* 1939 – John W. Snow, American politician, 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury

* 1939 – John Badham, American director

* 1939 – John Peel, English radio host and producer ( d. 2004 )

* 1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press.

* 1939 – John Amos, American actor

* 1939 – John Grieb, American gymnast and athlete ( b. 1879 )

Early films, including those from the silent era, which feature the station include Traffic in Souls ( 1913 ), which starred Matt Moore ; The Yellow Passport ( 1916 ), starring Clara Kimball Young ; My Boy ( 1921 ), starring Jackie Coogan ; Frank Capra's The Strong Man ( 1926 ), starring Harry Langdon ; We Americans ( 1928 ), starring John Boles ; The Mating Call ( film ), 1928, co-starring Thomas Meighan and Renée Adorée ; Ellis Island ( 1936 ), starring Donald Cook ; Paddy O ' Day ( 1936 ), starring Jane Withers ; Gateway ( 1938 ), starring Don Ameche ; Exile Express ( 1939 ), which starred Anna Sten ; I, Jane Doe ( 1948 ), starring Ruth Hussey and Vera Ralston, and Gambling House ( 1951 ), starring Victor Mature

John Dewey and English Education ( 1895 – 1939 ).

On 25 January 1939, a Columbia University team conducted the first nuclear fission experiment in the United States, which was done in the basement of Pupin Hall ; the members of the team were Herbert L. Anderson, Eugene T. Booth, John R. Dunning, Enrico Fermi, G. Norris Glasoe, and Francis G. Slack.

* 1939 – John Fahey, American steel-string acoustic guitarist ( d. 2001 )

Other leading films included Mr. Deeds Goes to Town ( 1936 ), Lost Horizon ( 1937 ), You Can't Take It With You ( 1938 ), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ( 1939 ), Meet John Doe ( 1941 ), Arsenic and Old Lace ( 1944 ), It's a Wonderful Life ( 1946 ) and State of the Union ( 1948 ).

In 1939, John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry of Iowa State University developed the Atanasoff – Berry Computer ( ABC ), The Atanasoff-Berry Computer was the world's first electronic digital computer.

* John Ford Messer ( 1889 – 1949 ), Canadian local-level legislator ; served as Conservative member of New Brunswick Legislative Assembly from 1939 to 1944

* 1939 – John Howard, Australian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Australia

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE ( 30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004 ), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist.

* 1939 – John Negroponte, American diplomat, 1st Director of National Intelligence

In order to enter at a talent competition at University High School, Berry and Torrence helped form a doo-wop group known as " The Barons " ( named after their high school's Hi-Y club, where they were members ), which comprised fellow University High students William " Chuck " Steele ( lead singer ), Arnold P. " Arnie " Ginsburg ( born November 19, 1939 ) ( 1st tenor ), Wallace S. " Wally " Yagi ( born 20 July 1940 ) ( 2nd tenor ), John ' Sagi " Seligman ( 2nd tenor ), with Berry singing bass, and Torrence providing falsetto.

* John Brown ( American football ) ( born 1939 ), NFL player

* John Nash ( footballer ) ( 1867 – 1939 ), English footballer

* John Walker ( painter ) ( born 1939 ), nominee for the Turner Prize in 1985

* 1939 John Fante's " Ask the Dust "

Lee Harvey Oswald ( October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963 ) was, according to four government investigations, the sniper who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

* 1903 – John Harron, American actor ( d. 1939 )

* 1879 – John Grieb, American gymnast and athlete ( d. 1939 )

Rural flight from the Great Plains has been depicted in literature, such as John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath ( 1939 ), in which a family from the Great Plains migrates to California during the Dust Bowl period of the 1930s.

The work of independent artists, such as American novelist John Steinbeck's novels Of Mice and Men ( 1937 ) and The Grapes of Wrath ( 1939 ), and the music of folk singer Woody Guthrie, was also influenced by the crises of the Dust Bowl and the Depression.

Early in his career, Meredith attracted favorable attention, especially for playing George in a 1939 adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and as war correspondent Ernie Pyle in The Story of G. I.

John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize for its controversial characterization of the Okie lifestyle and journey to California.

It is the third movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1937 novel of the same name, and was preceded by the 1939 film version and the 1981 television movie.

In John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, the character Ma Joad refers several times to Pretty Boy Floyd as a young man driven to a tragic fate by the Great Depression.

The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939.

It was photographed by Gregg Toland, later famed for his cinematography on films such as Citizen Kane ( 1941 ) and The Grapes of Wrath ( 1939 ).

The wide-shouldered 6 ' 2 " Bond appears in more of the films on both the original and the tenth anniversary edition of the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies lists than any other actor, albeit always as a supporting player: It Happened One Night ( 1934 ), Bringing Up Baby ( 1938 ), Gone with the Wind ( 1939 ), The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ), The Maltese Falcon ( 1941 ), It's a Wonderful Life ( 1946 ) and The Searchers ( 1956 ).

Arrowsmith ( 1931 / 32 ), Lady for a Day ( 1933 ), It Happened One Night ( 1934 ), You Can't Take It with You ( 1938 ), Gone with the Wind ( 1939 ), The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ), The Maltese Falcon ( 1941 ), Sergeant York ( 1941 ), It's a Wonderful Life ( 1946 ), The Quiet Man ( 1952 ) and Mister Roberts ( 1955 ).

Charley Ellsworth Grapewin ( December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956 ) was an American vaudeville performer and a stage and film actor, who portrayed Uncle Henry in MGM's The Wizard of Oz ( 1939 ) and Grandpa Joad in the film The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ).

Their plight gained national attention through the 1939 novel and film The Grapes of Wrath.

* Tom Joad, a fictional character from the 1939 John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath and the 1940 movie of the same name

* The Grapes of Wrath, a 1939 novel by John Steinbeck

Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body comes immediately to mind in this connection, as does John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath and Carl Sandburg's The People, Yes.

Guilt is a main theme in John Steinbeck's East of Eden, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Tennessee Williams ' A Streetcar Named Desire, William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Edgar Allan Poe's " The Tell-Tale Heart " and " The Black Cat ", and many other works of literature.

* In John Steinbeck's novel The Winter of Our Discontent, the protagonist Ethan Hawley describes a mandrake root in his family's collection of curios collected on whaling voyages, "[...] We even had a mandrake root-a perfect little man, sprouted from the death-ejected sperm of a hanged man [...]".

The road popularized through John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Bobby Troup's "( Get Your Kicks On ) Route 66 " would be marketed not as transportation infrastructure but as a tourism destination in its own right.

** John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath is first published.

Bradbury has credited Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath as influences on the structure of the book.

Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced suites for John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt.

* John Steinbeck's short-story The Chrysanthemums

In 1955, he directed John Steinbeck's East of Eden, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences, making him an overnight star.

After the success of On the Waterfront he went on to direct the screen adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, East of Eden in 1955.

Woman of the Year was followed by an adaptation of John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat ( 1942 ) which met with a tepid response.

He made his Hollywood debut in 1935, and his career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, a 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl.

Fonda's successes led Ford to recruit him to play " Tom Joad " in the film version of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath ( 1940 ).

A TV-movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, 1973's The Red Pony, earned Fonda an Emmy nomination.

Newman was scheduled to make his professional stage directing debut with the Westport Country Playhouse's 2008 production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, but he stepped down on May 23, 2008, citing health issues.

* In John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden, the atmosphere of Jenny's whorehouse is described as " tavern bacchanalianism ".

The staff at Variety magazine also reviewed the film favorably, writing, " Under skillful directorial guidance of Lewis Milestone, the picture retains all of the forceful and poignant drama of John Steinbeck's original play and novel, in presenting the strange palship and eventual tragedy of the two California ranch itinerants.

* John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Rachel and the Stranger ( 1948 ) featured Mitchum in a supporting role as a mountain man competing for the hand of Loretta Young, the indentured servant and wife of William Holden, while he appeared in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella The Red Pony ( 1949 ) as a trusted cowhand to a ranching family.

Cannery Row was the setting of John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row ( 1945 ) and Sweet Thursday ( 1954 ).

Ricketts, whose life was an inspiration for the eventual building of the aquarium, is famous as the " Doc " of John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.

In 2003, the company revived Pinafore, followed by Bea Arthur at The Savoy, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Peter Pan and Pirates.