# What ONE name comes immediately to mind when you hear "1930's"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 9, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900 "2014-02-09T17:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/21 "2014-02-09T19:32:42Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Dillinger. > > (HItler? Really? His history runs from the 20s to the 40s and seems firmly locked in the latter.) This was my pick after I had started the thread. But I waited for somebody else to mention him first. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/22 "2014-02-09T20:10:29Z")
Herbert Hoover ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/23 "2014-02-09T20:26:36Z")
King Kong 1933. What can I say? I was raised on that film. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/24 "2014-02-09T20:29:21Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Bonnie and Well don’t keep us in suspense. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/25 "2014-02-09T20:36:51Z")
Another FDR. Then Hoover. Third would be Shirley Temple. (C’mon, people–I can’t be the only one who watches old movies!) ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/26 "2014-02-09T20:43:29Z")
Amelia Earhart. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/27 "2014-02-09T20:59:28Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > This was my pick after I had started the thread. But I waited for somebody else to mention him first. > [@Bozuit](#): > > Sorry, but another Hitler for me. He took power in the '30s and started the Second World War in the '30s. The '40s was more about the war itself, and the aftermath, than Hitler (for me) and the '20s seem much less important. I just don’t see Hitler as shaping the 1930s, outside of Germany and generalized war fears. (The war did not start until September 1939). I’d put him way behind many of the others mentioned, but it’d be a tossup between him and FDR for the 40s. Huh. > [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Bonnie and > [@Shagnasty](#): > > Well don’t keep us in suspense. Trots, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/28 "2014-02-09T21:03:30Z")
Lucky Luciano. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mr.Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Me)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/29 "2014-02-09T21:05:54Z")
Cab Calloway ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/30 "2014-02-09T21:11:08Z")
Amelia Earhart. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/31 "2014-02-09T21:15:12Z")
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/32 "2014-02-09T21:17:48Z")
Another one for Hitler. FDR makes a lot more sense, but Hitler came to my mind first. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/33 "2014-02-09T21:19:50Z")
Hoover for me. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/34 "2014-02-09T21:35:39Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Dillinger. > > (HItler? Really? His history runs from the 20s to the 40s and seems firmly locked in the latter.) > [@Zeldar](#): > > This was my pick after I had started the thread. But I waited for somebody else to mention him first. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I just don’t see Hitler as shaping the 1930s, outside of Germany and generalized war fears. (The war did not start until September 1939). I’d put him way behind many of the others mentioned, but it’d be a tossup between him and FDR for the 40s. Huh. > > Trots, of course. I just wanted to make it clear that I was quoting (and agreeing with) the Dillinger part of **Amateur Barbarian** ’s post. Hitler is a 1940’s dude for me. Dillinger, along with the gangsters and hoodlums that were all characters on _The Untouchables_ (Robert Stack TV series), is how my first thoughts of that period start. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/35 "2014-02-09T21:41:44Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I just don’t see Hitler as shaping the 1930s, outside of Germany and generalized war fears. (The war did not start until September 1939). I’d put him way behind many of the others mentioned, but it’d be a tossup between him and FDR for the 40s. Huh. Well, the thread was what figure comes to mind, not which is the most influential or logical. For me, the impact of Hitler on my family was so great that the run up to his power and the subsequent war always comes first to mnd for the 30s and 40s. It wasn’t just the war. The Neurenberg laws were in 1935, Kristalnacht was 1938 and my parents’ hometown in Poland was occupied and turned into a ghetto in 1939. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/36 "2014-02-09T22:06:45Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Well don’t keep us in suspense. Thread title… **What ONE name comes immediately to mind when you hear “1930’s”?** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/37 "2014-02-09T22:08:50Z")
Roosevelt. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/38 "2014-02-09T22:10:47Z")
As a Canadian, the first name that popped in to my mind was R. B. Bennett, Prime Minister of Canada from 1930-1935. During the Depression, when people couldn’t afford gas for their cars, they used horses to pull them and derisively called them [Bennett Buggies](http://www.saskarchives.com/node/281). His pro-business, anti-welfare policies did not make him popular among the masses of poor and unemployed. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/39 "2014-02-09T22:11:42Z")
I thought of Capone first. I just saw him mentioned on a program this morning though. So probably why. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900/40 "2014-02-09T22:15:50Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Well, the thread was what figure comes to mind, not which is the most influential or logical. I can live with that, and wouldn’t dispute that Dolphie’s ascendance stretched across the '30s. Dillinger came to mind for me because of a longtime fascination with the Depression gangsters (who as an adult I finally realized were murderous thugs, no more to be admired than Captain Swastika). I am still in the camp that thinks John D. survived the Biograph shooting and lived out a normal life under an assumed name. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-name-comes-immediately-to-mind-when-you-hear-1930s/680900.md?page=3)