government of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez. Troops killed thousands of people in the weeks that followed.
• 1932 – 2023 Piper Laurie (1932-2023) American actress with Oscar nominations for The Hustler, Carrie and Children of a Lesser God.
• 1932 Reconstruction Finance Corporation established US federal agency set up to lend to failing institutions President Hoover signed the law creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. It lent federal money to banks, railroads and other businesses hit by the Depression.
• 1932 January 28 Incident in Shanghai Japanese and Chinese forces clash in Shanghai Japanese forces attacked Shanghai and met strong resistance from the Chinese 19th Route Army. Fighting ended in early March, and a ceasefire agreement was signed on 5 May.
• 1932 World Disarmament Conference opens in Geneva League of Nations seeks arms limitation Delegates from about 60 countries met in Geneva to negotiate arms reductions. The talks stalled over German demands for equal treatment, and Germany walked out in 1933.
• 1932 1932 Winter Olympics III Winter Games - Lake Placid Eddie Eagan became the first to win gold in both Summer and Winter games. Winner: USA.
• 1932 – 1984 François Truffaut (1932-1984) Died 21 October 1984, aged 52 French film director François Truffaut, a leading figure of the Nouvelle Vague, died of a brain tumor near Paris. His films included The 400 Blows and Jules et Jim.
• 1932 – present Gerhard Richter Contemporary · Germany Gerhard Richter (born February 9, 1932) is a German painter who works across photorealism, abstraction and glass. He is widely regarded as the greatest living painter and the most expensive living artist at auction.
• 1932 – 2018 Milos Forman (1932-2018) Died 13 April 2018, aged 86 Czech-American film director who won Academy Awards for Best Director for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus. He fled communist Czechoslovakia in 1968 and built his career in Hollywood. His films often explored themes of individuality against institutional control.
• 1932 – 2009 Ted Kennedy (1932-2009) Died 25 August 2009, aged 77 Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the US Senate for nearly 47 years, becoming one of the chamber's most influential legislators on healthcare and civil rights. He was the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. His death came as Congress debated major healthcare reform he had long championed.
• 1932 – 2003 Johnny Cash American singer-songwriter, "The Man in Black" Johnny Cash (1932-2003) was an American singer-songwriter whose stark baritone, songs of faith, hardship and redemption, and lifelong identification with prisoners and the poor made him one of the most influential artists in American music. The only artist inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, Songwriters, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame, he sold over 90 million records across a career spanning five decades.
• 1932 – 2011 Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) Died 23 March 2011, aged 79 The British-American actress, a two-time Academy Award winner known for films including "Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", died in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. She was one of the last major stars of Hollywood's golden age. She was also known for her AIDS activism and jewelry collection.
• 1932 James Chadwick discovers the neutron Uncharged particle identified in the atomic nucleus At the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, James Chadwick showed that radiation from beryllium consisted of neutral particles with about the mass of a proton. His report appeared in Nature on 27 February. The discovery earned him the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics and was essential to later work on nuclear fission.
• 1932 Japan establishes Manchukuo Puppet state created in occupied Manchuria After seizing Manchuria, Japan set up the state of Manchukuo, with the last Qing emperor Puyi as its nominal head. Most of the world refused to recognise it, and the League of Nations condemned the occupation.
• 1932 Kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby Aviator's infant son abducted from the family home Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh, was taken from the family home in Hopewell, New Jersey. His body was found near the house on 12 May. The case led Congress to make kidnapping across state lines a federal crime.
• 1932 Revlon founded Revson brothers start a nail enamel business Charles and Joseph Revson founded Revlon in New York with chemist Charles Lachman, starting with nail enamel. It grew into one of the world's largest cosmetics companies.
• 1932 – 2008 Miriam Makeba (1932-2008) Died 9 November 2008, aged 76 South African singer and civil rights activist known as "Mama Africa," celebrated for songs like "Pata Pata" and for her outspoken opposition to apartheid. She collapsed on stage in Italy after a concert and died shortly after.
• 1932 Éamon de Valera takes power in Ireland Fianna Fáil forms its first government After the February general election, Éamon de Valera became President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. His government soon abolished the oath of allegiance and began an economic war with Britain.
• 1932 Hindenburg re-elected President of Germany Runoff defeats Adolf Hitler Paul von Hindenburg beat Adolf Hitler in the runoff of the German presidential election. The first round was held on 13 March. Hitler took 37 percent of the runoff vote.
• 1932 – 2009 John Updike (1932-2009) Died 27 January 2009, aged 76 Updike was an American novelist, poet and critic best known for his Rabbit series of novels, which won him two Pulitzer Prizes. He published prolifically across fiction, poetry and criticism for over five decades. He was widely regarded as one of the leading American writers of his generation.
• 1932 1932 World Snooker Championship Joe Davis Title 6 Winner: Joe Davis; Runner-up: Clark McConachy. Score: 30–19.
• 1932 – 1992 Anthony Perkins (1932-1992) Died 12 September 1992, aged 60 Anthony Perkins was an American actor best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" and its sequels. His unsettling performance became one of the most iconic in horror cinema. He died of AIDS-related pneumonia, having kept his diagnosis private for years.
• 1932 – 2026 Clive Davis Clive Davis (born 4 April 1932, Brooklyn, New York) is the most influential record executive in the history of the American music industry. A lawyer with no musical background who stumbled into the record business, Davis discovered and developed more major artists than any other executive of his era: Janis Joplin, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Patti Smith, Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, and dozens more. He ran Columbia Records through its greatest creative period (1967–1973), founded Arista Records (1974) and J Records (2000), and at 91 remains active as Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment. His autobiography 'Clive: Inside the Record Business' (1975) is the definitive account of the music industry at its commercial peak.
• 1932 – 2015 Omar Sharif (1932-2015) Died 10 July 2015, aged 83 Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor who achieved international stardom with roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. He received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and was one of the most successful Arab actors in Hollywood history. Sharif was also an internationally ranked bridge player.
• 1932 Cockcroft and Walton split the atom First nuclear reaction driven by an accelerator John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton fired accelerated protons at lithium nuclei at the Cavendish Laboratory, splitting them into alpha particles. It was the first nuclear transmutation produced by artificially accelerated particles.
• 1932 – 1990 Halston (1932-1990) Died 26 March 1990, aged 57 Halston, born Roy Halston Frowick, was an American fashion designer who dominated American style in the 1970s with minimalist designs favored by celebrities. He designed Jacqueline Kennedy's pillbox hat before launching his own label. He died of AIDS-related complications in San Francisco.
• 1932 – 2014 Casey Kasem (1932-2014) Died 15 June 2014, aged 82 Casey Kasem, the radio host who created and hosted the long-running countdown show "American Top 40," died in Washington state amid a highly publicized family dispute over his care. He also voiced the character Shaggy in the "Scooby-Doo" cartoon franchise. His radio countdown format was widely imitated for decades.
• 1932 Bonus Army expelled from Washington Troops clear camps of protesting veterans Thousands of First World War veterans camped in Washington to demand early payment of their service bonuses. On 28 July, army troops under Douglas MacArthur drove them out and burned their camps. The episode badly damaged Herbert Hoover's reputation.
• 1932 May 15 Incident Japanese Prime Minister Inukai assassinated Young Japanese naval officers assassinated Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in Tokyo during an attempted coup. His death ended party government in pre-war Japan and strengthened the military's hold on politics.
• 1932 Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic First woman to fly the Atlantic alone Amelia Earhart took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and landed in a pasture near Derry, Northern Ireland, about 15 hours later. She was the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic.
• 1932 Engelbert Dollfuss becomes Chancellor of Austria Christian Social leader takes office Engelbert Dollfuss became Chancellor of Austria with a majority of one seat. He later suspended parliament and set up an authoritarian corporate state.
• 1932 Afsluitdijk completed Dam closes off the Zuiderzee The last gap in the Afsluitdijk was closed, sealing the Zuiderzee off from the North Sea and turning it into the freshwater IJsselmeer. The dam was central to Dutch land reclamation and flood defence.
• 1932 – 2026 Paul R. Ehrlich (1932-2026) Died 13 March 2026, aged 93 American biologist whose warnings about population growth shaped environmental debate for decades. He shared the Crafoord Prize in 1990.
• 1932 Franz von Papen becomes German Chancellor Hindenburg appoints a cabinet without parliamentary backing President Hindenburg appointed Franz von Papen to replace Heinrich Brüning. Papen's cabinet had almost no support in the Reichstag, and he was replaced by Kurt von Schleicher in December.
• 1932 Chaco War breaks out Bolivia and Paraguay clash over the Gran Chaco Bolivian troops captured the Paraguayan fort at Laguna Pitiantuta, starting open war over the disputed Gran Chaco. The war lasted until 1935 and was the bloodiest conflict in 20th-century South America.
• 1932 Lausanne Conference ends German reparations Allies agree to cancel most reparations Britain, France, Germany and other powers agreed to cut Germany's First World War reparations to a final payment that was never made. In practice, the agreement ended reparations.
• 1932 Siamese Revolution Bloodless coup ends absolute monarchy The People's Party, a group of military officers and civil servants, seized power in Bangkok in a bloodless coup. King Prajadhipok accepted a constitution, and Siam became a constitutional monarchy.
• 1932 – 2002 Dave Thomas (1932-2002) Died 8 January 2002, aged 69 Dave Thomas founded the Wendy's hamburger chain in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969 and built it into one of the largest fast-food companies in the world. A childhood spent partly in foster care led him to campaign for adoption reform. From 1989 he appeared in more than 800 folksy television adverts for the chain, an unusually long run for a company founder.
• 1932 Salazar becomes Prime Minister of Portugal Start of the Estado Novo era António de Oliveira Salazar, previously finance minister, was appointed President of the Council of Ministers. He went on to build the authoritarian Estado Novo and ruled Portugal until 1968.
• 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution in São Paulo São Paulo rises against Getúlio Vargas São Paulo state rebelled against the provisional government of Getúlio Vargas to demand a constitution. The revolt was defeated after nearly three months, but a new constitution followed in 1934.
• 1932 – 2021 Donald Rumsfeld (1932-2021) Died 29 June 2021, aged 88 American politician who served twice as United States secretary of defense and was a principal architect of the Iraq War.
• 1932 Prussian coup Reich government takes over Prussia Chancellor Franz von Papen used an emergency decree to remove Prussia's Social Democrat-led government and place the state under Reich control. The move weakened one of the main defences of the Weimar Republic.
• 1932 Ottawa Imperial Economic Conference British Empire adopts imperial preference Britain and its dominions met in Ottawa and agreed tariff preferences for trade within the Empire. The agreements marked Britain's move away from free trade.
• 1932 – 2026 Nancy Kassebaum (1932-2026) Died 21 August 2026, aged 94 American Republican politician, the first woman to represent Kansas in the US Senate, where she served from 1978 to 1997.
• 1932 1932 Summer Olympics X Olympiad - Los Angeles First use of an Olympic Village and podiums. Winner: USA.
• 1932 Flowers and Trees released First full-colour Technicolor cartoon Walt Disney's Silly Symphony short was the first commercial film made in three-strip Technicolor. It won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
• 1932 – 2025 John Searle (1932-2025) Died 17 September 2025, aged 93 American philosopher known for speech act theory and for the Chinese Room argument in the philosophy of mind.
• 1932 Nazi Party becomes largest party in the Reichstag German federal election of July The Nazi Party won 37 percent of the vote and 230 seats in the German federal election, making it the largest party in the Reichstag. It still fell short of a majority, and Germany's political deadlock continued.
• 1932 Carl Anderson discovers the positron First antimatter particle observed Using a cloud chamber at Caltech, Carl D. Anderson recorded tracks of a positively charged particle with the mass of an electron. It confirmed Paul Dirac's prediction of antimatter, and Anderson shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• 1932 – 2006 Lamar Hunt (1932-2006) Died 13 December 2006, aged 74 Lamar Hunt, the American sports magnate who founded the American Football League and helped create the Super Bowl, died of prostate cancer. He was also a founding figure in North American professional soccer. He is credited with coining the term "Super Bowl."
• 1932 – 2013 Peter O'Toole (1932-2013) Died 14 December 2013, aged 81 Peter O'Toole was a British actor best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance in Lawrence of Arabia. He died in a London hospital after a long illness.
• 1932 – present Venice Film Festival First Film Festival The oldest film festival in the world, held annually on the island of the Lido in Venice.
• 1932 Soviet Law of Spikelets decreed Theft of collective farm produce made punishable by death A Soviet decree set execution, or ten years in the camps, as the penalty for theft of collective farm property, including gleaned grain. It was harshly enforced as famine spread through Ukraine and other grain regions.
• 1932 – 2018 V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018) Died 11 August 2018, aged 85 Trinidad-born British writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001 for his body of fiction and travel writing. His novels, including A House for Mr Biswas, examined colonialism, displacement and postcolonial society. He was knighted for his services to literature.
• 1932 – 2022 Luc Montagnier (1932-2022) Died 8 February 2022, aged 89 French virologist who shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for identifying HIV.
• 1932 Leticia Incident Peruvian civilians seize the Colombian town of Leticia Armed Peruvian civilians seized the Colombian Amazon port of Leticia, which led to an armed conflict between Colombia and Peru. The League of Nations mediated a settlement in 1933 that returned the town to Colombia.
• 1932 – 2024 Robert H. Dennard (1932-2024) Died 23 April 2024, aged 91 American engineer who invented the one-transistor DRAM cell, the basis of modern computer memory.
• 1932 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia proclaimed Ibn Saud unites Hejaz and Nejd Abdulaziz Ibn Saud merged the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The day is still celebrated as Saudi National Day.
• 1932 Poona Pact Agreement on seats for Depressed Classes Mahatma Gandhi fasted in protest against separate electorates for the Depressed Classes under the British Communal Award. B. R. Ambedkar and Hindu leaders then agreed to reserve seats within a joint electorate instead.
• 1932 – 2014 Adolfo Suarez (1932-2014) Died 23 March 2014, aged 81 Adolfo Suarez, Spain's first democratically elected prime minister after the death of Francisco Franco, died in Madrid. He oversaw Spain's peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late 1970s. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for years before his death.
• 1932 – 2024 Manmohan Singh (1932-2024) Died 26 December 2024, aged 92 Indian economist and prime minister from 2004 to 2014 whose 1991 reforms as finance minister opened the Indian economy.
• 1932 – 2025 Rainer Weiss (1932-2025) Died 25 August 2025, aged 92 German-born American physicist awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on LIGO and the first direct detection of gravitational waves.
• 1932 Babe Ruth's called shot Ruth appears to point before a World Series home run In Game 3 of the World Series at Wrigley Field, Babe Ruth gestured toward center field and then hit a home run there. Whether he really called the shot is still debated, and it became one of baseball's best-known legends.
• 1932 Iraq gains independence British mandate ends as Iraq joins the League of Nations Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations, formally ending the British mandate. It was the first mandated territory to become independent, though Britain kept military bases there.
• 1932 Dnieper Hydroelectric Station opens Flagship Soviet dam begins operating The DneproGES dam at Zaporizhzhia was commissioned. It was then the largest hydroelectric station in Europe and a showpiece of Stalin's First Five-Year Plan.
• 1932 – 1991 Detlev Karsten Rohwedder Head of the Treuhandanstalt, 1932-1991 - assassinated in office The manager given the job of privatising the entire East German economy, and shot dead at his own window eight months later.
• 1932 – 1992 Robert Reed (1932-1992) Died 12 May 1992, aged 59 Robert Reed was an American actor best known for playing Mike Brady on the television sitcom "The Brady Bunch." He was a classically trained actor who often expressed frustration with the show's lighthearted material. He died of complications related to colon cancer and HIV, which was not publicly disclosed until years later.
• 1932 – 1995 Louis Malle (1932-1995) Died 23 November 1995, aged 63 Louis Malle was a French film director known for a wide-ranging body of work including Au Revoir les Enfants, My Dinner with Andre, and Atlantic City. He worked across French and American cinema and was married to actress Candice Bergen. He received numerous international awards over a four-decade career.
• 1932 Great Emu War Australian soldiers with machine guns sent against emus Soldiers armed with Lewis guns were sent to Western Australia's wheatbelt to cull emus that were destroying crops. The operation killed relatively few birds and was widely mocked, and it was withdrawn in December.
• 1932 – 2026 Francois Englert (1932-2026) Died 18 June 2026, aged 93 Belgian physicist awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics for proposing the field that gives elementary particles their mass.
• 1932 Powell v. Alabama decided Supreme Court overturns Scottsboro convictions The US Supreme Court overturned the convictions of the Scottsboro Boys because they had not received adequate legal counsel. The ruling established a right to effective counsel in capital cases.
• 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt elected President of the United States Landslide defeat of Herbert Hoover amid the Depression Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover, winning 42 of 48 states. The result reflected public anger over the Great Depression and opened the way to the New Deal.
• 1932 Cuba hurricane destroys Santa Cruz del Sur Storm surge kills thousands A Category 5 hurricane struck Camagüey Province, Cuba. Its storm surge wiped out the town of Santa Cruz del Sur and killed about 3,000 people.
• 1932 – 2008 Roy Scheider (1932-2008) Died 10 February 2008, aged 75 American actor best known for playing police chief Martin Brody in Jaws and for his role in All That Jazz. He received two Academy Award nominations during his career.
• 1932 – 2026 Holmes Rolston III (1932-2026) Died 12 February 2026, aged 92 American philosopher and theologian who founded the fields of environmental ethics and environmental philosophy.
• 1932 – 2016 Umberto Eco Italian novelist and philosopher Eco wrote The Name of the Rose, combining mystery, semiotics, and historical fiction.
• 1932 – 2019 Jacques Chirac President of France 1995–2007 Jacques René Chirac was a French Gaullist politician who dominated the French right for three decades. He served twice as Prime Minister, eighteen years as Mayor of Paris, and twelve years as President of the Republic, remembered for his charm, his opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, and his recognition of France's role in the Holocaust.
• 1932 – 2021 Roh Tae-woo (1932-2021) Died 26 October 2021, aged 88 South Korean general and president from 1988 to 1993 who oversaw the country's transition to democracy.
• 1932 – 2020 Little Richard (1932-2020) Died 9 May 2020, aged 87 Little Richard was an American singer and pianist whose energetic performances and hits like "Tutti Frutti" helped invent rock and roll in the 1950s. He died of bone cancer on 9 May 2020.
• 1932 – 2005 Charly Gaul The Angel of the Mountains Famed for his climbing in extreme weather. Winner: 1958 Tour de France.
• 1932 – 2026 Bob Pettit St Louis Hawks and LSU, 1932-2026 - the NBA's first MVP Cut from his high school team, then the first Most Valuable Player in NBA history and the first man to 20,000 points.
• 1932 – present Abbe Lane American Singer & Actress American singer, actress and dancer who was one of the most glamorous entertainers of the 1950s and 1960s. Once described as 'the swingingest sexpot in show business', she rose to fame as the featured vocalist for Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat, whom she married at the age of 19. She starred on Broadway opposite Tony Randall, made over 20 films in Italy, performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 1932 BBC Empire Service begins Shortwave broadcasting to the British Empire The BBC launched its Empire Service on shortwave, broadcasting to listeners across the Empire. It later became the BBC World Service.
• 1932 Radio City Music Hall opens Art Deco theatre opens at Rockefeller Center Radio City Music Hall opened in Manhattan as part of Rockefeller Center. It was then the largest indoor theatre in the world and became a New York landmark.
• 1932 – present Hiroshi Okuda Toyota President & Chairman Japanese businessman who served as president (1995-1999) and chairman (1999-2006) of Toyota Motor Corporation, leading the company's rise to become the world's largest automaker. The first person from outside Toyota's founding Toyoda family to lead the company in 28 years, he was known for his outspoken style and management credo that 'not changing is evil'. He championed the Prius hybrid, expanded Toyota's global manufacturing footprint, and later served as chairman of Keidanren, Japan's most powerful business lobby.