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News and Events of 1942

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1942 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

population by decade

More World Statistics...

Nazi leaders attend the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "final solution to the Jewish question," the systematic genocide of Jews known as the Holocaust.
Declaration of United Nations is signed in Washington.

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Franklin D Roosevelt
Vice President: Henry A. Wallace
Population: 134,859,553

More U.S. Statistics...

More than 120,000 Japanese and persons of Japanese ancestry living in western U.S. moved to "relocation centers," some for the duration of the war (Executive Order 9066).
Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston kills 491. Background: Fires and Explosions
Women's military services established. Background: Female Military Personnel on Active Duty by Grade, September 1998. See Also: Women's History
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, first health maintenance organization (HMO), begins in Oakland, Calif.

Economics

Federal spending:   $35.14 billion
Federal debt:   $79.2 billion
Consumer Price Index:   16.3
Unemployment:   4.7%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03

More Economics...

Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

World Series

St. Louis Cardinals d. NY Yankees (4-1)

Stanley Cup

Toronto d. Detroit (4-3)

Wimbledon

Women: Not held (World War II)
Men: Not held (World War II)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Shut Out

NCAA Basketball Championship

Stanford d. Dartmouth (53-38)

NCAA Football Champions

Ohio St. (9-1-0)

World Cup

Not held (World War II)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: In This Our Life, Ellen Glasgow

Oscars awarded in 1942
Academy Award, Best Picture: How Green Was My Valley (Twentieth Century-Fox)

Miss America: JoCaroll Dennison (TX)

More Entertainment Awards...

Events

Casablanca premieres in theaters.
Bing Crosby releases "White Christmas," from the film Holiday Inn. The song goes on to be the all-time, top-selling song from a film.
RCA Victor sprays gold over Glenn Miller's million-copy-seller Chattanooga Choo Choo, creating the first "gold record."

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: None awarded

Physics: None awarded

Physiology or Medicine: None awarded

The first safe self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is accomplished by Erico Fermi, Edward Teller and Leo Szilard at the University of Chicago.
Harvard University chemist Louis F. Fieser invents napalm, a jelly-like mixture of gasoline and palm oils that sticks to its target until it burns out.
Radar comes into operational use.
The U.S. government establishes the Manhattan Project, led by Robert Oppenheimer, to coordinate ongoing American efforts to design and build the atomic bomb.