October 1936

• Francisco Franco was officially invested with the title of Chief of State in the throne room at Burgos. He made a short and simple speech vowing to "try to raise Spain to the place that corresponds to her history and her rank in earlier times."{{cite book |last=Payne |first=Stanley G. |author-link=Stanley G. Payne |date=1987 |title=The Franco Regime, 1936–1975 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |pages=116–117 |isbn=978-0-299-11070-3 }}
• In Valencia, the Spanish Cortes met for the first time since July 19 and passed a law granting home rule to the Basque Country.{{cite news |last=Buckley |first=Henry |date=October 2, 1936 |title=Madrid Grants Home Rule to Basque Country | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=4 }}
• Al Smith gave a nationally broadcast address in which he broke from the Democrats and endorsed Alf Landon for President of the United States.{{cite news |date=October 2, 1936 |title=Al Smith Out for Landon | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• Juan Demóstenes Arosemena became President of Panama.
• Born: Duncan Edwards, footballer, in Dudley, Worcestershire, England (d. 1958)

• In Austria, the Heimwehr expelled Emil Fey from its ranks and forbade other members of the organization from having any contact with him. Fey had been locked in a long rivalry with Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg for control of the Heimwehr.{{cite news |date=October 3, 1936 |title=Foe of Austrian Prince Cast Out of Private Army | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=12 }}
• The New York Yankees, playing the New York Giants, set the team record for most runs scored in a single World Series game with 18.
• Died: Juho Sunila, 61, two-time prime minister of Finland

• A typhoon in Japan left approximately 70 dead.{{cite news |date=October 3, 1936 |title=Japan Typhoon Toll Put at 70 | work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |page=1 }}
• Franco created a cabinet with three generals, a diplomat and his brother Nicolás.{{cite book |date=1982 |editor-last=Cortada |editor-first=James W. |title=Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939 |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=503 |isbn=0-313-22054-9 }}
• The earliest known public use of the term "fifth column" appeared in Mundo Obrero in an article by Dolores Ibárruri, who attributed the term to Emilio Mola.{{cite book |last=Ruiz |first=Julius |date=2014 |title=The 'Red Terror' and the Spanish Civil War |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=185–186 |isbn=978-1-107-05454-7 }}
• Collingwood defeated South Melbourne in the 40th Victorian Football League Grand Final.
• Aztec Bowl was dedicated on the San Diego State University campus in San Diego, California.
• Born: Steve Reich, minimalist composer, in New York City
• Died: John Heisman, 66, American football player and coach

• The Battle of Cable Street occurred in the East End of London when members of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists clashed with anti-fascist demonstrators.
• 100,000 leftists marched in Paris in support of the Spanish Republic and fought in the streets with pro-Nationalists.{{cite news |date=October 5, 1936 |title=Mobs of Reds Riot in Paris | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}

• Italy devalued the lira and introduced various levies on capital.{{cite web |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1936.htm |title=Chronology 1936 |date=2002 |website=indiana.edu |access-date=August 16, 2015 }}
• In Moscow, the USSR State Symphony Orchestra performed in public for the first time.{{cite web |url=http://www.musicandhistory.com/music-and-history-by-the-year/197-1936.html |title=1936 |website=MusicAndHistory |access-date=August 16, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610051422/http://musicandhistory.com/music-and-history-by-the-year/197-1936.html |archive-date=June 10, 2013 }}
• Jarrow March: 200 Hunger marchers in Jarrow began their march to London. They carried a petition with 11,572 signatures asking for government help. The marchers hoped to draw attention to the 68 percent unemployment rate in the town{{cite book |date=1989 |editor-last=Mercer |editor-first=Derrik |title=Chronicle of the 20th Century |location=London |publisher=Chronicle Communications Ltd. |page=473 |isbn=978-0-582-03919-3 }}
• Born: Václav Havel, writer, philosopher and 1st President of the Czech Republic, in Prague, Czechoslovakia (d. 2011)

• The Regional Defence Council of Aragon was established in Spain.
• British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford were secretly married in Berlin in a ceremony attended by Adolf Hitler.{{cite book |last=Gottlieb |first=Julie V. |date=2003 |title=Feminine Fascism: Women in Britain's Fascist Movement, 1923–45 |location=London |publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co |page=79 |isbn=978-1-86064-918-9 }}
• Kálmán Darányi became Prime Minister of Hungary.
• The New York Yankees won the World Series with a 13–5 win over the New York Giants in Game 6.

• The Soviet Union issued an ultimatum threatening to take active involvement in the Spanish Civil War unless Portugal, Italy and Germany stopped aiding the Nationalists.{{cite news |date=October 8, 1936 |title=Russia Warns 3 Nations, Hands Off Spain's War | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• German Panzer troops arrived in Spain to train Nationalist forces with tanks and AT guns.{{cite book |last=Jurado |first=Carlos Caballero |date=2006 |title=The Condor Legion: German Troops in the Spanish Civil War |publisher=Osprey Publishing |pages=10–11 |isbn=978-1-84176-899-1 }}
• José Antonio Aguirre became the 1st President of the Basque Country.
• Kyösti Kallio became Prime Minister of Finland.
• The Cole Porter musical Red, Hot and Blue opened at the Colonial Theatre in Boston for a pre-Broadway run ahead of its October 29 premiere at the Alvin Theatre.
• Born: Fereydoun Farrokhzad, entertainer, in Tehran, Iran (d. 1992)

• Germany fired back at the Soviet Union, saying that it was "hardly sincere" that Russia would "accuse other states of doing what it itself has long been doing." Germany denied sending airplanes or other military supplies to Spain.{{cite news |date=October 9, 1936 |title=Germany Looses Counterblast on Soviet Threat | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=15 }}
• The first episode of the British television programme Picture Page was broadcast.
• Died: Red Ames, 54, American baseball player; Cheiro, 69, Irish astrologer; William Henry Stark, 85, American industrial leader

• The European committee on neutrality in the Spanish Civil War met in London with representatives of 27 nations present. Many accusations were flung back and forth but no concrete proposals on how to resolve them were offered, and the meeting adjourned with no date set for another meeting.{{cite news |date=October 10, 1936 |title=Nations Clash, Dodge Action in Row Over Spain | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• 650 fighters of the International Brigades arrived at Alicante.
• Boulder Dam began generating electricity.
• Born: Brian Blessed, actor, in Mexborough, England
• Died: Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski, 63, German writer and translator

• The Heimwehr was dissolved and absorbed by the Fatherland Front.
• The Italian cabinet adopted Mussolini's recommendations for new national defense measures, most notably establishing a new work schedule for producers of war materials that increased the work week from 40 hours to 60.{{cite news |date=October 11, 1936 |title=Duce Orders War Industries to Speed Up Arms Production | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=20 }}
• At least 310 people were killed by a typhoon that struck Luzon in the Philippines over the past two days.{{cite news |date=October 12, 1936 |title=Typhoon Lashes Philippines; 109 Die; 400 Missing |journal=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=5 }}{{cite news |date=October 13, 1936 |title=Philippine Death Toll in typhoon Climbs to 310 | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=17 }}
• The London Gazette announced that women over 18 could be employed filling three inch mortar bombs. It was first time since the Great War that British women could work in munitions factories.{{cite news |date=October 10, 1936 |title=British Women Make Bombs Again; 1st Time Since War | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=12 }}
• The Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion was created in Nazi Germany.

• The Arab Higher Committee announced an end to the 175-day-old Palestinian general strike.{{cite news |date=October 12, 1936 |title=Arabs Call Off General Strike in Holy Land; Country Rejoices | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=12 }}
• 200 fascists instigated a new wave of violence in London's East End, attacking Jews and smashing and looting the windows of Jewish shops until they were dispersed by police.{{cite news |date=October 12, 1936 |title=Fascist Youths Beat Jews in London Rioting | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=12 }}
• 10,000 leftists participated in an anti-Fascist demonstration in Victoria Park, London, with 5,000 police on hand. 50 Fascist youths attempted a rush to snatch a red flag and some people were slashed with razors.
• Born: Larry Staverman, basketball player and coach, in Newport, Kentucky (d. 2007)

• A shipment of 50 T-26 tanks and some BA-3 armoured cars from the Soviet Union arrived in Cartagena to aid the Spanish Republic.{{cite book |last=Zaloga |first=Steven J. |date=2010 |title=Spanish Civil War Tanks: The Proving Ground for Blitzkrieg |url=https://archive.org/details/spanishcivilwart00zalo_509|url-access=limited |publisher=Osprey Publishing |page=[https://archive.org/details/spanishcivilwart00zalo_509/page/n15 15] |isbn=978-1-84603-512-8 }}
• Cross-channel train ferry service began between Dover and Dunkirk. The service made it possible to ride in the same sleeping car from London all the way to Paris.
• Died: Félia Litvinne, 76, Russian-born French dramatic soprano

• Uruguay barred "common transgressors, rogues, drug fiends, vagabonds, customary drunks and persons expelled from other nations" from entering the country.{{cite news |date=October 14, 1936 |title=Uruguay Bars 'Rogues, Dope Fiends, Vagabonds, Drunks' | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=21 }}
• The American general interest magazine Coronet was first published.
• Died: John H. Hill, African-American attorney, military officer, and school administrator, President of West Virginia State University (1894-1898) (b. 1852)

• A divorce suit initiated by Wallis Simpson against her husband Ernest was set for October 27. "The case will not be defended", Mr. Simpson declared. "Beyond that I have no statement to make."{{cite news |date=October 15, 1936 |title=Mrs. Simpson, Friend of King, Seeks Divorce | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• Belgium withdrew from its treaty of mutual assistance with France due to France's failure to react to the German remilitarization of the Rhineland.{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |date=2010 |title=A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East |publisher=ABC-CLIO, LLC |page=1868 |isbn=978-1-85109-672-5 }}
• Edward VIII made it known that he would not be continuing the tradition of the Royal Christmas Message started by his father.{{cite news |date=October 14, 1936 |title=King Ends Tradition Of Xmas Message | work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |page=1 }}
• The musical film Dimples starring Shirley Temple was released.
• Born: Carrie Nye, actress, in Greenwood, Mississippi (d. 2006)

• The Battle of Sigüenza ended in a Nationalist victory.
• The British press observed an unofficial policy of self-censorship and refrained from publishing reports of Mrs. Simpson's divorce proceedings. In the United States the story was front-page news.{{cite news |date=October 16, 1936 |title=London Hushes Divorce Suit of King's Friend |journal=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}{{cite news |date=October 15, 1936 |title=Mrs. Simpson Charges Misconduct in Suit; Action Uncontested |journal=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |page=1 }} The story was also reported freely in France, but the news was completely suppressed in Germany, Italy, Russia, Greece and the British Colonies.{{cite news |date=December 4, 1936 |title=All Save Three Nations At Last Read of King | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• Jewish teachers were banned from public schools in Nazi Germany.{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007901 |title=Antisemitic Legislation 1933–1939 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |access-date=August 16, 2015 }}
• The city of Toyonaka, Osaka was founded in Japan.

• The Siege of Oviedo ended in Nationalist victory.
• Newspaper proprietor Lord Beaverbrook called on King Edward VIII and declared he would help enforce a voluntary media blackout on the king's relationship with Mrs. Simpson.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/oct/14/mondaymediasection5 |title=Edward VIII news blackout |last=Sale |first=Jonathan |date=October 14, 2002 |website=theguardian.com |access-date=August 16, 2015 }}
• Rumors of King Edward's relationship with Mrs. Simpson spread throughout England as the odds of Edward actually marrying her began to be weighed in the foreign press.{{cite news |date=October 16, 1936 |title=Only Mrs. Simpson Dares Address King As 'David' in Public |journal=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |page=1 }}{{cite news |date=October 17, 1936 |title=Weigh Chance of Mrs. Simpson Marrying King |journal=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }} American newspapers began disappearing from British newsstands without explanation.{{cite news |date=October 30, 1936 |title=American Newspapers Kept From Londoners |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D65QAAAAIBAJ&pg=5950,4662869&dq=wallis-simpson&hl=en |journal=Milwaukee Journal |location=Milwaukee |page=11 }} However, foreign magazines delivered to subscribers through the mail were arriving untouched.{{cite news |last=Brewer |first=Sam |date=November 18, 1936 |title=King and Wally Cause Questions in British House | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=7 }}
• Paris went dark for one hour starting at 9:30 p.m. so a mock bombing raid could be conducted.{{cite news |date=October 16, 1936 |title=Paris Dark Tonight For Air Fleet 'Raid' | work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |page=2 }}
• Born: Gerardo Gandini, pianist and composer, in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 2013)

• The Spanish Republic opened Albacete as the headquarters and training ground of the International Brigades.{{cite book |last=Colodny |first=Robert Garland |date=2010 |title=The Struggle for Madrid: The Central Epic of the Spanish Conflict, 1936–37 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |page=58 |isbn=978-1-4128-3924-2 }}
• Died: Suzanne Bianchetti, 47, French film actress

• The Cansiglio earthquake in northeast Italy killed 19 people.
• Nationalists captured Illescas, Toledo.{{cite news |date=October 19, 1936 |title=Rebels Capture Illescas, 22 Mi. So. of Madrid | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=5 }}
• The Sunday Referee somewhat broke the self-censorship policy of the British press by writing that "within the last day or so rumors from abroad have grown that the king is to marry before next May. If that were so, postponement (of his coronation) would be inevitable."{{cite news |date=October 18, 1936 |title=London Paper Says King May Wed by Spring | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=2 }}

• Parliamentary elections were held in Norway. The Labour Party maintained its plurality.
• 60 were dead and 500 injured after five days of rioting between Hindus and Muslims in Bombay.
• New York World-Telegram reporter H.R. Ekins won a race against two other New York newspaper journalists to travel around the world on commercial airline flights. He accomplished the feat in 18-1/2 days. His opponents were New York Evening Journal reporter Dorothy Kilgallen, who finished in second place, and New York Times reporter Leo Kieran.[http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/moments-and-milestones-once-around-42265865/?no-ist article about 1936 global race in online publication Air & Space issued by the Smithsonian] Despite Kilgallen's second-place finish, upon her return to New York, where she lived, many photographs of her were published in newspapers and magazines.
• Born: James Bevel, civil rights leader, in Itta Bena, Mississippi (d. 2008); Tony Lo Bianco, actor, in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2024)
• Died: Anne Sullivan, 70, American teacher of Helen Keller

• Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano arrived in Berlin for official talks with Germany.{{cite news |date=October 21, 1936 |title=Nazis Welcome Son-in-Law of Duce to Berlin | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=2 }}

• Pan American inaugurated weekly passenger service between San Francisco and Manila via Honolulu.{{cite book |last1=Schmitt |first1=Robert C. |last2=Ronck |first2=Ronn |date=1995 |title=Firsts and Almost Firsts in Hawai'i |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |page=54 |isbn=978-0-8248-1282-9 }}

• The Belgian Rexist Party announced its intention to march on Brussels in a conscious imitation of Mussolini's March on Rome in order to "sweep out the Paul van Zeeland government and its corruption" despite a government order banning the march. Van Zeeland made a national radio address that evening appealing for calm and announcing measures that amounted to martial law.{{cite news |date=October 23, 1936 |title=Belgian Fascists Plan March on Capital; Defy Cabinet Ban | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=17 }}{{cite book |last=Epstein |first=Jonathan A. |date=2014 |title=Belgium's Dilemma: The Formation of the Belgian Defense Policy, 1932–1940 |location=Leiden |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |page=168 |isbn=978-90-04-26973-6 }}
• General José Miaja was put in charge of the defence of Madrid.{{cite web |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/SPAchronology.htm |title=Spanish Civil War: Chronology |last=Simkin |first=John |date=2014 |website=Spartacus Educational |access-date=August 16, 2015 }}
• The British press continued to tiptoe around the Edward VIII abdication crisis. London publication The News Week wrote that "the effects of the unofficial censorship have been disastrous, giving the impression abroad that there is something to hide." The weekly publication Cavalcade, which had been running articles about the king and his friendship with Mrs. Simpson for weeks, ran a short notice of Simpson's divorce suit and mentioned that thousands of words had been published in the United States about it. The Guardian ran an article about the possibility of the king's coronation being postponed but avoided any direct explanation for why a postponement might take place.{{cite news |last=Darrah |first=David |date=October 23, 1936 |title=Reveals Threat to British Press in Simpson Suit | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=3 }}
• Dod Orsborne, captain of the Girl Pat was convicted and imprisoned of its theft, having caused a media sensation when it went missing.{{cite news|title= Both Orsbornes Sent to Gaol|newspaper= The Manchester Guardian|date= 23 October 1936|page= 11|id= {{ProQuest|484065518}}}} {{subscription required}}
• Died: James J. Couzens, 64, American politician

• The Soviet Union informed the European committee of non-intervention in Spain that Russia would no longer be bound by the neutrality agreement. The note repeated the previous charge that Germany, Italy and Portugal had already violated the pact.{{cite news |date=October 24, 1936 |title=Russia Declares Itself Free to Assist Madrid | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=2 }}
• Hitler ordered the Condor Legion to Spain to fight for the Nationalists.

• Portugal broke off diplomatic relations with the Spanish Republic.{{cite news |last=Darrah |first=David |date=October 24, 1936 |title=Portugal and Spain Clash | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• Born: David Nelson, actor, director and filmmaker, in New York City (d. 2011); Bill Wyman, bassist of The Rolling Stones, in Lewisham, London, England

• The alliance soon to be known as the Rome-Berlin Axis was formed when Germany and Italy agreed on a pact.
• The Rexist "March on Brussels" ended up as an embarrassment due to low turnout and rowdiness by those who did show up. Several hundred arrests were made and Rexist leader Léon Degrelle was taken into custody when he tried to address his followers, though he was soon released.{{cite news |date=October 26, 1936 |title=Belgium Tense as Police Beat Fascist Heads | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=2 }}
• 510 tons of "Moscow gold" departed Cartagena for Odessa.
• At a meeting of Okinawan martial arts masters in Showa Kaikan Hall, Naha, Okinawa, it was decided to officially rename Te (or 'Tang Hand', 唐手道) the traditional systems of martial arts on the island, to Karate (or 'Empty Hand', 空手道), as well as introduce the Karategi and standardising rules and techniques in Karate.
• Born: Martin Gilbert, historian, in London, England (d. 2015); Masako Nozawa, actress, in Tokyo, Japan
• Died: Robert Temple Emmet, 81, U.S. Army Colonel

File:Stalin.gif

• Joseph Stalin responded to rumors that he was dead by releasing a handwritten note that read: "I know from reports of the foreign press that I long ago abandoned this sinful world and moved into the other world. As one cannot doubt such foreign press dispatches unless he wants to be expelled from the list of civilized people, I request you to believe them and don't disturb me in the calm of the other world. With respect, J. Stalin."{{cite news |date=October 27, 1936 |title=Mark Twain Outdone by Dictator Stalin on Report of Death | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• Born: Shelley Morrison, actress, in New York City (d. 2019)

• A judge in Ipswich granted Wallis Simpson a divorce from her husband Ernest, on the grounds that he had been unfaithful. She would be free to marry again after six months.{{cite news |last=Darrah |first=David |date=October 28, 1936 |title=Wally Tells Story; Judge Grants Divorce | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }} British newspaper The Guardian reported the story but buried it on page 10.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/dec/09/edward-simpson-affair-press-1936 |title=1936: British press finally break silence on Wallis Simpson affair |last=Rodrigues |first=Jason |date=December 9, 2011 |website=theguardian.com |access-date=August 16, 2015 }}

• The prototype of the German heavy bomber Dornier Do 19 had its first flight.
• Born: Charlie Daniels, musician, in Leland, North Carolina (d. 2020)

• The Battle of Seseña was fought, resulting in Nationalist victory.
• The Iraqi coup d'état occurred.
• The Literary Digest published the final returns in its presidential election poll, projecting Alf Landon to beat President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Landon was forecast to carry 32 states worth 370 electoral votes, 104 more than required for election. The Literary Digest poll had correctly predicted the winner of every presidential election since 1920.{{cite news |date=October 30, 1936 |title=Landon Leading in 32 States by Last Test Poll | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}
• In Rome, the destruction of the Spina of Borgo began to make way for the Via della Conciliazione.
• The Uptown Theater opened in Washington, D.C.
• Born: Akiko Kojima, model, in Tokyo, Japan
• The Kincardine Bridge was opened to road traffic, after nearly 3 years of construction.

• The Condor Legion was created.
• The French cabinet and air ministry approved a plan to add 1,500 fighter planes to raise the size of its air force to 4,000.{{cite news |date=October 31, 1936 |title=France Orders Warplane Fleet Raised to 4,000 | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=2 }}
• Antonita Arquès of the Spanish Republic won the 8th annual Miss Europe pageant.

• President Roosevelt made the Madison Square Garden speech, which included the famous line, "I welcome their hatred."
• The hunger marchers from Jarrow arrived in London.
• The Boy Scouts of the Philippines organization was founded.
• Born: Michael Landon, actor, writer, director and producer, in Queens, New York (d. 1991)
• Died: Deacon McGuire, 72, American baseball player, manager and coach

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{{Events by month links}}

1936

*1936-10