1943

Events from the year 1943 in the United States.
==Incumbents==
===Federal Government===
* President: Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-NY)
* Vice President: Henry A. Wallace (D-IA)
* Chief Justice: Harlan F. Stone (NY)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-TX)
* Senate Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley (D-KY)
* Congress: 77th (until January 3), 78th (starting January 3)
==Events==
===January===
* January 1 – Project Y, the Manhattan Project's secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, for development and production of the first atomic bombs under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, begins operations.
* January 4 – Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California, is succeeded by Earl Warren.
* January 11 – The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
* January 14
** The Casablanca Conference, where Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel by airplane while in office (Miami, Florida to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill to discuss World War II).
** Aircraft carrier USS Independence is commissioned.
* January 15 – The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
* January 23
** Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.
** Critic and commentator Alexander Woollcott suffers an eventually fatal heart attack during a regular broadcast of the CBS Radio roundtable program "People's Platform".
===February===
* February 3 – The legendary Four Chaplains of the U.S. Army are drowned when their ship (Dorchester) is struck by a German torpedo.
* February 5 – Howard Hughes's Western The Outlaw, starring Jane Russell, is released for a week prior to Motion Picture Production Code censors requiring its withdrawal from distribution.
* February 6 – Walt Disney Productions' sixth feature film, Saludos Amigos, is released. It is the first of six package films they would release throughout the remainder of the 1940s.
* February 7 – World War II: It is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in the U.S. in two days.
* February 8 – World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal: United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
* February 9 – World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal ends.
* February 11 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower is selected to command the Allied armies in Europe.
* February 14 – Battle of the Kasserine Pass: German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war.
* February 17 – Aircraft carrier USS Lexington is commissioned.
* February 20 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
* February 25 – Aircraft carrier USS Princeton is commissioned.
* February 27 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.
===March===
* March 2 – World War II: Battle of the Bismarck Sea: United States and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships.
* March 4 – The 15th Academy Awards, hosted by Bob Hope, are presented at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, with William Wyler's Mrs. Miniver winning Outstanding Motion Picture. The film also receives 12 and 6 respective nominations and awards, with Wyler also winning Best Director.
* March 8 – World War II: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville, in a battle that lasts five days.
* March 13 – World War II: On Bougainville, Japanese troops end their assault on American forces at Hill 700.
* March 26 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands, the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese troops attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
* March 31 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! opens on Broadway, heralds a new era in "integrated" stage musicals, becomes an instantaneous stage classic, and goes on to be Broadway's longest-running musical up to that time (1948).
===April===
* April 13 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birthday. The bronze statue is added in 1947.
* April 27 – The U.S. Federal Writers' Project is shuttered.
===May===
* May 11 – World War II: American troops invade Battle of Attu in the Aleutian Islands, in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
* May 12 – The Trident Conference begins in Washington, D.C., with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill taking part.
* May 13 – World War II: Tunisian campaign ends.
* May 17
** The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the computer ENIAC.
** The Memphis Belle becomes the first airplane in the 8th Air Force to complete a 25-mission tour of duty.
* May 19 – Winston Churchill addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
* May 23 – Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is commissioned.
* May 30 – World War II: Japanese occupation Battle of Attu ends.
* May 31 – The Zoot Suit Riots erupt between military personnel and Mexican American youths in East Los Angeles.
===June===
* June 3 The Zoot Suit Riots; The notorious riots lasted 10 days and carry the name of the targeted victims, young people dressed in wide trousers pegged at the ankle and long coats, but the violent rampage was led by sailors, soldiers and Marines.
* June 5 – World War II: Bombing of Gorky.
* June 6 – The first game of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League is played, a precursor of professional women's sports in the U.S.
* June 10 – World War II: Combined Bomber Offensive begins.
* June 15 – Beaumont race riot of 1943 begins in Texas.
* June 17 – Beaumont race riot of 1943 ends.
* June 20 – 1943 Detroit race riot begins.
* June 22
** 1943 Detroit race riot ends.
** The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division lands in North Africa, prior to training at Arzew, French Algeria.
===July===
* July 6 – World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
* July 9 – World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily begins.
* July 10 – World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily: The Allied invasion of Axis-controlled Europe begins with landings on the island of Sicily off mainland Italy, by the U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division and a number of Allied paratroopers.
* July 11 – United States Army forces assault the village of Piano Lupo, just outside Gela, Sicily.
* July 21 – Release of the musical film Stormy Weather starring Lena Horne, "Bojangles" Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, the Nicholas Brothers and other African American performers.
* July 24
** World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian airplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
** Aircraft carrier USS Cabot is commissioned.
* July 28 – World War II: Japanese occupation of Kiska ends.
===August===
* August 1
** World War II: Operation Tidal Wave: 177 B-24 Liberator bombers from the U.S. Army Air Force bomb oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania.
** Harlem riot of 1943 begins, a race riot.
** World War II: Operation Crossbow begins.
* August 2 – Harlem riot of 1943 ends.
* August 3 – World War II: John F. Kennedy's patrol torpedo boat PT-109 is rammed by a destroyer.
* August 5 – World War II: John F. Kennedy and crew are found by Solomon Islanders coastwatchers Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana with their dugout canoe.
* August 6 – World War II: Battle of Vella Gulf: Americans defeat a Japanese convoy off Kolombangara, as the U.S. Army drives the Japanese out of Munda airfield on New Georgia.
* August 14 – World War II: The Quadrant Conference begins in Quebec City; Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King meets with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* August 15
** World War II: Aleutian Islands campaign ends.
** World War II: Operation Cottage.
* August 16 – World War II: Aircraft carrier USS Intrepid is commissioned.
* August 17 – World War II: The U.S. 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Sicily, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily ends.
* August 21 – World War II: Solomon Islands campaign ends.
* August 30 – The Lackawanna Limited train wreck at Wayland in upstate New York causes 29 deaths and injures 114 others.
===September===
* September 3
** World War II: Allied invasion of Italy begins.
** World War II: Armistice of Cassibile.
* September 5 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nadzab, just east of the port city of Lae in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
* September 7 – A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55 people.
* September 8 – United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies.
* September 17 – World War II: Allied invasion of Italy ends.
===October===
* October 1
** World War II: American forces enter liberated Naples.
** World War II: Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan begins.
* October 6 – World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Vella Lavella.
* October 11 – The New York Yankees defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 1, to win their 10th World Series Title.
* October 12 – The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) begins broadcasting.
* October 28 – The alleged date of the Philadelphia Experiment, in which the U.S. destroyer escort USS Eldridge was to be rendered invisible to human observers for a brief period.
* October 30 – The Merrie Melodies animated short Falling Hare, one of the few shorts with Bugs getting out-smarted, is released in the United States.
===November===
* November 1 – World War II: Operation Goodtime: United States Marines land on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
* November 2 – World War II: In the early morning hours, American and Japanese ships fight the inconclusive Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville.
* November 14 – Leonard Bernstein, substituting at the last minute for ailing principal conductor Bruno Walter, directs the New York Philharmonic in its regular Sunday afternoon broadcast concert over CBS Radio. The event receives front-page coverage in The New York Times the following day.
* November 16
** World War II: After flying from Britain, 160 American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vemork, Norway.
** World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks the surfaced U.S. submarine USS Corvina near Truk.
* November 17 – Aircraft carrier USS Bataan is commissioned
* November 20 – World War II: Battle of Tarawa: United States Marines land on Tawara and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands and take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns.
* November 22 – World War II: War in the Pacific: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
* November 25 – World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Cape St. George between Buka and New Ireland.
* November 28 – World War II: Tehran Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss war strategy (on November 30 they establish an agreement concerning a planned June 1944 invasion of Europe codenamed Operation Overlord).
* November 29 – World War II: Aircraft carrier USS Hornet is commissioned.
===December===
* December 2 – Fifteen atomic scientists, including soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, arrive from Britain to join the U.S. atomic research project.
* December 3 – Edward R. Murrow delivers his classic "Orchestrated Hell" broadcast over CBS Radio, describing a Royal Air Force nighttime bombing raid on Berlin.
* December 4 – The Great Depression officially ends in the United States: With unemployment figures falling fast due to World War II-related employment, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration.
* December 15 – Aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto is commissioned.
* December 24 – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
==Memoriam==
* January 5 – George Washington Carver, African American botanist (aged 79; Tuskegee, AL, USA)
* January 6 – Alice May Douglas, author (aged 77; Bath, ME, USA)
* January 7 – Nikola Tesla, electrical engineer (aged 86; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 23 – Alexander Woollcott, critic (aged 56; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 3 – Verina Morton Jones, African-American physician, suffragist and clubwoman (aged 78; Brooklyn, NY, USA)
* February 11 – Bess Houdini, stage assistant and wife of Harry Houdini (aged 67; Needles, CA, USA)
* March 20 – Frank Orren Lowden, 25th Governor of Illinois (aged 82; Tucson, AZ, USA)
* April 3 – Conrad Veidt, actor (aged 50; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* April 4 – David Roitman, cantor (aged 58; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 24 – John Eugene Osborne, 3rd Governor of Wyoming (aged 84; Rawlins, WY, USA)
* May 20 – Joe Trees, athlete and oil executive (aged 73; Pittsburgh, PA, USA)
* May 22 – Helen Herron Taft, First Lady of the United States as wife of William Howard Taft (aged 81; Washington, DC, USA)
* July 16 – Saul Raphael Landau, Polish Jewish lawyer, journalist, publicist and Zionist activist (aged 80; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 15 – John Flammang Schrank, attempted assassin of Theodore Roosevelt (aged 67; Waupun, WI, USA)
* November 22 – Lorenz Hart, lyricist (aged 46; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 26 – Helen Maud Merrill, litterateur and poet (aged 78; Portland, ME, USA)
* December 14
** John W. Brady, Texas judge and murderer (aged 74; Austin, TX, USA)
** John Harvey Kellogg, doctor (aged 91; Battle Creek, MI, USA)
* December 15 – Fats Waller, African American jazz pianist (aged 39; Kansas City, MO, USA)
==External links==
* 1943 in the United States
Category:United States History: Volume 17