may 6, 1937 - Hindenburg Disaster: Nazi Blimp force to use Hydrogen due to Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes obstructed the export of helium under the guise of national security

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"Navy was directed to procure all of its helium from the government owned plant. This, despite testimony by Navy, War and Commerce Secretaries to the effect that they felt long-range advantages would accrue by the government obtaining at least a part of its helium requirements from the commercial supplier. This concern, thus denied the privilege of selling the only substantial user of helium, was definitely “squeezed.” They continued to produce helium and sell commercial users, including medical and foreign customers. They continued desultory operations until about 1933 and at the same tie continued a legislative battle for a share of government business, or else to have the government take over their plants and make the government “monopoly” complete. Their pleas gained support and as authorized in the 1937 Helium Act, the government bought, and then closed the Helium Co.’s plants."
-"Helium Through W.W.‘s I and II" by CAPTAIN GARLAND FULTON 1965

By the late 1930s, the sale of helium to Germany had become less a military than a political issue. For two decades helium occupied a position at the intersection of earth science, military policy, technology, and diplomacy. When the Nazis took power, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes obstructed the export of helium under the guise of national security. In this case, United States policy was not determined by military considerations but by the opportunity to undermine a powerful national symbol--rigid airships--with which many Germans had come to identify.
-The Development and Politicization of the American Helium Industry, 1917-1940 by Martin L Levitt

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