1942 History Timeline

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1890s - 1900s - 1910s - 1920s - 1930s - 1940s - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s - 1980s - 1990s

Years: 1940 - 1941 - 1942 - 1943 - 1944 - 1945 - 1946 - 1947 - 1948 - 1949

Events

January 1 - World War II: The word "United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact.
January 2 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
January 6 - Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to have a flight go around the world.
January 7 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins
January 11 - Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
January 11 - The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
January 12 - President Franklin Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
January 13 - Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car
January 19 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
January 20 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide that the "final solution to the Jewish problem" is relocation.
January 25 - Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom
January 26 - World War II: The first American forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
February 9 - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discus American military strategy in the war.
February 9 - Daylight-saving time goes into effect in the United States.
February 15 - World War II: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces.
February 19 - World War II: About 150 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia
February 19 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to Japanese internment camps.
February 20 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace
February 22 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
February 24 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
February 27 - World War II: the USS Langley, the first United States aircraft carrier, is sunk by Japanese warplanes.
March 8 - World War II: The Dutch surrender to Japanese forces on Java.
March 8 - World War II: Japan captures Rangoon, Burma.
March 11 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur abandons Corregidor
March 19 - The Thoroughbred Racing Association is established in Chicago, Illinois.
March 23 - World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Anadaman Islands.
March 26 - World War II: In Poland, Auschwitz receives its first female prisoners.
March 28 - World War II: In occupied France, United Kingdom naval forces raid the German-occupied port of St. Nazaire.
April 3 - World War II: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began.
June 4-7 - The Battle of Midway
June 9 - The US Philippine Department surrenders to Japan
July 1 - July 27 the First Battle of El Alamein
October 3 - the first V-2 rocket (A4 Rocket) is launched into space in PeenemÃ¼nde, Germany.
October 23 - November 4 the Second Battle of El Alamein
DDT first used as a pesticide

Art, Culture & Fashion

1942 in film

Mrs. Miniver
Bambi
Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman

1942 in literature
1942 in music

"White Christmas" - Bing Crosby

1942 in sports
1942 in television

April 13 - The FCC minimum programming time required of TV stations is cut from 15 hours to four hours a week during the war.

Births

January 3 - John Thaw, actor (+ 2002)
January 5 - Charlie Rose, talk show host
January 7 - Paul Revere, singer and musician
January 8 - Stephen Hawking, British theoretical physicist.
January 8 - Yvette Mimieux, actress
January 8 - George Passmore, artist, half of Gilbert and George
January 11 - Clarence Clemens, musician (E Street Band)
January 13 - Richard Moll, actor
January 14 - Stig EngstrÃ¶m, actor
January 15 - Charo, singer, actress
January 17 - Muhammad Ali, boxer
January 17 - Ulf Hoelscher, violinist
January 19 - Michael Crawford, singer, actor
January 31 - Derek Jarman, director, writer (+ 1994)
February 1 - Terry Jones, actor, writer ("Monty Python's Flying Circus")
February 2 - Graham Nash, musician
February 5 - Roger Staubach, Football Hall of Famer
February 9 - Carole King, singer, composer
February 11 - Archie Andrews, (comic book character).
February 11 - Leon Haywood, vocalist/keyboardist.
February 11 - Tony Colton, rock producer.
February 11 - Otis Clay, gospel/R&B-singer.
February 12 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
February 13 - Peter Tork, musician/actor.
February 15 - Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea
February 20 - Phil Esposito, ice hockey player
February 21 - Margarethe von Trotta, actor, film director, writer
February 24 - John Neumeier, choreographer
February 24 - Joseph Lieberman, politician, candidate for Vice President of the United States
February 28 - Brian Jones, musician ("The Rolling Stones") (+ 1969)
February 28 - Joe South, musician
March 2 - John Irving, author
March 2 - Lou Reed, singer and guitarist
March 5 - Felipe GonzÃ¡lez MÃ¡rquez, politician (+ 1942)
March 7 - Tammy Faye Bakker, evangelist
March 7 - Michael Eisner, President of The Walt Disney Company
March 13 - Dave Cutler, software engineer
March 17 - John Wayne Gacy, serial killer
March 25 - Aretha Franklin, singer
March 26 - Erica Jong, author
March 27 - Michael York, actor
March 29 - Stingray Davis, musician (P-Funk)
April 3 - Marsha Mason, actress
April 3 - Wayne Newton, singer
April 5 - Peter Greenaway, painter
April 6 - Barry Levinson, producer, director
May 22 - Theodore Kaczynski, neo-luddite terrorist
July 13 - Harrison Ford, Actor/producer
July 17 - Tim Brooke-Taylor, radio and TV comedian
July 23 - Myra Hindley, Moors murderess
August 7 - Garrison Keillor, radio host
September 10 - Stephen Jay Gould, American biologist
September 30 - Frankie Lymon, American singer
November 27 - Jimi Hendrix, rock musician
December 6 - Peter Handke, Austrian novelist
December 9 - Dick Butkus, Chicago Bears linebacker
Unknown date - Moammar Al Qadhafi

Deaths

January 16 - Carole Lombard, actress
April 15 - Robert Musil, Austrian novelist (The Man Without Qualities)
Ernest Brastins, organizer of Dievturiba

Nobel Prizes

Physics - not awarded
Chemistry - not awarded
Medicine - not awarded
Literature - not awarded

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article 1942