National Governors Association Centennial

1930-1939
1930		(1930s) Unwritten rule takes effect requiring unanimous vote for adoption of resolutions. 1930 Meeting: Salt Lake City, UT (June 30-July 2) Exec. Committee Chair: George Dern, UT Governors hold first private "governors-only session" at their Annual Meeting at the suggestion of Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt in an effort to contain divisive public discussion of prohibition. Governor Roosevelt also speaks in favor of unemployment insurance to help provide future protection against the severe effects of unemployment resulting from the Depression. The virus that causes the common cold is discovered. Sliced bread is introduced. Frozen food arrives on the market. The U.S. Veterans Administration is established. Former New York Governor Charles Evan Hughes becomes Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Mississippi is the first state to adopt a sales tax.
1931		1931 Meeting: French Lick, IN (June 1-2) Exec. Committee Chair: Norman Case, RI Governors reject recommendation to establish a research and fact-finding arm for the association. Governors discuss what power states should have over local expenditures. The Star-Spangled Banner becomes the National Anthem. Alexander Calder's "mobile" sculptures are born. Construction of the Empire State Building is completed. In what becomes known as the Scottsboro case, nine African-American men are accused of raping a white woman. The defendants are sentenced to death but never executed. Oklahoma Governor William "Alfalfa Bill" Murray declares martial law and sends troops to oil fields to shut down production in order to elevate crude oil prices.
1932		1932 Meeting: Richmond, VA (April 25-27) Exec. Committee Chair: Norman Case, RI President Herbert Hoover addresses the governors regarding the nation's economic problems. Wisconsin becomes the first state to enact an unemployment insurance plan in response to the effects of the Great Depression. The Winter Olympics are held in Lake Placid, New York. The Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles. "March King" John Philip Sousa dies. Charles Lindbergh's son is kidnapped and murdered. Duke Ellington's composition It Don't Mean a Thing (if It Ain't Got That Swing) represents the advent of a new era of music. Al Capone begins serving a jail sentence for tax evasion, having been pursued by U.S. Prohibition Agent Eliot Ness. The federal government adopts its first gasoline tax. Congress approves the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make funds available to states for relief and public works projects. The "Bonus Army" marches on Washington, made up of World War I veterans seeking immediate payment of bonuses for their service that had been promised but not until 1945.
1933		New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated President 1933 Meeting: Sacramento and San Francisco, CA (July 24-26) Exec. Committee Chair: John Pollard, VA Former Governor George Dern of Utah, now Secretary of War, speaks to Governors about the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), designed to ameliorate the effects of the Great Depression by reducing unemployment, rehabilitating industry, and implementing public works. Governors adopt a resolution supporting federal efforts to fight organized crime. Adolf Hitler becomes German Chancellor. Dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers first appear together in the film Flying Down to Rio. Shirley Temple signs a long-term film contract, launching her career as a child star. The first drive-in theater opens. The 20th and 21st Amendments to the U.S. Constitution (setting the presidential term and terms of succession to the presidency, and repealing prohibition) are adopted. Newly-elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declares a bank holiday. During the first year of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, a number of federal programs are established to address the effects of the Great Depression, among them the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (to insure the deposits of bank customers against loss); the Civilian Conservation Corps (as a relief measure designed to provide a variety of jobs to young men, including constructing roads and helping to develop parks); the Public Works Administration (a relief and unemployment agency, focused on projects such as road, bridge, and dam construction and maintenance); and the Tennessee Valley Authority (to conserve and develop the resources of the Tennessee River Valley). Wagner-Peyser Act establishes a national employment service system. Congress passes the Federal Emergency Relief Act, establishing the Federal Emergency Relief Administration for the disbursement of $500 million in economic assistance to states. Congress passes the Federal Emergency Relief Act for the disbursement of $500 million in economic assistance to states. Congress passes the Securities Act, the first federal law to regulate securities. The Agricultural Adjustment Act initiates crop and marketing controls. Fiscal representatives of Governors and state legislators meet in Washington to plan a method for securing better coordination of the taxing system of state and the federal government. Dust storms sweep the Midwest. Utah Governor George Dern is appointed U.S. Secretary of War. The Council of State Governments is formed.
1934		1934 Meeting: Mackinac Island, MI (July 26-27) Exec. Committee Chair: James Rolph Jr., CA Attendance at the Annual Meeting is low due to transportation interruptions associated with labor strikes nationwide. Governors discuss gangsterism, as well as state response to the repeal of prohibition. Federal officials speak to governors regarding relief programs to ameliorate the effects of the Great Depression. Notorious bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrows are ambushed and killed by law enforcement officers. The Securities and Exchange Commission is created, assuming responsibility for securities previously held by the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Housing Administration is created to stimulate building by means of home construction loans. The Federal Communications Commission is created. The federal Hayden-Cartwright Act penalizes states up to one-third of their federal highway assistance if they divert gasoline tax revenue to non-highway purposes, although the federal government practices diversion of its own gasoline tax for non-highway-related usage. Dust storms sweep the Plains states. A unicameral legislature is adopted in Nebraska. The Southern Governors' Association is founded. Huey Long of Louisiana launches his "Share our Wealth" campaign to eliminate taxes for those earning below $1 million and to cap all income above $1 million, and all wealth in excess of $5 million, through direct taxation.
1935		1935 Meeting: Biloxi, MS (June 13-15) Exec. Committee Chair: Paul McNutt, IN Governors discuss federal plans to use relief funds for road construction and the link between it and the economic benefit of highway development. Governors are briefed on federal legislation to provide old age assistance and aid for dependent children. The Social Security Act becomes law, including unemployment insurance. Also established is the federal Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program, replacing mothers' pension laws. Congress passes the Wagner Act, affirming the right of unions to collective bargaining. The National Labor Relations Board is created to protect the rights of labor organizations. United Auto Workers (UAW) is founded. The Works Progress Administration is created, which includes an arts program to employ actors, writers, musicians, artists, and photographers, among them Dorothea Lange and Ben Shahn, whose artwork captures the effects of the Great Depression on people and places across the United States. The Rural Electrification Administration is established to bring electricity to rural areas of the United States. Construction of the first public housing project begins under the Public Works Administration. U.S. Senator Huey Long-former governor of Louisiana-is assassinated. State representatives assemble in Washington, DC to seek greater interstate cooperation and cooperation between states and the federal government. An Interstate Crime Conference is held at which delegates discuss issues such as state-federal cooperation in combating crime, and the development of interstate parole compacts.
1936		1936 Meeting: St. Louis, MO (November 16-18) Exec. Committee Chair: Paul McNutt, IN Puerto Rico is approved for membership in the association. Governors are given an overview of the new Social Security Act and discuss new rules requiring state unemployment programs to meet federal guidelines in order to be eligible to apply credit against the federal payroll tax of up to 90 percent of the contributions to their state unemployment compensation funds. Governors adopt a resolution requesting that the federal government hold payroll tax credits for states that had not yet enacted unemployment compensation legislation. At the Summer Olympics in Berlin, African-American Jessie Owens wins four gold medals in track and field, flying in the face of Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan superiority. Hoover Dam is completed. The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act connects farm programs and conservation. Governor Hugh L. White of Mississippi paves the way for gubernatorial involvement in state economic development by promoting enactment of legislation to permit the issuance of bonds to finance the building of manufacturing facilities for firms willing to locate in the state. All but one state (Nevada) now have Blue Sky laws in place to regulate the offering and sale of securities in order to protect the public against fraud. Former Kansas Governor Harry Woodring becomes U.S. Secretary of War.
1937		1937 Meeting: Atlantic City, NJ (September 14-16) Exec. Committee Chair: George Peery, VA Governors discuss pros and cons of pending legislation that would for the first time provide federal education aid to the states. After their meeting in Atlantic City ends, Governors travel to Washington by train to meet with President Roosevelt. Governors call for a general conference on conflicting taxation between different levels of government. Connecticut becomes the first state to issue automobile license plates. The Hindenburg zeppelin is consumed by fire while attempting to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 of the airship's passengers and crew. Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific Ocean while attempting a circumnavigational flight. Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is completed. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Watching God is published. A Conservation Commission-an innovation at the state level-is established in Missouri pursuant to a constitutional amendment placed on the 1936 ballot by popular petition.
1938		1938 Meeting: Oklahoma City, OK (September 26-28) Exec. Committee Chair: Robert Cochran, NE A major hurricane in the northeast (the Great New England Hurricane) results in low attendance at the Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City. Governors discuss how state laws and regulations (e.g., trucking rules and taxes) created interstate trade barriers. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is published, telling the story of the hardships faced by dust bowl migrants. In a feat likened to the struggles of the Great Depression, after suffering a near fatal injury, scrappy thoroughbred Seabiscuit beats the odds, defeating Triple-Crown winner War Admiral in a head-to-head race. The first commercial product using the synthetic nylon (a toothbrush with nylon bristles) goes on sale in New Jersey. Fluorescent lamps achieve wide commercial usage. The first recording is made using an electric guitar. LSD, later found to have hallucinogenic properties, is first synthesized as a therapeutic agent. Walt Disney creates Mickey Mouse. Superman first appears in the comics. The Fair Labor Standards Act is the first federal law to set a minimum wage, and to successfully prohibit child labor. New York becomes the first state to pass a law requiring a medical test as a prerequisite for the issuance of a marriage license. Work begins on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the nation's first superhighway, conceived by Governor George Earle.
1939		1939 Meeting: Albany and New York, NY (June 26-29) Exec. Committee Chair: Robert Cochran, NE Governors discuss the history of federal involvement in state public health matters and the extent to which provisions of the Social Security Act (e.g., old-age assistance) requiring state participation burden state budgets. Albert Einstein writes to President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the likely development of a nuclear bomb, urging American research on the subject. Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes is first performed. Margaret Mitchell's 1937 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gone with the Wind is adapted to film. L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's story The Wizard of Oz is made into a movie. The New York World's Fair, "Building the World of Tomorrow," opens. The face of President Theodore Roosevelt on Mt. Rushmore is dedicated, the last of the four Presidential faces to be sculpted on the monument in South Dakota. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York is dedicated. Afflicted with ALS, famed New York Yankee Lou Gehrig retires from baseball. Former Michigan Governor Frank Murphy becomes Attorney General of the United States.