- Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany.
February 15 - A gunman, Giuseppe Zingara, tries to assassinate Presidentelect Franklin Roosevelt. The Mayor of Chicago is hit and later dies.
March 4 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States.
March 5 - The Nazi party wins 288 votes in the German General election, more than twice the number gained by their rivals the Social Democrats.
March 12 - President Roosevelt's first "Fireside Chat" to the American people broadcast on the radio.
April 19 - President Roosevelt announces the removal of the U.S. dollar from the Gold Standard.
November 17 - The U.S. recognizes the Soviet Union and begins trade.
General
Roosevelt's "New Deal" legislation includes:
- The Agricultural Adjustment Act
- Federal Securities Act
- The Federal Emergency Relief Act
- National Industrial Recovery Act
Germany opens "concentration" camps for enemies of the regime.
In December Prohibition is repealed (21st Amendment).
1934
March 24
- The Tydings-McDuffe Act establishes the independence of the Philippines from the U.S.A. from 1945.
June 29-30 - "The Night of the Long Knives" in Germany. Hitler purges the S.A. and its leader Ernst Rohm, executing many of his rivals.
August 6 - U.S. marines withdraw from Haiti after 19 years of military occupation.
General
Heinrich Himmler takes control of the secret police in Germany.
A Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation is set up to reduce the number of farm closures.
The Fraternal Council of Negro Churches is established to campaign for social change.
Fugitives Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are killed by police in Chicago.
Golfs U.S. Masters is played at Augusta Georgia for the first time.
1935
March 16
- Germany introduces conscription, contravening the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles.
September 15 - At the Nazi Party's Nuremburg rally, Adolf Hitler proclaims the anti-Jewish "Nuremhurg Laws". They restrict Jewish employment, marriage to non-Jews and sexual relations with non-Jews. The swastika becomes the national flag.
October 2 - Italy invades Ethiopia.
General
The National Labor Relations Act outlaws unfair practices by employers and establishes the right to form trade unions.
Storms exacerbate the "dust bowl" in the America mid-west.
More "New Deal" legislation is introduced in the U.S. by Roosevelt, including:
- The Resettlement Administration.
- Rural Electrification Administration.
- The Social Security Act.
James J. Braddock wins the heavyweight boxing title from Max Baer.
1936
March 7
- German troops occupy the de-militarized area of the Rhineland in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles.
July 17 - An army mutiny in Spanish Morocco, led by Francisco Franco, ignites the Spanish Civil War.
November 3 - Roosevelt is re-elected as U.S. president with 523 electoral college votes. His opponent, the Republican Alfred London, wins only 8 votes.
December 11 - Edward VIII abdicates the British throne in the crisis created by his desire to marry Wallis Simpson. His brother becomes King George VI.
General
The Hoover Dam opens on the Colorado river.
1937
April 27
- The German Condor Legion bomb Guernica in the Spanish Civil War.
May 6 - The German airship "Hindenburg" explodes whilst landing in New Jersey. 36 people are killed.
August 8 - The Japanese attack Shanghai in the Sino-Japan war.
December 5 - Japanese troop captures Nanking. Atrocity known as the Rape of Nanking ensues with loss of 250,000 lives.
General
The National Housing Act creates the United State Housing Authority to help make housing more affordable to low income families.
The Golden Gate bridge opens in San Francisco.
Joe Louis wins the heavyweight boxing title.
1938
February 4
- Hitler makes himself Commander in Chief of the army.
March 12 - German troops enter Austria.
September 29/30 - Prime Ministers Chamberlain (Britain) and Daladier (France) agree to allow the German occupation of the Sudetenland (German speaking region of Czechoslovakia), at the Munich Conference.
November 9/10 - "Kristall nacht" in Germany. Jewish homes, synagogues and shops are looted and burned.
General
A minimum wage (40 cents/hr) is established in the U.S. under the Labor Standards Act.
Hysteria is caused in the U.S. by Orson Welles' CBS radio broadcast of his play, War of the Worlds.
1939
January 26
- Barcelona falls to Franco in the Spanish Civil War. His new government is recognized a month later by France and Britain. The U.S. recognizes the Nationalist regime on April 1.
April 7 - Spain joins Italy, Germany and Japan in the Anti-Comintern Pact
May 22 - Hitler and Mussolini sign a 10-year alliance, the "Pact of Steel."
July 16 - The United States revokes its 1911 trade agreement with Japan.
August 23 - The Nazi-Soviet Pact with secret clauses for the carve-up of Eastern Europe is signed.
August 23 - British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain warns Hitler that Britain will stand by Poland.
September 1 - Germany invades Poland.
September 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany.
September 17 - The Soviet Union invades Poland from the East.
September 28 - The Polish army offers its formal surrender to the Germans.
November 4 - President Roosevelt amends the 1937 Neutrality Act, allowing Britain and France to purchase arms on a "cash and carry" basis.
General
Albert Einstein writes to President Roosevelt, warning of the dangers of German atomic power prompting an acceleration in atomic research and the beginnings of the Manhattan Project.
Lou Gehrig retires after making 2,130 appearances for the New Yankees.
NBC begins the first regular television service in the U.S.
1940
April 9
- German troops invade Norway and Denmark.
May 10 - Germany invades Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg and outflanks the French border fortifications, the "Maginot Line", by attacking through the reputedly impenetrable Ardennes forest.
May 26-June 4 - Over 300,000 British and French troops, trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk by the German advance, are evacuated in a remarkable recovery operation.
June 22 - France concludes an armistice with Germany. The country is divided into a zone of German occupation in the north and west and an area of French control administered from Vichy.
August 15 - As the aerial battle for supremacy between the Luftwaffe and the British Royal Air Force intensifies over southern England, the R.A.F. shoot down 180 German planes.
September 7 - The first massive bombing raids on London, the "Blitz" begins.
November 5 - President Roosevelt is elected for an unprecedented third term by 449 electoral college votes, to opponent Wendell Wilkie's 82.
General
The French government at Vichy strips Jews of citizenship and bans them from public service.
Nylon stockings, Colonel Sanders "Kentucky Fried Chicken" and the Willy's jeep are introduced in the U.S.
1941
March 11
- President Roosevelt's LendLease Bill is finally signed. It allows for massive sales of aid to allies whose security is vital to American interests.
April 6 - Hitler invades Greece and Yugoslavia.
June 22 - Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion force in history, is launched against the Soviet Union as Germany attacks with three army groups.
July 26 - Roosevelt freezes all Japanese assets in the U.S. and levies embargoes on Japan.
July 27 - The German army reaches the Ukraine, deep into the Soviet Union.
August 14 - Roosevelt and Churchill sign the Atlantic Charter.
October 1 - The Germans close in on Moscow. The Soviet government leaves Moscow, but Joseph Stalin stays behind.
November 13 - The U.S. Congress amends the Neutrality Act, allowing U.S. merchants to enter war zones and be armed.
December 5 - Winter tightens its grip in the Russian heartland and after holding two German attempts to capture Moscow, the Soviet Red Army launches a counter-offensive.
December 7 - Japanese imperial forces launch a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
December 8 - U.S. and Britain declares war on Japan.
December 11 - Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S..
December 25 - Hong Kong surrenders to Japan.
General
As the German army advances in Eastern Europe, special units begin the systematic elimination of Jews.
Roosevelt establishes the Fair Employment Practices Commission to investigate racial discrimination in employment.
The Mount Rushmore Memorial in Vermont is completed.
1942
January 1
- 26 nations sign the Declaration of the United Nations, forming a coalition against the Axis powers.
January 11 - Japanese forces capture Kuala Lumpur in Malaya.
February 15 - Over 70,000 British and Commonwealth troops are captured as the British garrison surrenders at Singapore.
April 9 - U.S. and Philippines forces surrender on Bataan.
April 18 - Famous "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo shatter Japanese myth of impregnability of the mainland.
May 4 - Battle of the Coral Sea.
May 6 - Beginning of the Bataan Death March.
June 4 - In the Battle of Midway, U.S. planes sink four Japanese aircraft carriers.
June 21 - Erwin Kommel's Afrika Korps take the vital British stronghold at Tobruk in Libya.
July 28 - The Germans capture Rostov and much of the Northern Caucasus.
August 7 - United States marines capture Henderson Airfield on Guadalcanal and hold it against Japanese counterattacks.
September 13 - The crucial Battle for Stalingrad begins. Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad become the rocks of Soviet resistance on the Eastern Front.
October 23 - The German army suffers its first defeat against British forces at El Alamein in North Africa.
November 7 - In Operation Torch, Allied forces land in Morocco and Algeria under the command of General Eisenhower.
General
U.S. automobile production is suspended to maximise war production.
Gasoline and sugar are rationed and "Victory Gardens" are introduced to increase food production.
The War Relocation Authority begins to move over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast into internment camps.
In Chicago, physicist Enrico Fermi creates the first controlled chain-reaction in a nuclear reactor.
1943
January 2
- The German army begins to retreat from the Caucasus.
January 12 - At the Casablanca Conference Churchill and Roosevelt agree to pursue an unconditional German and Japanese surrender.
January 31 - The German army defending Stalingrad surrenders.
May 11 - At the Washington Conference, Roosevelt and Churchill agree on an invasion strategy for Europe. The Mediterranean will come first, through Sicily and then mainland Italy, followed by an invasion in northern Europe.
May 11 - U.S. forces land in the Aleutian Islands.
July 10 - Operation Husky: British and American forces land on Sicily.
July 25 - Benito Mussolini is removed as Italy's Prime Minister and replaced by Badoglio.
September 3 - Italy offers its unconditional surrender, leaving the German army to light alone in the defense of the Italian Peninsular.
September 9 - Allied forces land at Salerno.
November 1 - U.S. Marines begin to recapture territory in the Solomon Islands.
November 28 - At the Tehran Conference, Churchill and Roosevelt brief Stalin on the plans for the Allied invasion of France.
General
The U.S. congress approves the "PayAs-You-Go" scheme whereby employers will deduct income tax from salaries and wages.
Race riots break out in Detroit, following large-scale African American migrations to the north.
1944
January 22
- U.S. and British troops land at Anzio in Italy.
March 6 - U.S. bombers begin daylight raids on Berlin.
May 18 - German resistance at Monte Cassino finally ends. The defeat allows the Allies to break out from Anzio.
June 4 - Allied forces enter Rome.
These Were the Big Days
By the Associated Press
click image to enlarge
Published in THE STARS AND STRIPES
Tuesday, May 8, 1945
June 6 - Operation Overload begins on "D-Day". Allied troops land on five assault beaches in Normandy.
July 15 - U.S. forces capture Saipan in the Marianas.
July 20 - Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt as a bomb explodes dose to him at Rastenberg in East Prussia.
August 10 - U.S. forces liberate Guam.
August 14 - Operation Dragoon, Allies land on the French Mediterranean coast.
August 24 - A French armoured unit enters Paris, followed by Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French.
September 17 - In Operation Market Garden, U.S. and British airborne troops attempt to seize vital bridges in the Netherlands.
October 25 - Battle of Leyte Gulf: the U.S. navy destroys four aircraft carriers, three battleships, ten cruisers and nine destroyers of the Japanese navy.
November 3 - President Roosevelt wins an unprecedented fourth term with 432 electoral votes to Thomas Dewey's 99.
November 24 - B-29 bombers fro tn Saipan begin heavy bombing raids on Tokyo.
December 16 - The Germans launch a counter-offensive, in the Ardennes, the "Battle of the Bulge."
General
An international conference at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC establishes the structure of a future United Nations.
A conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire establishes the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1945
February 4
- The Yalta Conference begins: the Allies prepare their plans for a post-war settlement.
February 19 - U.S. Marines attack Iwo Jima, fierce fighting ensues.
February 23 - Marines capture Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
March 26 - Iwo Jima is secured.
April 1 - U.S. forces begin their attack on Okinawa, the largest of the Japanese Ryuakyu islands.
April 12 - President Roosevelt dies at the age of 63. He is succeeded by VicePresident Harry S. Truman.
April 28 - Benito Mussolini and his mistress are shot by Italian partisans.
April 30 - After marrying his mistress Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin.
May 2 - Berlin surrenders to the Soviets.
May 8 - After the formal German surrender, Victory in Europe Day is declared.
July 4 - MacArthur announces liberation of the Philippines.
June 21 - U.S. achieve victory on Okinawa.
July 16 - Atom bomb successfully tested in New Mexico.
July 17 - The Potsdam Conference begins.
July 26 - Winston Churchill loses the British General election. The Labour Party wins by a landslide. Clement Attlee becomes Prime Minister.
August 6 - The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
August 8 - The U.S. drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
August 14 - The Japanese announce their unconditional surrender.
September 2 - Japan signs a formal surrender abound U.S.S Missouri.
General
The foundation of U.N.E.S.C.O., the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
click image to enlarge