1936

Events in 1936 111

• 1849 – 1936 Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) Died 27 February 1936, aged 86 Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who won the 1904 Nobel Prize for his work on digestion. He is best known for discovering classical conditioning through his experiments with dogs. His work had a strong influence on behavioural psychology.
• 1854 – 1936 Takahashi Korekiyo (1854-1936) Died 26 February 1936, aged 81 Takahashi Korekiyo was a Japanese prime minister and a long-serving finance minister. His expansionary policies helped Japan recover quickly from the Depression. Rebel officers assassinated him during the February 26 Incident.
• 1857 – 1936 Karl Pearson (1857-1936) Died 27 April 1936, aged 79 Karl Pearson was an English mathematician and a founder of modern mathematical statistics. He developed the correlation coefficient and the chi-squared test, and founded the journal Biometrika. He was also a prominent advocate of eugenics.
• 1858 – 1936 Saitō Makoto (1858-1936) Died 26 February 1936, aged 77 Saitō Makoto was a Japanese admiral who served as Governor-General of Korea and as prime minister from 1932 to 1934. At the time of his death he was Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. Rebel officers assassinated him during the February 26 Incident.
• 1859 – 1936 A. E. Housman (1859-1936) Died 30 April 1936, aged 77 A. E. Housman was an English classical scholar and poet. His collection A Shropshire Lad has remained popular since it was published in 1896. He was Kennedy Professor of Latin at Cambridge.
• 1860 – 1936 Charles Curtis (1860-1936) Died 8 February 1936, aged 76 Charles Curtis served as the 31st vice president of the United States under Herbert Hoover. A member of the Kaw Nation, he was the first person of significant Native American ancestry to hold the office. He had earlier been Senate Majority Leader.
• 1864 – 1936 Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936) Died 18 March 1936, aged 71 Eleftherios Venizelos served several times as prime minister of Greece. He greatly expanded Greek territory during the Balkan Wars and led Greece into the First World War on the Allied side. He died in exile in Paris after a failed coup attempt in 1935.
• 1864 – 1936 Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) Died 31 December 1936, aged 72 Miguel de Unamuno was a Spanish philosopher, novelist and rector of the University of Salamanca. His works include The Tragic Sense of Life and Mist. After confronting Nationalist officers in October 1936, he spent his last weeks under house arrest.
• 1865 – 1936 Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) Died 21 March 1936, aged 70 Alexander Glazunov was a Russian composer and director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he taught students including Shostakovich. His works include the ballet Raymonda and a well-known violin concerto. He died in exile near Paris.
• 1865 – 1936 George V (1865-1936) Died 20 January 1936, aged 70 King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India from 1910, George V reigned through the First World War. In 1917 he changed the royal house's name to Windsor. His son succeeded him as Edward VIII.
• 1865 – 1936 Rudyard Kipling English writer and poet Kipling wrote The Jungle Book and explored themes of empire, duty, and adventure.
• 1866 – 1936 Charles Nicolle (1866-1936) Died 28 February 1936, aged 69 Charles Nicolle was a French bacteriologist who directed the Pasteur Institute in Tunis. He won the 1928 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for showing that body lice transmit typhus. The discovery led to effective control of the disease.
• 1866 – 1936 Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936) Died 9 August 1936, aged 70 Lincoln Steffens was an American investigative journalist and one of the leading muckrakers. He exposed municipal corruption in The Shame of the Cities. After visiting Soviet Russia, he wrote that he had seen the future and it works.
• 1866 – 1936 Ramón del Valle-Inclán (1866-1936) Died 5 January 1936, aged 69 Ramón del Valle-Inclán was a Spanish dramatist, novelist and poet. He created the esperpento, a style of grotesque dramatic satire. His works include Bohemian Lights and Tirano Banderas.
• 1867 – 1936 Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) Died 10 December 1936, aged 69 Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist and novelist who won the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature. His play Six Characters in Search of an Author changed modern theatre. His novels include The Late Mattia Pascal.
• 1868 – 1936 Fuad I of Egypt (1868-1936) Died 28 April 1936, aged 68 Fuad I became Sultan of Egypt in 1917. In 1922 he became the country's first king after Britain granted Egypt nominal independence. His son Farouk succeeded him.
• 1868 – 1936 Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) Died 18 June 1936, aged 68 Maxim Gorky was a Russian writer known for The Lower Depths and the novel Mother. He was an early advocate of socialist realism and a major figure in Soviet literary life. His city of birth, Nizhny Novgorod, was renamed Gorky in his honour.
• 1871 – 1936 Grazia Deledda (1871-1936) Died 15 August 1936, aged 64 Grazia Deledda was an Italian novelist from Sardinia who won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was the first Italian woman to receive it. Her novels, including Reeds in the Wind, portray Sardinian rural life.
• 1872 – 1936 Louis Blériot (1872-1936) Died 1 August 1936, aged 64 Louis Blériot was a French aviator and aircraft designer. In 1909 he made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft. His company later built SPAD fighters during the First World War.
• 1874 – 1936 G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) Died 14 June 1936, aged 62 G. K. Chesterton was an English writer, journalist and Christian apologist. He created the priest-detective Father Brown and wrote Orthodoxy and The Man Who Was Thursday. He was known for his use of paradox.
• 1874 – 1936 Karl Kraus (1874-1936) Died 12 June 1936, aged 62 Karl Kraus was an Austrian writer and satirist who edited the journal Die Fackel. His huge anti-war drama The Last Days of Mankind attacked the press and the militarism of the First World War. He was one of the leading critics of language and journalism of his time.
• 1879 – 1936 Billy Mitchell (1879-1936) Died 19 February 1936, aged 56 Billy Mitchell was a US Army general and an early advocate of military air power. He was court-martialled in 1925 for publicly criticising his superiors. He is regarded as a father of the United States Air Force.
• 1879 – 1936 Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) Died 18 April 1936, aged 56 Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer and musicologist. He is best known for his orchestral Roman Trilogy, which includes The Pines of Rome and The Fountains of Rome. He was also noted for his rich orchestration.
• 1880 – 1936 Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) Died 8 May 1936, aged 55 Oswald Spengler was a German historian and philosopher. His two-volume The Decline of the West argued that civilisations follow a cycle of growth and decay. The book was widely read after the First World War.
• 1881 – 1936 Lu Xun (1881-1936) Died 19 October 1936, aged 55 Lu Xun was a Chinese writer and a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. His works include A Madman's Diary and The True Story of Ah Q. His critiques of traditional society influenced the May Fourth Movement.
• 1883 – 1936 Grigory Zinoviev (1883-1936) Died 25 August 1936, aged 52 Grigory Zinoviev was a leading Bolshevik, a close associate of Lenin and chairman of the Comintern. After he opposed Stalin, he was expelled from the party. He was convicted in the first Moscow show trial and shot.
• 1883 – 1936 Lev Kamenev (1883-1936) Died 25 August 1936, aged 53 Lev Kamenev was a leading Bolshevik who briefly served as the Soviet head of state in 1917. He later sided with Zinoviev against Stalin. He was convicted in the first Moscow show trial and shot.
• 1893 – 1936 José Calvo Sotelo (1893-1936) Died 13 July 1936, aged 43 José Calvo Sotelo was a Spanish monarchist politician and former finance minister. He led the parliamentary right in 1936. He was murdered by members of the Republican security forces, and his killing helped trigger the military uprising days later.
• 1896 – 1936 Buenaventura Durruti (1896-1936) Died 20 November 1936, aged 40 Buenaventura Durruti was a Spanish anarchist leader who commanded the Durruti Column in the Civil War. He was fatally wounded during the defence of Madrid. Hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Barcelona.
• 1897 – 1936 John Gilbert (1897-1936) Died 9 January 1936, aged 38 John Gilbert was one of the biggest male stars of American silent film. He appeared in The Big Parade and in several films opposite Greta Garbo. His career declined after the arrival of sound.
• 1898 – 1936 Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) Died 19 August 1936, aged 38 Federico García Lorca was a Spanish poet and playwright whose works include Blood Wedding and Gypsy Ballads. Nationalist forces shot him near Granada in the first weeks of the Civil War. His remains have never been found.
• 1899 – 1936 Bruno Richard Hauptmann (1899-1936) Died 3 April 1936, aged 36 Bruno Richard Hauptmann was a German-born carpenter convicted of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles Lindbergh. His trial was one of the most publicised of the century. He was executed in the electric chair in New Jersey.
• 1899 – 1936 Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) Died 14 September 1936, aged 37 Irving Thalberg was the head of production at MGM, known as Hollywood's "boy wonder". He oversaw films including Grand Hotel and Mutiny on the Bounty. The Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is named after him.
• 1903 – 1936 José Antonio Primo de Rivera (1903-1936) Died 20 November 1936, aged 33 José Antonio Primo de Rivera founded the Spanish fascist party Falange Española. He was the son of the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera. He was tried and executed by the Republic in Alicante prison.
• 1904 – 1936 Nikolai Ostrovsky (1904-1936) Died 22 December 1936, aged 32 Nikolai Ostrovsky was a Soviet writer. His novel How the Steel Was Tempered became a classic of socialist realism. He wrote it while blind and paralysed from injuries and illness.
• 1906 – 1936 Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) Died 11 June 1936, aged 30 Robert E. Howard was an American pulp writer who created Conan the Barbarian. He was a founder of the sword and sorcery genre. He wrote for Weird Tales alongside H. P. Lovecraft.
• 1936 Abdication Crisis Edward VIII abdicates Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson.
• 1936 BBC TV launches World's first regular TV service The BBC launched the world's first regular high-definition television service from Alexandra Palace, London, in November 1936.
• 1936 Berlin Olympics Berlin Olympics Berlin hosted the Olympic Games in August 1936, staged by the Nazi government as a showcase and broadcast on television for the first time. Jesse Owens won four gold medals in front of Hitler. The torch relay from Olympia, now a fixture of every Games, was invented for this one.
• 1936 – 1959 Buddy Holly (1936-1959) Died 3 February 1959, aged 22 Holly was a pioneering rock and roll singer-songwriter whose hits with The Crickets, including "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue," influenced generations of musicians. He died in a chartered plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, alongside Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. The crash became known as "The Day the Music Died."
• 1936 – 1958 Duncan Edwards (1936-1958) Died 21 February 1958, aged 21 Edwards was a Manchester United and England midfielder widely regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation. He died from injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster two weeks earlier.
• 1936 – 2025 Eddie Palmieri (1936-2025) Died 6 August 2025, aged 88 American pianist and bandleader who blended jazz piano with Latin American forms and helped shape the development of salsa.
• 1936 – 2024 Eleanor Coppola (1936-2024) Died 12 April 2024, aged 87 American artist and documentarian whose Hearts of Darkness chronicled the making of Apocalypse Now.
• 1936 – 2024 Frank Stella (1936-2024) Died 4 May 2024, aged 87 American painter who moved from severe Minimalism to vast irregular multimedia reliefs.
• 1936 – 2026 Garfield Sobers (1936-2026) Died 17 July 2026, aged 89 West Indian cricketer regarded by many as the most gifted all-round player the game has produced.
• 1936 – 2023 Glenda Jackson (1936-2023) Died 15 June 2023, aged 87 British actress who won two Academy Awards, left acting for twenty-three years as a Labour MP, and then returned to the stage in her eighties.
• 1936 – 2023 Hugh Hudson (1936-2023) Died 10 February 2023, aged 86 British director whose Chariots of Fire won the Academy Award for best picture.
• 1936 – 2024 Ismail Kadare (1936-2024) Died 1 July 2024, aged 88 Albanian novelist and poet whose work explored his country's history under dictatorship and reached a world readership.
• 1936 – 2024 Kris Kristofferson (1936-2024) Died 28 September 2024, aged 88 American singer-songwriter and actor who wrote Me and Bobby McGee and Help Me Make It Through the Night, and starred in A Star Is Born.
• 1936 – 2024 Louis Gossett Jr. (1936-2024) Died 28 March 2024, aged 87 The first African American to win the Academy Award for best supporting actor, for An Officer and a Gentleman.
• 1936 – 2025 Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-2025) Died 13 April 2025, aged 89 Peruvian novelist and essayist whose fiction carried a lifelong commitment to social change. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010.
• 1936 – 2025 Robert Redford (1936-2025) Died 16 September 2025, aged 89 American actor and director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Ordinary People, who founded the Sundance Institute and built the independent film movement in America.
• 1936 – 1939 Spanish Civil War Franco victorious A brutal conflict between Republicans and Nationalists, serving as a proxy war for fascist and communist powers, ending with Franco's dictatorship.
• 1936 Keynes publishes The General Theory Foundational work of modern macroeconomics John Maynard Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. It argued that economies can remain stuck with high unemployment and that government spending can revive demand. The book changed economic policy in the decades that followed.
• 1936 Modern Times released Charlie Chaplin's last Little Tramp film Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times premiered in New York. It satirises industrial society and the Depression, and apart from a single song it is almost entirely silent. It was the last film to feature his Little Tramp character.
• 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen Fourth Winter Games held in Bavaria The fourth Winter Olympic Games were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and included alpine skiing for the first time. Norway won the most medals. Sonja Henie won her third consecutive figure skating gold medal.
• 1936 – 2018 Burt Reynolds (1936-2018) Died 6 September 2018, aged 82 American actor who became one of Hollywood's top box-office draws in the 1970s and 1980s with films including Deliverance and Smokey and the Bandit. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Boogie Nights. He remained a prominent screen presence across five decades.
• 1936 Spanish general election Popular Front wins narrow victory The left-wing Popular Front coalition won the Spanish general election, defeating the right-wing parties. Political violence increased in the months that followed. In July, army officers launched the coup that started the Spanish Civil War.
• 1936 – 2026 J. Michael Bishop (1936-2026) Died 20 March 2026, aged 90 American virologist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for clarifying the cellular origins of cancer.
• 1936 February 26 Incident Young army officers attempt a coup in Tokyo About 1,400 troops led by radical young officers of the Imperial Japanese Army occupied central Tokyo and assassinated several senior officials, including former prime minister Takahashi Korekiyo. Emperor Hirohito ordered the revolt put down, and it collapsed on 29 February. The aftermath increased the army's influence over the Japanese government.
• 1936 1936 World Snooker Championship Joe Davis Title 10 Winner: Joe Davis; Runner-up: Horace Lindrum. Score: 34–27.
• 1936 – 1968 Jim Clark The Flying Scot Two-time World Champion considered the greatest of his era; won the Indy 500 and F1 title in the same year.
• 1936 – 2021 Dean Stockwell (1936-2021) American actor with a career of seven decades, from child star to Blue Velvet, Quantum Leap and Battlestar Galactica.
• 1936 Supermarine Spitfire first flight Prototype fighter flies at Eastleigh The prototype Supermarine Spitfire, designed by R. J. Mitchell, made its first flight at Eastleigh near Southampton. The aircraft went into RAF service in 1938. It became the best-known British fighter of the Second World War.
• 1936 Remilitarisation of the Rhineland German troops reoccupy the demilitarised zone German forces marched into the Rhineland in breach of the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. Britain and France protested but took no military action. The unopposed move strengthened Hitler's position at home and abroad.
• 1936 – 2016 Antonin Scalia (1936-2016) Died 13 February 2016, aged 79 Scalia served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1986 until his death, becoming the leading voice of originalist legal interpretation on the bench. His sudden death created a vacancy that became a major political flashpoint in the 2016 election. He was known for his sharp, often combative written opinions.
• 1936 – 2021 Frederik Willem de Klerk (1936-2021) Died 11 November 2021, aged 85 South African president who released Nelson Mandela and dismantled apartheid, sharing the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with him.
• 1936 Arab general strike in Palestine Six-month strike opens the Arab revolt Arab leaders in Mandatory Palestine called a general strike against Jewish immigration and British rule, and the newly formed Arab Higher Committee took charge of it. The strike was accompanied by armed attacks and lasted until the committee called it off in October. It was the first phase of the Arab revolt, which continued until 1939.
• 1936 – 2017 Glen Campbell (1936-2017) Died 8 August 2017, aged 81 American singer and guitarist known for hits including "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Wichita Lineman," and one of the most successful country crossover artists. He publicly documented his struggle with Alzheimer's disease in his final years. He died of complications from the disease.
• 1936 – 1988 Roy Orbison (1936-1988) Died 6 December 1988, aged 52 Roy Orbison was an American singer-songwriter known for hits including "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "Crying" and his distinctive operatic voice. He enjoyed a career revival in 1988 as a member of the Traveling Wilburys and with his album Mystery Girl. He died of a heart attack shortly before the album's release.
• 1936 Italy captures Addis Ababa Ethiopian capital falls to Italian forces Italian troops under Marshal Pietro Badoglio entered Addis Ababa after Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile. Four days later Mussolini proclaimed the annexation of Ethiopia and declared Victor Emmanuel III its emperor. The conquest exposed how little the League of Nations could do to stop aggression.
• 1936 – 2010 Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) Died 29 May 2010, aged 74 Hopper was an American actor and filmmaker who directed and starred in the counterculture classic Easy Rider and later earned acclaim for roles in films including Blue Velvet and Apocalypse Now. His career spanned more than five decades of Hollywood film. He died of complications from prostate cancer.
• 1936 RMS Queen Mary maiden voyage Cunard liner sails from Southampton to New York The Cunard liner Queen Mary left Southampton on her maiden voyage and arrived in New York on 1 June. She won the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing later that year. She remained in transatlantic service until 1967.
• 1936 Turing submits On Computable Numbers The paper that introduced the Turing machine Alan Turing submitted his paper On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem to the London Mathematical Society. It described an abstract computing machine and showed that some mathematical problems cannot be decided by any mechanical procedure. The paper became a founding text of computer science.
• 1936 Léon Blum forms Popular Front government France gets its first socialist prime minister The Popular Front won the French legislative elections in April and May, and Léon Blum became prime minister on 4 June. He was the first socialist, and the first Jew, to hold the office. His government introduced paid holidays and the forty-hour week.
• 1936 – 2008 Levi Stubbs (1936-2008) Died 17 October 2008, aged 72 American singer who served as lead vocalist of the Four Tops, fronting Motown hits including "Reach Out I'll Be There." He also voiced the carnivorous plant Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors.
• 1936 Matignon Agreements Settlement ends the French general strike wave The French government, employers and trade unions signed the Matignon Agreements after a large wave of strikes and factory occupations. Workers won the right to collective bargaining and wage rises of between 7 and 15 percent. Laws on paid leave and the forty-hour week followed.
• 1936 – 1992 Denny Hulme The Bear 1967 World Champion known for his no-nonsense attitude and consistent driving.
• 1936 – 2025 Costas Simitis (1936-2025) Died 5 January 2025, aged 88 Greek legal scholar and politician who served as prime minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004.
• 1936 Gone with the Wind published Margaret Mitchell's novel of the American South Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind, set during the Civil War and Reconstruction, was published by Macmillan. It became one of the best-selling American novels and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The 1939 film adaptation was also a huge success.
• 1936 Haile Selassie addresses the League of Nations Exiled emperor appeals for help at Geneva Haile Selassie spoke to the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva and condemned the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, including its use of chemical weapons. He warned that it would be "us today, you tomorrow". The League lifted its sanctions on Italy soon afterwards.
• 1936 Montreux Convention Turkey regains control of the Straits The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits was signed in Switzerland. It returned control of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles to Turkey and allowed the country to remilitarise them. It also guaranteed civilian ships free passage in peacetime.
• 1936 – 2008 Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008) Died 1 June 2008, aged 71 French fashion designer who founded his own haute couture house in 1961 and helped popularize garments like the tuxedo suit for women. He was one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century.
• 1936 Metaxas establishes dictatorship in Greece The 4th of August Regime begins With the backing of King George II, Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas suspended parliament and key articles of the constitution. His authoritarian 4th of August Regime banned political parties and censored the press. It lasted until his death in 1941.
• 1936 Trial of the Sixteen First of the Moscow show trials Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev and fourteen other Old Bolsheviks were tried in Moscow on invented charges of plotting with Trotsky. All sixteen were sentenced to death and shot straight after the verdict. The trial marked the start of the Great Purge's public phase.
• 1936 – 1999 Wilt Chamberlain The Big Dipper The only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game; a dominant force in rebounding.
• 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty Britain agrees to withdraw troops except from the Suez Canal zone Britain and Egypt signed a treaty under which Britain would withdraw its troops from Egypt, except those guarding the Suez Canal. The two countries also formed a twenty-year alliance. Egypt joined the League of Nations the following year.
• 1936 – 2018 John McCain (1936-2018) Died 25 August 2018, aged 81 American senator from Arizona and former Navy pilot who survived over five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He ran for president in 2000 and 2008 and was known for a reputation of bipartisan independence in the Senate. He died of brain cancer at his Arizona ranch.
• 1936 – 1990 Jim Henson (1936-1990) Died 16 May 1990, aged 53 Jim Henson was an American puppeteer who created the Muppets and co-created "Sesame Street." His characters, including Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, became fixtures of children's television worldwide. He died suddenly of a bacterial infection in New York City.
• 1936 – 2018 Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (1936-2018) Died 2 April 2018, aged 81 South African anti-apartheid activist and former wife of Nelson Mandela, who campaigned for his release during his 27 years of imprisonment. She remained a prominent, and at times controversial, political figure in post-apartheid South Africa. She served as a member of parliament and within the African National Congress leadership.
• 1936 – 2023 Silvio Berlusconi (1936-2023) Died 12 June 2023, aged 86 Italian media tycoon and four-time prime minister who dominated his country's politics and television for three decades.
• 1936 Battle of Cable Street East London crowds block a fascist march Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists planned to march through the Jewish East End of London. Tens of thousands of anti-fascists put up barricades and clashed with the police who were clearing the route. The march was called off, and the Public Order Act 1936 followed.
• 1936 Jarrow March Unemployed shipyard workers march to London About 200 men from Jarrow in north-east England marched nearly 300 miles to London to protest against mass unemployment after the town's shipyard closed. They delivered a petition to Parliament. The march became a lasting symbol of the Depression in Britain.
• 1936 – 2011 Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) Died 18 December 2011, aged 75 The Czech playwright and dissident led the Velvet Revolution that ended communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989 and became the country's first post-communist president. He later served as the first president of the Czech Republic after the country split from Slovakia. He died at his country home in the Czech Republic.
• 1936 – 1991 Michael Landon (1936-1991) Died 1 July 1991, aged 54 Actor and producer Michael Landon died of pancreatic cancer less than three months after his diagnosis was announced. He starred in the television series Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie, and created and starred in Highway to Heaven. His death prompted widespread public tributes across American television.
• 1936 Rome-Berlin Axis proclaimed Mussolini announces the alignment with Germany After the October Protocols between Italy and Germany, Mussolini described the relationship in a speech in Milan as an axis around which other European states could revolve. The term came to stand for the alliance of the two fascist powers. The alliance was formalised in the Pact of Steel in 1939.
• 1936 – 2015 Margaret Atwood Canadian novelist Atwood wrote The Handmaids Tale, exploring dystopian society, gender, and political control.
• 1936 Roosevelt re-elected in landslide FDR wins 46 of 48 states Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated the Republican Alf Landon, winning 46 of the 48 states and about 61 percent of the popular vote. The result endorsed the New Deal. At the time it was the most one-sided presidential election in the Electoral College since 1820.
• 1936 – present Roy Emerson Emmo Won 12 singles and 16 doubles majors; holds the record for most combined Slam titles.
• 1936 – 2009 Mary Travers (1936-2009) Died 16 September 2009, aged 72 Travers was an American singer and the female voice of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, known for hits including "Puff, the Magic Dragon" and their versions of Bob Dylan songs. The group was closely associated with the 1960s folk revival and civil rights movement. She continued to perform and record with the group for decades.
• 1936 Life magazine relaunched by Henry Luce First issue of the weekly photo magazine Henry Luce published the first issue of Life as a weekly photojournalism magazine, with a Margaret Bourke-White photograph of Fort Peck Dam on the cover. It quickly became one of the best-selling magazines in the United States. It shaped the development of American photojournalism.
• 1936 Robert Johnson's first recording session San Antonio Records Cross Road Blues and Sweet Home Chicago.
• 1936 Anti-Comintern Pact Germany and Japan unite against communism Germany and Japan signed a pact directed against the Communist International, with a secret protocol aimed at the Soviet Union. Italy joined in 1937. The pact laid the groundwork for the wartime Axis alliance.
• 1936 – 1989 Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) Died 12 April 1989, aged 52 Abbie Hoffman was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party and was a defendant in the Chicago Seven trial. He became a symbol of 1960s counterculture protest against the Vietnam War. He died of an intentional overdose.
• 1936 Crystal Palace destroyed by fire London's great glass exhibition hall burns down The Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and later moved to Sydenham, was destroyed by fire in a single night. The blaze could be seen across much of London. The building was never rebuilt.
• 1936 Soviet Constitution adopted The "Stalin Constitution" replaces the 1924 constitution The Congress of Soviets adopted a new constitution for the USSR. On paper it promised universal suffrage and civil rights. It was introduced as the Great Purge was growing.
• 1936 – 2009 David Carradine (1936-2009) Died 3 June 2009, aged 72 Carradine was an American actor best known for the 1970s television series Kung Fu and for his role as Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films. He came from a prominent acting family and appeared in dozens of films over his career. He was found dead in a hotel room in Bangkok.
• 1936 Abdication of Edward VIII King gives up the throne to marry Wallis Simpson Edward VIII signed the Instrument of Abdication on 10 December, and Parliament gave it effect the next day, ending a reign of under a year. He chose to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, whom the government and the Church of England would not accept as queen. His brother succeeded him as George VI.
• 1936 Xi'an Incident Chiang Kai-shek detained by his own generals The Nationalist generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng detained Chiang Kai-shek in Xi'an to force him to stop fighting the Communists and oppose Japan instead. He was released on 25 December after negotiations involving Communist representatives. The episode led to the Second United Front against Japan.
• 1936 – 2025 Pope Francis (1936-2025) Died 21 April 2025, aged 88 Leader of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013, the first pope from South America and the first Jesuit, who brought reform and a reputation for humility to the papacy.
• 1936 – 2017 Mary Tyler Moore (1936-2017) Died 25 January 2017, aged 80 American actress known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show, and a pioneering figure for independent working women on television. She won multiple Emmy Awards and received an Academy Award nomination for Ordinary People. She died of complications from pneumonia.