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Roosevelt inches towards involvment.
Franklin Roosevelt recognised that the conflict threatened US security, and looked for ways to help the European democracies without direct involvement in the war. This necessity increased in June 1940, when the Fall of France left Britain as the only democracy standing between Nazi Germany and America -
Germany attacked Denmark & Norway
Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany on April 9th 1940. Hitler had issued the order for the invasion of Norway on March 1st under the code word “Weserübung”. The order also included the invasion and occupation of Denmark. It was the start of war in Western Europe - and an end to the 'Phoney War'. -
Lend-Lease Act gives aid to the allies
During World War II, the United States began to provide significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies in September 1940, even though the United States did not enter the war until December 1941. Much of this aid flowed to the United Kingdom and other nations already at war with Germany and Japan through an innovative program known as Lend-Lease. - https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease -
Japan attacks the United Sates
President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S. Arizona and capsized the U.S.S. Oklahoma. The attack sank or beached a total of twelve ships and damaged nine others. - http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/wwii/jb_wwii_pearlhar_1.html -
Mobilizing Industry
The transformation of industry from its peacetime activity to the industrial program necessary to support the national military objectives. It includes the mobilization of materials, labor, capital, production facilities, and contributory items and services essential to the industrial program. - http://usmilitary.about.com/od/glossarytermsi/g/i3066.htm -
The Battle of Coral Sea gives hope
The Battle of Coral Sea took place in May 1942. If the Japanese had succeeded at Coral Sea, the way would have been open for the Japanese to have captured New Guinea and leave Australia isolated from Allied help and more open to a Japanese attack. The Battle of Coral Sea was fought entirely by planes – no ship on either side made any visual - http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_coral_sea.htm contact with any enemy ship. -
Allies drive Germans out of North Africa
ritish & Commonwealth troops drive German forces out of Libya, into Tunisia. U.S. and Free French Forces invade from the West. The Germans are trapped in Tunisia, being attacked by Allies from all directions. They are forced to surrender on May 13, 1943, with nearly 240,000 prisoners of war. - http://www.worldology.com/Europe/world_war_2_1943.htm -
Allies invade Italy
With North Africa secured and Sicily—the stepping stone to Italy—conquered, the Allied forces launched their invasion of Italy on 3 September 1943. It began with British forces skipping across the Strait of Messina to Calabria. - http://www.shmoop.com/wwii/invasion-italy.html -
Heroes storm the beaches
Omaha Beach, commonly known as Omaha, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II. Omaha is located on the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, and is 5 miles (8 km) long, from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve River estuary. Landings here were necessary in order to link up the British landings to the east a -
Allies Advance
The Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine was one of the final Allied phases in World War II of the Western European Campaign. This phase spans from the end of the Operation Overlord (25 August 1944) incorporating the German winter counter offensive through the Ardennes (commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge) up to the Allies preparing to cross the river Rhine in the early months of 1945. This roughly corresponds with the official U.S. European Theater of Operations Rhineland and Ardennes- -
President Roosevelt dies
The conversation was lively, the atmosphere congenial. The president turned to the artist and reminded her that they had only fifteen minutes left in the session. Suddenly, he grabbed his head complaining of a sharp pain. The president was suffering a massive cerebral hemorrhage that would end his life in minutes. America's longest serving president who had led the nation through the Great Depression and World War II was dead -
Hitler Commits Suicide
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he first meeting of the United Nations general assembly occurs after its founding
The first General Assembly, with 51 nations represented opens in Central Hall, Westminster, London. -
Atomic Energy Commission is established
Before the NRC was created, nuclear regulation was the responsibility of the AEC, which Congress first established in the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Eight years later, Congress replaced that law with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which for the first time made the development of commercial nuclear power possible. The act assigned the AEC the functions of both encouraging the use of nuclear power and regulating its safety -
Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposes aid extension to European nations for war recovery
On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948. It became known as the Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall, who in 1947 proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. -
President Harry S. Truman vetoes the Taft-Hartley Labor Act
At noon today I sent to Congress a message vetoing the Taft-Hartley labor bill. I vetoed this bill because I am convinced it is a bad bill. It is bad for labor, bad for management, and bad for the country. I had hoped that the Congress would send me a labor bill I could sign. I have said before, and I say it now, that we need legislation to correct abuses in the field of labor relations. -
President Harry S. Truman helps out
US president Harry Truman raises taxes for the Marshall Plan -
The Soviet Union begins its land blockade of the Allied sectors of Berlin
Although a wartime alliance between the western democracies and the Soviet Union had united disparate governments in the effort to defeat Adolf Hitler, strains began to appear even before World War II was over. Within a few years, it was apparent that the Soviet Union had become America`s chief adversary instead of its ally -
NATO, the North American Treaty Organization, is formed by the United States
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed. NATO is a formal alliance between the territories of North American and Europe. From its inception, its main purpose was to defend each other from the possibility of communist Soviet Union taking control of their nation. Many powerful countries joined NATO by the signing of the official document in 1949: Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, United States, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Portugal -
United States withdraws its troops from Korea
The United Nations only recognized the U.S.-backed Republic of Korea as legitimate, but Kim saw no reason to cede the field. By June 1949, both Soviet and American troops had withdrawn from the Korean peninsula. U.S. interest in South Korea appeared to be faltering: in a January 1950 speech, Secretary of State Dean Acheson omitted the country from a list of Pacific Rim states vital to U.S. defense interests. Meanwhile, in South Korea, President Syngman Rhee had unleashed a brutal campaign agains
