The 1940s Government, Politics, and Law: Chronology

1940:     June 10 President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares that the American stance on the war in Europe is changing from "neutrality" to "nonbelligerency."

1940:     June 28 The Smith Act makes it illegal to demand the overthrow of the United States government by force or to found any group with that aim.

1940:     November 5 Roosevelt is reelected president by an electoral college landslide.

1940:     December 29 Roosevelt makes his "arsenal of democracy" speech, promising to supply the Allies with munitions.

1941:     October 30 The USS Reuben James is sunk in the Atlantic by a German submarine. Although one hundred sailors lost their lives in the attack, the American public still wants to stay out of the war.

1941:     December 7 Japanese planes bomb the American military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Public opinion swings instantly in favor of entering the war.

1941:     December 22 A new military draft act requires all males aged eighteen to sixty-five to register for military service. Those between twenty and forty-four had to be prepared to be called up for active duty.

1942:     January 1 The Declaration of the United Nations is signed, with the United States as one of twenty-six signatories.

1942:     January 12 The National War Labor Board is set up to settle labor disputes.

1942:     February 19 President Roosevelt signs an executive order excluding selected persons from areas along the west coast of the United States. By March 29, over 110,000 Japanese Americans have been moved to internment camps away from the coast.

1942:     June 4–6 After the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, the Japanese advance is halted.

1942:     November 8 Operation Torch moves 400,000 Allied troops onto the beaches of North Africa.

1943:     June 10 The Current Tax Payment Act takes effect. For the first time, Americans have taxes deducted from their paychecks.

1943:     November 28 The leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union meet in Tehran, Iran, to plan the Allied invasion of Europe.

1944:     April 3 In Smith v. Allwright, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that blacks cannot be denied the right to vote in the Texas Democratic primary.

1944:     July 21 Roosevelt becomes the first person to be nominated for a fourth term as president of the United States.

1945:      American forces take back territories in the Pacific captured by the Japanese. These include the Philippines and the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. There are many thousands of casualties on both sides.

1945:     February 11 At the Yalta conference, the three main Allied powers agree on the postwar division of Europe.

1945:     April 12 Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage. Vice President Harry S Truman is sworn in as president.

1945:     April 30 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler kills himself in Berlin.

1945:     May 8 Germany surrenders, ending the European phase of the war. Victory in Europe (V-E) Day is declared.

1945:     August 6 The Japanese city of Hiroshima is destroyed by an atomic bomb dropped by the United States. The destruction stuns even the scientists who invented the bomb. Three days later, a second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

1945:     September 2 Japan surrenders. Victory in Japan (V-J) Day is declared.

1945:     November 12 War-crime trials of Nazis begin in Nuremburg, Germany.

1946:      The segregation of blacks and whites on interstate buses is declared unconstitutional.

1946:      Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union rise as the Soviets work to create their own atomic bomb to restore the balance of military power between the two countries.

1947:     March 12 President Truman announces his "containment" policy, which is designed to stop the expansion of the Soviet Union. Truman also provides $400 million to Greece and Turkey to fight the spread of Communism.

1947:     July 18 The Presidential Succession Act makes the Speaker of the House of Representatives next in line for the presidency after the vice president.

1947:     October 29 President Truman calls for an end to segregation and equal rights for all races.

1948:      Both the Democrats and the Republicans ask World War II hero General Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for president.

1948:     June 25 The Displaced Persons Act allows more than two hundred thousand refugees from Eastern Europe to enter the United States.

1948:     November 2 Defying the polls, President Truman is reelected.

1949:     January 19 Congress raises the president's salary to $100,000 per year. He is allowed $50,000 in expenses.

1949:     April 4 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is founded as a defense pact among the Western Allies.