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John Ashcroft

John Ashcroft

John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) was the 79th Attorney General of the United States. He served in the first administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 until 2005. Ashcroft was previously a U.S. Senator from Missouri (1995–2001) and the Governor of Missouri (1985–1993)

Early Career: Lawyer, Governor

Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois to James Robert Ashcroft and Grace P. Larsen (whose parents were born in Norway). He was educated in Springfield, Missouri, and at Yale University, where he graduated in 1964. He received a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1967, and briefly taught business law at Southwest Missouri State University. He began his career in Missouri government in 1973 as state auditor, he then served 2 terms as state attorney general. He was Governor of Missouri from 1985 to 1993.

Election to the U.S. Senate

In 1994 he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri, where he became a leading opponent of the Clinton Administration's Clipper encryption restrictions. Ashcroft briefly considered running for president, but on Jan. 5, 1999, he announced that he would not seek the presidency and would instead defend his Senate seat in his 2000 reelection. [http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/01/05/president.2000/ashcroft/] Ashcroft ran for reelection in 2000 against then-Governor Mel Carnahan, who died in an airplane crash about two weeks before the election. Due to Missouri state election laws, Carnahan's name could not be removed from the ballot. Lieutenant Governor Roger Wilson became Governor upon Carnahan's death. Wilson announced that should Carnahan be elected he would appoint his widow, Jean Carnahan, to serve in her husband's place. Mrs. Carnahan agreed to serve and won the election with her late husband's name still on the ballot. Following his defeat, Ashcroft was nominated as U.S. Attorney General by president-elect George W. Bush in December 2000. Despite some contention from Democrats, Ashcroft was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 58-42. Ashcroft worships in the Assembly of God church. Whenever he was sworn in to any political office, he had himself anointed (using cooking oil when no holy oil was available).

U.S. Attorney General

Ashcroft is noted by his detractors for allegedly ordering that the partially nude statues of Liberty and Justice -- which stand in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, where he held press conferences -- be covered with blue curtains. Ashcroft denied these allegations. It has also been said that this action was taken because he felt that reporters were photographing him alongside the statues to make fun of his church's opposition to pornography. In late June 2005, Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, approved the removal of the drapery from the statues. Ashcroft is considered a leading member of the Christian right wing of the Republican Party and was one of the highest-ranked representatives of that group in the Bush Administration. Ashcroft's religious beliefs have led opponents, including Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), to question his ability to effectively enforce certain laws, especially those pertaining to abortion. Ashcroft maintained that he would enforce laws whether or not he agreed with them. In July 2002, Ashcroft proposed the creation of Operation TIPS, a domestic program in which workers and government employees would inform law enforcement agencies about suspicious behavior they encounter while performing their duties. The program was widely criticized in the media as an encroachment upon the First and Fourth Amendments, and the United States Postal Service balked at the program, refusing outright to participate. Ashcroft defended the program as a necessary component of the ongoing War on Terrorism, but the proposal was eventually abandoned. Ashcroft's positions on privacy and civil liberties measures made him an extremely disliked figure among libertarian, left-wing and liberal groups, and groups opposed to the Bush administration often mentioned him as epitomizing all the reasons for their opposition. Some of his most prominent critics were organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and pro-choice groups. Many liberal commentators claimed that Ashcroft used the threat of terrorism to further political goals; one prominent example was a news conference held in May of 2004, which critics claimed was an attempt to distract attention from a drop in the approval ratings of President Bush, who at the time was campaigning for re-election. [1] Ashcroft's opponents allege that he used the threat of terrorism as a justification for unnecessarily restricting civil liberties. Some of those opponents have pejoratively labeled his polices as "Ashcroftism." Publications such as workers.org refer to him as "Grand Inquisitor" Ashcroft[http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/edit0226.php]. Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 also known as The Patriot Act II, is draft legislation written by John Ashcroft's Department of Justice to fight terrorism. It was leaked to the internet in its original raw form. People were outraged over its proposed infringements on civil liberties. In March 2004, Ashcroft entered the George Washington Medical Center with gallstone pancreatitis; surgeons removed his gallbladder (cholecystectomy) within a week. On November 9, 2004, Ashcroft announced his resignation from his post as Attorney General, which took effect on February 3, 2005 with the Senate confirmation of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General. Some believe his health was a factor in his decision. His hand-written resignation letter, dated November 2, stated: "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved."

Karl Rove Conflict Of Interest Allegation

See CIA leak grand jury investigation When long-term client Karl Rove was being questioned by the FBI over the leak of a covert CIA agent's identity in the press, Ashcroft was personally briefed about the investigation. U.S. Representative John Conyers described this at the time as a "stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation."[http://www.pacifica.org/programs/dn/050818.html] Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has sent a letter asking for a formal investigation of the time between the start of Rove's investigation and John Ashcroft's recusal[http://mediamatters.org/static/audio/podcast/trupianoshow_20050817.mp3]: :There has long been the appearance of impropriety in Ashcroft's handling of this investigation. The former attorney general had well documented conflicts of interest in this matter, particularly with regard to his personal relationship with Karl Rove. Among other things, Rove was employed by Ashcroft throughout his political career, and Rove reportedly had fiercely advocated for Ashcroft's appointment as attorney general. Pursuant to standard rules of legal ethics, and explicit rules on conflict of interest, those facts alone should have dictated his immediate recusal. :The new information, that Ashcroft had not only refused to recuse himself over a period of months, but also was insisting on being personally briefed about a matter implicating his friend, Karl Rove, represents a stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation by the Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General.[http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0533,waasweb1,66861,2.html][http://www.archive.org/download/dn2005-0818/dn2005-0818-1_64kb.mp3]

War on Drugs

Ashcroft is an enthusiastic advocate of the War on Drugs. In 2003, he and the acting DEA Administrator, John B. Brown, announced a series of indictments resulting from two nationwide investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dream and Operation Headhunter. The investigations targeted businesses selling drug paraphernalia, mostly marijuana pipes and bongs, under a little-used statute (Title 21, Section 863(a) of the U.S. Code [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+21USC863]). Counterculture icon Tommy Chong was one of those charged, for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris. Most of the 55 individuals charged as a result of the operations were sentenced to fines and home detentions; Chong, however, was sentenced to 9 months in a federal prison, forfeiture of $103,000, and a year of probation. While the DOJ denied that Chong was treated any differently from the other defendants, many felt that he was made an example of by the government. Ashcroft's tough-on-marijuana stance dates back to his tenure as a Senator, when he successfully pushed for stricter federal mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenses. He continued this stance as the Governor of Missouri, favoring a drug control policy that focused law enforcement efforts on casual drug users. The former senator famously once boasted of his conservatism, saying that there are two things you find in the middle of the road: "a moderate and a dead skunk", adding that he did not wish to be either.

Singer-songwriter

Ashcroft composed a paean called "Let the Eagle Soar" which he sang at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in February 2002. The rendition was satirically featured in Michael Moore's 2004 movie Fahrenheit 9/11. The song was also sung at Bush's 2005 inauguration by Guy Hovis, former cast member of The Lawrence Welk Show. Ashcroft has penned and sung a number of other songs and created compilation tapes, including In the Spirit of Life and Liberty and Gospel (Music) According to John. With fellow Senators Trent Lott, Larry Craig, and James Jeffords, he formed a barbershop quartet called The Singing Senators. Sometime in the 1970s, Ashcroft recorded a gospel record entitled TRUTH: Volume One, Edition One with Max Bacon.[http://www.whitehouse.org/media/ashcroft-bacon/]

Academia

On March 18, 2005, Regent University, a primarily graduate university founded by Pat Robertson with its main campus in Virginia Beach, Virginia, announced that Ashcroft would join the school's faculty on July 1. He now serves jointly in Regent's law and government schools. [http://www.regent.edu/news/_press_releases/march_2005/ashcroft.cfm]

References

Mintz, John and Allen, Mike. "To Suspicious Candidates, the Threat of Attack Is No Longer Above the Fray." The Washington Post, June 27, 2004.

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1120440.stm BBC News' John Ashcroft profile]
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,661458,00.html The Guardian article about Ashcroft]
- [http://www.cnn.com/video/us/2002/02/25/ashcroft.sings.wbtv.med.html CNN video of John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar"]
- [http://www.whitehouse.org/media/ashcroft-bacon/index.asp Excerpts from an album Ashcroft recorded in the 1970s]
- [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6446686/ Text and facsimile of resignation letter, Nov '04] Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, John

May 9

May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). There are 236 days remaining.

Events


- 328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria.
- 1092 - Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.
- 1429 - Joan of Arc defeats the English troops besieging Orléans.
- 1450 - 'Abd al-Latif Mirza (Timurid monarch) assassinated.
- 1502 - Christopher Columbus leaves Spain for his fourth and final journey to the "New World".
- 1671 - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. He is immediately caught because he is too drunk to run with the loot. He is later condemned to death and then mysteriously pardoned and exiled by King Charles II.
- 1726 - Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn.
- 1868 - The city of Reno, Nevada, is founded.
- 1874 - The first horse drawn carriage made its début in the city of Mumbai, plying on two routes.
- 1887 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.
- 1901 - Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.
- 1914 - J.T. Hearne becomes the first bowler to take 3000 first-class wickets.
- 1915 - World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces.
- 1926 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of his diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).
- 1927 - The Australian Parliament first convenes in Canberra.
- 1936 - Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.
- 1940 - World War II: The German submarine U-9 sinks French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
- 1941 - World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
- 1942 - Second World War: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1945 - World War II: The final German surrender to Marshal Georgy Zhukov at Berlin-Karlshorst is signed by Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.
- 1945 - World War II: Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army.
- 1945 - World War II: Norway arrests Vidkun Quisling.
- 1945 - World War II: Red Army enters Prague (capitulation of Nazi occupation troops)
- 1945 - World War II: The Soviet Union marks Victory Day.
- 1945 - World War II: The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British.
- 1946 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Humbert II.
- 1949 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.
- 1950 - Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
- 1955 - Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.
- 1955 - Sam and Friends debuts on a local US television channel, marking the first television appearance of both Jim Henson and what would become Kermit the Frog and the Muppets.
- 1956 - First ascent of Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest mountain.
- 1960 - Reproductive rights: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protestors peacefully demonstrate behind a barricaded White House.
- 1974 - Watergate Scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon.
- 1980 - In Florida, Liberian freighter SS Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay sending 35 people (most in a bus) to a watery death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses.
- 1980 - The first meeting of Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury takes place in Ghana.
- 1987 - A Polish LOT Ilyushin IŁ 62M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" (SP-LBG). crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing 183 people.
- 1987 - In Brussels, Belgium, Johnny Logan wins the thirty-second Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "Hold Me Now".
- 1992 - In Malmö, Sweden, Linda Martin wins the thirty-seventh Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "Why Me".
- 1994 - Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
- 1998 - In Birmingham, United Kingdom, Dana International wins the forty-third Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing "Diva".
- 2002 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries.
- 2002 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
- 2004 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in a landmine bomb blast under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.
- 2004 - Team of Canada won the World Ice Hockey Championship in Prague.
- 2006 - More information on the Nintendo Revolution will be released to the public.

Births


- 1147 - Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1199)
- 1439 - Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
- 1741 - Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (d. 1816)
- 1800 - John Brown, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
- 1837 - Adam Opel, German engineer and industrialist (b. 1895)
- 1860 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish author (d. 1937)
- 1873 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1933)
- 1874 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (d. 1939)
- 1882 - George Barker, American painter (d. 1965)
- 1882 - Henry J. Kaiser, American ship-builder (d. 1967)
- 1892 - Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria-Hungary (d. 1989)
- 1895 - Richard Barthelmess, American actor (d. 1963)
- 1895 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1907 - Baldur von Schirach, Nazi official (d. 1974)
- 1912 - Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor (d. 1963)
- 1912 - Per Imerslund, "The aryan idol" (d. 1943)
- 1914 - Hank Snow, Canadian-born musician (d. 1999)
- 1918 - Mike Wallace, American journalist
- 1918 - Orville L. Freeman, American politician (d. 2003)
- 1920 - Richard Adams, English author
- 1920 - William Tenn, American author
- 1921 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
- 1921 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Bulat Okudzhava, Russian writer and musician (d. 1997)
- 1927 - Manfred Eigen, German biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 1928 - Colin Chapman, English engineer and automobile manufacturer (d. 1982)
- 1928 - Pancho Gonzalez, American tennis player (d. 1995)
- 1928 - Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater
- 1930 - Joan Sims, British actress (d. 2001)
- 1934 - Alan Bennett, British author
- 1936 - Albert Finney, British actor
- 1936 - Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
- 1937 - José Rafael Moneo, Spanish architect
- 1939 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
- 1940 - James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer
- 1942 - John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
- 1944 - Richie Furay, American musician (Poco and Buffalo Springfield)
- 1946 - Candice Bergen, American actress
- 1949 - Billy Joel, American musician
- 1955 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- 1964 - David Gahan, English singer (Depeche Mode)
- 1964 - Kevin Saunderson, American music producer and disc jockey
- 1965 - Steve Yzerman, Canadian hockey player
- 1968 - Marie-José Perec, French athlete
- 1970 - Ghostface Killah, American rapper
- 1972 - Megumi Odaka, Japanese actress and artist
- 1979 - Pierre Bouvier, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
- 1982 - Rachel Boston, American actress

Deaths


- 1315 - Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1282)
- 1446 - Mary of Enghien, Queen of Naples (b. 1368)
- 1657 - William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1590)
- 1707 - Dietrich Buxtehude, German composer
- 1747 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (b. 1673)
- 1760 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German religious and social reformer (b. 1700)
- 1789 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (b. 1715)
- 1790 - William Clingan, American delegate to the Continental Congress
- 1791 - Francis Hopkinson, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1737)
- 1805 - Friedrich Schiller, German poet and historian (b. 1759)
- 1889 - William S. Harney, U.S. general (b. 1800)
- 1903 - Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
- 1931 - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 1949 - Prince Louis II of Monaco (b. 1870)
- 1950 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b. 1883)
- 1957 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)
- 1968 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
- 1970 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (b. 1884)
- 1970 - Walter Reuther, American labor leader (b. 1907)
- 1976 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- 1978 - Aldo Moro, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
- 1985 - Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)
- 1986 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (b. 1914)
- 1989 - Keith Whitley, American country music singer (b. 1955)
- 1994 - Elias Motsoaledi, South African freedom fighter (b. 1924)
- 1998 - Alice Faye, American actress (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (b. 1918)
- 2004 - Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen president (b. 1951)
- 2004 - Alan King, American comedian (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Nasrat Parsa, Afghani singer (b. 1969)

Holidays and observances


- Russia and some other parts of the former Soviet Union – Victory Day as the end of the "Great Patriotic War"
- European Union – Europe day, commemorating the "Schuman declaration"
- Jersey, Guernsey – Liberation Day
- Roman Empire – Feast of the Lemures (See Larvae)
- Mother's Day (some countries) – 1999, 2004, 2010

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050509.html The New York Times: On This Day]
- [http://www.thisdaythatyear.com/may/people9.htm ThisDayThatYear.com on May 9] ---- May 8 - May 10 - April 9 - June 9 – listing of all days ko:5월 9일 ms:9 Mei ja:5月9日 simple:May 9 th:9 พฤษภาคม

1942

This article is about the year. For the 1984 Capcom arcade game, see 1942 (video game). 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January


- January 1 - World War II: The term "United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact.
- January 2 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. The Japanese Admiral stays in Solvec (owned by Charles Henry de Silva), Philippines.
- January 5 - Amy Johnson disappears in flight over River Thames estuary - assumed drowned
- January 6 - Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to have a flight go around the world.
- January 7 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins
- January 11 - World War II: Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
- January 11 - World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
- January 12 - President Franklin Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
- January 13 - Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car
- January 16 - Airplane crashes near Las Vegas. Dead include Carole Lombard and her mother
- January 19 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
- January 20 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide that the "final solution to the Jewish problem" is relocation, and later extermination.
- January 25 - World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom
- January 26 - World War II: The first American forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.

February


- February 9
  - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
  - Daylight-saving time goes into effect in the United States.
- February 11 - Operation Cerberus - Flotilla of Kriegsmarine ships dash from Brest through the English Channel to northern ports; British fail to sink any one of them
- February 15 - World War II: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces.
- February 19
  - World War II: 242 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.
  - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
- February 20 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace
- February 22 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
- February 23 - Japanese submarine I-17 fires sixteen high-explosive shells toward an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.
- February 24 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
- February 25 - Princess Elizabeth registers for war service
- February 26 - Coal dust explosion in Honkeika mine in China - 1549 dead
- February 27 - World War II: the USS Langley, the first United States aircraft carrier, is sunk by Japanese warplanes off Java.

March


- March 9 - The Secretary of War reorganized the United States Army into three major commands - Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces

April-June

Army Service Forces.]]
- April 3 - World War II: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began.
- April 5 - Second World War: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
- April 9 - Second World War: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
- April 27 - World War II: A national plebiscite is held in Canada on the issue of conscription.
- May - first test of an undersea oil pipeline in Operation Pluto
- May 6 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
- May 8 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other's fleets.
- May 8/May 9 - Second World War: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1942 - World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov - In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
- May 15 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
- May 20 - First colored seamen taken into US Navy
- May 27 - World War II: Operation Anthropoid - assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague
- June 4 - World War II: Reinhard Heydrich dies in Prague due to the assassination by Czechoslovak paratroopers (Operation Anthropoid)
- June 4-June 7 - World War II: The Battle of Midway.
- June 7 - World War II- Japanese forces invade the Aleutian Islands. This is the first invasion of American soil in 128 years.
- June 9 - World War II: Nazis burn the Czech village of Lidice as reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich.
- June 10 - World War II: the Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia in retaliztion for the killing of a Nazi official.
- June 12 - Holocaust: Future essayist Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
- June 13 - The United States opens its Office of War Information, a center for production of propaganda.

July


- July 1 - July 27 - World War II: the First Battle of El Alamein
- July 9 - Holocaust: Anne Frank's family goes into hiding in an attic above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
- July 13 - World War II: German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- July 16 - Holocaust: On order from the Vichy France government headed by Pierre Laval, French police officers round-up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
- July 16 - Georges Bégué and others escape from Mauzac prison camp
- July 18 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
- July 19 - World War II: Battle of the Atlantic - German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast positions in response to an effective American convoy system.
- July 22 - Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.
- July 31 - The Oxford Committee of Famine Relief (OXFAM) founded

August-September


- August 7 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - US Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with a landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
- August 8 - World War II: In Washington, DC, six German would-be saboteurs are executed (two others were cooperative and received life imprisonment instead).
- August 8 - Quit India resolution was passed by the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), which led to the start of a historical civil disobidience movement across India
- August 9 - Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces.
- August 13-14 night - In London instruments detect a massive burst of cosmic rays
- August 16 - Polish-Jewish teacher Janusz Korczak follows a group of Jewish children into Treblinka death camp
- August 19 - World War II: The Dieppe Raid - Allied forces raid Dieppe, France.
- August 22 - World War II: Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy.
- September 3 -
  - Francisco Franco fires foreign minister Serrano Súñer
  - An attempt by the Germans to liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Lakhva leads to an uprising.
- September 24 - Andrée Borrel and Lise de Baissac became the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France.

October


- October 2 - British cruiser Curacao collides with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal and sinks - 338 drowned
- October 3 - First successful launch of A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. The rocket flew 147 kilometres wide and reached a height of 84.5 kilometres and was therefore the first man-made object reaching space.
- October 9 - Statute of Westminster Adoption Act formalizes Australian autonomy.
- October 11 - World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
- October 14 - A German U-boat sinks the ferry SS Caribou, killing 137.
- October 16 - Hurricane and flooding in Bombay - 40,000 dead
- October 23 - November 4 - World War II: the Second Battle of El Alamein
- October 28 - The Alaska Highway is completed.
- October 29 - Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.

November

Jew
- November 3 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends - German forces under Erwin Rommel are forced to retreat during the night.
- November 8 - World War II: Operation Torch - United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
- November 8 - World War II: French resistance Coup in Algiers, by which 400 French civil resistants neutralized the vichyist XIXth Army Corps and the vichyist generals (Juin, Darlan, etc.), so allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers, and from there in the whole French North Africa.
- November 9 - World War II: U.S serviceman Edward Leonswki hanged at Melbourne's Pentridge Prison for the "Brown-Out" Murders of three women in May
- November 10 - World War II: In violation of a 1940 armistice, Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.
- November 12 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - A naval battle near Guadalcanal starts between Japanese and American forces.
- November 13 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - Aviators from the USS Enterprise sink the Japanese heavy cruiser BB- Hiei.
- November 15 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal ends - Although the United States Navy suffered heavy losses, it was able to retain control of Guadalcanal.
- November 19 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counterattacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR's favor.
- November 21 - The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (the "highway" was not usable by general vehicles until 1943, however).
- November 22 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - The situation for the German attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during the Soviet counter-attack Operation Uranus and General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th army is surrounded.
- November 23 - German U-boat sinks SS Ben Lomond off the coast of Brazil. One crewman, Chinese second steward Poon Lim, is separated from the others and spends 130 days adrift until he is rescued April 3 1943
- November 27 - World War II: At Toulon, the French navy scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of Nazi hands.
- November 28 - In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club kills 491 people.
- November 28 - The large-scale German "pacification" of Zamojszczyzna begins.

December


- December 2 - Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (a coded message, "The Italian navigator has landed in the new world" was then sent to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt).
- December 4 - Holocaust: In Warsaw, two Christian women, Zofia Kossak and Wanda Filipowicz risk their lives by setting up the Council for the Assistance of the Jews.

Undated


- Catavi massacre - Bolivian soldiers shoot miners
- Serial killer Singing Strangler in Melbourne
- Grand Coulee Dam finished in Columbia River
- DDT first used as a pesticide

Ongoing events


- World War II (1939-1945)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
- 1942 in art
- 1942 in film
  - Mrs. Miniver
  - Bambi
  - Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman
  - Quattro passi fra le nuvole by Alessandro Blasetti.
- 1942 in literature
  - Mythology
- 1942 in music
  - "White Christmas" - Bing Crosby
- 1942 in rail transport
- 1942 in sports
- 1942 in television
  - April 13 - The FCC minimum programming time required of TV stations is cut from 15 hours to four hours a week during the war.

Births

Unknown date


- Roger Angleton, American murderer (d. 1998)
- Priscilla Davis, American socialite (d. 2001)

January


- January 1 - Martin Frost, American politician
- January 1 - Gennadi Sarafanov, cosmonaut
- January 2 - Hugh Shelton, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- January 3 - John Thaw, English actor (d. 2002)
- January 5 - Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist
- January 5 - Charlie Rose, American talk show host
- January 7 - Vasily Alexeev, Soviet weightlifter
- January 8 - Stephen Hawking, British physicist
- January 8 - Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan
- January 8 - Yvette Mimieux, American actress
- January 8 - George Passmore, English artist (Gilbert and George)
- January 15 - Charo, American singer and actress
- January 17 - Muhammad Ali, American boxer
- January 17 - Cus D'Amato, boxing manager (d. 1985)
- January 17 - Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist
- January 17 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
- January 19 - Michael Crawford, singer and actor
- January 25 - Carl Eller, American football player
- January 25 - Eusébio, Portuguese footballer
- January 31 - Derek Jarman, English director and writer (d. 1994)

February


- February 1 - Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
- February 2 - Graham Nash, English musician
- February 5 - Roger Staubach, American football player
- February 9 - Carole King, American singer and composer
- February 12 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
- February 13 - Peter Tork, American musician and actor
- February 19 - Paul Krause, American football player
- February 20 - Phil Esposito, Canadian hockey player
- February 21 - Margarethe von Trotta, German actress, film director, and writer
- February 24 - Joseph Lieberman, American politician
- February 27 - Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)

March


- March 2 - John Irving, American author
- March 2 - Lou Reed, American singer and guitarist
- March 4 - Charles C. Krulak, U.S. Marine Corps commander
- March 5 - Felipe González Márquez, Spanish politician
- March 7 - Tammy Faye Bakker, American evangelist
- March 7 - Michael Eisner, American film studio executive
- March 9 - John Cale, Welsh composer and musician
- March 13 - Dave Cutler, American software engineer
- March 16 - James Soong, Taiwan politician
- March 17 - John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994)
- March 23 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure
- March 25 - Aretha Franklin, American singer
- March 25 - Richard O'Brien, English-born actor and writer
- March 26 - Erica Jong, American author
- March 27 - John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- March 27 - Michael York, English actor

April


- April 2 - Hiroyuki Sakai, Japanese chef
- April 3 - Marsha Mason, American actress
- April 3 - Wayne Newton, American singer
- April 5 - Peter Greenaway, Welsh filmmaker
- April 5 - Pascal Couchepin, Swiss Federal Councilor
- April 6 - Barry Levinson, American film producer and director
- April 14 - Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (d. 2003)
- April 14 - Valentin Lebedev, cosmonaut
- April 26 - Bobby Rydell, American singer
- April 26 - Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat

May


- May 2 - Jacques Rogge, Belgian International Olympic Committee president
- May 5 - Tammy Wynette, American musician (d. 1998)
- May 9 - John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
- May 12 - Ian Dury, British musician (d. 2000)
- May 17 - Taj Mahal, American singer and guitarist
- May 18 - Albert Hammond, English-born musician and composer
- May 18 - Nobby Stiles, English footballer
- May 19 - Gary Kildall, American computer scientist (d. 1994)
- May 22 - Theodore Kaczynski, American bomber
- May 22 - Calvin Simon, American musician (P Funk)
- May 26 - Levon Helm, American musician (The Band)
- May 28 - Stanley B. Prusiner, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

June


- June 3 - Curtis Mayfield, American musician (d. 1999)
- June 10 - Preston Manning, Canadian politician
- June 12 - Bert Sakmann, German physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 17 - Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian International Atomic Energy Agency director, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- June 18 - Roger Ebert, American film critic
- June 18 - Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
- June 18 - Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor

July


- July 4 - Floyd Little, American football player
- July 4 - Prince Michael of Kent
- July 7 - Carmen Duncan, Welsh-born actress
- July 10 - Pyotr Klimuk, cosmonaut
- July 10 - Ronnie James Dio, American singer
- July 13 - Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
- July 13 - Roger McGuinn, American musician
- July 15 - Mil Mascaras, Mexican professional wrestler
- July 17 - Tim Brooke-Taylor, English radio and television personality
- July 23 - Myra Hindley, English murderer
- July 24 - Chris Sarandon, American actor
- July 27 - Dennis Ralston, American tennis player
- July 29 - Tony Sirico, American actor

August


- August 1 - Jerry Garcia, American musician (d. 1995)
- August 2 - Isabel Allende, Chilean writer
- August 4 - David Lange, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
- August 7 - Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
- August 19 - Fred Thompson, U.S. Senator and actor
- August 20 - Isaac Hayes, American singer and actor
- August 26 - Dennis Turner, British politician
- August 28 - Sterling Morrison, American musician (d. 1995)

September


- September 1 - John Lange, American scientist
- September 19 - Freda Payne, American singer and actress
- September 22 - David Stern, American commissioner of the National Basketball Association
- September 28 - Marshall Bell, American actor
- September 29 - Madeline Kahn, American actress (d. 1999)
- September 29 - Jean-Luc Ponty, French jazz violinist
- September 30 - Frankie Lymon, American singer (d. 1968)

October


- October 11 - Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
- October 12 - Melvin Franklin, American musician (d. 1995)
- October 13 - Jerry Jones, American football team owner
- October 19 - Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney
- October 20 - Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003)
- October 20 - Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 21 - Elvin Bishop, American musician
- October 22 - Annette Funicello, American actress
- October 23 - Michael Crichton, American author
- October 26 - Bob Hoskins, British actor

November


- November 1 - Ralph Klein, Premier of Alberta
- November 8 - Angel Cordero Jr., Puerto Rican jockey
- November 8 - Fernando Sorrentino, Argentine writer
- November 10 - Robert F. Engle, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 10 - Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss Federal Councilor
- November 13 - John P. Hammond, American singer
- November 15 - Daniel Barenboim, Argentine-born pianist and conductor
- November 17 - Martin Scorsese, American film director
- November 20 - Joe Biden, U.S. Senator from Delaware
- November 27 - Henry Carr, American athlete
- November 27 - Jimi Hendrix, American musician (d. 1970)
- November 28 - Paul Warfield, American football player
- November 29 - Michael Craze, British actor (d. 1998)
- November 29 - Philippe Huttenlocher, Swiss baritone

December


- December 4 - Gemma Jones, British actress
- December 6 - Peter Handke, Austrian novelist
- December 7 - Peter Tomarken, American game show host
- December 9 - Dick Butkus, American football player
- December 11 - Donna Mills, American actress
- December 17 - Paul Butterfield, American musician (d. 1987)
- December 20 - Bob Hayes, American athlete
- December 21 - Carla Thomas, American singer
- December 29 - Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor

Unknown date


- Moammar Al Qadhafi, leader of Libya

Deaths


- January 6 - Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian International Olympic Committee president (b. 1876)
- January 14 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and writer (b. 1883)
- January 16 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
- January 26 - Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (suicide) (b. 1868)
- February 19 - Frank Abbandando, American gangster (executed) (b. 1910)
- February 28 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (sinking ship) (b. 1889)
- March 1 - Cornelius Vanderbilt III, American military officer, inventor, and engineer (b. 1873)
- March 8 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (b. 1888)
- March 10 - William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- March 21 - J.S Woodsworth, Canadian politician (b. 1874)
- April 15 - Robert Musil, Austrian-born novelist (b. 1880)
- April 17 -

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These