With the Third Reich firmly in control of Germany and the spanking-new Berlin Olympic Stadium festooned with swastikas, 22-year-old African-American Jesse Owens, the son of an Alabama sharecropper and the grandson of slaves, wins four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. At the outset of the Berlin games, Adolf Hitler contrives to showcase the supposed supremacy of the Aryan race. On the first day of competition, he shakes the hand of Germany's gold medal-winning shot-putter, Hans Woelke, and likewise calls to his private box the Finnish winners of the 10,000-meter race. The next day, after Owens wins the 100-meter dash, Hitler and his entourage hustle out of the stadium, purportedly due to inclement weather. After Owens wins the long jump, his opponent, Luz Long, embraces the American. The blond German and the black American walk arm in arm on the track directly beneath Hitler's box while 110,000 Germans cheer. Owens also wins gold in the 200 meters and the 400-meter relay. Although feted with a ticker-tape parade back home, Owens later recalls: "I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the president either."

Passing Go

Although George Parker had earlier dismissed it as too complex, taking too long to play, and based on concepts unfamiliar to most people, the Parker Brothers company decides in 1935 to license and sell a new board game called Monopoly. Within 18 months, more than 2 million copies are sold, making it the best-selling board game in the country.

Open Up Your Golden Gate

"The mighty task is done," extols the Golden Gate Bridge's chief engineer, Joseph Strauss, in a poem commemorating the completion of the landmark span and its dedication on May 28, 1937. Regarded as impossible to build by most contemporary engineers ("damned by a thousand hostile sneers," as Strauss' poem describes), the bridge utilizes two cables — each a yard thick and nearly 8,000 feet long — to support the 4,200-foot-long main span over San Francisco Bay's treacherous waters. Bonds are issued to cover the estimated $35 million tab. Remarkably, total construction costs come to ... $35 million.

The Living Room President

On March 12, 1933, only eight days after his inauguration, President Franklin Roosevelt delivers his first radio "fireside chat." Topic: the banking crisis. FDR explains in simple terms why banks had failed and what measures were being taken to prevent future crises. "Let us unite in banishing fear," he concludes, asking Americans to show confidence by depositing money in local banks upon their reopening. Roosevelt goes on to deliver 27 more such talks during his presidency, using informal, everyday language to allay fears and provide assurance during a succession of crises.

Other Memorable Moments

1934 A drought turns the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl as massive wind storms blow away millions of tons of topsoil.

1934 The Gold Reserve Act officially ends the coining of gold pieces.

1935 Oklahoma City installs the world's first parking meters. The fine for a violation: $20.

1935 The Social Security Act provides federal grants for state assistance to the elderly, blind, and disabled.

1935 Krueger Brewing Co. introduces the first beer sold in cans, which are easier to stack than bottles and require no deposit.

1936 King Edward VIII of England abdicates his throne to marry American Wallis Simpson.

1937 Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs becomes the first feature-length cartoon.

1937 Congress establishes the National Cancer Institute to spearhead cancer research.

1938 Hungarian Lázló Bíró invents the ballpoint pen.

1939 The German army invades Poland; subsequently, Britain and France declare war on Germany.