Events from the year 1931 in the United States .
Nicholas Longworth (R -Ohio ) (until March 4)
John Nance Garner (D -Texas ) (starting December 7)
Governors and lieutenant governors
Governor of Alabama : Bibb Graves (Democratic ) (until January 19), Benjamin M. Miller (Democratic ) (starting January 19)
Governor of Arizona : John Calhoun Phillips (Republican ) (until January 5), George W. P. Hunt (Democratic ) (starting January 5)
Governor of Arkansas : Harvey Parnell (Democratic )
Governor of California : Clement C. Young (Republican ) (until January 6), James Rolph Jr. (Republican ) (starting January 6)
Governor of Colorado : Billy Adams (Democratic )
Governor of Connecticut : John H. Trumbull (Republican ) (until January 7), Wilbur Lucius Cross (Democratic ) (starting January 7)
Governor of Delaware : C. Douglass Buck (Republican )
Governor of Florida : Doyle E. Carlton (Democratic )
Governor of Georgia : Lamartine G. Hardman (Democratic ) (until June 27), Richard Russell, Jr. (Democratic ) (starting June 27)
Governor of Idaho : H. C. Baldridge (Republican ) (until January 5), C. Ben Ross (Democratic ) (until January 5)
Governor of Illinois : Louis L. Emmerson (Republican )
Governor of Indiana : Harry G. Leslie (Republican )
Governor of Iowa : John Hammill (Republican ) (until January 15), Daniel Webster Turner (Republican ) (starting January 15)
Governor of Kansas : Clyde M. Reed (Republican ) (until January 12), Harry H. Woodring (Democratic ) (starting January 12)
Governor of Kentucky : Flem D. Sampson (Republican ) (until December 8), Ruby Laffoon (Democratic ) (starting December 8)
Governor of Louisiana : Huey P. Long (Democratic )
Governor of Maine : William Tudor Gardiner (Republican )
Governor of Maryland : Albert C. Ritchie (Democratic )
Governor of Massachusetts : Frank G. Allen (Republican ) (until January 8), Joseph B. Ely (Democratic ) (starting January 8)
Governor of Michigan : Fred W. Green (Republican ) (until January 1), Wilber Marion Brucker (Republican ) (starting January 1)
Governor of Minnesota : Theodore Christianson (Republican ) (until January 6), Floyd B. Olson (Farmer-Labor ) (starting January 6)
Governor of Mississippi : Theodore G. Bilbo (Democratic )
Governor of Missouri : Henry S. Caulfield (Republican )
Governor of Montana : John E. Erickson (Democratic )
Governor of Nebraska : Arthur J. Weaver (Republican ) (until January 8), Charles W. Bryan (Democratic ) (starting January 8)
Governor of Nevada : Fred B. Balzar (Republican )
Governor of New Hampshire : Charles W. Tobey (Republican ) (until January 1), John Gilbert Winant (Republican ) (starting January 1)
Governor of New Jersey : Morgan Foster Larson (Republican )
Governor of New Mexico : Richard C. Dillon (Republican ) (until January 1), Arthur Seligman (Democratic ) (starting January 1)
Governor of New York : Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic )
Governor of North Carolina : Oliver Max Gardner (Democratic )
Governor of North Dakota : George F. Shafer (Republican )
Governor of Ohio : Myers Y. Cooper (Republican ) (until January 12), George White (Democratic ) (starting January 12)
Governor of Oklahoma : William J. Holloway (Democratic ) (until January 1), William H. Murray (Democratic ) (starting January 1)
Governor of Oregon : A. W. Norblad (Republican ) (until January 12), Julius L. Meier (Independent ) (starting January 12)
Governor of Pennsylvania : John Stuchell Fisher (Republican ) (until January 20), Gifford Pinchot (Republican ) (starting January 20)
Governor of Rhode Island : Norman S. Case (Republican )
Governor of South Carolina : John Gardiner Richards, Jr. (Democratic ) (until January 20), Ibra Charles Blackwood (Democratic ) (starting January 20)
Governor of South Dakota : William J. Bulow (Democratic ) (until January 6), Warren Green (Republican ) (starting January 6)
Governor of Tennessee : Henry Hollis Horton (Democratic )
Governor of Texas : Dan Moody (Democratic ) (until January 20), Ross S. Sterling (Democratic ) (starting January 20)
Governor of Utah : George Dern (Democratic )
Governor of Vermont : John E. Weeks (Republican ) (until January 8), Stanley C. Wilson (Republican ) (starting January 8)
Governor of Virginia : John Garland Pollard (Democratic )
Governor of Washington : Roland H. Hartley (Republican )
Governor of West Virginia : William G. Conley (Republican )
Governor of Wisconsin : Walter J. Kohler, Sr. (Republican ) (until January 5), Philip La Follette (Republican ) (starting January 5)
Governor of Wyoming : Frank C. Emerson (Republican ) (until February 18), Alonzo M. Clark (Republican ) (starting February 18)
Lieutenant governors
edit
Lieutenant Governor of Alabama : Hugh D. Merrill (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas : Lawrence Elery Wilson (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of California : H.L. Carnahan (Republican ) (until January 6), Frank Merriam (Republican ) (starting January 6)
Lieutenant Governor of Colorado : Edwin C. Johnson (Democratic ) (until month and day unknown), vacant (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut : Ernest E. Rogers (Republican ) (until January 7), Samuel R. Spencer (Republican ) (starting January 7)
Lieutenant Governor of Delaware : James H. Hazel (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Idaho : G. P. Mix (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Illinois : Fred E. Sterling (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana : Edgar D. Bush (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Iowa : Arch W. McFarlane (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Kansas : Jacob W. Graybill (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky : James Breathitt, Jr. (Democratic ) (until December 8), Happy Chandler (Democratic ) (starting December 8)
Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana : Paul N. Cyr (Democratic ) (until month and day unknown), Alvin O. King (Democratic ) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts : William S. Youngman (political party unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Michigan : Luren D. Dickinson (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota : Charles Edward Adams (Republican ) (until January 6), Henry M. Arens (Farmer Labor ) (starting January 6)
Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi : Bidwell Adam (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri : Edward Henry Winter (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Montana : Frank A. Hazelbaker (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska : George A. Williams (Republican ) (until January 6), Theodore Metcalfe (Republican ) (starting January 6)
Lieutenant Governor of Nevada : Morley Griswold (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico : Andrew W. Hockenhull (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of New York : Herbert H. Lehman (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina : Richard T. Fountain (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota : John W. Carr (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio : William G. Pickrel (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma : Robert Burns (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania : Arthur H. James (Republican ) (until January 20), Edward C. Shannon (Republican ) (starting January 20)
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island : James G. Connelly (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina : Thomas Bothwell Butler (Democratic ) (until January 5), James O. Sheppard (Democratic ) (starting January 20)
Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota : John T. Grigsby (Democratic ) (until January 6), Odell K. Whitney (Republican ) (starting January 6)
Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee : Ambrose B. Broadbent (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Texas : Edgar E. Witt (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Vermont : Benjamin Williams (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia : James H. Price (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Washington : John Arthur Gellatly (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin : Henry A. Huber (Republican )
Robert Duvall
James Earl Jones
January 1 – Bobbie Nelson , pianist and singer (d. 2022 )
January 5
January 6
January 7 – Mack Mattingly , U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1981 to 1987
January 10 – Ron Galella , photographer (d. 2022 )[ 11]
January 16 – Ellen Holly , actress
January 17 – James Earl Jones , African-American actor (d. 2024 )[ 12]
January 20
January 22 – Sam Cooke , African-American singer (d. 1964 )[ 14]
January 25 – Dean Jones , actor (d. 2015 )[ 15]
January 27 – Red Bastien , wrestler, trainer and promoter (d. 2012 )
January 29 – Jim Baumer , baseball player and manager (d. 1996 )
January 30 – Allan W. Eckert , historian, naturalist, and author (d. 2011 )
January 31
James Dean
Toni Morrison
February 6
February 8 – James Dean , actor (d. 1955 )
February 9 – Jack Van Impe , televangelist (d. 2020 )
February 10 – Carl Rettenmeyer , biologist (d. 2009 )
February 11 – Larry Merchant , author and boxing commentator
February 13 – Geoff Edwards , actor, game show host (d. 2014 )
February 15 – Maxine Singer , molecular biologist (d. 2024 )[ 16]
February 16 – George E. Sangmeister , politician (d. 2007 )
February 18
February 20 – John Milnor , mathematician
February 23 – Betty Ray McCain , politician (d. 2022 )[ 18]
February 24
February 28
Leonard Nimoy
John Gavin
April 5 – Jack Clement , singer-songwriter, record producer (d. 2013 )
April 8
April 10 – James L. Dozier , U.S. Army officer
April 11 – Johnny Sheffield , child actor (d. 2010 )
April 13 – Dan Gurney , race car driver (d. 2018 )
April 14 – Hugh Leatherman , politician (d. 2021 )[ 19]
April 16 – Julian Carroll , lawyer and politician, Governor of Kentucky (d. 2023 )[ 20]
April 18 - Noel Marshall , agent and producer (d. 2010 )
April 19 – Fred Brooks , computer scientist (d. 2022 )[ 21]
April 22 – Joe Cuba , musician (d. 2009 )
April 23 - Chuck Feeney , businessman and philanthropist (d. 2023 )[ 22]
April 26 – Ted Stanley , businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016 )
April 29 – Don Leo Jonathan , American-Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2018 )
April 30
Willie Mays
Carroll Baker
John Schrieffer
Marla Gibbs
Olympia Dukakis
Billy Casper
Della Reese
Tab Hunter
Frank Ramsey
Jerry Van Dyke
July 1 – Marilyn Hickey , American televangelist, speaker and author
July 3
July 4
July 6
July 7 – J. Joseph Curran Jr. , American politician
July 8
July 9
July 10
July 11 – Tab Hunter , American actor, singer (d. 2018 )
July 13
July 15
July 16 – Norm Sherry , American Major League Baseball catcher, manager, and coach (d. 2021 )
July 18 – Maury Duncan , American quarterback
July 19
July 27 – Jerry Van Dyke , American comedian, actor (d. 2018 )
July 31
Don King
Barbara Eden
Regis Philbin
August 1 – Hal Connolly , American athlete (d. 2010 )
August 2 – Hugh Aynesworth , American journalist (d. 2023 )
August 6 – Ron Feiereisel , American basketball player, coach (d. 2000 )
August 7 – Charles E. Rice , American legal scholar, author (d. 2015 )
August 10 – Tom Laughlin , American actor (Billy Jack ) (d. 2013 )
August 12 – William Goldman , American author (d. 2018 )
August 13 – William D. Mullins , American politician and baseball player (d. 1986 )
August 14 – Frederic Raphael , American screenwriter, novelist and non-fiction author working in the UK
August 15
August 16 – William Luce , American writer (d. 2019 )
August 19 – Willie Shoemaker , American jockey (d. 2003 )
August 20 – Don King , African-American boxing promoter
August 23
August 25
August 27 – Joe Cunningham , American baseball player (d. 2021 )
August 30 – Jack Swigert , American astronaut (d. 1982 )
August 31
Barbara Bain
Larry Hagman
September 1 – Richard Hundley , American pianist, composer (d. 2018 )
September 2
September 3 – Tom Brewer , American baseball player (d. 2018 )
September 4 – Mitzi Gaynor , American actress, singer and dancer
September 10
September 11 – John Reger , American football player (d. 2013 )
September 12
September 13 – Barbara Bain , American actress (Mission: Impossible )
September 16 – Little Willie Littlefield , American R&B pianist and singer (d. 2013 )
September 17 – Anne Bancroft , American actress (d. 2005 )
September 19
September 20 – Malachy McCourt , American actor and writer (d. 2024 )
September 21
September 29 – James Watson Cronin , American nuclear physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1980 (d. 2016 )
September 30
Mickey Mantle
Dan Rather
Ike Turner
Martin Milner
Skeeter Davis
December 1
December 2
December 3
December 7 – Richard N. Goodwin , American writer (d. 2018 )
December 11 – Benny Spellman , American R&B singer (d. 2011 )
December 16 – Ralph Wolfe Cowan , American portrait artist (d. 2018 )
December 17 – Dave Madden , actor (The Partridge Family ) (d. 2014 )
December 18 – Gene Shue , American basketball player and coach (d. 2022 )
December 19 – Bud Clark , American politician and businessman (d. 2022 )
December 20
December 23 – Ronnie Schell , actor
December 24 – Ray Bryant , jazz pianist, composer, arranger (d. 2011 )
December 25 – Lefty Driesell , American baseball coach (d. 2024 )[ 29]
December 27
December 28 – Martin Milner , actor (Adam-12 ) (d. 2015 )
December 30
Don Whiteside , sociologist, native author, Canadian civil servant, and association founder. (d. 1993 )[ 30]
January 4
January 12 – Anna Manning Comfort , physician (born 1845 )
January 14 – Hardy Richardson , baseball player (born 1855 )
January 21 – Alma Rubens , actress (born 1897 )
January 31 – Zina P. Young Card , Mormon leader and women's rights activist (born 1850 )
February 14 – Clarence Ransom Edwards , army officer (born 1859 )
February 18 – Louis Wolheim , actor (born 1880 )
February 28
March 20 – Joseph B. Murdock , United States Navy admiral and New Hampshire politician (born 1851 )
March 24 – Robert Edeson , actor (born 1868 )
March 25 – Ida Wells , African-American lynching crusader (born 1862 )
March 28 – Ban Johnson , baseball executive (born 1864 )
March 31 – Knute Rockne , football coach (born 1888 )
April 1 – Macklyn Arbuckle , actor (born 1866 )[ 31]
April 9 – Nicholas Longworth , politician, Speaker of the House (born 1869 )
April 17 – Ernesto Rossi , racketeer (born 1903 )[ 32]
April 26 – George Herbert Mead , philosopher (born 1863 )
May 2 – George Fisher Baker , financier and philanthropist (born 1840 )
May 14 – David Belasco , Broadway impresario, theater owner and playwright (born 1853 )
June 2 – Joseph W. Farnham , screenwriter (born 1884 )
July 5 – Arthur Starr Eakle , mineralogist (born 1862 )
July 24 – George Arthur Boeckling , businessman, president of Cedar Point Pleasure Company (born 1862 )
August 6 – Bix Beiderbecke , jazz trumpeter (born 1903 )
August 27 – Francis Marion Smith , businessman (born 1846 )
August 29 – David T. Abercrombie , businessman, co-founder of Abercrombie & Fitch (born 1867 )
September 6 – Juliana Walanika , the "Hawaiian Nightingale", court singer (born 1846 in the Kingdom of Hawaii )
September 17 – Marvin Hart , World Heavyweight Boxing Champion (born 1876 )
September 19 – David Starr Jordan , ichthyologist, educator, eugenicist, and peace activist (born 1851 )[ 33]
September 30 – Jane Meade Welch , historian (born 1854 )
October 6
October 7 – Daniel Chester French , sculptor (born 1850 )
October 18 – Thomas Edison , inventor (born 1847 )
October 26 – Charles Comiskey , baseball owner (born 1859 )
October 31 – Charles E. Rushmore , businessman, attorney, namesake of Mount Rushmore (born in 1857 )
November 4 – Buddy Bolden , African American musician (born 1877 )
November 6 – Jack Chesbro , baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer (born 1874 )
December 5 – Vachel Lindsay , poet (born 1879 )
December 18 – Jack Diamond , gangster (born 1897 )
December 23 – Tyrone Power, Sr. , actor (born 1869 )
December 26 – Melvil Dewey , librarian, inventor of Dewey Decimal Classification (born 1851 )
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^ "The long legacy of the U.S. occupation of Haiti" . Washington Post . Retrieved 19 August 2022 .
^ "Volstead Act | History, Definition, & Significance | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Retrieved 15 August 2022 .
^ Chase's Calendar of Events 2019 : the ultimate go -to guide for special days, weeks and months . Bernan Press. 2018. p. 73. ISBN 9781641432641 .
^ Jerome, Jim (April 14, 2003). "Dance Fever" . People . Vol. 59, no. 14. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2015 .
^ Joel Shatzky; Michael Taub; Emmanuel Sampath Nelson (1997). Contemporary Jewish-American Novelists: A Bio-critical Sourcebook . Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-313-29462-4 .
^ In Memoriam : Ron Galella (1931-2022)
^ Pedersen, Erik (September 9, 2024). "James Earl Jones Dies: Revered 'Field Of Dreams' Star, Darth Vader Voice & Broadway Regular Was 93" . Deadline .
^ "David Lee" . Nobel Prize . Retrieved 14 April 2022 .
^ Bobby Womack; Robert Ashton (2006). Midnight Mover: My Autobiography: the True Story of the Greatest Soul Singer in the World . John Blake. p. 269. ISBN 978-1-84454-148-5 .
^ Flaherty, Mike (September 2, 2015). "Dean Jones, Affable Star in 'Love Bug' and a Disney Fixture, Dies at 84" . The New York Times . p. B19.
^ In Honor of Pioneering Microbiologist, Science Educator Maxine Frank Singer ’52, H’78
^ "Obituary: Toni Morrison" . BBC News . August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019 .
^ Betty McCain remembered for lifetime of service
^ Hugh Leatherman, Stalwart South Carolina Senator, Dies at 90
^ Former Kentucky Gov. Julian Carroll dies at age 92
^ A Giant of Computer Science - Fred Brooks
^ Charles Feeney, Who Made a Fortune and Then Gave It Away, Dies at 92
^ Former TU President James L. Fisher dies at 91
^ In memoriam: Ken Knowlton, a pioneer of computer art & animation
^ Ex-Major League Baseball player and longtime Springfield resident Bill Virdon dies at 90
^ "Billy Casper: Golfer who won prolifically but who became unfairly" . The Independent . 11 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 26 July 2021 .
^ Wierzbicki, James; Perten, Elizabeth (October 24, 2022). "Parnas, Leslie" . Grove Music Online . doi :10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2292688 . ISBN 9781561592630 . Retrieved October 30, 2022 .
^ In Our View: Unsoeld left indelible impression on Washington
^ Virginia Tech's Kenny Brooks remembers late mentor Lefty Driesell
^ "Aboriginal collections and library services in Canadian research libraries" (PDF) . carl-abrc.ca . Canadian Association of Research Libraries. August 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2023 .
^ "Maclyn Arbuckle dies" . The Lewiston Daily Sun . April 2, 1931. p. 4 – via Google News Archive .
^ "RACKETEER SHOT DEAD AT DETECTIVE'S HOME; Slain as Auto Stops in Front of Brooklyn House--Believed Reprisal in Joe the Boss Killing" . New York Times . 18 April 1931. Retrieved 12 March 2011 .
^ "Dr. David Starr Jordan Dies; Family With Educator As Passes Away: Fifth Attack Ends an Illness of Two Years" . Healdsburg Tribune . No. 269. September 19, 1931. p. 1. Archived from the original on July 1, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2018 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection .