1908 births

Musa Jane McKim Guston (née McKim; August 23, 1908 – March 30, 1992), was a painter and poet. Born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, McKim spent much of her youth in Panama. During the Great Depression, she worked under the Section of Fine Arts, painting murals in public buildings, including a Post Office building in Waverly, New York. She was the wife of New York School artist Philip Guston, whom she met while attending the Otis Art Institute. In cooperation with him, she painted a mural in a United States Forest Service building in Laconia, New Hampshire, and panels which were placed aboard United States Maritime Commission ships. After her painting career, she wrote poetry, publishing her work in small literary magazines. Along with her husband and daughter, she lived in Iowa City, Iowa and New York City, eventually settling in Woodstock, New York. Her younger sister was Olympic swimmer Josephine McKim (1910-1992).

Nancy Hamilton (July 27, 1908 - February 18, 1985) was an American actress, playwright, lyricist, director and producer.

John "Bull" Karcis (December 3, 1908 – September 4, 1973) was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and New York Giants. Karcis was also the head coach for the Detroit Lions in 1942. He played college football at Carnegie Tech.
Karcis served as coach of the Lions in 1942 after Bill Edwards was fired three games into the season. It was a season of disaster for the team, which had player shortages due to World War II that took out talent. In his eight games as coach, Karcis lost each one, with the Lions being shutout three times. The most points scored by the team during his tenure was 7, which was done four times.Karcis was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame.

Hildegarde Dolson Lockridge (1908–1981) was a prolific writer whose career spanned nearly fifty years. Her work appeared in major magazines, plus she was the author of fifteen books—all published under her maiden name of Hildegarde Dolson.

Ensil Ross Allen (January 2, 1908 – May 17, 1981) was an American herpetologist and writer who was based in Silver Springs, Florida for 46 years, where he established the Reptile Institute. He used it for research and education about alligators, crocodiles and snakes, also sponsoring and conducting collection expeditions.
Allen founded and was first president of the International Crocodile Society. In his research with snakes, he developed many anti-venoms, including a dried form, and professionally milked venoms for venomous snakes, which was particularly important for protecting United States forces during World War II. He mixed entertainment and science at his Institute.

William Edward "Butch" Hanford (December 9, 1908 – January 27, 1996) was an American chemist who is best known for developing the modern process to make multipurpose material polyurethane. Hanford's most notable discovery occurred while working with fellow chemist Donald Fletcher Holmes at DuPont. On June 2, 1942, Hanford was awarded a patent for his process. Currently, this method is responsible for manufacturing many of the plastics that are used in medicine, the automotive industry, and consumer products. Hanford's later accomplishments included the development of the first liquid household detergent and a new kind of ammunition for Winchester-Western Company. For his work, Hanford was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991. The New York Times has noted that Hanford's developments were "monumental."

Richard Pitts Powell (November 28, 1908 – December 8, 1999) was an American novelist.

John Paton Davies Jr. (April 6, 1908 – December 23, 1999) was an American diplomat and Medal of Freedom recipient. He was one of the China Hands, whose careers in the Foreign Service were ended by McCarthyism and the reaction to the loss of China.

Carolina Amor de Fournier (1908–1993) was a Mexican editor, writer and translator. She was a founder of the Mexican scientific publishing company, La Prensa Médica Mexicana, and for many years, served as its director and editor. She was also co-founder in 1965 of Siglo XXI Editores. In 1980, she received the Merito Editorial. Born in Mexico City, her parents were Carolina Schmidtlein y García Teruel (of German and Spanish origin) and Emmanuel Amor Subervielle (of Spanish and French origin). Amor had six siblings. Her sister, Guadalupe Amor, was a poet, her sister, Inés Amor an important Mexican galerist and her niece, Elena Poniatowska Amor, was a writer. Amor died in Mexico City.

Néstor Mesta Cháyres (aka Nestor Chaires, Ciudad Lerdo, February 26, 1908 - Mexico City, June 29, 1971) was an acclaimed tenor in Mexico and a noted interpreter of Spanish songs, boleros and Mexican romantic music on the international concert stage. He was widely commended for his artistic renditions of the works of Agustín Lara and María Grever and was nicknamed "El Gitano de México".