January 28 – The first ski tow in America begins operation in Vermont.
February 4 – Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first cel-animated feature in motion picture history, is released in the U.S. following last year's premiere.
March 3 – The Santa Ana River in California spills over its banks during a rainy winter, killing 58 people in Orange County and causing trouble as far inland as Palm Springs.[2]
July 5 – The Non-Intervention Committee reaches an agreement to withdraw all foreign volunteers from the Spanish Civil War. The agreement is respected by most Republican foreign volunteers, notably by those from England and the United States, but is ignored by the governments of Germany and Italy.
July 6 – The Evian Conference on Refugees is convened in France. No country in Europe is prepared to accept Jews fleeing persecution, and the United States will take only 27,370.
July 14 – Howard Hughes sets a new record, by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.
August 31 – Winston Churchill, still believing France and Britain mean to honor their promises to defend Czechoslovakia against Nazi aggression, suggests in a personal note to Neville Chamberlain that His Majesty's Government may want to set up a broad international alliance including the United States (specifically mentioning U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as possibly receptive to the idea) and the Soviet Union.
September 4 – During the ceremony marking the unveiling of a plaque at Pointe de Grave, France celebrating Franco-American friendship, U.S. Ambassador William Bullitt in a speech states, "France and the United States were united in war and peace", leading to much speculation in the press that if war did break out over Czechoslovakia, then the United States would join the war on the Allied side.
September 9 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt disallows the popular interpretation of Bullitt's speech at a press conference at the White House. Roosevelt states it is “100% wrong” the U.S. would join a “stop-Hitler bloc” under any circumstances, and makes it quite clear that in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral.
September 12 – Hitler makes his much-anticipated closing address at Nuremberg, in which he vehemently attacks the Czech people and President Beneš. American news commentator H. V. Kaltenborn begins his famous marathon of broadcast bulletins over the CBS Radio Network with a summation of Hitler's address.
September 21 – The New England Hurricane of 1938 strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and approximately 600 in total.
October 3 – Production of the Jefferson nickel begins, replacing the buffalo nickel (last struck in April). The new nickel is released on November 15.[6]
October 16 – Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the United States, condemns the Munich Agreement as a defeat and calls upon America and western Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Adolf Hitler.
October 31 – Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a 15-point program intended to upgrade protection for the investing public.
December 15 – President Franklin Roosevelt agrees to lend $25 million to Chiang Kai-shek to help fund his war efforts against Japan. The loan marks the beginning of the relationship between the two leaders.
^Kang, Joon-shik (2012). Choi Seung-hee Critical Biography. Noonbit. p. 205. ISBN 978-89-7409-709-7.
^"A Look Back: Flood of '38 was county's worst natural disaster". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
^"Early Television Stations: W6XAO/KTSL/KNXT – Los Angeles". Earlytelevision.org. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
^The date is established in court documents released during a legal battle over the rights to the character.
^US Patent 2,130,523 Linear polyamides suitable for spinning into strong pliable fibers; US Patent 2,130,947 Diamine dicarboxylic acid salt and US Patent 2,130,948 Synthetic fibers. Trossarelli, L. (2010). "The history of nylon". Club Alpino Italiano, Centro Studi Materiali e Tecniche. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
^Bowers, Q. David (2007). A Guide Book of Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels. Atlanta, Ga.: Whitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7948-2008-4.
^Hans Rudolph, 88 Years of My Life (Kansas City: Hans Rudolph, 1992), pp. 25-45; Hans Rudolph, Inc., Catalog, March 1, 2007, pp. 1-2; "Industry Profile: Hans Rudolph," AARC Times, October 2004, p. 142; "Product Spotlight: Hans Rudolph's Full Face 7600 V2 Mask for CPAP and BiLevel Therapy," Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy, August–September 2007, p. 70; Medical Supplies Companies website, http://www.medicalsupplies123.com/usa/hans-rudolph-inc.html ; Manta website, http://www.manta.com/c/mmc779h/rudolph-hans-inc .
^Ives, Herbert E.; Stilwell, G. R. (1938). "An Experimental Study of the Rate of a Moving Atomic Clock". Journal of the Optical Society of America. 28 (7): 215–19. Bibcode:1938JOSA...28..215I. doi:10.1364/JOSA.28.000215. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
^Green, Penelope (2020-11-19). "Ken Spears, Partner in an Animation Powerhouse, Dies at 82". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
^Nancy Milford, Biographer of Zelda Fitzgerald, Dies at 84
^Barrie Cassileth, pioneer of integrative cancer care, dies at 83
^Evil serial killers : In the minds of monsters. 2005. ISBN 978-0-7607-7566-0.
^"Nancy Garden: The author whose novel Annie on My Mind was credited". The Independent. 14 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
^US-born ex-MK Marcia Freedman, a pioneer of Israeli women’s rights, dies at 83
^Maxie Baughan, Feared Linebacker of the 1960s, Dies at 85
^ProRodeo Hall of Famer Sherry Combs Johnson Passes Away
^Trina Robbins, Legendary Cartoonist and Wonder Woman Artist, Passes Away at 85
^"TIMELINE: Rubin's career at Citigroup". Reuters. 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
^Legendary CFL Head Coach Dave Ritchie Dead at Age 85
^Warren Baker, Cal Poly President for More Than 30 Years, Has Passed Away
^Barbara Ann Rowan, Who Spurred Advances for Black Lawyers, Dies at 82
^Gaylord Perry, Hall of Fame pitcher who won 2 Cy Young awards, dead at 84
^Risen, Clay (February 17, 2023). "Stella Stevens, Hollywood Bombshell Who Yearned for More, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
^Dorothy Pitman Hughes: pioneering Black feminist dies age 84
^John Collis (19 August 2011). Gene Vincent & Eddie Cochran. Ebury Publishing. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-7535-4783-0.
^Driver. Department of the Air Force, Hq. Air Force Inspection and Safety Center. 1971. p. 10.
^Paul T. Hellmann (14 February 2006). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge. p. 162. ISBN 1-135-94859-3.
^Jeff Marcus (28 April 2003). A Biographical Directory of Professional Basketball Coaches. Scarecrow Press. p. 342. ISBN 978-1-4617-2653-1.
^Elizabeth Bailey, pathbreaker for women in economics, dies at 83
^George Yanok, Emmy-Winning Writer on Lily Tomlin Specials, Dies at 83
^Angelo Mozilo, who made Countrywide Financial a mortgage powerhouse and then became the face of the 2008 housing crisis, dies at 84
^Roberts, Jerry (5 June 2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. p. 607. ISBN 978-0-8108-6378-1.
^"Richard Whiting, Writer of Popular Songs, Dies at 46". The Milwaukee Sentinel. February 19, 1938. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
^Leonard, John W. (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915 (Public domain ed.). American commonwealth Company. p. 895.
^Andrews, William L.; Foster, Frances Smith; Harris, Trudier, eds. (1997). The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 404 ff.
^Schechter, Harold (2003). Fatal: The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-01450-6.