Franklin Roosevelt dies suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. Harry S. Truman becomes president. The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On Aug. 9, a second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, effectively ending the war. D.C. The news is overshadowed by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Japan formally surrenders.
The United Nations is established in San Francisco. Steelworker unions strike, closing down the nation's mills and beginning a pattern of post-war strikes in various industries. The United States begins atomic weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. Richard Nixon is elected to Congress from California for the first time. The Hippodrome Theater on K Street closes after marquee collapses and kills two people.