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1932
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Nov. 8
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt wins the presidential election
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1933
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| • |
Adolf Hitler becomes the chancellor of Germany |
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March 4
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President Roosevelt is inaugurated, proclaiming in his address, “There
is nothing to fear but fear itself.”
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March 5
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A special session of Congress summoned by Roosevelt passes a weeklong
national bank holiday, containing a spreading bank panic
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May 12
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Congress creates the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to distribute
relief funds to states
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May 27
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Congress creates the Federal Securities Act, making corporate issues
of stocks and bonds subject to U.S. government approval
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June 16
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Congress creates several new agencies: the National Recovery Administration,
to regulate industrial competition; the Public Works Administration, to
create new jobs on infrastructure and community maintenance projects;
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to protect bank accounts of
consumers; and the Farm Credit Administration, to extend financial aid
to troubled farmers
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Nov. 9
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Roosevelt creates the Civil Works Administration for further public works
employment
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1934
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| • |
Huey Long of Louisiana proposes the “Share
our Wealth” program |
| • |
Father Charles Coughlin forms the National
Union for Social Justice |
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Feb. 15
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Congress passes the Civil Works Emergency Relief Act, continuing funds
for relief and employment programs
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May
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Massive dust storms on the Great Plains spark westward migration by farmers
to California
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June 6
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Roosevelt signs a bill creating the Securities and Exchange Commission,
regulating the trading of stocks and bonds
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June 19
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Roosevelt signs a bill creating the Federal Communications Commission,
regulating all electronic media
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Aug.
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A group of big business executives form the Liberty League to oppose
the New Deal
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1935
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May 6
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Roosevelt creates the Works Progress Administration to create additional
jobs on infrastructure projects
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May 27
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The Supreme Court invalidates the National Recovery At, ruling it an
unconstitutional intrusion on private commerce
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July 5
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Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the National Labor Relations Board,
protecting workers’ rights to collective organization and bargaining
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Aug. 14
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Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, establishing pensions for persons
aged sixty-five and over
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Aug. 23
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Congress passes the Banking Act, which restructures the Federal Reserve
System
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Nov. 9
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|
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1936
|
| • |
Charlie Chaplin’s film, ‘Modern
Times’, appears in theaters |
| • |
Douglas Aircraft introduces the DC-3, a passenger
plane that makes commercial air service consistently profitable for
the first time |
| • |
The Spanish Civil War begins (1936-1939) |
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Jan. 6
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The Supreme Court invalidates the Agricultural Adjustment Act
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June 29
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Congress passes the Merchant Marine Act, granting new subsidies to the
U.S. shipping industry
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Nov. 3
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Roosevelt wins election to a second term
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1937
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Jan. 20
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Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term
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Feb. 5
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Roosevelt announces his “court-packing” plan to increase Supreme Court
membership; legislation dies in the Senate
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May 1
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Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act, limiting U.S. commercial dealings
with nations at war
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July 22
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Congress passes a law creating the Farm Security Administration, providing
financial aid to farm laborers
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Aug.-Oct.
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A major slide on stock markets signals a worsening of the Depression
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1938
|
| • |
Kristallnacht – Anti-Semitic violence throughout
Germany |
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May 26
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The House forms the Un-American Activities Committee, chaired by Martin
Dies of Texas
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May 27
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An emerging anti-New Deal coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats
passes a tax reduction for corporations
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June 15
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Congress passes the Fair Labor Standards Act, requiring overtime pay
and establishing a minimum wage
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Dec. 24
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The Conference of Western Hemisphere Nations agrees to security cooperation
against possible threats from Axis powers
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1939
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| • |
Judy Garland stars in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ |
| • |
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is published |
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Jan. 25
|
Columbia University physicists achieve nuclear fission in the U.S. for
the first time (German scientists have already accomplished such a feat),
leading Albert Einstein to warn President Roosevelt that an atomic bomb
is now feasible
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Sep. 1
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Germany invades Poland, opening the Second World War
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Sep. 21
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Roosevelt calls a special session of Congress in response to European
hostilities, urges revision of the 1937 Neutrality Act to allow arms exports
to combatants
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Nov. 4
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Congress passes a revised Neutrality Act, allowing arms sales to combatants
so long as they pay in cash and use their own ships for transportation
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1940
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June 15
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Roosevelt establishes a National Defense Research Committee, one of whose
aims is to examine the feasibility of an atomic bomb
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July 31
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Roosevelt halts the export of aviation fuel to Japan; in September, the
president embargoes steel and scrap-iron exports
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Sep. 3
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The United States donates obsolete naval vessels to Britain in exchange
for leases on British bases in the Caribbean, beginning the Lend-Lease
program
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Sep. 16
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Congress passes the Selection Service Act, the first peacetime draft
in U.S. history
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Nov. 5
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Roosevelt wins the presidential election
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Dec. 29
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In a Fireside Chat, Roosevelt calls for the United States to become “the
arsenal of democracy”
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1941
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| • |
The Nazis begin the Final Solution – genocide
of European Jews |
|
| |
Jan. 6
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In his annual address to Congress, Roosevelt outlines “Four Freedoms”
as the basis of a post-war world
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Jan. 20
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Roosevelt is inaugurated for a third term
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March 11
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Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease bill, creating a formal system for the
transfer of U.S. military equipment to the Allies in return for goods
and services as payment
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Dec. 7
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Japanese aircraft bomb the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor; Japanese
sea and air forces attack U.S. ports at Guam, Wake Island, the Philippines,
and British bases at Malaya and Singapore
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Dec. 8
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Congress declares war against Japan
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Dec. 11
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Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, prompting the U.S.
Congress to respond in kind
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1942
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Jan. 12
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Roosevelt creates the War Labor Board to settle labor disputes
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Jan. 16
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Roosevelt establishes the War Production Board to coordinate industrial
production
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Jan. 30
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Roosevelt signs the Price Control Act, giving the Office of Price Administration
the power to dictate all nonagricultural prices
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Feb. 19
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Roosevelt orders the removal – and subsequent internment – of more than
one hundred thousand Japanese-Americans from the West Coast
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June 4-6
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The U.S. Navy inflicts a major defeat on the Japanese at the Battle of
Midway
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June 13
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Roosevelt creates the Office of War Information to supervise U.S. government
propaganda and the Office of Strategic Services to coordinate military
intelligence
|
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Dec. 2
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Scientists at the University of Chicago achieve the first sustained nuclear
chain reaction in human history
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1943
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April 17
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The War Manpower Commission bans twenty-seven million workers in essential
defense jobs from leaving their position
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May 27
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Roosevelt establishes the Office of War Mobilization to coordinate all
domestic aspects of U.S. military effort
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Sep. 3
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The Allied invasion of Italy begins
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Oct. 19
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A conference of U.S., British, and Soviet diplomats in Moscow agree to
cooperate on war aims and to form an international peacekeeping organization
after the conflict
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Nov. 9
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The Allies establish the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
to coordinate aid for refugees
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1944
|
| • |
Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independent of
France |
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June 6
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D-Day; Allied forces under Dwight D. Eisenhower land at Normandy beaches
in France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe
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June 22
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Roosevelt signs the GI Bill of Rights, providing a broad array of educational
and other benefits for World War II veterans
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July
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A Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, conference of Allied economic advisers
establishes the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
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Aug. 21
|
U.S., British, Soviet, and Chinese officials create a framework for the
United Nations organization in a conference at Dumbarton Oaks near Washington,
D.C.
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Nov. 7
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Roosevelt wins election to a fourth term
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1945
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April 12
|
Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs,
Georgia
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