TheGerman battleship Tirpitz was launched inWilhelmshaven.Adolf Hitler attended the ceremony and made a speech that included a response toNeville Chamberlain's pledge of the previous day to support Poland, saying "If they [the Western Allies] expect the Germany of today to sit patiently by until the very last day while they create satellite States and set them against Germany, then they are mistaking the Germany of today for the Germany of before the war."[2]
Cambridge won the91st Boat Race. The race would not be officially held again until 1946, although unofficial races were held during the war.
Hitler gave a top secret directive to the military code-named Case White, ordering the preparation of military operations against Poland for any time from September 1 forward.[2]
Died:Ghazi of Iraq, 27, King of Iraq (auto accident);Joaquín García Morato, 45, Nationalist fighter ace of the Spanish Civil War (crashed while performing low acrobatics for newsreel cameras)
Shefqet Vërlaci, a bitter enemy of the exiled King Zog, was made the newPrime Minister of Albania. Zog had once been engaged to marry Vërlaci's daughter but broke it off, an affront that Vërlaci had sworn to avenge.[12] The new National Assembly voted to abrogate the constitution of 1928 and offer the Crown of Albania toVictor Emmanuel III of Italy.[13]
Slovak Propaganda MinisterAlexander Mach declared that Slovakia would pass antisemitic measures similar to Germany'sNuremberg Laws.[14]
Britain and France both pledged to lend Greece andRomania all assistance possible if those two countries went to war to preserve their independence.[15]
U.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt sent Hitler a message asking, "Are you willing to give assurance that your armed forces will not attack or invade the territory or possessions of the following independent nations?" Thirty-one countries were then listed. "If such assurance is given by your Government, I shall immediately transmit it to the Governments of the nations I have named, and I shall simultaneously inquire whether, as I am reasonably sure, each of the nations enumerated above will in turn give like assurance for transmission to you. Reciprocal assurances such as I have outlined will bring to the world an immediate measure of relief."Adolf Hitler set out his plan for a new government underKarl Dönitz. A similar message was also sent toBenito Mussolini, who referred to the letter in private as "absurd" but never made a public reply. Roosevelt did not expect anything substantial to come out of the message, but sent it with the intention of demonstrating to the world an important issue between democracies and dictatorships.[16][17]
Opening Day of the 1939 major league baseball season took place.[19] To celebrate the 100th anniversary of themythical invention of baseball byAbner Doubleday, every major and minor league team wore a special centennial patch on their sleeves all season.[20]
A decree from the Spanish Ministry of Finance restored the property ofAlfonso XIII and all his relatives within four degrees of lineal blood relation.[27]
The Neville Chamberlain government announced that due to international events, a bill would be introduced in parliament introducing militaryconscription for all males aged 20 and 21.[31]
Hitler made a speech to theReichstag renouncing theAnglo-German Naval Agreement andGerman–Polish declaration of non-aggression, yet offered to negotiate new non-aggression pacts with any nations that asked for them.[33] Hitler evoked laughter in the Reichstag by reciting, in exaggerated and sarcastic tones, the thirty-one countries that President Roosevelt had listed in the telegram of two weeks earlier.[34]
The1939 New York World's Fair opened.NBC inaugurated its first television broadcast with coverage of President Roosevelt at the event.[5]
Baseball's "Iron Man",Lou Gehrig, plays his 2,130th consecutive game with theNew York Yankees. This was also his final game ever played; suffering from ALS, Gehrig took himself out of the starting lineup in the next game three days later. He remained on the Yankees as team captain for the rest of the season.
^Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1993).The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931–1940. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 522.ISBN0-520-07908-6.
^Brewer, Sam (April 3, 1939). "Madrid Hails 'Day of Peace'; Troops Parade".Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^abcdefg"1939".MusicAndHistory. Archived fromthe original on June 5, 2014. RetrievedNovember 7, 2015.
^Taylor, Edmond (April 6, 1939). "LeBrun Elected to Second Term; Left Wing Howls".Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 3.
^abcdMercer, Derrik, ed. (1989).Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 509.ISBN978-0-582-03919-3.
^Cymet, David (2010).History vs. Apologetics: The Holocaust, the Third Reich, and the Catholic Church. Plymouth: Lexington Books. p. 161.ISBN978-0-7391-3295-1.
^Bailey, Thomas Andrew; Rayan, Paul B. (1979).Hitler versus Roosevelt: The Undeclared Naval War. The Free Press. p. 23.ISBN978-0-02-901270-3.
^Dunnett, Jane. "The Rhetoric ofRomanità: Representations of Caesar in Fascist Theatre".Julius Caesar in Western Culture. Ed. Maria Wyke. Blackwell Publishing, 2006.ISBN978-1-4051-5471-0.
