RKO release Walt Disney's second full-length animated film, Pinocchio.
Tom and Jerry make their debut in Puss Gets the Boot
Cartoon character Elmer Fudd makes his debut in the animated short Elmer's Candid Camera.
Take It or Leave It makes it debut on CBS Radio, with Bob Hawk as host.
The very first McDonald's restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California.
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time in Sturgis, South Dakota.
WWII: The United States imposes a total embargo on all scrap metal shipments to Japan.
The first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the country's first long-distance controlled-access highway, is opened between Irwin and Carlisle.
The draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the United States.
The Selective Service System lottery is held in Washington, D.C..
Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
The Chicago Bears, in what will become the most one-sided victory in National Football League history, defeat the Washington Redskins 73–0 in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain that will become known as Lend-Lease.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."
World War II: United States troops land in the Marshall Islands.
World War II: American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Gap.
World War II: Operation Market Garden begins.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to an unprecedented 4th term as President of the United States. No president before, or since, has ever reached a third term in office.
United States forces capture Manila, Philippines from the Japanese Imperial Army.
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives what will be his last address to a joint session of Congress, reporting on the Yalta Conference.