1908 in the United States

January – March

• January 1 – Bill Tapia, musician (died 2011)
• January 11 – Lionel Stander, actor (died 1994)
• January 14 – Russ Columbo, singer, bandleader, and composer (died 1934)
• January 17 – Cus D'Amato, boxing trainer (died 1985)
• January 27 – Oran "Hot Lips" Page, Jazz musician (died 1954)
• February 2 – Justice M. Chambers, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1982)
• February 5 – Edith Ceccarelli, supercentenarian (died 2024)
• February 10 – Charles Henri Ford, novelist, poet, filmmaker, photographer and collage artist (died 2002)
• February 13 – Pauline Frederick, journalist (died 1990)
• February 17 – Red Barber, baseball announcer and sports journalist (died 1992)
• February 25 – George Duning, film composer (died 2000)
• February 26 – Tex Avery, Cartoonist (died 1980)
• February 29 – Dee Brown, writer and historian (died 2002)
• March 4 – T.R.M. Howard, African-American civil rights leader and surgeon (died 1976)
• March 5 – Irving Fiske, American playwright, WPA writer and speaker; co-created Quarry Hill Creative Center in Rochester, Vermont, early children's rights activist; died 1990)
• March 13 – Walter Annenberg, Publisher and philanthropist (died 2002)
• March 20
  • Kermit Murdock, actor (died 1981)
  • Frank Stanton, businessman (died 2006)
• March 22 – Louis L'Amour, author (died 1988)
• March 26 – Henry (Hank) Sylvern, Radio personality (died 1964)
• March 29 – Arthur O'Connell, Actor (died 1981)

April – June

• April 1 – Abraham Maslow, psychologist (died 1970)^[7]
• April 2 – Buddy Ebsen, actor and dancer (died 2003)
• April 4
  • Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, author (died 2006)
  • Frances Ford Seymour, socialite (died 1950)
• April 5 – Bette Davis, actress (died 1989)
• April 6 – John P. Davies, diplomat (died 1999)
• April 15 – eden ahbez, musician (died 1995)
• April 20 – Lionel Hampton, African-American musician and bandleader (died 2002)
• April 25 – Edward R. Murrow, Journalist (died 1965)
• April 29 – Jack Williamson, science fiction author (died 2006)
• May 3 – Howard Cary, American engineer & founder of Cary Instruments (died 1991)
• May 10 – Helen Elsie Austin, American attorney (died 2004)
• May 20 – James Stewart, actor (died 1997)
• May 23
  • Max Abramovitz, architect (died 2004)
  • John Bardeen, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1991)
• May 25 – Theodore Roethke, poet (died 1963)
• May 30 – Mel Blanc, voice actor (died 1989)^[8]
• May 31 – Don Ameche, actor (died 1993)
• June 13 – Marjorie F. Lambert, archaeologist & anthropologist (died 2006)
• June 18 – Bud Collyer, voice actor and game show host (died 1969)
• June 20 – Billy Werber, baseball player (died 2009)
• June 21
  • William Frankena, moral philosopher (died 1994)
  • Marjorie Gladman, tennis player (died 1999)
• June 23 – Karl Warner, athlete (died 1995)
• June 25
  • Joe Becker, baseball player (died 1998)
  • Willard Van Orman Quine, philosopher (died 2000)^[9]
• June 26 – William F. Knowland, United States Senator from California from 1945 till 1959. Politician and newspaperman (died 1974)
• June 27
  • Bill Kennedy, actor (died 1997)
  • Charles Stevenson, philosopher (died 1979)
• June 29
  • Leroy Anderson, composer (died 1975)
  • Sally Haley, painter (died 2007)
• June 30 – Eunice Norton, pianist (died 2005)

July – September

• July 1 – Alvino Rey, swing era musician and bandleader (died 2004)
• July 3 – M. F. K. Fisher, food writer (died 1992)
• July 5
  • Lyman S. Ayres II, businessman (died 1996)
  • Don Dunphy, television and radio sports announcer (died 1998)
• July 8 – Nelson A. Rockefeller, 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 and 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977 (died 1979)
• July 12 – Milton Berle, comedian (died 2002)
• July 19 – Daniel Fry, contactee (died 1992)
• July 21
  • William E. Jenner, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1947 to 1959 (died 1985)
  • Jug McSpaden, professional golfer (died 1996)
  • Magruder Tuttle, rear admiral, football player (died 1998)
• July 22 – Claire Falkenstein, sculptor, painter, printmaker, jewelry designer and teacher (died 1997)
• July 23
  • Karl Swenson, actor (died 1978)
  • James C. Tison Jr., admiral and civil engineer (died 1991)
• July 25 – Kathryn Eames, actress (died 2004)
• July 27 – Joseph Mitchell, writer (died 1996)
• July 31 – Bill Shadel, Radio and TV news anchor (died 2005)
• August 2 – Al Alquist, California politician (died 2006)
• August 9 – A. I. Bezzerides, screenwriter (died 2007)
• August 16
  • Orlando Cole, classical cellist and educator (died 2010)
  • William Maxwell, novelist and editor (died 2000)** Miriam Rosen Minsker, centenarian^[10] (died 2017)
• August 20 – Al López, baseball player and manager (died 2005)
• August 21 – Tom Tully, actor (died 1982)
• August 27 – Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969, 37th vice president of the United States from 1961 to 1963 (died 1973)
• August 28 – Roger Tory Peterson, naturalist, artist and educator (died 1996)
• August 30 – Fred MacMurray, actor (died 1991)
• August 31 – William Saroyan, fiction writer (died 1981)
• September 2 – Ruth Bancroft, landscape and garden designer (died 2017)
• September 4 – Richard Wright, African-American author (died 1960)
• September 6 – Korczak Ziolkowski, sculptor (died 1982)
• September 7
  • Paul Brown, football coach (died 1991)
  • Michael E. DeBakey, surgeon and medical researcher (died 2008)
• September 10 – Raymond Scott, composer, bandleader, electronic music pioneer (died 1994)
• September 13 – Mae Questel, actress (died 1998)^[11]
• September 15 – Penny Singleton, actress (died 2003)
• September 16 – Neil Reagan, radio station manager, and CBS senior producer (died 1996)
• September 29 – Eddie Tolan, athlete (died 1967)^[12]

October – December

• October 6 – Carole Lombard, film actress (died 1942)
• October 9 – Lee Wiley, jazz singer (died 1975)
• October 14 – Ruth Hale, playwright and actress (died 2003)
• October 15 – Herman Chittison, pianist (died 1967)
• October 20
  • Geraldine Branch, gynecologist (died 2016)
  • Carl Stuart Hamblen, musician and presidential candidate (died 1989)
• October 22 – John Gould, humorist, essayist and columnist (died 2003)
• October 25 – Polly Ann Young, actress (died 1997)
• October 27 – Lee Krasner, American painter (died 1984)
• November 1 – Felix Knight, actor, tenor, and vocal coach (Babes in Toyland (1934)) (died 1998)
• November 12 – Harry Blackmun, judge (died 1999)
• November 14 – Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (died 1957)
• November 18 – Imogene Coca, actress (died 2001)
• November 20 – Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (died 2004)
• November 23 – Nelson S. Bond, science fiction writer (died 2006)
• November 28 – Mary Oppen, activist, artist, photographer and writer (died 1990)
• November 29 – Adam Clayton Powell Jr., politician (died 1972)
• December 3 – Edward Underdown, actor (died 1989)
• December 4 – Alfred Hershey, bacteriologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997)
• December 6 – Baby Face Nelson, bank robber (died 1934)
• December 7 – Slim Bryant, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist (died 2010)
• December 11 – Elliott Carter, composer (died 2012)
• December 14 – Morey Amsterdam, actor and comedian (died 1996)
• December 16 – Frances Day, actress and singer (died 1984)
• December 17 – Willard Libby, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1980)
• December 21 – Herbert Hutner, banker and lawyer (died 2008)
• December 23 – Sol Carter, baseball player (died 2006)