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Kārlis Ulmanis

Kārlis Ulmanis

Kārlis Ulmanis (b. September 4, 1877 in Berze, Latvia – d. September 20, 1942) was the most prominent Latvian politician in pre-World War II Latvia during the Latvian period of independence from 1918 to 1940. 1940 Ulmanis studied agriculture at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland and at Leipzig University, Germany and then worked in Latvia as a writer, lecturer, and manager in agricultural positons. He was politically active during the 1905 Revolution, was arrested once for his political views and subsequently fled Latvia to avoid incarceration by the Russians for advocating the independence of Latvia. During this period of exile, Ulmanis studied at the University of Nebraska in the United States, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture. After working briefly at that university as a lecturer, Ulmanis moved to Houston, Texas where he had purchased a dairy business. Ulmanis returned to Latvia from exile in 1913, after being informed that it was safe to return due to the declaration of a general amnesty by the Russian tsar. This safety was shortlived as World War I broke out one year later. World War I In the aftermath of the war, Ulmanis was one of the principal founders of the Latvian People's Council (Tautas Padome), which proclaimed Latvia's independence from Russia on November 18, 1918. A constitutional convention established Latvia as a parliamentary democracy in 1920. Ulmanis was the first Prime Minister of a Latvia which had become independent for the first time in 700 years. He also served as Prime Minister in several subsequent Latvian government administrations during the period of Latvian independence from 1918 to 1940. In addition, he founded the Latvian Agrarian (Farmer's) Union, one of the two most prominent political parties in Latvia at that time. On May 15, 1934, due to the economic repercussions of the Great Depression and the political and military dangers faced by Latvia from the rise to power of aggressive governments in Germany and Russia, Ulmanis as Prime Minister dissolved the Latvian Parliament Saeima and established executive non-parliamentary authoritarian rule. The incumbent President Alberts Kviesis was allowed to serve the rest of his term until 1936, after which Ulmanis ilegally merged the office of President and Prime Minister in his own person. In spite of this bloodless political coup, Ulmanis was a popular leader during whose leadership Latvia recorded major achievements. During Ulmanis' rule, education was strongly emphasized and literacy rates in Latvia reached the highest levels in Europe. Due to an application of the economics of comparative advantage, the United Kingdom and Germany became Latvia's major trade partners, while trade with Russia was reduced. At a time when most of the world's economy was suffering, Latvia could point to increases in both gross national product (GNP) and in exports of Latvian goods overseas. GNP In 1939, Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia signed a secret protocol, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence and confirming Ulmanis' worst fears concerning both nations. Latvia was thereby assigned to the Russian sphere, and in 1940, Latvia was forcibly occupied by the Soviet Union. Ulmanis ordered Latvians to show no resistance to the Soviet Army, against whom they had no chance of military defense. The phrase "I will remain in my place and you remain in your places" from his radio speech on this occasion is still famous, and may have saved lives, although Latvia still lost more than a third of its population during the Second World War. Although the U.S. State Department had information at that time that the Soviet Union had agreed to exile Ulmanis to Switzerland, he was in fact arrested by the Soviets and deported to points unknown. His fate was only learned in the post-Gorbachev era. Ulmanis is now known to have died in a prison in Krasnovodsk in the present Turkmenistan during World War II. Ulmanis remains a popular if also controversial figure in modern-day Latvia. Many Latvians view him as a symbol of Latvia's independence in pre-World War II Latvia. Others credit Ulmanis for the rise of Latvian economic prosperity in the 20th century. Others think that somene who disbanded Parliament and adopted a form of executive if benevolent authoritarian rule cannot be regarded as a positive figure, even if that rule was a relatively prosperous one. One sign that Ulmanis is still very popular in Latvia is the election of his grand-nephew Guntis Ulmanis as President of Latvia in 1993.

External links


- [http://www.riga.post.lv/markas/engl/2001/id_103e.htm Kārlis Ulmanis postal stamp]
- [http://www.historia.lv/alfabets/U/ul/ulmanis/ulmanis.htm Biography in Latvian]
1 - Anatolijs Gorbunovs assumed presidential duties upon the restoration of Latvian independence in 1990. Ulmanis, Karlis Ulmanis, Karlis Ulmanis, Karlis Ulmanis, Karlis

September 4

September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). There are 118 days remaining.

Events


- 476 - Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself King of Italy.
- 1260 - The Senese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of King Manfred of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti.
- 1781 - Los Angeles, California, is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Little Portion) by a group of 44 Spanish settlers.
- 1870 - Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared.
- 1886 - Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders with his last band of warriors to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
- 1867 - Establishment of Sheffield Wednesday, England's fifth oldest League Club.
- 1888 - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.
- 1894 - In New York City, 12,000 tailors strike against sweatshop working conditions.
- 1923 - In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah, takes to the sky for the first time.
- 1940 - World War II: The USS Greer becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
- 1944 - World War II: The British 11th Armoured Division liberate the Belgian city of Antwerp.
- 1945 - World War II: Japanese forces surrender on Wake Island after hearing word of their nation's surrender.
- 1948 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
- 1949 - Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon.
- 1950 - The "Beetle Bailey" comic strip begins.
- 1951 - The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, California, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
- 1957 - American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis - Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.
- 1957 - The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel.
- 1963 - Swissair Flight 306 crashes near Dürrenäsch, Switzerland, killing all on board.
- 1964 - Scotland's Forth Road Bridge, near Edinburgh, officially opens.
- 1967 - The last new episode of the television sitcom Gilligan's Island airs on CBS-TV.
- 1967 - Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins: U.S. Marines launch a search-and-destroy mission in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces. The ensuingfour-day battle in Que Son Valley kills 114 Americans and 376 North Vietnamese.
- 1971 - A Boeing 727 carrying Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
- 1971 - In the U.S., The Lawrence Welk Show airs its last show.
- 1972 - Mark Spitz wins his seventh swimming gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, becoming the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.
- 1995 - The Fourth World Conference on Women opens in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.
- 1996 - War on Drugs: Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) attack a military base in Guaviare, starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare that will claim the lives of at least 130 Colombians.
- 1997 - In Lorain, Ohio, United States, the last Ford Thunderbird rolls off the assembly line.
- 1997 - A U.S. Air Force C-141 cargo plane and a German TU-154 collide in mid-air over southwest Africa killing 33.

Births


- 1241 - King Alexander III of Scotland (d. 1286)
- 1454 - Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (d. 1483)
- 1563 - Wanli, Emperor of China (d. 1620)
- 1596 - Constantijn Huygens, Dutch poet and composer (d. 1687)
- 1717 - Job Orton, English dissenting minister (d. 1783)
- 1768 - François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (d. 1848)
- 1803 - Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States (d. 1891)
- 1824 - Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (d. 1896)
- 1832 - Antonio Agliardi, Italian diplomat (d. 1915)
- 1851 - John Dillon, Irish nationalist (d. 1927)
- 1891 - Fritz Todt, Nazi official (d. 1942)
- 1892 - Darius Milhaud, French composer (d. 1974)
- 1895 - Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
- 1896 - Antonin Artaud, French playwright, actor, and director (d. 1948)
- 1905 - Mary Renault, English novelist (d. 1983)
- 1906 - Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
- 1908 - Edward Dmytryk, American film director (d. 1999)
- 1908 - Richard Wright, American writer (d. 1960)
- 1913 - Stanford Moore, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1982)
- 1918 - Paul Harvey American radio broadcaster
- 1920 - Teddy Johnson, British singer
- 1924 - Joan Aiken, English writer (d. 2004)
- 1925 - Forrest Carter, American author
- 1927 - John McCarthy, American computer scientist
- 1928 - Dick York, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1931 - Mitzi Gaynor, American actress
- 1932 - Dinsdale Landen, English actor (d. 2003)
- 1934 - Clive Granger, Welsh-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 - Dawn Fraser, Australian swimmer
- 1941 - Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian politician
- 1946 - Gary Duncan, American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
- 1946 - Greg Elmore, American drummer (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
- 1948 - Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer
- 1957 - Khandi Alexander, American actress
- 1957 - Patricia Tallman, American actress
- 1959 - Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
- 1960 - Damon Wayans, American actor and comedian
- 1968 - Mike Piazza, baseball player
- 1970 - Igor Cavalera, Brazilian drummer (Sepultura)
- 1970 - Daisy Dee, West Indian-born singer and actress
- 1971 - Maik Taylor, Northern Irish goalkeeper (football)
- 1973 - Jason David Frank, American actor
- 1977 - Ian Grushka, American musician (New Found Glory)
- 1979 - Michael Bowen, A nobody who decided to add his own name
- 1981 - Beyoncé Knowles, American singer
- 1982 - Alessandra Rubi Streignard Villarreal, Spanish singer

Deaths


- 799 - Musa al-Kazim, Shia Imam (b. 745)
- 1037 - King Bermudo III of Leon (b. 1010)
- 1063 - Toghrül, Turkish conqueror of Persia and Baghdad
- 1199 - Joan of England, queen of William II of Sicily (b. 1165)
- 1537 - Johann Dietenberger, German theologian
- 1588 - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (b. 1532)
- 1767 - Charles Townshend, English politician (b. 1725)
- 1780 - John Fielding, English magistrate and social reformer (b. 1721)
- 1784 - César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (b. 1714)
- 1794 - John Hely-Hutchinson, Irish statesman (b. 1724)
- 1804 - Richard Somers, American naval officer
- 1852 - William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (b. 1796)
- 1864 - John Hunt Morgan, American Confederate military leader (b. 1825)
- 1907 - Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer (b. 1843)
- 1909 - Clyde Fitch, American dramatist and playwright (b. 1865)
- 1916 - José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1832)
- 1965 - Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician and missionary, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1875)
- 1974 - Marcel Achard, French playwright (b. 1899)
- 1977 - E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (b. 1911)
- 1986 - Hank Greenberg, baseball player (b. 1911)
- 1987 - Bill Bowes, English cricketer (b. 1908)
- 1989 - Georges Simenon, French author (b. 1903)
- 1989 - Ronald Syme, New Zealand-born classicist and historian (b. 1903)
- 1991 - Tom Tryon, American actor and novelist (b. 1926)
- 1991 - Dottie West, American singer (b. 1932)
- 1993 - Hervé Villechaize, French actor (b. 1943)
- 1995 - William Kunstler, American lawyer and activist (b. 1919)
- 1997 - Aldo Rossi, Italian architect (b. 1931)
- 2003 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (b. 1921)
- 2003 - Lola Bobesco, Romanian-Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
- 2004 - Alphonso Ford, American basketball player (b. 1971)
- 2004 - Moe Norman, Canadian golfer (b. 1929)
- 2004 - James O. Page, American paramedic (b. 1936)

Holidays


- Roman festivals - start of the Ludi Romani a.k.a. Ludi Magni, until 19 September.
- RC Saints - Saint Rosalia, Saint Rose of Viterbo Also see September 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- 2005 - Father's Day in Australia and New Zealand (first Sunday in September)
- 2006 - Labour Day in Canada (first Monday of September)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/4 BBC: On This Day] ----- September 3 - September 5 - August 4 - October 4 – more historical anniversaries ko:9월 4일 ms:4 September ja:9月4日 simple:September 4 th:4 กันยายน

September 20

September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). There are 102 days remaining.

Events


- 451- According to some sources, this was the date of the Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' victory over Attila the Hun.
- 1187 - Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
- 1377 - Cardinal Robert of Geneva, called by some the Butcher of Cesena, is elected as Avignon Pope Clement VII, beginning the Papal schism.
- 1596 - Diego de Montemayor founded the city of Monterrey in New Spain.
- 1737 - Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the Walking Purchase forcing the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.
- 1854 - Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea.
- 1860 - The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) visits the United States.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga ends.
- 1870 - Bersaglieri corps enters Rome through Porta Pia and completes the unification of Italy
- 1881 - Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States.
- 1891 - The first gasoline-powered car debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
- 1917 - Paraguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1920 - Foundation of the Spanish Legion
- 1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival is held.
- 1954 - The first program compiled from FORTRAN runs.
- 1954 - New Zealand's Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents reports just ten days after concluding hearings.
- 1962 - James Meredith, an African-American, is barred from entering the University of Mississippi.
- 1973 - Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match.
- 1977 - TV character, Fonzie jumps a shark on water skis in an episode of Happy Days.
- 1979 - Lee Iacocca is elected president of the Chrysler Corporation.
- 1979 - A coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I
- 1979 - The Punjab wing of the Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) formally splits and constitutes a parallel UCCRI(ML).
- 1981 - A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.
- 1984 - A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twelve people
- 1998 - Baseball: After playing 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken, Jr takes a day off.
- 2003 - A referendum is held in Latvia to decide the country's accession to the European Union
- 2003 - 2003 Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Malé.
- 2005 - The Opera Web Browser is rereleased as freeware.
- 2005 - Echo and the Bunnymen release Siberia as their latest Studio Album.

Births


- 1599 - Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel, German protestant military leader (d. 1623)
- 1778 - Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian naval officer and explorer (d. 1852)
- 1833 - Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1918)
- 1842 - Sir James Dewar, Scottish chemist (d. 1923)
- 1853 - Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (d. 1910)
- 1861 - Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress (d. 1955)
- 1873 - Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (d. 1949)
- 1873 - Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (d. 1944)
- 1878 - Upton Sinclair, American writer and politician (d. 1968)
- 1889 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete (d. 1975)
- 1917 - Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and executive
- 1917 - Fernando Rey, Spanish-born actor (d. 1992)
- 1922 - William Kapell, American pianist (d. 1953)
- 1923 - Geraldine Clinton Little, Irish-born poet (d. 1997)
- 1924 - Gogi Grant, American singer
- 1927 - Johnny Dankworth, English musician and composer
- 1927 - Rachel Roberts, English actress (d. 1980)
- 1928 - Joyce Brothers, American psychologist and advice columnist
- 1929 - Anne Meara, American comic and actress
- 1934 - Sophia Loren, Italian actress
- 1937 - Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (d. 2005)
- 1947 - Chuck Panozzo, American musician (Styx)
- 1948 - George R. R. Martin, American writer
- 1951 - Guy Lafleur, Canadian hockey player
- 1956 - Gary Cole, American actor
- 1965 - Robert Rusler, American actor
- 1967 - Kristen Johnston, American actress
- 1968 - Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
- 1968 - Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- 1971 - Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer
- 1975 - Asia Argento, Italian actress
- 1975 - Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian race car driver
- 1975 - Rikki Lee Travolta, Italian-American actor
- 1976 - Yui Horie, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1977 - Namie Amuro, Japanese singer
- 1978 - Jason Bay, Canadian Major League Baseball player
- 1978 - Sarit Hadad, Israeli singer
- 1981 - Feliciano López, Spanish tennis player
- 1987 - Quentin Anderson, Musician, producer, actor, public speaker
- 1992 - Avi Lewis, Actor, producer, writer, voice over
- 1940 - Genevieve Grotjan completed the decryption of the Japanese Purple code

Deaths


- 1246 - Mikhail of Chernigov, ruler of Kiev
- 1384 - King Louis I of Naples (b. 1339)
- 1460 - Gilles Binchois, Flemish composer
- 1586 - Chidiock Tichborne, English conspirator and poet (executed) (b. 1558)
- 1590 - Lodovico Agostini, Italian composer (b. 1534)
- 1625 - Heinrich Meibom, German historian and critic (b. 1555)
- 1627 - Jan Gruter, Dutch critic (b. 1560)
- 1630 - Claudio Saracini, Italian composer (b. 1586)
- 1639 - Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1579)
- 1643 - Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, English politician and writer
- 1721 - Thomas Doggett, Irish actor
- 1803 - Robert Emmet, Irish patriot (b. 1780)
- 1815 - Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist (b. 1725)
- 1852 - Philander Chase, American university founder (b. 1775)
- 1863 - Jacob Grimm, German folklorist (b. 1785)
- 1884 - Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist (b.[1802]])
- 1898 - Theodor Fontane, German writer (b. 1819)
- 1908 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b. 1844)
- 1932 - Wovoka, Paiute visionary
- 1947 - Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor of New York City (b. 1882)
- 1957 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)
- 1971 - Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- 1973 - Jim Croce, American singer and songwriter (b. 1943)
- 1975 - Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- 1979 - Ludvík Svoboda, President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1895)
- 1993 - Erich Hartmann, German pilot (b. 1922)
- 1996 - Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1913)
- 2000 - Gherman Titov, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
- 2003 - Lord Williams of Mostyn, British politician (b. 1941)
- 2003 - Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician (b. 1922)
- 2004 - Brian Clough, English footballer and football manager (b. 1935)
- 2004 - Townsend Hoopes, American politician (b. 1922)
- 2005 - Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Nazi hunter (b. 1908)

Holidays


- In ancient Greece, the seventh day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the secret rites in the Telesterion began.
- Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  - The Korean Martyrs
  - Eustace
  - Vincent Madelgaire
  - Yves Mayeuc
  - Francis de Posadas
  - Thomas Johnson, John Davy, and companions (martyrs).
- Feast day of the following saint(s) in the Anglican Church:
  - John Coleridge Patteson Also see September 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/20 BBC: On This Day] ---- September 19 · September 21 · August 20 · October 20 · more historical anniversaries ko:9월 20일 ms:20 September ja:9月20日 simple:September 20 th:20 กันยายน

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 -

World War II

, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. From top going counterclockwise: Allied landing on D-Day 1944, the Nuremberg Rally 1936, the Nagasaki atom bomb 1945, the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin 1945 and the Gate of Auschwitz.]] World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th