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1940
Key: Politics and Society, Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, World

Year in Review

Politics and Society

  • President Franklin Roosevelt asks Congress for $1,800,000,000 for defense, although the US has not yet entered the war.
  • The GNP in 1940 was $99.7 billion.
  • US declines to renew the trade treaty of 1911 with Japan, although Secretary of State Hull says trade may still continue.
  • Illiteracy declines to 4.2% of the population (a 0.1% drop from 1930, and a 15.8% drop from 1870).
Ida May Fuller with first Social Security check First ever payment of Social Security made to Ida May Fuller, 31 January.
  • Air Defense Command is established to plan air defense of US against possible attack.
  • Finland's resistance against the Soviet Union stirs sympathy for them in the US. The damages they inflicted on the Russians help influence Hitler to invade the Soviets and the US to withhold aid to the Russians once invaded by Germany.
  • US Supreme Court declares antipicketing laws of Alabama and California unconstitutional on the grounds of First Amendment rights.
  • The Socialist Party nominates Norman Thomas to be their presidential candidate; the Socialist Labor Party nominates Roger W. Babson.
  • Total personal income tax was less than 4% of total personal income.
  • President Roosevelt asks Congress for $1,300,000,000 in supplemental funds for military and naval development.
  • FDR receives the first of many telegrams from Churchill seeking US aid and asking for US participation in the war.
  • US begins to supply Great Britain with surplus war material, including aircraft.
  • Passage of Pittman Resolution in Congress permits sale of US arms to countries in South Africa.
  • The Communist Party nominates Earl Browder as their presidential candidate; the Republican Party nominates Wendell L. Wilkie.
  • Congress raises the national debt ceiling to a record high of $49,000,000,000. Until 1939, when defense funds began to skew the budget, FDR had maintained the national deficit at around 2.95 million.
  • An amendment to Hatch Act (1939) limits presidential campaign spending to $3,000,000 with no individual contribtions more than $5,000.
  • Two thirds of Americans favor aid to Europe but not yet war.
  • FDR signs the Alien Registration Act into law; it requires registration and fingerprinting of aliens and makes it illegal to belong to any group advocating overthrowing the government. Approximately 5,000,000 aliens registered.
  • Predictions for the election--Democratic National Chairman: Roosevelt to get 427 out of 531 electoral votes and to carry all but nine states.
  • Republican National Chairman: Wilkie to get 324 out of 531 electoral votes, including New York's.
  • Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee from 1932 to 1936 (who guessed the 1932, 1934, and 1936 elections accurately): Wilkie to get 353 electoral votes, a majority of "about 4,000,000" votes.
  • To strengthen US eastern coast, Roosevelt provides Britain with 50 outdated destroyers in exchange for right to establish naval bases on seven British territories.
  • US enacts first peacetime draft. By October, more than 16,000,000 will have registered for possible military conscription.
Propaganda film by Republican party campaign on behalf of Wendell Wilkie for President: The Truth About Taxes.
FDR at the Mic Roosevelt gives famous "Arsenal of Democracy" Fireside Chat. Full text and CBS radio broadcast.
Science and Technology
The 1939 RCA TRK-12 Limited individual capital for luxuries, combined with concerns over the possibility of war and insecurity about the stability of the job market, kept the television industry from doing as well as anticipated.
Roll-Oh film Can a robot do the chores?
Leave It to Roll-Oh
  • Harvard geologists report traces of man in North America 25,000 years ago.
  • First complete two-way radio (an AM police radio) installed in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
  • A survey shows that 30,000,000 homes have radios.
  • The average life expectancy in 1940 is 64 years; in 1900 it was 49 years.
  • FCC is established to develop commercial television rules.
  • THe first antibiotic, developed by Dr. Selman Wakesman, proves to be toxic for humans.
  • The Radio Corp. of America Laboratory publicly tests an electron microscope; about 10' high, it weighs 700 lbs. and magnifies as much as 100,000 diameters.
  • Igor Sikorsky demonstrates first direct-lift aircraft in US, the Vought-Sikorsky helicopter.
  • The "Crypt of Civilization" time capsule is sealed at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA. Containing 1000s of objects, including an encyclopedia, a movie magazine, and a bottle of beer, it is slated to be opened in the year 8113.
Tower of W3XE Philco televises the Republican National Convention from Philadelphia.
  • IBM reports a gross income of $45,000,000 and and 12,656 employees.
  • The largest floating structure ever built--the Lake Washington Floating Bridge, in Seattle, WA--opens to traffic.
  • Throughout 1940, renowned scientists from all over Europe flee to the US.
Peter Carl Goldmark with a color wheel. New York: Color television is demonstrated over the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) station.
  • Dr. Richard B. Goldschmidt, Professor of Zoology at the University of California, announces a new theory of evolution: organic changes occur by rapid "leaps" or mutations rather than by a gradual process, as Darwin had maintained.
  • The "Complex Nuber Calculator," developed by George Stibitz of AT & T's Bell Telephone Laboratories, is demonstrated as the world's first electrical digital computer.
  • Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the third-longest single-span bridge in the world, falls into Puget Sound, Washington only four months after its completion. Aerodynamic flaws are blamed for the collapse during a 42mph windstorm.
  • While dedicating a $4,000,000 National Health Institute in Bethesda, MD, Roosevelt comments: "Neither the American people nor their government intend to socialize medical practice."
"Let Yourself Go" is an 8 1/2 minute film that characterizes "modern" ideas about relaxation as revolutionized by industry and science, while pitching consumerism at the same time.
  • Curvlite, a synthetic glass of US manufacture that makes light turn corners, helps Londoners save lives during bombing campaigns. London surgeons now using Curvlite for operations during blackouts.
1940 January 1940 February 1940 March 1940 April 1940 May 1940 June 1940 July 1940 August 1940 September 1940 October 1940 November 1940 December 1940
Arts and Culture
Gone with the Wind -- Display Poster Gone with the Wind wins the 1940 Best Picture award at the Academy Awards (for films nominated in 1939).
  • Kings Canyon National Park, a 454,000-acre tract in California, is created by an act of Congress.
  • The 1916 tune, "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be a Soldier," enjoys a revival. Various groups oppose the possibility of war, but by mid-year, support begins to swell.
  • Books published in 1940 include Claude McKay's Harlem: Negro Metropolis, detailing the creative activity in Harlem, Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Richard Wright's Native Son, and Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.
  • Pulitzer Prizes for Letters & Drama: NOVEL-- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Viking); BIOGRAPHY-- Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters, Vols. VII and VIII, by Ray Stannard Baker (Doubleday); HISTORY-- Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, by Carl Sandburg (Harcourt); POETRY-- Collected Poems, by Mark Van Doren (Holt); DRAMA-- The Time of Your Life, by William Saroyan.
  • Marcus "Black Moses" Garvey dies in London at age of 52. He was the leader of the first black nationalist movement and a fierce advocate for separatism.
  • The Olympics, Davis Cup, and Wimbledon are suspended due to the war in Europe.
Read the First Paragraph of Some of the Best Selling Books in 1940
  • An American Negro exposition is held in Chicago to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • US Census of 1940 states US population as 131,669,275 (an increase of 8,894,229 over the 1930 census).
  • The 40-hour work week, a provision of the Wages and Hours Act (1938) goes into effect as scheduled.
  • The original McDonalds opens this year, as does the first Dairy Queen. A triple decker cone costs a nickel.
Some of the Hit Songs of 1940
  • "There I Go," by Zaret/Weiser
  • "Practice Makes Perfect," by Ernest Gold
  • "The Woodpecker Song," by Adamson/di Lazzaro
  • "I'll Never Smile Again," by Ruth Lowe
  • "Trade Winds," by Friend/Tobias
  • "Sierra Sue," by Joseph Carey
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, dies of a heart attack at age 44.
  • Walt Disney's ground-breaking animated film Fantasia fails with audiences and critics.
  • Major General William N. Haskell forbids the showing of the motion picture Of Mice and Men, based on Steinbeck's book, in two Army posts theaters at Fort McClellan, Alabama, as inappropriate for Christmas Eve. Chaplains call the film morbid and degenerate.
  • The Chicago Bears defeat the Washington Redskins, 73 to 0, and win the NFL championship.
  • "My Sister Eileen," a farce by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov based on Ruth McKenney's 1938 book, opens at the Biltmore Theatre in New York City.
World
  • Germans begin the construction of Auschwitz.
  • The Lodz ghetto is established in Poland.
  • A puppet Chinese government headed by Wang Jingwei established at Nanjing with Japanese support.
  • After fighting Russia since November 1939, Finland signs an armistice handing over numerous territories to the Soviet Union. The truce lasts barely more than a year.
  • Germany invades the Soviet Union without warning.
  • Italy and Albania join the Axis.
  • Italy declares war on France and Britain.
  • Britain announces a complete blockade of Italy.
  • Audio: France surrenders to Germany.
  • Germany, Japan, and Italy sign the Axis (Tripartite) Pact.
  • Germany's bombing of London killing 300-600 per day and injuring 1,000-3,000.
  • Vichy France allows Japan to move soldiers into Indochina, a critical part of Japan's Pacific strategy.
  • Lascaux caves with Cro-Magnon art discovered by French schoolboys. A virtual tour of the caves is available.
  • Britain reopens the Burma Road.
  • Belgian government in exile forms in London.
  • Greece join the Allies.
  • Germany invades Romania.
  • Vichy France bans Jews from public service and positions of authority.
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  • Romania and Hungary join the Axis.
  • 500 German planes drop a million pounds of explosives in a 10-hour attack on Coventry, England.
  • British planes bomb Munich as Hitler gives speech in beer hall.
  • Hitler states in his New Year's speech to his army: "The year 1941 will bring consummation of the greatest victory in our history."
  • Japan's Foreign Minister, Yosuke Matuoka, declares: "I fear the coming year will prove most tragic and unfortunate for all mankind..."
  • Nazi leader, Joseph Goebbels delivers New Year's tidings and a rundown of 1940 victories to the German people. Full text is available.