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Tuskegee Airmen are introduced to the U.S. Military
The Army Air Corps created a segregated fighting unit trained at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and these Tuskegee airmen, (African American airmen who overcame prejudice during World War II. They earned fame escorting U.S. bomber aircraft in Europe and North Africa.)
like their counterparts among the ground forces, distinguished themselves in battle. -
President FDR Issues Executive Order 8802
Creating the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC). Roosevelt refused to order the desegregation of the military, but he set up a committee to investigate inequality in the armed forces. Although the FEPC helped African Americans gain a greater share of jobs in key industries than they had before, the effect was limited because the agency did not have enforcement power. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. This surprise air and naval assault killed more than 2,400 Americans, seriously damaged ships and aircraft, and abruptly ended isolationism by prompting U.S. entry into World War II. President Roosevelt, pronounced December 7 “a date which will live in infamy.” -
War Powers Act is Passed
1942 act passed after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It authorized the president (Franklin D. Roosevelt) to reorganize federal agencies any way he thought necessary to win the war. -
War Production Board is Established
President FDR establishes the board in 1942 to oversee the economy during World War II. It was part of a larger effort to convert American industry to the production of war materials. -
CORE is Established by Civil Rights Activists
In 1942 early civil rights activists also founded the interracial Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago. CORE protested directly against racial inequality in public accommodations. Its members organized “sit-ins” at restaurants and bowling alleys that refused to serve African Americans. Although these demonstrations did not get the national attention that postwar protests would, they constituted the prelude to the civil rights movement. -
Executive Order 9066: Made - Repealed
March 24th, 1942 executive order issued by President Franklin Roosevelt requiring all people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast to be relocated to internment camps. However, the Supreme Court ruled against him and others. Finally, in December of 1944, shortly after he won election to his fourth term as president, Roosevelt rescinded Executive Order 9066. -
Office of War Information is Established
Government office set up during World War II to promote patriotism and urge Americans to contribute to the war effort any way they could. -
WACs and WAVES are established
WACs - The Army volunteer organization for women during World War II. WAVES - The Navy volunteer organization for women during World War II, ultimately disbanded in 1972. Women contributed mainly as nurses and performed transportation and clerical duties. The navy and army recruited thousands of women college students, who worked on deciphering German and Japanese diplomatic and military codes and succeeded in providing the U.S. military with secret information of enemy planning. -
Zoot Suit Riots Occur in CA
Series of riots in 1943 in Los Angeles, California, sparked by white hostility toward Mexican American teenagers who dressed in zoot suits — suits with long jackets with padded shoulders and baggy pants tapered at the bottom.