1930 Events Collective Farming (Jan. 5): Josef Stalin begins collectivizing agriculture in the Soviet Union. All land, livestock and equipment now belong to the state, which grants use of it to farmers under central management. Income is divided among farmers based on the quantity and quality of their work; a family can own only a house, garden, stable and one cow. Pinpointing Pluto (Feb. 18): A 24-year-old amateur astronomer, Clyde William Tombaugh, discovers the planet Pluto. Garbo Speaks (March 14): Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's biggest star, Greta Garbo, speaks on screen. In the film version of Eugene O'Neill's hit play "Anna Christie," the steamy Swedish-born actress slumps into a chair in a waterfront saloon and utters the words, "Gif me a viskey. Ginger ale on the side. And don' be stingy, baby." Garbo's husky voice and Scandinavian accent save her from the fate of other silent film stars. March to the Sea (April 6): Mohandas K. Gandhi arrives at Dandi, on the western coast of India, completing a "march to the sea" to harvest salt illegally from the ocean. The richly symbolic act protests British rule of the subcontinent by defying the British monopoly on salt production. Woman Soars (April 24): Huge crowds welcome Amy Johnson, whose smooth landing makes her the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Her flight, hampered by delays to repair damage to the plane, had taken 19 days. World Cup (July): Uruguay plays host to 13 nations for the first World Cup soccer tournament. Some 90,000 fans cram into an unfinished stadium in Montevideo to watch the host nation beat Argentina 4-2. Uruguay celebrates by declaring a national holiday; Argentines stone the Uruguayan consulate in Buenos Aires. Enduring Conflict (October 5): A congress of Balkan states opens to promote cooperation in the long-embattled region. What's Hot Blondie & Bumstead Blondie Boopadoop makes her debut in Chic Young's new comic strip, Blondie. She is a bird-brained flapper who is admired by playboy Dagwood Bumstead. Readers correctly guess their future: They will fall in love, and Dagwood's railroad-tycoon father will disinherit him. Births Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court justice (March 30) Clint Eastwood, actor (May 31) Neil Armstrong, first astronaut to walk on the moon (Aug. 5) Dan Jenkins, writer (Dec. 2) Deaths Arthur Conan Doyle, "Sherlock Holmes" author (born 1859) D.H. Lawrence, author (born 1885)

1931 Events Catholic Controls (Jan. 8): Pope Pius XI issues an encyclical denouncing trial marriages, divorce and all forms of birth control. The Right Key (March 3): An act making Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem is signed into law by President Hoover. Going Up (May 1): The Empire State Building opens on the site formerly occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. At 102 stories and 1,250 feet, it will be the tallest building in the world for more than 40 years. Attack on China (Sept. 18): Japanese troops launch a surprise attack on the Chinese garrison at Mukden. Most people believe General Chiang Kai-shek will place his faith in the League of Nations rather than fight the Japanese. Unsolid Gold (Sept. 23): London's stock exchange reopens after having been closed for two days when Britain abandoned the gold standard. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Egypt and Japan abandon the gold standard days after. Lights Out for Edison (Oct. 18): Whenever Americans turn on a light, watch a film or listen to a record or a live entertainer, they can thank a home-schooled, voracious reader named Thomas Alva Edison, who dies quietly in his sleep at his New Jersey home at age 84. Three days later, electric lights are darkened for one minute throughout the United States in tribute to the passing of genius. Scarface Jailed (Oct. 24): Chicago gang lord Al "Scarface" Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison -- for tax evasion. The sentence imposed by a federal court in Chicago is the stiffest ever handed out for tax evasion. Capone also is fined $50,000 and ordered to pay $137,328 in back taxes, as well as court costs. What's Hot Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz Miles Laboratories of Elkhart, Ind., introduces Alka-Seltzer. An analgesic and antacid for headaches, upset stomachs and hangovers, the new product is a tablet of sodium bicarbonate, mono-calcium phosphate, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) and citric acid. It fizzes when it is dropped in water and quickly becomes popular among dyspeptics, eventually selling 2.5 billion tablets a year. Births Alvin Ailey, choreographer (Jan. 5) James Dean, actor, (Feb. 8) Willie Mays, baseball great (June 6) Mickey Mantle, baseball great (Oct. 30) Dan Rather, TV journalist (Oct. 31) Deaths Ida B. Wells, journalist, civil rights leader (born 1862) Hsu Chi-mo, Chinese poet (born 1896) Knute Rockne, football coach (born 1888)

1932 Events Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?: As the Great Depression drags into its third full year in 1932, the statistics are as bleak as the faces of the people standing in bread lines across a demoralized nation. The average weekly wage falls to $17, down from $28 in 1929. More than 1,600 U.S. banks fail, nearly 20,000 businesses go bankrupt and the number of suicides is reported at 21,000. First Female Senator (Jan. 12): Hattie Caraway of Arkansas becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She is the winner of a special election to finish the term of her late husband, Thaddeus H. Caraway. In November, she is elected to a full term in the Senate and will serve through 1945. Japan Quits League (Feb. 25): Japan withdraws from the League of Nations in response to a vote that condemned its invasion of Manchuria. Thumbs Up: Critics hail "Brave New World" as one of the most important novels since the Great War. Author Aldous Huxley writes of a future in which babies are fertilized in laboratories, children are indoctrinated and people are classified into preset groups. Earhart in Earnest (May 21): Amelia Earhart lands in Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. On Aug. 25, she completes the first nonstop transcontinental flight, from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J. It takes 19 hours, 5 minutes. Dow Bottoms Out (July 7): The Dow Jones Industrial Average dips to an all-time low of 41.22. Bonus Army Battle (July 28): President Herbert Hoover calls out federal infantry and cavalry troops with tanks and gas grenades to disperse about 25,000 World War I veterans who began to descend on Washington, D.C., in May to try to obtain $500 "bonuses" authorized by the Adjustment Compensation Act of 1924 but not due until 1945. A tent camp where the "Bonus Army" squatters had stayed with their wives and children is burned, and at least one protester is killed. New Deal (Nov. 8): Americans, desperate for change, elect New York Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt president. When nominated in Chicago as the Democratic candidate, Roosevelt declared in his acceptance speech, "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." He promised relief for the millions of unemployed, a variety of public works projects to put people back to work, repeal of Prohibition, an overhaul of farm policies and reduction of tariffs. What's Hot Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping On the evening of March 1, 1932, a nurse goes to check on the 20-month-old son of famous aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow, only to find the child gone. A note near the nursery window demands $50,000, and there are muddy footprints, a wooden ladder beneath the second-floor window and a carpenter's chisel. The case grabs the attention of Americans like few before or since. On May 12, the decomposed body of Charles Lindbergh Jr. is foundwith a fractured skull in a wooded patch about a mile from the house. On April 3, 1936, a fugitive felon from Germany named Bruno Richard Hauptmann will die in the electric chair in Trenton, N.J., for the crime. Births Edward Kennedy, senator, Feb. 22 Elizabeth Taylor, actress, Feb. 27 Deaths Florenz Ziegfeld, theatrical producer (born 1869) William Wrigley Jr., chewing gum magnate (born 1861)

1933 Events Good Neighbor (March): At his inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces a "good neighbor" policy toward Latin America. The new policy promises no more U.S. military intervention in the Western Hemisphere. Dam It (May 18): Congress creates the Tennessee Valley Authority. The public works project constructs of dams and hydroelectric plants along the Cumberland River and other Tennessee Valley waterways. These help maintain flood control in the region and bring electricity to large parts of Appalachia. Baseball's Best (July 6): Major League Baseball's first All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. A two-run homer by Babe Ruth lifts the American League to a 4-2 win. Nazis Rule (July 14): The National Socialists are declared the only legal political party in Germany. On July 26, the regime announces a program to perfect the "Aryan race" by sterilizing people deemed unworthy of breeding. In August will come official confirmation that thousands of Jews have been sent to concentration camps, and in October, Germany withdraws from the League of Nations, announcing its intention to rearm. "Machine Gun" Manhunt (July 22): Public Enemy No. 1, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, captures headlines with the kidnapping of Oklahoma City oil millionaire Charles F. Urschel and the nationwide manhunt that follows. Kelly, sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping, will die of a heart attack in the Leavenworth penitentiary in 1954. Prohibition Prohibited (Dec. 5): Americans toast the end of Prohibition with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repeals the 1920 constitutional amendment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of liquor. Anheuser-Busch marks the occasion by dispatching its newly introduced team of Clydesdale horses to deliver a case of beer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. What's Hot Drive-Ins Noting Americans' fascination with movies and cars, a visionary named Richard Hollingshead Jr. combines the two and in 1933 patents his design for a drive-in movie theater. Hollingshead began experimenting in the driveway at his house in Camden, N.J., mounting a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car and projecting films onto a screen nailed to trees in his back yard. The nation's first drive-in theater opens in Camden in June. Births Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader (May 11) Quincy Jones, musician (March 14) F. Lee Bailey, attorney (June 10) Jerry Falwell, evangelist (Aug. 11) Deaths Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President (born 1872) Henry Royce, British car manufacturer (born 1863) Louis Comfort Tiffany, artist and designer (born 1848)

1934 Events Quintland (May 28): At a time when multiple births are rare, the Dionne quintuplets -- Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Marie and Cecile -- are born in Northern Ontario. In 1935, the quints will be removed from the impoverished parents' care and made wards of the state, ostensibly to prevent their exploitation. But the Ontario government will house the five girls in a specially built compound called Quintland, which will draw as many as 6,000 gawkers a day and become Canada's biggest tourist attraction. In 1998, embarrassed by public criticism, the Ontario government will announce that it will pay $2.8 million to compensate the surviving Dionne quintuplets for the exploitation they endured. Cruise Ship Blaze (Sept. 8): The Morro Castle, a luxury liner that shuttles between New York and Havana, catches fire and turns into an inferno off Asbury Park, N.J. More than 130 people are killed. Hot Tropic: The novel "Tropic of Cancer," by Henry Miller, debuts in France. Immediately after publication, the U.S. Customs Service bans the book's import, citing its "obscene" content. Miller's opus does not hit American bookstores until 1961. Mao's March (Oct. 16): Mao Tse-tung, leader of the Chinese Communists, begins what will be called "The Long March," an epic yearlong trek of 6,000 miles across 18 mountain ranges and six major rivers. With his base in Kiangsi Province nearly encircled by Nationalist Chinese troops led by Chiang Kai-shek, Mao leads his 90,000-strong army north to Yenan province. About 68,000 communist soldiers die along the way. Spin Cycle: The first U.S. laundromat, "The Washeteria," opens in Fort Worth, Texas. Little Gloria (Nov. 21): America's "poor little rich girl," 10-year-old Gloria Laura Vanderbilt, finds a stable home with her paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, after a sensational custody battle that happily distracts a Depression-torn country. What's Hot Bonnie & Clyde During a wave of criminality that sweeps the United States in the 1930s, few desperadoes cut a more swashbuckling legend than Clyde Barrow and his partner, lover and soul mate, Bonnie Parker. In two years, Bonnie and Clyde rob small-town banks, gas stations and luncheonettes, never getting more than $3,500 in a single heist. But they kill at least a dozen people, including nine lawmen. The end comes the morning of May 23, 1934, when Bonnie and Clyde drive into a trap and die in a fusillade of 167 bullets. She is 23; he is 25. Their bodies and their tan Ford V-8 sedan are put on display, and thousands of gawkers turn out. Births Henry Aaron, baseball great (Feb. 5) Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut, first man in space (March 9) Gloria Steinem, feminist author (March 25) Jane Goodall, zoologist (April 3) Shirley MacLaine, actress (April 24) Roger Maris, baseball great (Sept. 10) Sophia Loren, actress (Sept. 20) Carl Sagan, astronomer (Nov. 9) Deaths Marie Curie, French scientist (born 1867) Gustav Holst, British composer (born 1874) Edward Elgar, British composer (born 1857)

1935 Events First Step (June 10): Alcoholics Anonymous is formed in New York City to help those hooked on the bottle. Labor Rights (July 5): As part of his New Deal program aimed at weaving an economic safety net for a traumatized nation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act. It affirms a worker's right to join labor organizations and establishes a board that investigates unfair employment practices. On Aug. 14, Congress approves the Social Security Act, establishing the nation's first system of old-age annuities and unemployment insurance benefits. Governor Assassinated (Sept. 8): The flamboyant political career of Lousiana Gov. Huey "Kingfish" Pierce Long (left), a populist loved and hated in equal degree who amassed virtually dictatorial power, is ended by an assassin's bullet in a hallway of the State Capitol in Baton Rouge. His attacker, Dr. Carl Weiss, leader of an anti-Long faction, is killed by the senator's bodyguards. Anti-Semitic Laws (Sept. 15): Adolf Hitler signs the Nuremberg Laws rescinding the civil rights of Germany's 600,000 Jews, the first stage of his "final solution" to rid Europe of all Jews. Eleanor's Edition (Dec. 30): First lady Eleanor Roosevelt begins writing "My Day," a six-day-a-week syndicated column. In it, she reflects on her daily routine and shares her views on important issues. What's Hot The Dust Bowl It starts with the hot, dry summer of 1931, followed by rainless, scorching summers throughout much of the decade. Howling prairie winds whip up, and about 100 million acres of the Southern Plains -- a circle encompassing the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, western Kansas and eastern Colorado and New Mexico -- become a wasteland dubbed the Dust Bowl. The worst of the dust storms comes on Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. About a quarter of the farm families abandon their homesteads, pile their belongings onto jalopies and head toward California. The exodus will be chronicled in John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel "The Grapes of Wrath." Births Elvis Presley, "king" of rock 'n' roll (Jan. 8) Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama (July 6) Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. vice presidential nominee (Aug. 26) Hussein Ibn Talal, King of Jordan (Nov. 14) Woody Allen, filmmaker (Dec. 1) Deaths Will Rogers, humorist (born 1879) Gaston Lachaise, sculptor (born 1882) Oliver Wendell Holmes, U.S. jurist (born 1841)

1936 Events Winner by a Nose (Jan. 16): The first photo finish camera is installed at Hialeah Racetrack in Hialeah, Fla. Baseball Shrine (Jan. 11): Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame is established in Cooperstown, N.Y., where, according to legend, young Abner Doubleday "invented" the game in 1839. In the first annual balloting by the Baseball Writers of America, five players -- Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson -- receive vote totals that ensure their enshrinemennt. Deadly Twister (April 5-6): The most destructive tornado in modern times rips through Georgia and Mississippi, leaving 658 dead. Roosevelt Re-Elected (Nov. 4): President Roosevelt is re-elected by a landslide, defeating Republican Alfred M. Landon. The newly elected 75th Congress will be 80 percent Democratic, marking the zenith of Democratic Party power. Strongman (June 2): Gen. Anastasio Somoza becomes dictator in Nicaragua. Spanish Civil War (July 18): Civil war erupts in Spain as army commanders in Morocco and later in other Spanish-held territories begin a revolt against the weak government in Madrid. Within Spain, Francisco Franco takes command of the Falangists (Spanish fascists) in armed opposition to the Loyalists. The Spanish Civil War becomes a glorious liberal cause for many young Americans who go to Spain to aid the Loyalists against the fascists. Hitler's Olympic Defeat (August): African-American track star Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, much to the chagrin of the host, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Axis Powers (Oct. 25): Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sign the accord known as the "Rome-Berlin axis." Get a Life (Nov. 23): Henry R. Luce, already the publisher of Time and Fortune, introduces Life as a weekly newsmagazine with a strong visual quotient. True Love (Dec. 11): The 325-day reign of England's new king, Edward VIII, ends when he renounces his throne in favor of "the woman I love," American divorcee Wallis Simpson, rocking the British Empire but mesmerizing romantics the world over. What's Hot South Rises Again "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell is published on June 30. The popular novel about life in Atlanta during and after the Civil War is destined to become a motion picture blockbuster. Births Jim Brown, NFL star and actor (Feb. 17) Barbara Jordan, congresswoman (Feb. 21) Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court justice (March 11) Zubin Mehta, conductor (April 29) Anthony M. Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice (July 23) Yves Saint-Laurent, fashion designer (Aug. 1) Wilt Chamberlain, basketball great (Aug. 21) Buddy Holly, singer (Sept. 7) Jim Henson, "Muppets" creator (Sept. 24) Deaths King George V of England (born 1866) Rudyard Kipling, British author (born 1865) Maxim Gorki, Russian author (born 1868)

1937 Events Magnanimous Mellon (Jan. 2): Pittsburgh banker and investor Andrew Mellon discloses in letters to the Roosevelt administration that he is giving his art collection to the nation, along with a $9 million National Gallery to house it. Hindenburg Horror (May 6): The German dirigible Hindenburg, considered the crowning achievement of the Third Reich, bursts into flames at the naval air station in Lakehurst, N.J. Of the Hindenburg's 97 passengers and crew, 36 are killed and most of the others injured. Radio reporter Herbert Morrison's eyewitness account, with the plaintive cry, "Oh, the humanity," becomes the first recorded news report to be broadcast nationally by the NBC radio network. Golden Gateway (May 27): San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, proclaimed as the "eighth wonder of the world," is officially opened; 200,000 pedestrians cross it on opening day. Earhart's Final Flight (Summer): When pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan take off from Oakland, Calif., in their Lockheed Electra on a globe-girdling flight along the equator, the nation is caught up in the adventure. The trip is more than three-fourths complete when Earhart and Noonan take off for Howland Island. On July 2, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter receives a transmission from the Electra advising that the island is not in sight and that fuel is running low. Then silence. When the search is called off July 18, mourning is tentative and authorities are confounded. Future years will yield many "explanations," including reports of executions, spy missions and romance. New Champ (June 22): Joe Louis, the 23-year-old "Brown Bomber" from Detroit, wrests the heavyweight boxing title from Jim Braddock, winning by a knockout. Louis will hold the title for 12 years. Rooting Out Weed (Aug. 2): Marijuana is outlawed in the United States. Blues Queen's Death (Sept. 26): Blues singer Bessie Smith dies when a segregated Mississippi hospital refuses to care for her after an automobile accident. Coming Through (Dec. 22): Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic between New York City and New Jersey. A Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy Production (Dec. 25): Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the first full-length animated cartoon, opens. What's Hot The 'People's Car' The Volkswagen, or "people's car," is introduced in February in Germany. Built from a design by Ferdinand Porsche, the simple, inexpensive automobile is Adolf Hitler's answer to Henry Ford's Model T. Germany will begin mass-producing the bubble-shaped, rear-engine vehicle in 1937. Births Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolayev, first woman in space (March 6) Colin Powell, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman (April 5) Jack Nicholson, actor (April 22) Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq (April 29) Bill Cosby, actor and comedian (July 12) Dustin Hoffman, actor (Aug. 8) Robert Redford, actor (Aug. 18) Jane Fonda, actress (Dec. 23) Deaths Edith Wharton, author (born 1862) Maurice Ravel, composer (born 1875) George Gershwin, composer (born 1898) Guglielmo Marconi, wireless telegraph inventor (born 1874)

1938 Events Toothbrush Technology (Feb. 24): A toothbrush developed by DuPont Co. becomes the first nylon-based product to be marketed. Hitler Goes Home (March 14): Austrian-born Adolf Hitler returns to his birth country to announce that Nazi Germany has annexed it. Minimum Wage (June 25): President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets a 40-hour workweek and a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour, which is to rise to 40 cents by 1945. It orders time-and-a-half for overtime and ends the use of child labor. Hurrah for Hughes (July 15): A Manhattan ticker-tape parade welcomes Howard Hughes a day after the Houston-born millionaire aviator and his four-man crew establish a record for around-the-world flight. The 14,824-mile trip begins and ends at Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field and takes three days, 19 hours and 8 minutes. Killer Hurricane (Sept. 21): A hurricane roars ashore with little warning, striking Long Island and much of New England. The storm takes an estimated 680 lives. 'War of the Worlds' (Oct. 30): Mercury Theater on the Air presents on the CBS radio network an Orson Welles adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds," the story of an invasion by space creatures at Grovers Mills, N.J. Though intended as a Halloween prank, it is so realistic that it incites one of the oddest mass panics in history. Hundreds of New Yorkers rush out their doors with handkerchiefs over their mouths to guard against martian gas. Telephone lines are jammed as people seek news of the "invasion," and motorists clog the roads in a flight to the countryside. The federal government takes steps to ensure that no such program could be broadcast again without making certain the listeners will understand it is fiction. Kristallnacht (Nov. 9): Nazis go on a rampage in Berlin, smashing the windows, or "kristal," of stores owned by Jews. The action on this "Night of Broken Glass" ignites a pogrom in which more than 90 Jews are killed at random and between 20,000 and 30,000 sent to concentration camps. What's Hot Comic Crew The man of steel from the planet Krypton makes his comic-book debut in the June 1938 issue of Action Comics. Superman is the brainchild of two 24-year-old cartoonists, Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster. "Mild-mannered reporter" Clark Kent is able to transform himself into Superman by ducking into a phone booth and then bounding about in blue tights and a red cape fighting for "truth, justice and the American way." The following year, Batman is unleashed. Soon joined by Robin, the Boy Wonder, the Caped Crusader will do battle against a motley crew of archfiends in Gotham City. Births Juan Carlos I, king of Spain (Jan. 5) Rudolf Nureyev, dancer (March 17) Peter Jennings, TV newscaster (July 29) Patrick Buchanan, conservative politician, pundit (Nov. 2) Ted Turner, broadcasting mogul (Nov. 19) Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock), rock singer (Nov. 26) Deaths Kemal Ataturk, president of Turkey (born 1881) Clarence Darrow, attorney (born 1857) William Glackens, artist (born 1870)

1939 Events Franco in Control (Jan. 26): Gen. Francisco Franco's rebel army occupies Barcelona, virtually ending the three-year Spanish Civil War. Franco's camp is recognized as the official government of Spain. New Pope (March 12): Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is installed in Vatican City as Pope Pius XII, following the Feb. 10 death of Pope Pius XI at age 81. Protest Performance (April 9): Contralto Marian Anderson performs on Easter at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, after the descendant of slaves is refused permission to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, all-white members descended from the nation's founding soldiers. In protest, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the organization, and a group of prominent citizens arranges for this outdoor performance, which nearly 75,000 attend -- enough to fill Constitution Hall many times over. Lou Gehrig's Disease (May 2): Between games of a holiday doubleheader, New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, suffering from a degenerative nervous-system disorder called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, stands before 61,808 of his adoring fans at Yankee Stadium. "Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got," he says in one of the most touching farewells in sports history. "Yet, today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth." Gehrig's illness put an end to his streak of 2,130 consecutive games -- a record that will stand for 56 years until broken by Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles. Royal Callers (June 7): King George VI and his wife Elizabeth become the first British monarchs to ever visit the United States. Blitzkrieg (Sept. 1): A scant two decades after the guns fell silent to end the First World War, Europe is once again a field of battle. Germany is once again a protagonist, attacking a poorly equipped Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, in a blitzkrieg -- a "lightning war." The stage has been set for the invasion of Poland by a nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, signed Aug. 23. Britain will declare war on Germany on Sept. 3. France's declaration comes two days later. Warsaw falls Sept. 27. With the swastika waving on flagpoles in Vienna, Prague and Warsaw, World War II has begun. Cool Comfort (Nov. 4): The first air-conditioned automobile (Packard) goes on display in Chicago. What's Hot From Oz to Tara The nation's 80 million filmgoers in 1939 experience what may be the greatest of all years for films. Bookends are two pictures solely credited to Victor Fleming, although he was a part-time director for each -- "The Wizard of Oz," MGM's splendidly produced version of a children's classic, and "Gone With the Wind," David O. Selznick's treatment of Margaret Mitchell's historic bestseller, with Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler (above). No fewer than two dozen films from this year are destined for classic status. Births Wolfman Jack (Bob Smith), radio disc jockey (Jan. 21) Francis Ford Coppola, film maker (April 7) David Souter, Supreme Court justice (Sept. 17) Ralph Lauren, designer (Oct. 14) Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK assassin (Oct. 18) Deaths William Butler Yeats, poet (born 1865) Ford Maddox Ford, author (born 1873) Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis (born 1856) Charles Schwab, industrialist (born 1862) James Naismith, basketball inventor (born 1861)