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RKO release Walt Disney's second full-length animated film, Pinocchio.
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Tom and Jerry make their debut in Puss Gets the Boot
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Cartoon character Elmer Fudd makes his debut in the animated short Elmer's Candid Camera.
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Take It or Leave It makes it debut on CBS Radio, with Bob Hawk as host.
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The very first McDonald's restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California.
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The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time in Sturgis, South Dakota.
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WWII: The United States imposes a total embargo on all scrap metal shipments to Japan.
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The first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the country's first long-distance controlled-access highway, is opened between Irwin and Carlisle.
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The draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the United States.
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The Selective Service System lottery is held in Washington, D.C..
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Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
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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.
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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.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."
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World War II: United States troops land in the Marshall Islands.
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World War II: American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Gap.
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World War II: Operation Market Garden begins.
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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.
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United States forces capture Manila, Philippines from the Japanese Imperial Army.
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United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives what will be his last address to a joint session of Congress, reporting on the Yalta Conference.