Events 201 - 400 of 432
- Jul 19 Dr Roy P Scholz is 1st surgeon to use fiberglass sutures
- Jul 22 Jane Bolin becomes the 1st African American female judge (NY)
- Jul 25 5th and last Dutch government of Colijn, forms
- Jul 25 NY Yankee Atley Donald sets AL rookie record with 12 consecutive win
- Jul 26 Yankee catcher Bill Dickey hits 3 consecutive HRs
- Jul 28 5th Dutch government of Colijn falls
- Jul 30 33rd Tour de France won by Sylvere Maes of Belgium
- Aug 2 Hatch Act prohibits political activity by federal workers
- Aug 3 Jean Genet's "Ondine" premieres in Paris
- Aug 6 1st broadcast of "Dinah Shore Show" on NBC-radio
Event of Interest
Aug 7 Millionaire Howard Hughes is presented with a Congressional Gold Medal
Howard Hughes
Event of Interest
Aug 8 7th Venice Film Festival opens with a United States boycott due to Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italian regime
Benito Mussolini
- Aug 10 2nd Dutch De Geer government forms (1st with Social Democrats)
- Aug 11 Sergei Rachmaninov's last appearance in Europe
- Aug 13 Yankees set AL shutout margin with 21-0 victory over A's
- Aug 13 Sabotage suspected in crash of 'City of San Francisco'
- Aug 14 1st night games at Comiskey Park (White Sox 5, Browns 2)
- Aug 15 First night game at baseball's Comiskey Park, Sox beat Browns 5-2
- Aug 15 13 Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. No survivors.
Film Premier
Aug 15 "The Wizard of Oz", American musical fantasy film directed by Victor Fleming and King Vidor, premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, starring Judy Garland (Dorothy), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion), Frank Morgan (Wizard), Billie Burke (Glinda), and Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch)
- Aug 17 "The Wizard of Oz" opens at Loews Capitol Theatre in NY
- Aug 19 37.6 cm rainfall at Tuckerton, NJ (state record)
- Aug 20 1st black bowling league formed (National Bowling Assoc)
- Aug 20 Russian offensive under General Zjoekov against Japanese invasion in Mongolia
- Aug 22 Dutch border guards take positions for German invasion
- Aug 22 Premier De Geer recalls Dutch holidaymakers in Black Forest
- Aug 23 John Cobb (Britain) drives 365.85 MPH (593.48 KPH) at Bonneville Flats
Treaty of Interest
Aug 23 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact and secretly divide Poland between themselves, setting the stage for World War II
Vyacheslav Molotov
Joachim von Ribbentrop
- Aug 24 Germany & USSR sign 10-year non-aggression pact
- Aug 26 1st major league baseball telecast on W2XBS- Cincinnati Reds defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn
- Aug 26 Belgium mobilizes
- Aug 26 Croatia gets autonomous status
- Aug 27 Erich Warsitz in a Heinkel He-178 makes the 1st manned jet-propelled flight
- Aug 27 Nazi Germany demands Danzig & Polish corridor
- Aug 27 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands receives German ambassador Grave Zech
Event of Interest
Aug 28 Gen Bernard Montgomery ("Monty") becomes commander of 3rd "Iron" Infantry division
Bernard Montgomery
- Aug 28 Netherland mobilizes
- Aug 28 Sammy Fain and Jack Yellen's musical "George White's Scandals" premieres
- Aug 28 Journalist Care Hollingworth observes the “large numbers of troops, literally hundreds of tanks, armored cars and field guns” Germany had aligned along the Polish border. Three days later, Hitler invades Poland and WWII begins
- Aug 29 Chaim Weizmann informs England that Palestine Jews will fight in WW II
- Aug 30 6th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: NY Giants 9, All-Stars 0 (81,456)
- Aug 30 General Reijnders appointed supreme commander of Dutch army
- Aug 30 Isoroku Yamamoto appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese fleet
- Aug 30 NY Yankee Atley Donald pitches a baseball a record 94.7 mph (152 kph)
- Aug 30 Poland mobilizes
- Aug 31 Japanese invasion army driven out of Mongolia
- Aug 31 Staged "Polish" assault on radio station in Gleiwitz
Event of Interest
Sep 1 Hitler orders extermination of mentally ill through the "T4 Euthanasia Program," arguing that wartime "was the best time for the elimination of the incurably ill"
Adolf Hitler
Event of Interest
Sep 1 General George Marshall sworn in as the United States Army Chief of Staff
George Marshall
- Sep 1 The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross was also instituted on this date
- Sep 1 Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization)
Event of Interest
Sep 1 In the "scoop of the century," Telegraph journalist Clare Hollingworth becomes the first to report the outbreak of World War II
Clare Hollingworth
- Sep 3 German submarine U-30, commanded by Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, sinks British passenger ship SS Athenia; 117 people die, among them 28 Americans
- Sep 3 Yanks beat Red Sox on a forfeit, their 4th forfeit win
- Sep 3 World War II: Britain declares war on Germany after invasion of Poland. France follows 6 hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa & Canada
- Sep 3 Mitford sister and Nazi sympathizer Unity Mitford attempts suicide after Britain declares war on Germany, bullet lodged in her brain eventually kills her in 1948
- Sep 4 Dutch 2nd Chamber affirms Neth's in a State of War
- Sep 4 German troops move into Danzig
- Sep 4 Netherlands & Belgium declare neutrality
- Sep 4 Mir, a Nazi ghetto in occupied Poland, is exterminated
- Sep 4 RAF bombs Wilhelmshafen
- Sep 5 34th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Haverford (3-2)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Event of Interest
Sep 5 New Zealand Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage declares New Zealand's support for Britain in the war with Germany; Savage famously told the nation 'where she goes, we go. Where she stands,we stand'
Michael Joseph Savage
Event of Interest
Sep 5 J. B. M. Hertzog resigns as South African Prime Minister after losing a vote in parliament on neutrality in WWII
J. B. M. Hertzog
- Sep 6 1st German air attack on Great Britain in WW II
- Sep 6 South Africa declares war on Nazi-Germany
- Sep 6 World War II: The Battle of Barking Creek.
- Sep 7 Radio NY Worldwide-WRUL begins radio transmission
- Sep 8 FDR declares "limited national emergency" due to war in Europe
- Sep 8 Gen Von Reichenau's panzer division reaches suburbs of Warsaw
- Sep 8 Indians Bob Feller, 20, is youngest pitcher to win 20 games
- Sep 8 Yanks beat Red Sox 4-1 in 7, game called because of lightning
- Sep 9 Nazi army reaches Warsaw
Event of Interest
Sep 10 Canada, under the leadership of Mackenzie King, declares war on Germany
Mackenzie King
Event of Interest
Sep 14 World’s 1st practical helicopter, the VS-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky takes (tethered) flight in Stratford, Connecticut
Igor Sikorsky
- Sep 14 British fleet attacks German U-39 boat
Event of Interest
Sep 14 First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill visits Scapa Flow, Orkney
Winston Churchill
- Sep 16 NY Yankees clinch their 11th & 4th successive pennant
- Sep 17 German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die
- Sep 17 Poland's President Ignacy Mościck and Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski flee to Romania
- Sep 17 Soviet Union invades Eastern Poland allowing Germans to advance West, taking 217,000 Poles prisoner, without a formal declaration of war
- Sep 17 Taisto Mäki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6
Tennis Open
Sep 17 59th U.S. Men's National Championship: Bobby Riggs beats Welby van Horn (6-4, 6-2, 6-4)
Bobby Riggs
- Sep 17 53rd U.S. Women's National Championship: Alice Marble beats Helen Jacobs (6-0, 8-10, 6-4)
- Sep 18 Polish government of Moscicki flees to Romania
- Sep 18 William Joyce's first Nazi propaganda broadcast
- Sep 19 British Expeditionary Force reaches France
- Sep 19 Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce) becomes radio host of Reichsrundfunk Berlin
- Sep 19 Wehrmacht (German regular army) murders 100 Jews in Lukov Poland
- Sep 20 British navy captures German U-27 boat
Boxing Title Fight
Meeting of Interest
Sep 21 Reinhard Heydrich meets in Berlin to discuss final solution of Jews
Reinhard Heydrich
- Sep 23 Cookie Lavagetto goes 6 for 6-Dodgers get 27 hits & beat Phillies 22-4
- Sep 25 German Luftwaffe strikes Warsaw with (fire)bombs
- Sep 25 Andorra and Germany sign a treaty ending WW I, as Versailles Peace Treaty forgot to include Andorra
- Sep 26 German seaplane shoots KLM-aircraft (1 killed)
- Sep 27 Warsaw surrenders to Germans after 19 days of resistance
- Sep 27 White Sox host 1st "day-night" doubleheader, lose to Cleve, 5-2 & 7-5
- Sep 28 Estonia accepts Soviet military bases
- Sep 28 Final broadcast of The Fleischmann Hour was heard on radio
Treaty of Interest
Sep 28 German-Soviet Frontier Treaty is signed by Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov; redraws German and Soviet spheres of influence in central Europe and transfers most of Lithuania to the USSR
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Vyacheslav Molotov
- Sep 30 1st televised college football game (Fordham vs Waynesburg at NYC)
- Sep 30 Germany & Russia agree to partition Poland
- Sep 30 White Sox reliever Clint Brown sets record of 61st relief appearance
- Sep 30 Britain first evacuates citizens in anticipation of war.
- Oct 1 Winston Churchill calls Russia a "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"
- Oct 1 After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile forces entered the city.
- Oct 3 Lemmer-Urk Dike closes
- Oct 4 Last Polish troops surrender
- Oct 6 Adolf Hitler denies he intends to go to war against France & Britain
- Oct 6 Hitler announces plans to regulate Jewish problem
- Oct 6 Last Polish army is defeated in World War II.
- Oct 8 Germany annexes Western Poland
- Oct 8 NY Yankees sweep Reds in 36th World Series, 4th straight WS win
Event of Interest
Oct 11 Albert Einstein informs FDR of the possibilities of an atomic bomb
Albert Einstein
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Oct 11 Bucky Harris signs to manage Washington again
Event of Interest
Oct 11 Gertrude Lawrence's "Skylark" premieres in NYC
Gertrude Lawrence
- Oct 11 NAACP organized Legal Defense & Education Fund
- Oct 14 BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) formed
- Oct 14 German U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak, 833 killed
- Oct 15 LaGuardia Airport opens in NYC
- Oct 15 Yeshiva of Mir closes after 124 years
- Oct 16 Sugar rationing begins in Netherlands
Film Release
Oct 17 "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur, is released
Frank Capra
Jimmy Stewart
- Oct 18 Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Harts musical "Too Many Girls" premieres in NYC
Event of Interest
Oct 19 Hermann Goering begins plunder through Nazi's occupied areas
Hermann Goering
Event of Interest
Oct 24 Joe DiMaggio wins AL MVP, Jimmie Foxx is runner-up
Joe DiMaggio
- Oct 24 Nazi require wearing of Star of David by Jews
- Oct 24 Nylon stockings go on sale for first time (Wilmington, Delaware)
- Oct 25 William Saroyan's "Time of Your Life" premieres in NYC
- Oct 26 Polish Jews forced into obligatory work service
- Oct 28 Anti-German demonstrations/strikes in Czechoslovakia
- Oct 28 Spitfire shoots German Heinkel-111 down above Scotland
- Oct 29 Golden Gate International Exposition closes (1st closure)
- Oct 29 NHL Babe Seibert Memorial Game: All-Stars beat Montreal 5-3
- Oct 30 USSR & Germany agree on partitioning Poland, Hitler deports Jews
- Oct 30 German U boat fails on attack of English battleship Nelson with Winston Churchill, Dudley Pound & Charles Forbes aboard
- Nov 1 First animal conceived by artificial insemination (rabbit) displayed
- Nov 1 First jet plane, Heinkel He 178, demonstrated to German Air Ministry
- Nov 1 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Sertum laetitiae
- Nov 3 Clare Booth's "Margin for Error" premieres in NYC
- Nov 4 1940 Olympics awarded to Helsinki, Finland
- Nov 4 First air conditioned automobile (Packard) exhibited, Chicago, Illinois
- Nov 4 US allows "cash & carry" arms sales during WW II
- Nov 6 WGY-TV (Schenectady, NY), 1st commercial TV station, begins service
- Nov 6 WRGB TV channel 6 in Schenectady-Alby-Troy, NY (CBS) 1st broadcast
- Nov 6 World War II: 'Sonderaktion Krakau' - a Nazi operation against academics, with 184 professors arrested in Krakow and deported
- Nov 8 Failed assassination attempt on Hitler in Burgerbraukeller, Munich
- Nov 8 H Lindsay & R Crouse' "Life with Father" premieres in NYC
Event of Interest
Nov 9 "Ninotchka" with Greta Garbo premieres
Greta Garbo
Event of Interest
Nov 11 Kate Smith first sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"
Irving Berlin
- Nov 12 Jews in Lodz Poland ordered to wear yellow star of David
- Nov 14 Oil refinery fire kills 500 & destroys Lagunillas, Venezuela
- Nov 15 Anti-German demonstrations in Czechoslovakia
- Nov 15 FDR lays cornerstone of Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
- Nov 15 Nazis begin mass murder of Warsaw Jews
- Nov 15 The first unemployment compensation law, under the Social Security Act, that of the District of Columbia, was approved for grants by the Social Security Board
- Nov 16 German U-boat torpedoes tanker Sliedrecht near Ireland
- Nov 17 German U-boat torpedoes passenger ship
- Nov 17 Jerome Kern/Hammerstein II's "Very Warm for May" premieres in NYC
- Nov 17 The Rome-Rio de Janeiro air connection is created.
- Nov 18 Dutch KNSM passenger ship Simón Bolívar hits German mine, 86 die
- Nov 18 The Irish Republican Army explodes three bombs in Piccadilly Circus
- Nov 19 Don Lash wins 6th straight AAU cross-country 10K championship
Event of Interest
Nov 22 Bugsy Siegel, Whitey Krakower, Frankie Carbo and Albert Tannenbaum kill Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg outside his apartment after Greenberg had threatened to become a police informant
Bugsy Siegel
Event of Interest
Nov 23 Nazi Govrnor of Poland Hans Frank requires Jews to wear a blue star
Hans Frank
- Nov 26 4 soviet soldiers killed on Finnish-Russian border
- Nov 27 Maxwell Anderson's "Key Largo" premieres in NYC
- Nov 28 Hans Frank, Nazi Governor-General of Poland, organizes Judenrat
- Nov 28 Soviet government revokes Russian-Finnish non-aggression treaty
- Nov 29 Cor Klint swims world record 200 m backstroke (2:38.8)
- Nov 29 USSR drops diplomatic relations with Finland
- Nov 30 Paul Osborn's "Mornings at 7" premieres in NYC
- Nov 30 USSR invades Finland, bombs Helsinki
Heinrich Himmler
- Dec 2 British Imperial Airways & British Airways merge to form BOAC
- Dec 2 NY's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago lands, 1 minute after midnight
- Dec 3 Dmitri Shostakovich's 6th Symphony premieres
- Dec 6 5th Heisman Trophy Award: Nile Kinnick, Iowa (HB)
- Dec 6 Cole Porter's musical "Du Barry was a Lady" premieres in NYC
Hall of Fame
Dec 7 Lou Gehrig, 36, is elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame
Lou Gehrig