1930 was a year of inventions and milestones.It was in 1930 that the first sound cartoon show was released. On August 16, a short animated feature named ‘Fiddlesticks,’ produced and directed by Ub Iwerks formally from the Walt Disney Company, made its debut in movie theaters.The US government was busy with a massive public works project at this time, which was part of the government’s plan to boost the falling US economy. The Boulder/Hoover Dam in Colorado State was one of the most significant projects that was developed during this time as part of this program. At the same time, the average life expectancy of a male in the United States was 58 years, and that of a female was 62 years.1930 was also the year when the dwarf planet Pluto was discovered by Kansas resident and amateur astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. Although he is credited with the then ninth planet of the solar system, Pluto, the name was coined by an 11-year-old kid named Venetia Burney. However, unfortunately, Pluto is not considered to be a proper planet anymore and has been reclassified as a dwarf planet.Let’s take a trip back in time to learn about the significant events of the 1930s. This article will provide you with many exciting and fun facts about this important historical era.Fun Facts About 1930One of the world’s most famous restaurant chains, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), was founded by Colonel Harland David Sanders this year. The electronics arena was introduced to the first car radio when Paul Galvin, Joseph Galvin, and William Lear invented it and named it Motorola, which was a shortened version of ‘motorized victrola.‘You must have eaten the now world-famous chocolate chip cookies. They are one of the most popular sweet treats anywhere in the world. So, you should know that the chocolate chip cookie was invented back in the year 1930 by a woman named Ruth Wakefield. She prepared this tasty treat while working in the Toll House Inn at Whitman, Massachusetts.Another woman named Amy Johnson of the UK achieved an incredible feat in 1930 when she became the first woman to maneuver a plane from the UK to Australia single-handedly. In the UK, on April 18, the BBC did something unusual. During a live broadcast, the person behind the microphone announced that there was no news that day and then played piano music.Baseball superstar Babe Ruth made headlines in 1930 after he signed a deal with the New York Yankees worth 80,000 dollars. When he was asked by a news reporter about his views of bagging more money than the President of the United States, Babe Ruth famously replied, ‘I know, but I had a better year than Hoover.‘The very useful Kleenex tissue papers were launched this year as a cold cream remover. However, once the initial customers gave feedback to the company that they had used it primarily to clean their noses, the company repackaged their product as a multipurpose tissue paper. Invented by Richard ‘Dick’ Drew, the scotch cellophane tape entered the US market for the first time this year. He was working for the 3M company when he invented the scotch tape. The complete form of 3M stood for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.A group of British mystery authors founded the Detection Club in 1930. Leading figures of the British writing circle, namely G.K Chesterton and Agatha Christie, were founding members of this club. The members of this club took a vow never to use ‘Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence, or Act of God’ in the stories written by any of the members. Believe it or not, this unusual club still exists to this day.1930 was a good year for those cute little creatures you see mainly in science laboratories. An American zoologist brought a handful of hamsters to the US from Syria for breeding purposes. The hamsters belonged to a particular species known as the ‘golden hamster’ kind. What is interesting is that from the bunch of golden hamsters that made their way to the United States, two of them were kept for breeding, and in a matter of a few years, they numbered too many. The progeny of the original two golden hamsters found their way to laboratories all over the planet. If you see hamsters in pet stores or science labs today, they have likely descended from the two golden hamsters of 1930.When Mrs. Charlotte M. Winslow prepared a homemade solution in 1849 to be used as a pain-relieving medicine for children experiencing teething, little did she know that her invention would go on to become a common name in the medical market for the next eighty-odd years? The medicine, named Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, had as ingredients morphine sulfate, sodium carbonate, spirits foeniculiand, and aqua ammonia. This medicine was available in the market until at least 1930.Historical Facts About 19301930 had a significant role in shaping what was to come later in the 1930s decade. In Germany, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi Party won a significant number of votes in the national election. It emerged as the second-largest party in the German Parliament.In a matter of three more years, the Nazi Party under the leadership and control of Adolf Hitler went on to win a majority in the German Parliament. This was ominous for the whole of Europe and also the rest of the world. The rise of the Nazi Party and its leader, Adolf Hitler, meant the militarization of the German state was not far.As soon as Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he ordered the military establishment to reinforce itself aggressively. Many historians are of the view that the seeds of World War II were sown in the early years of the 1930s when leaders across Europe looked on silently as Hitler provocatively began the recapture of erstwhile German imperial lands inch by inch.Across the Atlantic Ocean, the United States was grappling with its internal problems around the same time. What began a year earlier, in 1929, reached its peak by 1930. Here we are talking about the Great Depression, which was a severe recession of the American economy of this era.The Great Depression not only affected the United States, but its repercussions were felt all over the world. This was mainly because most of the European countries had borrowed huge sums of money from the United States after the end of the First World War to restore their economies and infrastructures. Leading powers of Europe such as the UK and France depended on US aid to get back on their feet after the ravages of World War I had completely devastated their financial systems.However, when the Wall Street Crash took place in New York in the year 1929, the whole US economy took a severe jolt. More than a thousand banks failed in the immediate aftermath of the Crash in New York. Here we should tell you that New York City has been the financial capital of the US since the end of the eighteenth century, and when the New York Stock Exchange collapsed in 1929, the US economy shattered as a direct consequence of that. The panic that was created resulted in the common people withdrawing all their money and savings from the banks. The Federal Bank of America cut the interest rate from six to four percent, sending shock waves across the nation.Before the Great Depression hit the US economy, the American people were dealing with increased taxes and tariffs on certain goods and services. A hugely unpopular act known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act came into effect in June 1930, which many at that time believed contributed to the downfall of the US economy. The American public blamed President Hoover for signing the bill into law.The Great Depression caused the loss of more than 3 million jobs in the United States. Since the effect of the Great Depression was felt worldwide, the phenomenon of people losing their jobs became a global event. For example, in the UK, around 1 million people had lost their jobs due to the ripple effect of the Great Depression.Facts About Culture In 19301930 was a notable year in the pop-culture history of the US. When we look at 1930’s pop culture history today, mention must be made of the music and movie scenes of that time. According to the Billboard music charts, the top music artists of 1930 were the Regent Club orchestra, Arden-Ohman orchestra, Duke Ellington, Harry Richman, Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees, Ted Wallace His Campus Boys, and Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians.Cinema lovers were having a good time in the theaters as several good movies were released around this time. ‘The Golden Age,’ ‘Blue Angel,’ ‘All Quiet On The Western Front,’ ‘Tom Sawyer,’ ‘Anna Christie,’ ‘Little Caesar,’ ‘The Devil’s Holiday,’ ‘The Big House,’ ‘Earth,’ and ‘Under Roofs of Paris’ were a handful of films that were keeping the people entertained in those difficult days.No talk of pop culture history is complete without mentioning the books that the American people were most likely reading in 1930. On bookshelves across the country one you would have found copies of ‘Cimarron’ by Edna Ferber, ‘The Little Engine That Could’ by Watty Piper, ‘The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1)’ by Carolyn Keene, ‘Young Man in Manhattan’ by Katherine Bush, ‘Twenty-Four Hours’ by Louis Bromfield, and ‘The Woman of Andros’ by Thornton Wilder.The year had begun with Paul Whiteman’s ‘Great Day’ in the top position of the music charts. In March, Harry Richman’s ‘Puttin’ On The Ritz’ took pole position, followed by Rudee Vallee’s ‘Stein Song’ holding on to the number one position from March till May. The latter part of the year saw Paul Whiteman returning to the top with his single ‘Body and Soul’ in October-November, and Guy Lombardo finishing the year with his number one single ‘You’re Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)’.Film stars and celebrities have always been at the forefront of pop culture. Around this time, the stars of the silver screen included Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Joan Crawford, Josephine Baker, Great Garbo, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Joan Blondell, Marion Davies, Dolores Del Rio Myrna Loy, and Marlene Dietrich.The cartoon character of Betty Boop debuted in 1930. Max Fleischer and others like Grim Natwick created this iconic female cartoon character. Betty Boop was featured in animated feature films of the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series. In the beginning, the rendition of the character was more towards a poodle. But in the next two years, her creators turned her into a complete human-like figure.Facts About Global Events In 1930This was the year when the first soccer/football World Cup was held in Uruguay. As it was called, the FIFA World Cup was initiated as a direct result of the International Olympics Committee deciding to scrap soccer/football from the 1932 Olympic Games at Los Angeles, California State, United States. The host country of Uruguay won the inaugural soccer/football World Cup after they defeated finalists Argentina with a score of 4-2.When the top teams from around the planet were competing for soccer/football’s top prize, India was reeling under the exploitative rule of the British. The British government, as many of you may be aware of, had been established in the latter part of the eighteenth century in the Indian subcontinent. After an unsuccessful attempt at attaining independence in 1857, the Indian masses were never received proper leadership until a lawyer named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi entered the fray. More popularly known as ‘Mahatma Gandhi,’ the erstwhile South African advocate had turned an ineffective Indian freedom movement around with his novel non-violent means and ideas.To counter the oppressive British rule, Gandhi and his followers in the Indian National Congress resorted to the practice of non-cooperation tactics and voluntary submission to law enforcement agencies of the British Indian government. Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930 by marching to the coastal town of Dandi in Gujarat state. Once he and his fellow ‘satyagrahis’ reached the seaside town, Gandhi symbolically picked a handful of natural salt from the sea beach. This marked the first mass movement against British rule in Indian history. For his fight against the British in a non-violent manner, Gandhi gained worldwide fame and was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for 1930.In Argentina, a military coup overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Hipolito Yrigoyen. General Jose Felix Uriburu and his men forced the incumbent President to leave the seat of government under the pretext of mismanagement of the economy and rising unemployment in the country.As the tides were changing in this South American country, a new Emperor took his throne amid much fanfare in faraway Africa. Ethiopia welcomed Tafari Makonnen’s rule as the Emperor of Ethiopia in November 1930. He took the regnal name of Haile Selassie I and went on to remain in this position until 1974. Haile Selassie was painted as a man who was serious about pushing Ethiopia towards modernization.The Soviet Union was witnessing a vast modernization drive of its own. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was determined to turn the Soviet Union into a modern nation as per twentieth-century international standards. But in this state-sponsored drive, millions were sent to work in forced labor camps called ‘Gulags,’ and many others were either imprisoned or deported. It was a difficult era for the Soviet people, as anybody found to be in opposition to government plans were painted as traitors to the nation and were eliminated.Stalin’s industrialization plans drove millions of poor farmers to poverty. It should not be overlooked that the Soviet state was directly responsible for the death of over 25 million Soviet citizens during this period. Famines and lack of basic facilities were the chief causes behind this catastrophic state of affairs.1930 was a time when the whole world was reeling under various problems. Most of the countries of the continents of Asia and Africa were under the control of the imperialist powers of Europe. While the major powers of Europe, such as England, France, and Germany, were engaged in infighting and bitterness, the world was preparing for yet another World War.Despite the troubling situation in Europe and America, the winds of change had begun to blow in many parts of the world. From what we have seen in the case of India, the injection of fresh new ideas was reinvigorating the masses in the colonized countries, and they were slowly becoming aware of their rights and convictions. Soon the world would see the dawn of a new era, laden with the hope of a better tomorrow.
1930 was a year of inventions and milestones.
