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February 2, 1942– WWII: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order directing the internment of Japanese Americans and the seizure of their property.
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February 10 – In the early hours of the morning the SS Normandie capsizes at pier 88 in New York City.
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February 22 – WWII: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
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June 13 – The United States opens its Office of War Information, a propaganda center
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August 8 – WWII: In Washington, DC, six German would-be saboteurs are executed
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December 2 – Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
