-
Census Bureau report
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that for the first time in American history, 51 percent of Americans live in cities and towns of more than 2500 people. -
Warren G. Harding is inaugurated
Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th President of the United States. Described by one contemporary as a “great looking President,” Harding lacks experience in international affairs, reflecting the general disinterest of the American public toward such issues. -
Thompson-Urrutia Treaty
The Thompson-Urrutia Treaty with Colombia is ratified. The treaty grants Colombia $25 million as compensation for the loss of Panama, which had gained its independence in 1903 with the help of the United States. -
Emergency Quota Act
Harding signs the Emergency Quota Act into law, limiting the number of immigrants from any given country to 3 percent of that nationality already in the United States by 1910. The temporary act lasts three years and serves as the precursor to the harsher and permanent 1924 act. -
Emergency Tariff Act
In response to American public opinion, Harding and Congress pass the Emergency Tariff Act. Raising tariffs, especially on farm products, the temporary bill will be replaced one year later by the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, a permanent bill with even higher tariff rates. -
Budget and Accounting Act
Harding signs the Budget and Accounting Act in order to better organize the federal government's accounts. The act establishes the Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office under the Treasury Department. -
Official end of war with Germany
Harding signs a joint congressional resolution declaring the official end of war with Germany. The question of reparations will continue to be debated over the next few years. -
Hoover presides over unemployment conference
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover presides over a conference on unemployment in Washington, D.C., as unemployment reaches a post-war high of 5.7 million. In addition, the nation witnesses a wave of violence by a revitalized Ku Klux Klan. -
Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act
In response to reports indicating that fully 80 percent of American women do not receive adequate prenatal care, Harding signs the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act, granting matching federal funds to states for maternal and child care. -
Capper-Volstead Act
Responding to the continuing problems facing American farmers, which force 300,000 farm foreclosures during the Harding administration alone, the President signs the Capper-Volstead Act. The bill allows farmers to buy and sell cooperatively without the risk of prosecution under anti-trust laws. -
The Teapot Dome Scandal
Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall leases the Teapot Dome oil reserves to Harry Sinclair, setting in motion what comes to be known over the next two years as the Teapot Dome scandal. -
Cable Act
The Cable Act, which allows an American woman to maintain her citizenship following marriage to an alien, is signed by Harding. -
Final troops leave Germany
The final American troops leave Germany as Harding issues an executive order halting U.S. occupation of the Rhine. -
Harding leaves for transcontinental speaking tour
Harding and his wife leave for his “voyage of understanding,” a transcontinental speaking tour across Alaska and the West designed to bolster faith in the Harding administration amid the various scandals emerging seemingly daily. -
President Harding Dies
President Warren Harding dies in San Francisco, California, while on a speaking tour. His death was most likely due to a heart attack. -
Calvin Coolidge sworn in as 30th president
In a simple 2:30 a.m. ceremony, presided over by his father at his home in Plymouth, Vermont, Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as the thirtieth President of the United States. -
Martial law and the KKK
Governor J. C. Walton places Oklahoma under martial law in order to suppress the increasing terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, which has reemerged in the South and Midwest in response to worsening economic conditions. -
Pact of Anapala
Representatives from Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador sign the Pact of Anapala with the United States, agreeing to cut off aid to the insurgent forces in neighboring Honduras threatening to overthrow President Rafael Gutierrez. This was one of many attempts by the United States, which had first sent Marines to Honduras as early as 1919, to keep Gutierrez in power. These efforts ultimately failed when insurgent leader Tiburcio Carias became dictator in 1933. -
New immigration law
Congress passes a new immigration law with even more restrictive quotas than those established by a temporary act two years earlier. Japanese immigrants are barred completely while Canadians and Mexicans remain exempted from the quotas. -
Dawes Plan signed
The Dawes Plan is signed by the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Belgium to solve the German reparations problem and to end the occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgium troops. -
Marines withdraw from Dominican Republic
The last U.S. Marines, first sent to Santo Domingo in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson, withdraw from the Dominican Republic, finalizing a process begun three years earlier by Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. -
Calvin Coolidge wins election
Vice President Coolidge had assumed the office of the presidency the year before after President Warren Harding died. But Coolidge then had to convince the American public to elect him President in his own right. Coolidge wins the election easily with 382 electoral votes. -
KKK demonstrates in Washington
The Ku Klux Klan holds a massive political demonstration in Washington, D.C. Possibly the largest Klan parade in history, around 40,000 men and women march down Pennsylvania Avenue decked out in their white Klan robes, a scene which reflects the group's resurgence during the 1920s. -
Revenue Act becomes law
Coolidge signs the Revenue Act into law, as Harding's policy of “normalcy” morphs into keeping “cool with Coolidge.” With the goal of cutting the size of the Federal government, the Act reduces income taxes as well as other duties. While it helps the Republican Party weather the investigations of corruption under Harding, it further weakens the already deteriorating national economy. -
Cancelling French debt
France and the United States sign an agreement that eventually cancels sixty percent of the French debt from the Great War. -
Marines land in Nicaragua
The U.S. Marines land in Nicaragua to quiet a revolt. America military forces will maintain a presence in Nicaragua until 1933. -
Air Commerce Act passed
The Air Commerce Act is passed by Congress. While the federal government already subsidized airmail, this act gave the Commerce Department regulatory powers over sectors of the aviation industry, such as the licensing of pilots and aircraft. -
Naval depot explodes
A naval ammunition depot at Lake Denmark, New Jersey, explodes after it is struck by lightning. With explosions continuing for several days, 31 dead, and $93 million in damages, it is the worst such disaster in the history of the U.S. military. -
Court gives President the right to remove cabinet members
The Supreme Court rules that the President has the right to remove cabinet members at his own discretion. The ruling nullifies the 1868 Tenure of Office Act, which required the consent of the Senate in order to restrict the powers of President Andrew Johnson during Reconstruction. -
Federal Radio Commission created
Congress creates the Federal Radio Commission to regulate this burgeoning field of national and international communication. -
Voting restrictions unconstitutional
The Supreme Court rules that a Texas law prohibiting black people from voting in Democratic primaries is unconstitutional. -
South America opposed Roosevelt Corollary
At the Sixth International Conference of American States in Havana, Cuba, South American countries introduce a resolution opposing U.S. invocation of the Roosevelt Corollary. By the end of the year, the State Department will issue a statement redefining the Monroe Doctrine as a policy which “does not concern itself with purely inter-American relations.” This redefinition brought an end to the Roosevelt Corollary in word, if not in deed. -
U.S. recognizes nationalist Chinese government
The United States recognizes Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist government of China and signs a tariff treaty with the Chinese. -
The Kellogg-Briand Pact
Also known as the Pact of Paris. It is signed by the United States and fifteen other nations. Named for its two principal authors, Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand, the pact outlaws war as a means to settle disputes, substituting diplomacy and world opinion for armed conflict. -
Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as president
Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the thirty-first President of the United States. Hoover won the presidential election in an apparent landslide, 444 electoral votes to Smith's 87 on November 6, 1928. -
First annual Academy Awards
The first annual Academy Awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. -
The pocket veto
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the use of the pocket veto by the President for the purpose of blocking legislation. -
Agricultural Marketing Act
Hoover signs the Agricultural Marketing Act to revitalize the increasingly poor market for farm products. The act creates the Federal Farm Board, designed to promote the sale of agricultural products through cooperatives and stabilization corporations. In addition, it provides for the purchase of surplus goods by the federal government to maintain price levels and a $500,000,000 fund to aid the cooperatives. -
Stock index doubles
The index of common stock prices reaches an average of 216, more than double what it had been three years earlier. The increase represented the largest bull market the country had ever seen. At the same time, national income statistics indicate that roughly 60 percent of Americans have annual incomes below the poverty line, estimated at $2000. -
Construction of Empire State Building begins
The construction contract for the Empire State Building is awarded. It will be completed in 1931. -
"Black Thursday"
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) experiences a collapse in stock prices as 13 million shares are sold. Even wealthy investors J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, in an effort to save the market by furiously buying stock, cannot check the fall. -
"Black Tuesday"
a record 16.4 million shares of stock are traded on the NYSE as large blocks of equities are sold at extremely low prices. The trading continues the sharp downward trend of the previous week. It is an abrupt change from the over-speculation of the previous months. By December 1, NYSE stocks will have lost $26 billion in value. -
Stimson invokes Kellogg-Briand Pact
Secretary of State Henry Stimson invokes the Kellogg-Briand Pact, ratified earlier that year, in an effort to prevent a Sino-Soviet war. While the Pact is ignored, neither country is prepared to fight a war and they reach a peaceful settlement three weeks later. -
Bootlegging bust
A major bootlegging operation in Chicago is shut down with the arrest of 158 people from 31 organizations. Together, these groups were estimated to have distributed more than seven million gallons of whiskey nationwide with an estimated worth of around $50 million. -
London Naval Treaty signed
The London Naval Treaty is signed by the United States, Britain, and Japan. France and Italy refuse to sign major provisions of the treaty, which remains in effect until 1937. -
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising duties prohibitively high on many imports. Rather than solve the economic crash, the act causes other countries to follow America's lead by raising their tariffs. -
Veterans Administration Act
The act consolidates all existing federal agencies handling benefits for former servicemen into a single department. -
Hoover Dam construction begins
Construction of the Hoover Dam begins in Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam will be completed in 1936. -
Kellogg awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Frank B. Kellogg is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in drafting the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact while secretary of state during the Coolidge administration. -
Funding public works
Hoover asks Congress to fund for public works projects in order to stem the growing tide of unemployment. Congress complies weeks later, providing $116 million in jobs for the estimated 4.5 million unemployed. -
Bank of the United States closes
The Bank of the United States in New York City, with 60 branches and 400,000 depositors, closes. It is merely the largest of the more than 1300 bank closings across the country as the economic depression worsens. -
Bonus Loan passed
The Bonus Loan allows veterans to obtain cash loans of up to 50 percent of their bonus certificates issued in 1924. -
"Star Spangled Banner" becomes national anthem
The “Star Spangled Banner” officially becomes the national anthem. -
Debt moratorium
In an effort to ease the worldwide depression, Hoover proposes a one-year moratorium on debt payments owed America in return for Europe returning the favor on U.S. debts. Passed by Congress in December, the policy does little to improve the economic crisis. -
Britain dumps gold
Britain goes off the gold standard in an effort to solve the continuing economic crisis. Americans, fearing that the United States will soon do the same, begin to withdraw their money from banks and hoard gold. -
Spain abolishes monarchy
After more than a decade of military dictatorship, Spain adopts a Republican constitution, abolishing its monarchy. -
"Stimson Doctrine"
Secretary of State Stimson delivers a diplomatic note to Japan, condemning its actions in Manchuria. The “Stimson Doctrine” indicates America's refusal to recognize territory seized by force of arms. -
Reconstruction Finance Corporation established
Hoover establishes the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an agency designed to lend money to banks, insurance companies, and other institutions to stimulate the economy. It will have $2 billion at its disposal. -
Lindbergh baby kidnapped
Twenty-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped. After paying a $50,000 ransom, the boy is found dead on May 12. The public outcry against the crime will help to make kidnapping a federal crime punishable by death. -
Amelia Earhart completes her flight
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. -
Mukden incident
The Japanese military stages an incident in the Manchurian town of Mukden, creating a pretext for the Japanese invasion of the region. The action is in direct violation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact signed in 1928. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president
Franklin D. Roosevelt wins the presidential election over Hoover. Roosevelt wins 472 electoral votes to Hoover's 59. The election illustrates the widespread public opinion that Hoover is largely to blame for the continuing economic crisis. -
Roosevelt declares a four-day “bank holiday”
Roosevelt declares a four-day “bank holiday” in order to stop the panic “run” on the nation's banks. He also summons Congress to a special session on March 9. -
First lady Eleanor Roosevelt holds the first First Lady press conference
First lady Eleanor Roosevelt holds the first First Lady press conference where only female reporters are invited to attend. -
“Hundred Days” and Emergency Banking Act
During this period, Congress enacts many of the principal programs of FDR's “New Deal.” It passes the Emergency Banking Act on March 9, 1933, allowing banks to reopen as soon as they can prove they are solvent; within three days, more than 1,000 banks will reopen, helping to raise the nation's confidence almost overnight. -
Reforestation Relief Act
Congress passes the Reforestation Relief Act, which provides for the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC offers immediate work to some 250,000 young men (ages 18-25) through a national reforestation program; by its conclusion in 1941, it will have employed more than 2 million young men. -
United States is taken off the gold standard
FDR, by presidential proclamation, takes the United States off the gold standard. While the value of the dollar declines internationally, the policy also allows more money to become available to Americans, stimulating the economy. -
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
The Act provides immediate grants to states for relief project, unlike Hoover's earlier proposals, which only provided loans. The legislature also passes the Agricultural Adjustment Act, establishing the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which restricts the production of certain crops and pays farmers not to till their land. Roosevelt hopes that the AAA will reduce agricultural production, raise prices, and aid suffering farmers. -
Tennessee Valley Act
Congress passes the Tennessee Valley Act, establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), to control flooding in the Tennessee River Valley and provide for rural electrification in the seven states comprising the region. The goal is to raise the social and economic standards of the residents of this relatively remote section of the country. -
Federal Securities Act (FSA)
Congress passes the Federal Securities Act, requiring all issues of stocks and bonds to be registered and approved by the federal government. -
Final Day of FDR's "Hundred Days"
Congress passes a number of bills on the final day of FDR's “Hundred Days.” The most important of these is the National Industry Recovery Act (NIRA), the Banking Act of 1933, the Farm Credit Act, the Public Works Administration (PWA), and the National Recovery Administration (NRA). -
FDR establishes the National Labor Board
The NLB is created to enforce the right of organized labor to bargain collectively. Its existence marks a sharp change in the federal government's stance toward labor. -
Civil Works Administration
Headed by Harry Hopkins, the CWA hopes to provide work for 4 million unemployed Americans. -
Diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R
After meeting with Soviet commissar for foreign affairs Maxim Litvinov at the White House, Roosevelt announces that the United States will establish diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. -
Gold Reserve Act
Congress passes the Gold Reserve Act, allowing the President to fix the value of the U.S. dollar at between 50 to 60 cents in terms of gold. The next day, FDR signs the Farm Mortgage Refinancing Act, establishing the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation, designed to help farmers pay their mortgages by granting them easier terms of credit. -
Export-Import Bank
By executive order, FDR establishes the Export-Import Bank to encourage commerce between the United States and foreign nations, especially Latin America. -
Henry Ford restores his $5 per day minimum wage
In a show of confidence in the nation's economic recovery, Henry Ford restores his $5 per day minimum wage to 47,000 of his 70,000 workers. -
Home Owners Loan Act
FDR signs the Home Owners Loan Act, a bill designed to promote home construction. -
Cuba is released from the Platt Amendment
The United States and Cuba sign a treaty releasing Cuba from the Platt Amendment, which had made Cuba a U.S. protectorate following the Spanish-American War in 1903. -
Securities Exchange Act
FDR signs the Securities Exchange Act, creating the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), which will license stock exchanges and determine the legality of certain speculative market practices. The following day, Congress will pass the Corporate Bankruptcy Act, allowing corporations facing bankruptcy to reorganize if two-thirds of its creditors agree. -
Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act
Congress passes the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act, allowing the President to cut tariffs by as much as 50 percent--without the consent of the Senate--for those nations granting the U.S. most-favored-nation trading status. -
Communications Act
Congress passes the Communications Act, creating the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate radio, telegraph, and telephone communications. The FCC replaces the much narrower focused Federal Radio Commission, established in 1927 under Coolidge. -
Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act and National Housing Act
In his continued efforts to rejuvenate the economy, FDR signs two bills into law. The Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act places a moratorium on all farm mortgage foreclosures; the National Housing Act creates the Federal Housing Administration, designed to further stimulate home building. -
Japan denounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922
Japan denounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930; it will declare its complete withdrawal from each by December 1936. -
Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
The bill authorizes nearly $5 billion to establish federal programs in line with FDR's goals. The first of these, the Resettlement Administration (RA), will be created less than a month later and will help rural, and some urban, families relocate to more productive regions of the country. -
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
The WPA provides work and income for millions of Americans through the construction and repair of roads, bridges, public schools, post offices, parks, and airfields. The WPA will also establish projects to employ artists and scholars. -
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
The NLRB ensures the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively. -
Social Security Act
FDR signs the Social Security Act, which establishes the Social Security Board (SSB), one of the most far-reaching pieces of legislation in the country's history. The act guarantees pensions to Americans over the age of 65, establishes a system of unemployment insurance, and assists states in aiding dependent children, the blind, and the aged who do not already qualify for Social Security. -
Revenue Act
Congress passes the Revenue Act, increasing taxes on inheritances and gifts, as well as on higher incomes and corporations. The bill reverses long-standing revenue laws that had favored America's wealthiest elite. -
Neutrality Act
FDR signs the Neutrality Act, forbidding the shipment of arms and munitions to belligerents during a state of war. -
Adjusted Compensation Act
Congress passes the Adjusted Compensation Act over Roosevelt's veto. The bill provides immediate cash redemption of the bonus certificates first issued to veterans in 1924. The certificates were due to mature in 1944 but, due to the recent economic downturn--dubbed the “Roosevelt Recession”--Congress finally gathered enough support to override FDR's veto. -
Roosevelt wins re-election
The overwhelming public support for FDR's New Deal is mirrored in the congressional elections as the Democrats retain their majorities in both houses of Congress. President Roosevelt is inaugurated for his second term on January 20, 1937. -
William H. Hastie
William H. Hastie becomes the first black federal judge. -
FDR signs the third Neutrality Act
FDR signs the third Neutrality Act, extending for another year the prohibitions against exporting arms and munitions to belligerents. Unlike the previous acts, this one also requires belligerents to pay with cash for certain non-military goods purchased in the United States and to provide for transport in their own ships, giving the act its name, “the cash-and-carry law.” -
Amelia Earhart vanishes
World-famous American aviator Amelia Earhart vanishes over the Pacific Ocean during her round-the-world flight after radio contact with her comes to a sudden stop. No trace her or her plane is ever found. -
Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenancy Act
Congress passes the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenancy Act, establishing the Farm Securities Administration (FSA), which provides low-interest loans to struggling farmers. -
National Housing Act
The bill establishes the U.S. Housing Authority, which is charged with administering loans for rural and urban home construction. -
German troops move into Austria
German troops move into Austria, allegedly to bring order to that country. Hitler, however, will fuse Austria to Germany, an act he terms Anschluss, and describes the annexation as peaceful. -
Mexico nationalizes all oil properties
Mexico nationalizes all oil properties of the United States and other foreign-owned companies. -
Revenue Act of 1938
Over FDR's veto, Congress passes the Revenue Act of 1938, reducing corporate income taxes for the purpose of stimulating the economy. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
FDR signs the Fair Labor Standards Act; raising the minimum wage and setting the maximum workweek at 40 hours, though only for businesses engaged in interstate commerce. -
German Army invades Czechoslovakia
The German Army invades Czechoslovakia, five-and-a-half months after gaining the Sudetenland peacefully through the Munich Pact. By the end of March, the entire country will be under German control. -
Transatlantic passenger air service
Transatlantic passenger air service begins a with Pan American Airways flight from Long Island, New York, to Lisbon, Portugal. With twenty passengers, the Dixie Clipper makes the trip in just under twenty-four hours. -
Germany launches a major invasion of Poland
Germany launches a major invasion of Poland, starting the Second World War. -
France and Britain declare war on Germany
France and Britain declare war on Germany. With limited domestic support for war, FDR declares U.S. neutrality. -
FDR declares all American ports and waters closed
FDR declares all American ports and waters closed to submarines of belligerents. -
Neutrality Act of 1939
FDR signs the Neutrality Act of 1939, repealing the general embargo on arms and allowing the sale of arms to belligerents on a “cash and carry” basis. It is clearly designed to allow the United States to aid Britain and France while retaining their official stance of neutrality. -
The U.S.S.R. invades Finland
The U.S.S.R. invades Finland, bombing its capital, Helsinki. -
Finland signs an armistice and treaty with the U.S.S.R.
Finland signs an armistice and treaty with the U.S.S.R., ending the Russo-Finnish War and ceding territory to the Russians. Importantly, both Germany and the Allies are aware of the heavy casualties the Russians sustained in battling the seemingly overmatched Finns, a factor which will later influence both Hitler's decision to invade the U.S.S.R. as well as the Allies' hesitation in sending aid to the Russians. -
German Army invades Norway and Denmark
The German Army invades Norway and Denmark in preparation for its invasion of France. Copenhagen falls in twelve hours, while the Norwegians resist for two months with British and French aid before succumbing to the Germans. -
Office for Emergency Management
FDR establishes the Office for Emergency Management, illustrating his belief in the increasing inevitability of U.S. involvement in the war. -
Alien Registration Act
Congress passes the Alien Registration Act, requiring the registration and fingerprinting of all aliens. The bill also prohibits individuals or organizations from advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government by force. -
The Battle of Britain begins
The Battle of Britain begins with the first bombing raids by the German Air Force. Outnumbered, the British will retain control of British airspace, finally forcing the Germans to end the onslaught in October. Although the bombing raids will continue throughout the war, Hitler is forced to abandon any hope of invading Britain. -
Selective Training and Service Act
FDR signs the Selective Training and Service Act, authorizing the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history and requiring all men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five to register for military training. -
FDR wins an unprecedented third-term as president
In a closer than expected election against Willkie, FDR wins an unprecedented third term as President of the United States. It is a powerful statement of the public's support for FDR as it looks past the unwritten rule, established by George Washington, of limiting Presidents to two terms. He is inaugurated on January 20, 1941. -
United Service Organizations (USO)
The United Service Organizations (USO) is formed by six national groups to serve the social, educational, welfare, and religious needs of those in the armed forces and defense industries. -
Lend-Lease Act
FDR signs the Lend-Lease Act, empowering the President to lend arms and other war material to any country deemed vital to U.S. interests. It is more or less an extension of formal and informal U.S. policy to aid Britain and the Allies without officially declaring war on the Axis. -
Price Administration (OPA)
The Office of Price Administration (OPA) is established to control and stabilize prices during wartime. -
closing of all German consulates
FDR orders the closing of all German consulates in the United States; Germany and Italy respond by closing all U.S. consulates in their countries. -
Germany breaks the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939
Germany breaks the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939 when it invades the U.S.S.R. Two days later, Roosevelt promises U.S. aid to the Soviet Union. -
Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC)
Roosevelt establishes the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) by executive order, preventing discrimination due to race, creed, or color in the hiring and treatment practices of the ever-growing defense industry. -
Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)
Roosevelt establishes the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) by executive order, with Vannevar Bush as its chairman. The OSRD will coordinate the development of defense-related technology including radar, sonar, and early stages of atomic research. -
FDR orders U.S. Navy planes to shoot
In response to the growing number of attacks on U.S. ships, FDR orders U.S. Navy planes to shoot on sight any Axis ships found operating in U.S. defensive waters. -
Revenue Act of 1941
FDR signs the largest tax bill in American history, as the Revenue Act of 1941 provides for sharply increased taxes to collect more than $3 billion for the defense effort. -
German U-boat torpedoes USS Kearny
USS Kearny was torpedoed on her starboard side by a German U-boat while on patrol off Greenland but did not sink. -
Pearl Harbor Attacked
The Japanese launched a surprise attack against the United States at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the United States quickly entered World War II, declaring war against Japan the next day. -
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; Congress, in turn, declares war on Germany and Italy. -
Office of Censorship
The Office of Censorship is established by executive order to control all matters involving information deemed vital to the war effort. -
Office of Price Administration
The Office of Price Administration announces rubber rationing; beginning on New Year's Day, the sale of new cars and trucks will be temporarily banned. -
Japan takes Wake Island
Japan takes Wake Island, an American territory in the Pacific. Two days later, Hong Kong, a British colony, also falls to the Japanese.
