From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of events
Events from the year 1940 in the United States .
Incumbents
Events
January–March
April–June
May 15: The first
McDonald's restaurant (photographed in 2005 ).
June 27: "100 Water Colors" show by
Federal Arts Project opens in New York City
April –
Dick Grayson (AKA as
Robin , the Boy Wonder) first appears with
Batman .
April 1 (
April Fools' Day ) – Census date for the
16th U.S. Census .
April 3 –
Isle Royale National Park is established in Michigan.
April 7 –
Booker T. Washington becomes the first
African American to be depicted on a United States
postage stamp .
April 12 – Opening day at Jamaica Racetrack features the use of pari-mutuel betting equipment, a departure from bookmaking heretofore used exclusively throughout New York state. Other NY tracks follow suit later in 1940.
April 13 –
New York Rangers win their Third
Stanley Cup in ice hockey (and last until 1994) by defeating the
Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 2.
April 21 –
Take It or Leave It makes it debut on
CBS Radio , with Bob Hawk as host.
April 23 –
Rhythm Club fire : A fire at the Rhythm Night Club in
Natchez, Mississippi kills 209.
May 15
May 16 – U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt , addressing a joint session of
Congress , asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900 million to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.
May 18 – The 6.9 Mw
El Centro earthquake affects California's Imperial Valley with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme ), causing nine deaths and twenty injuries. Financial losses are around $6 million. Significant damage also occurs in Mexicali, Mexico.
May 25 – The
Crypt of Civilization at
Oglethorpe University is sealed.
May 29 – The Vought XF4U-1, prototype of the
F4U Corsair U.S. fighter later used in
WWII , makes its first flight.
June 10 – U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his
"Stab in the Back" [
permanent dead link ] speech during the graduation ceremonies of the
University of Virginia .
June 14 – U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law, which aims to increase the
United States Navy 's tonnage by 11%.
June 16 – The
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time in
Sturgis, South Dakota .
June 22 – The first
Dairy Queen opens in
Edina, Minnesota .
June 24 – U.S. politics: The
Republican Party begins its national convention in
Philadelphia and nominates
Wendell Willkie as its candidate for president.
July–September
July 1 – The doomed
first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens for business, built with an 8-foot (2.4 m) girder and 190 feet (58 m) above the water, as the
third longest suspension bridge in the world.
July 15 – U.S. politics: The
Democratic Party begins its national convention in
Chicago and nominates
Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term as president.
July 20 – The
Arroyo Seco Parkway , one of the first
freeways built in the U.S., opens to traffic, connecting
downtown Los Angeles with
Pasadena, California .
July 25 –
WWII : President Roosevelt announces a ban on Japan acquiring high-octane aviation fuel from the United States. A ban is also placed on some grades of steel and scrap iron along with some lubricants being banned.
[2]
July 27 –
Bugs Bunny makes his debut in the
Oscar -nominated cartoon short,
A Wild Hare .
August 4 – Gen.
John J. Pershing , in a nationwide radio broadcast, urges all-out aid to
Britain in order to defend the Americas, while
Charles Lindbergh speaks to an
isolationist rally at
Soldier Field in
Chicago .
September – The
U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division (previously a National Guard Division in
Arizona ,
Colorado ,
New Mexico and
Oklahoma ), is activated and ordered into federal service for 1 year, to engage in a training program in
Ft. Sill and
Louisiana , prior to serving in
World War II .
September 2 –
WWII : An agreement between America and
Great Britain is announced to the effect that 50 U.S. destroyers needed for escort work will be transferred to Great Britain. In return, America gains 99-year leases on British bases in the
North Atlantic ,
West Indies and
Bermuda .
September 12 – The Hercules Munitions Plant in
Succasunna-Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
September 16 –
WWII : The
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 is signed into law by
Franklin D. Roosevelt , creating the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
September 26 –
WWII : The United States imposes a total
embargo on all scrap metal shipments to
Japan .
October–December
November 5:
FDR becomes the first and only president elected to a third term.
October 1 – The first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the country's first long-distance
controlled-access highway , is opened between
Irwin and
Carlisle .
October 8 – The
Cincinnati Reds defeat the
Detroit Tigers , 4 games to 3, to win their second World Series championship in baseball.
October 16 – The draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the United States.
October 29 – The
Selective Service System lottery is held in
Washington, D.C.
November 5 –
U.S. presidential election, 1940 :
Democratic incumbent
Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats
Republican challenger
Wendell Willkie and becomes the nation's first and only third-term president.
November 7 – In
Tacoma, Washington , the
Tacoma Narrows Bridge (nicknamed the "Galloping Gertie") collapses in a 42-mile-per-hour (68 km/h) wind storm, causing the center span of the bridge to sway. When it collapses, a 600-foot-long (180 m) design of the center span falls 190 feet above the water, killing
Tubby , a black male
cocker spaniel dog.
November 11 –
Armistice Day Blizzard : An unexpected
blizzard kills 144 in the
Midwest .
November 12 – Case of
Hansberry v. Lee ,
311
U.S.
32 (1940), decided, allowing a racially
restrictive covenant to be lifted.
November 13 –
Walt Disney 's third feature film,
Fantasia , is released. It is the first box office failure for Disney, though it recoups its cost years later and becomes one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films.
November 16 – An unexploded
pipe bomb is found in the
Consolidated Edison office building (only years later is the culprit,
George Metesky , apprehended).
December 8 – The
Chicago Bears , in what will become the most one-sided victory in
National Football League history, defeat the
Washington Redskins 73–0 in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.
December 17 – President
Franklin D. Roosevelt , at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain that will become known as
Lend-Lease .
December 20 –
1940 New Hampshire earthquakes : A 5.3 Mw earthquake shakes New England with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong ). This first event in a
doublet earthquake is followed four days later by a 5.6 Mw shock, but total damage from the events is light.
December 21 – Writer
F. Scott Fitzgerald (author of
The Great Gatsby ) dies of a heart attack aged 44 in the apartment of
Hollywood gossip columnist
Sheilah Graham , leaving his novel
The Last Tycoon unfinished.
December 29 –
Franklin D. Roosevelt , in a
fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great
Arsenal of Democracy ."
December 30 –
California 's first modern
freeway , the future
State Route 110 , opens to traffic in
Pasadena, California , as the
Arroyo Seco Parkway (later the Pasadena Freeway).
Undated
Births
January
James Cromwell
January 2 –
Jim Bakker , televangelist, sometime husband of
Tammy Faye
January 4 –
Helmut Jahn , German-American architect (d.
2021 )
January 6 –
Penny Lernoux , journalist and author (d.
1989 )
January 7 –
Jim Hannan , baseball player (d.
2024 )
January 13 –
Edmund White , author
January 14 –
Julian Bond , African-American civil rights activist (d.
2015 )
January 15 –
Arlie Russell Hochschild , professor emireta of sociology
January 20 –
Carol Heiss , figure skater
January 21
January 23 –
Jimmy Castor , African-American funk, R&B and soul saxophonist (d.
2012 )
January 27 –
James Cromwell , actor
January 28 –
Al Strobel , actor (d.
2022 )
January 29 –
Katharine Ross , actress
January 31 –
Stuart Margolin , actor (d.
2022 )
February
George A. Romero
Smokey Robinson
Peter Fonda
February 2 –
Odell Brown , jazz organist (d.
2011 )
February 3 –
Fran Tarkenton , American football player
February 4 –
George A. Romero , film writer and director (d.
2017 )
February 6 –
Tom Brokaw , television news reporter
February 8
February 12
February 14 –
James Maynard , businessman, co-founded
Golden Corral
February 15 –
John Hadl , American football player and coach
February 17
February 19 –
Smokey Robinson , African-American musician
February 21 –
John Lewis , African-American politician, civil rights leader (d.
2020 )
February 22 –
Billy Name , born William G. Linich, photographer and
Warhol archivist
February 23 –
Peter Fonda , actor (d.
2019 )
February 24
February 25 –
Ron Santo , baseball player (d.
2010 )
February 27 –
Howard Hesseman , actor (d.
2022 )
[4]
February 28
February 29 –
Billy Turner , horse trainer (d.
2021 )
March
Chuck Norris
James Caan
Nancy Pelosi
March 6 –
Willie Stargell , African American baseball player (d.
2001 )
March 7 –
Daniel J. Travanti , American actor
[5]
March 10
March 12 –
Al Jarreau , African-American singer (d.
2017 )
March 13 –
Candi Staton , American singer
March 15 –
Phil Lesh , American rock guitarist (
Grateful Dead )
March 17 –
Mark White , American politician (d. 2017)
March 18 –
Mark Medoff , American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2019)
March 20 –
Mary Ellen Mark , American photographer (d. 2015)
March 21 –
Solomon Burke , African-American singer, songwriter (d. 2010)
March 22 –
Garland Boyette , American football player (d. 2022)
[6]
March 25 –
Anita Bryant , American entertainer
March 26
March 27 –
Austin Pendleton , American actor, playwright, theatre director and instructor
March 29
March 31
April
Al Pacino
Burt Young
May
David Koch
Toni Tennille
May 1 –
Allan M. Siegal , American newspaper editor and journalist (d.
2022 )
May 3 –
David Koch , American billionaire businessman, philanthropist and political activist (d.
2019 )
May 5
May 7 –
Kim Chernin , American feminist writer and poet (d.
2020 )
May 8
May 9 –
James L. Brooks , American film producer, writer
May 10 –
Wayne A. Downing , American U.S. general (d.
2007 )
May 15
May 17 –
Alan Kay , computer scientist
May 18 –
Lenny Lipton , inventor (d.
2022 )
May 20 –
Shorty Long , African-American
soul music singer, songwriter, musician and record producer (
Here Comes The Judge ) (d.
1969 )
May 22 –
Bernard Shaw , African-American journalist and television news reporter (d.
2022 )
May 29 –
Tyree Scott , labor leader and civil rights activist
[11]
June
René Auberjonois
Nancy Sinatra
June 1
June 3 –
Connie Saylor , race car driver (d.
1993 )
June 7
June 8
June 9 –
Roger J. Phillips , geophysicist (d.
2020 )
June 11 –
Wayne Kemp , country music singer (d.
2015 )
June 13 –
Bobby Freeman , singer, songwriter (d.
2017 )
June 14 –
Jack Bannon , actor (d.
2017 )
[12]
June 16
June 19 –
Shirley Muldowney , race car driver
June 21 –
Mariette Hartley , actress
June 23 –
Wilma Rudolph , track & field athlete and 3-time Olympic winner (d.
1994 )
June 24 –
Hope Cooke , socialite, Queen Consort of Sikkim
June 26 –
Lucinda Childs , actress, postmodern dancer and choreographer
July
Jeannie Seely
James Brolin
Joe Torre
July 2 –
Joshua Bryant , American actor, director, author and speaker
July 3
July 4 –
Gene McDowell , American college football coach
July 6 –
Jeannie Seely , American singer, songwriter
July 7 –
Madeline Davis , American LGBT activist and historian (d.
2021 )
July 10
July 13 –
Paul Prudhomme ,
Louisiana Creole cuisine American chef (d.
2015 )
July 15 –
Johnny Seay , American country music singer (d.
2016 )
July 16 –
Tom Metcalf , American baseball pitcher
July 17 –
Verne Lundquist , American sportscaster
July 18
July 21 –
Jim Clyburn , African-American politician
July 23
July 24
July 26
July 27 –
Gary Kurtz , American filmmaker (d.
2018 )
July 28 –
Philip Proctor , American actor
July 29 –
Bernard Lafayette , African-American civil rights activist
July 30 –
Pat Schroeder , American politician (d.
2023 )
[15]
August
Martin Sheen
August 3 –
Martin Sheen , actor
August 5 –
Roman Gabriel , football player, coach, and actor (d.
2024 )
August 7 –
Thomas Barlow , politician (d.
2017 )
August 10 –
Bobby Hatfield , singer (
The Righteous Brothers ) (d.
2003 )
August 13 –
Tony Cloninger , baseball player (d.
2018 )
August 14 –
Galen Hall , American football coach
August 19 –
Jill St. John , actress
August 20 –
Rubén Hinojosa , politician
August 22 –
Bill McCartney , American football player and coach, founded
Promise Keepers
August 23 –
Thomas A. Steitz , biochemist (d.
2018 )
August 27 –
Fernest Arceneaux , Zydeco accordionist (d.
2008 )
August 28 –
William Cohen , politician
August 29
August 31 –
Wilton Felder , African American jazz saxophonist (d.
2015 )
September
Raquel Welch
October
Bob Knight
October 1 –
Richard Corben , American illustrator and comic book artist (d.
2020 )
October 3
October 6
October 7 –
Bruce Vento , American educator and politician (d.
2000 )
October 9
October 13 –
Pharoah Sanders , American saxophonist (d.
2022 )
October 16
October 18 –
Cynthia Weil , American songwriter (d.
2023 )
October 20 –
Robert Pinsky , American poet, essayist, literary critic and translator
October 25 –
Bob Knight , American basketball player and coach (d.
2023 )
October 27 –
John Gotti , American gangster (d.
2002 )
October 29 –
Connie Mack III , American politician
November
Bruce Lee
November 2 –
Ed Budde , American football player (d.
2023 )
November 11 –
Barbara Boxer , American politician
November 12 –
Donald Wuerl , American cardinal archbishop
November 15 –
Sam Waterston , American actor
November 21 –
Richard Marcinko , U.S. Navy SEAL team member, author
November 22 –
Terry Gilliam , American-born British screenwriter, director and animator
November 23
November 25
November 27 –
Bruce Lee , Chinese-American martial artist, actor (d.
1973 )
November 29 –
Chuck Mangione , American flugelhorn player
November 30 –
Kevin Phillips , American political commentator (d.
2023 )
December
Richard Pryor
Dionne Warwick
December 1 –
Richard Pryor , African-American actor, comedian (d.
2005 )
December 4
December 7 –
Carole Simpson , American journalist
December 11
December 12
December 19 –
Phil Ochs , American singer and songwriter (d.
1976 )
December 21
Kelly Cherry , American poet and author
Frank Zappa , American musician, songwriter, composer, guitarist, record producer, actor and filmmaker (d.
1993 )
December 23 –
Jorma Kaukonen , American musician (
Jefferson Airplane )
December 24
December 26 –
Edward C. Prescott , American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate
December 29 –
Fred Hansen , American Olympic athlete
December 31 –
Tim Considine , American actor (d.
2022 )
Deaths
January–June
January 4 –
Flora Finch , silent film actress and comedian (born
1869 in the United Kingdom )
January 19 –
William Borah , U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1907 to 1940 (born
1865 )
January 20 –
Omar Bundy , U.S. Army General (born
1861 )
January –
Matilda McCrear , last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade in the U.S. (born c. 1857 in Yorubaland)
February 1 –
Philip Francis Nowlan ,
science fiction writer, creator of
Buck Rogers (born
1888 )
February 4 –
Samuel M. Vauclain , steam locomotive engineer (born
1856 )
February 9 –
William Edward Dodd , diplomat and historian (born
1869 )
February 11 –
Ellen Day Hale , painter and printmaker (born
1855 )
March 4 –
Hamlin Garland , writer (born
1860 )
March 7 –
Edwin Markham , poet (born
1852 )
March 11 –
John Monk Saunders , screenwriter (born
1897 )
March 27 –
Madeleine Talmage (Force) Astor Dick Fiermonte , socialite, survivor of the
sinking of the Titanic , widow of John Jacob Astor IV (born
1893 )
April 8 –
David C. Shanks , army officer (born
1861 )
April 29 –
Edgar Buckingham , physicist and soil scientist (born
1867 )
May 28 –
Walter Connolly , film character actor (born
1887 )
May 29 –
Mary Anderson , stage actress (born
1859 )
June 7
June 11 –
Alfred S. Alschuler , Chicago architect (born
1876 )
June 13 –
George Fitzmaurice , film director (born
1885 in France )
June 14 –
Henry W. Antheil Jr. , diplomat, killed in shootdown of airplane
Kaleva (born
1912 )
June 20 –
Charley Chase , comedian (born
1893 )
June 21 –
John T. Thompson , U.S. Army officer, inventor of the
Thompson submachine gun (born
1860 )
July–December
July 1 –
Ben Turpin , comic silent film actor (born
1869 )
July 15 –
Robert Wadlow , tallest man ever (born
1918 )
July 30 –
Spencer S. Wood , U.S. Navy rear admiral (born
1861 )
August 5 –
Frederick Cook , explorer (born
1865 )
August 8 –
Johnny Dodds , jazz clarinetist (born
1892 )
August 18 –
Walter Chrysler , automobile pioneer (born
1875 )
August 21 –
Ernest Thayer , writer, comic poet (born
1863 )
August 22 –
Mary Vaux Walcott , botanical artist (born
1860 )
August 28 –
William Bowie , geodetic engineer (born
1872 )
August 31 –
Ernest Lundeen , lawyer and politician (born
1878 )
September 1 –
Lillian Wald , nurse and humanitarian (born
1867 )
September 2 –
Eddie Collins , vaudeville-veteran comic (born
1883 )
September 6 –
Leonor F. Loree , civil engineer and railroad executive (born
1858 )
September 23 –
Hale Holden , president of
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (born
1869 )
September 25 –
Marguerite Clark , stage and silent film actress (born
1883 )
September 28 –
Earl Hurd , animator, film director and comics artist (born
1880 )
October 5 –
Ballington Booth , co-founder of Volunteers of America (born
1857 )
October 11 –
Charles Stanton Ogle , actor (born
1865 )
October 12 –
Tom Mix , Western film actor (born
1880 )
October 17 –
George Davis , baseball player (born
1870 )
November 5 –
Otto Plath , entomologist, father of poet
Sylvia Plath (born
1885 in Germany )
November 9 –
John Henry Kirby , Texas legislator and businessman (born
1860 )
November 17
November 18 –
Sylvia Ashton , silent film actress (born
1880 )
December 10 –
William V. Mong , film actor, screenwriter and director (born
1875 )
December 15 –
Billy Hamilton , baseball player (born
1866 )
December 21 –
F. Scott Fitzgerald , fiction writer (born
1896 )
December 22 –
Nathanael West , fiction writer, in automobile accident (born
1903 )
December 23 –
Eddie August Schneider , aviator, in airplane crash (born
1911 )
December 25 –
Agnes Ayres , silent film actress (born
1891 )
December 26 –
Daniel Frohman , theater producer (born
1851 )
December 27 –
Ella Rhoads Higginson , poet (born
1862 )
December 30 –
C. Harold Wills , automobile engineer and businessman (born
1878 )
December 31 –
Roberta Lawson , Indigenous American (Lenape) activist and musician (born
1878 )
See also
References
^ Trossarelli, L. (2010).
"The history of nylon" . Club Alpino Italiano, Centro Studi Materiali e Tecniche. Retrieved 2012-02-28 .
^ Record, Jeffrey (February 1, 2009). "Japanese Aggression and U.S. Policy Responses, 1937-41".
JAPAN'S DECISION FOR WAR IN 1941: SOME ENDURING LESSONS . Strategic Studies Institute & United States Army War College. p. 15 – via JSTOR. On July 25 Roosevelt announced a ban on Japanese acquisition of U.S. high-octane aviation gasoline, certain grades of steel and scrap iron, and scrap iron, and some lubricants.
^
"About Berk Trade and Business School" .
^ Barnes, Mike (January 30, 2022).
"Howard Hesseman, Dr. Johnny Fever on 'WKRP in Cincinnati,' Dies at 81" .
The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 30, 2021 .
^
"Daniel J. Travanti" . Authentic Wisconsin . Retrieved 5 February 2021 .
^
Former Oilers Linebacker Garland Boyette Dies at 82
^ Huff, Lauren (2019-12-06).
" 'Star Trek' actor Robert Walker Jr. dies at 79" . Entertainment Weekly .
Archived from the original on 2019-12-07. Retrieved 2021-08-11 .
^ Schudel, Matt (December 29, 2017).
"Sue Grafton, author of best-selling 'alphabet' mysteries, dies at 77" .
The Washington Post .
Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017 .
^ III, Harris M. Lentz (2018-04-30).
Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2017 . McFarland.
ISBN
978-1-4766-7032-4 .
^
Robert Jervis, 1940-2021
^ Mary T. Henry,
“Tyree Scott (1940-2003),” HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
^
"Jack Bannon, Cool-Headed Co-Star of 'Lou Grant,' Dies at 77" .
The New York Times .
Associated Press . October 27, 2017.
^ Kilkenny, Duane Byrge, Katie; Byrge, Duane; Kilkenny, Katie (2019-12-27).
"Don Imus, Legendary 'Imus in the Morning' Host, Dies at 79" . The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from
the original on 2021-07-20. Retrieved 2021-07-20 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link )
^ Roberts, Sam (December 2, 2023).
"John Nichols, Author of 'The Milagro Beanfield War,' Dies at 83" . The New York Times . Retrieved December 3, 2023 .
^
Former Colorado Rep. Pat Schroeder, pioneer for women’s rights, dies
Further reading
Bloch, Leon Bryce and Lamar Middleton, ed. The World Over in 1940 (1941) detailed coverage of world events
online free ; 914pp
External links