The men's parallel bars event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

[3] The event was won by Romeo Neri of Italy, the nation's first victory in the men's parallel bars.

Eight of the 15 gymnast had competed in the Olympics before: Mario Lertora of Italy had finished fifth in 1924 and tied for seventh (with Mauri Nyberg-Noroma of Finland) in 1928.

Along with those two seventh-place finishers, other returning gymnasts from 1924 were Romeo Neri of Italy, Heikki Savolainen of Finland, István Pelle and Miklós Péter of Hungary (the latter of whom had finished last in 1928), and Al Jochim and Frank Haubold of the United States.

The United States made its fourth appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 Games.