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Japan quits the League of Nations
The Commission found that Japanese actions could not be justified as an act of self-defense. Furthermore, the report stated that the creation of Manchukuo did not result from a "genuine and spontaneous independence movement." The League adopted the American policy of non-recognition of any conquest. The result: the Japanese announced that they were withdrawing from the League. -
Cash and Carry Plan
was a policy requested by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a special session of the United States Congress on September 21, 1939, as World War II was spreading throughout Europe. It replaced the Neutrality Acts of 1936. The revision allowed the sale of materiel to belligerents, as long as the recipients arranged for the transport using their own ships and paid immediately in cash, assuming all risk in transportation. -
Roosevelt re-elected for 3rd time
In 1940, with World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, Roosevelt agreed to run for an unprecedented third term. Reelected by Americans who valued his strong leadership, he proved a highly effective commander in chief after the December 1941 U.S. entrance into the war -
Bases for Destroyers Deal
The Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, September 2, 1940, transferred fifty mothballed destroyers from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. The destroyers became the Town-class, and were named for cities common to both the United States and Great Britain. -
US Draft bill enacted
Congress passed the first peacetime draft in U.S. history on this day. It initially required civilian males between the ages of 21 and 30 to register with local draft boards. After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Congress extended eligibility for the draft to men between the ages of 18 and 45. -
Axis Powers Act is signed
established the Axis Powers of World War II. The pact was signed by representatives of Germany (Adolf Hitler), Italy (foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano) and Japan (ambassador Saburo Kurusu). -
Lend Lease Plan
empowered FDR to provide aid to any country whose defense was considered vital to that of the United States. The US approved $7 billion to lend or lease weapons and other aid to the involved countries. -
Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt met Churchill for four days of talks aboard the USS Augusta off Newfoundland. At the end they agreed on eight principles that would inform their policies on war and peace: The Atlantic Charter, as the document came to be known offered an ideal vision of the postwar world. -
Pearl Harbor Day
On the 7th of December 1941 at 7:53 am Japanese warplanes attacked the American fleet as it lay at anchor in Pearl Harbor, the Naval base in Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. -
Gen. MacArthur evacuates the Phillipines
MacArthur discussed General Marshall's proposal with his senior staff officers, and they agreed with him that the American position in the Philippines was hopeless and that they and MacArthur could best serve their country by leaving their troops to fight on to the end while they escaped to Australia. MacArthur advised General Marshall that he was prepared to leave the Philippines. On 22 February 1942, President Roosevelt reluctantly ordered MacArthur to leave the Philippines and take up the new -
Battle of Midway
fought over and near the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll, represents the strategic high water mark of Japan's Pacific Ocean war. Prior to this action, Japan possessed general naval superiority over the United States and could usually choose where and when to attack. After Midway, the two opposing fleets were essentially equals, and the United States soon took the offensive. -
Guadalcanal
The Guadalcanal Campaign was the first major Allied offensive against Imperial Japan. Lasting from August 1942 until February 1943, it consisted of a series of fiercely contested battles at sea, in the air, and on the ground -
Allies invade Sicily
It is the first major landing of British troops on European soil since the fall of Crete two years ago. -
D-Day
160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” -
Yalta Conference
the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. The conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta, in the Crimea. -
FDR Dies
It was about 1 p.m. that the president suddenly complained of a terrific pain in the back of my head and collapsed unconscious.By 3:30 p.m.doctors in Warm Springs had pronounced the president dead. -
VE Day
marks the formal celebration of the Allies' victory in Europe during World War II -
Hiroshima
It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M. on August 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. -
Nagasaki
The U.S. dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed by the detonation of "Fat Man" over Nagasaki on August 9. -
V-J Day
In the morning of 2 September 1945, more that two weeks after acceping the Allies terms, Japan formally surrendered. The ceremonies, less than half an hour long, took place on board the battleship USS Missouri, anchored with other United States' and British ships in Tokyo Bay.
