1944

Events from the year **1944 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Chauncey Sparks (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Sidney Preston Osborn (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Homer Martin Adkins (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Earl Warren (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: John Charles Vivian (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: Raymond E. Baldwin (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Walter W. Bacon (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Spessard Holland (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Ellis Arnall (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: C. A. Bottolfsen (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Dwight H. Green (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Henry F. Schricker (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: Bourke B. Hickenlooper (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Andrew F. Schoeppel (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Simeon S. Willis (Republican)
* Governor of Louisiana: Sam H. Jones (Democratic) (until May 9), Jimmie H. Davis (Democratic) (starting May 9)
* Governor of Maine: Sumner Sewall (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Herbert R. O'Conor (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Leverett Saltonstall (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Harry Kelly (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Edward John Thye (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Dennis Murphree (Democratic) (until January 18), Thomas L. Bailey (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Missouri: Forrest C. Donnell (Republican)
* Governor of Montana: Sam C. Ford (Republican)
* Governor of Nebraska: Dwight Griswold (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Edward P. Carville (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Robert O. Blood (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Charles Edison (Democratic) (until January 18), Walter Evans Edge (Republican) (starting January 18)
* Governor of New Mexico: John J. Dempsey (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: J. Melville Broughton (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: John Moses (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: John W. Bricker (Republican)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Robert S. Kerr (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Earl Snell (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Edward Martin (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: J. Howard McGrath (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: Olin D. Johnston (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Merrill Q. Sharpe (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Prentice Cooper (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Coke R. Stevenson (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Herbert B. Maw (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: William H. Wills (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Colgate Darden (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Arthur B. Langlie (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Matthew M. Neely (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Walter S. Goodland (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Lester C. Hunt (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Leven H. Ellis (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: James Lavesque Shaver (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Frederick F. Houser (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: William Eugene Higby (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: William L. Hadden (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Isaac J. MacCollum (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Edwin Nelson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Hugh W. Cross (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Charles M. Dawson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Robert D. Blue (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Jess C. Denious Sr. (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Kenneth H. Tuggle (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Marc M. Mouton (Democratic) (until May 9), J. Emile Verret (Democratic) (starting May 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Francis E. Kelly (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Eugene C. Keyes (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Archie H. Miller (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: vacant (until January 18), Fielding L. Wright (Republican) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Frank Gaines Harris (Democratic) (until December 30), vacant (starting December 30)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Ernest T. Eaton (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Roy W. Johnson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Vail M. Pittman (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: James B. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Joseph R. Hanley (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Reginald L. Harris (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Henry Holt (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), vacant (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Paul M. Herbert (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: John C. Bell Jr. (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Louis W. Cappelli (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), vacant (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Ransome Judson Williams (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Albert C. Miller (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Joseph H. Ballew (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: John Lee Smith (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Mortimer R. Proctor (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: William M. Tuck (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Victor A. Meyers (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Oscar Rennebohm (Republican)

## Events

### January

* January 17 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
* January 20 – The U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Gari River.
* January 22 – World War II: Battle of Anzio begins: the Allies begin the assault on Anzio, Italy. The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division stands their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for 4 months.
* January 30 – World War II: United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
* January 31
	+ World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
	+ USS *Franklin* is commissioned.

### February

* February 1 – World War II: United States troops land in the Marshall Islands.
* February 2 – World War II: Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign ends.
* February 3 – World War II: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
* February 14 – SHAEF headquarters is established in Britain by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
* February 17 – World War II: the Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins; it ends in an American victory on February 22.
* February 20 – The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
* February 22 – United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe organized from the Eighth Air Force's strategic planning staff; subsuming strategic planning for all US Army Air Forces in Europe and Africa.
* February 29 – World War II: Battle of Los Negros and Operation Brewer: the Admiralty Islands are invaded by U.S. forces.

### March

* March 1 – *Essex*-class aircraft carriers USS *Tarawa* (CV-40) and USS *Kearsarge* (CV-33) are laid down, at Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Brooklyn Navy Yard respectively.
* March 2 – The 16th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jack Benny, is held, the first Oscar ceremony held at a large public venue, Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Michael Curtiz's *Casablanca* wins the Outstanding Motion Picture, with Curtiz winning Best Director. Henry King's *The Song of Bernadette* receives the most nominations with 12 and wins the most awards with four.
* March 4 – In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing prison, along with Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss and Louis Capone.

### April

* April 3 – *Smith v. Allwright* decided in the Supreme Court prohibits white primaries.
* April 25 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
* April 28 – World War II: 749 American troops are killed in Exercise Tiger at Start Bay, Devon, England.

### May

* May 8 – World War II: USS *Ticonderoga* is commissioned.
* May 18 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino ends.
* May 24 – World War II: Six LSTs are accidentally destroyed and 163 men killed in Pearl Harbor's West Loch disaster.
* May 31 – World War II: Destroyer escort USS *England* sinks the sixth Japanese submarine in two weeks. This anti-submarine warfare performance remains unmatched through the twentieth century.

### June

* June 1 – World War II: Mariana and Palau Islands campaign begins.
* June 4 – A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine *U-505*, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel has captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
* June 5
	+ World War II: Battle of Anzio ends.
	+ U.S. and British paratrooper divisions jump over Normandy, in preparation for D-Day. All including 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions of the United States.
* June 6 – World War II: Battle of Normandy: *Operation Overlord* begins, commonly known as D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The Allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland, in the largest amphibious military operation in history. This operation helps liberate France from Germany and also weakens the Nazi hold on Europe.
* June 15
	+ Battle of Saipan: the United States invades Saipan.
	+ American forces push back the Germans in Saint-Lô, capturing the city.
* June 16 - George Stinney, a 14-year-old African-American, is executed for being accused of killing two white girls in his hometown, Alcolu, South Carolina. The execution took place in South Carolina Penitentiary in Columbia, South Carolina by electric chair.
* June 26 – World War II: American troops enter Cherbourg.

### July

* July 1 – The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference begins at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
* July 6
	+ Hartford Circus Fire: More than 100 children die in one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States.
	+ World War II: At Camp Hood, Texas, future baseball star and 1st Lt. Jackie Robinson is arrested and later court-martialed for refusing to move to the back of a segregated U.S. Army bus. He is eventually acquitted.
* July 17 – Port Chicago disaster: The SS *E. A. Bryan*, loaded with ammunition, explodes at the Port Chicago, California, Naval Magazine, killing 320 sailors and civilian personnel.
* July 19 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt is renominated for a fourth term at the 1944 Democratic National Convention. Missouri Senator Harry Truman is selected to be the vice presidential nominee.
* July 21 – Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam (the battle ends August 10).

### August

* August 1 – World War II: Warsaw Uprising begins.
* August 6 – USS *Bennington* is commissioned.
* August 7 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled computer, the electromechanical Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
* August 9 – The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.
* August 12 – Major fire at Luna Park, Coney Island, New York.
* August 14 – Fort Lawton riot
* August 15 – World War II: Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France. The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division participates in its fourth assault landing at St. Maxime, spearheading the drive for the Belfort Gap.
* August 15
	+ World War II: Liberation of Paris begins.
	+ World War II: Operation Dragoon begins.
* August 20
	+ World War II: American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Gap.
	+ World War II: Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive begins.
* August 22 – World War II: *Tsushima Maru*, an unmarked Japanese passenger/cargo ship, is sunk by torpedoes launched by the submarine USS *Bowfin* off Akuseki-jima, killing 1,484 civilians including 767 schoolchildren.
* August 25
	+ World War II: Liberation of Paris ends.
	+ World War II: Gothic Line begins.
* August 29 – World War II: Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive ends.
* August 30 – World War II: Operation Overlord ends.
* August 31 – The mysterious "Mad Gasser of Mattoon" attacks in Mattoon, Illinois, apparently resume.

### September

* September 3 – Black mother Recy Taylor is kidnapped and gang raped by six white men in Abbeville, Alabama; failure to indict any of her assailants provokes nationwide protest and activism among the African American community.
* September 5 – The 5.8 Mw Cornwall–Massena earthquake affects the northern New York town of Massena at the Canada–United States border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (*Very strong*), causing $2 million in damage, but no deaths. Across the border, Cornwall, Ontario suffers greater damage.
* September 14
	+ World War II: Operation Dragoon ends.
	+ USS *Shangri-La* is commissioned.
* September 17 – World War II: Operation Market Garden begins.
* September 24 – World War II: the U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division takes the strongly defended city of Epinal before crossing the Moselle River and entering the western foothills of the Vosges.
* September 25 – World War II: Operation Market Garden ends in an Allied withdrawal.

### October

* October 2 – World War II: Warsaw Uprising ends.
* October 8 – *The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet* radio show debuts in the United States.
* October 9
	+ The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the St. Louis Browns, 4 games to 2, to win their 5th World Series Title. This is the only all St. Louis World Series.
	+ USS *Randolph* is commissioned.
* October 20
	+ World War II: American and Filipino troops (with Filipino guerrillas) begin the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines. American forces land on Red Beach in Palo, Leyte, as General Douglas MacArthur returns to the Philippines with Philippine Commonwealth president Sergio Osmeña and Armed Forces of the Philippines Generals Basilio J. Valdes and Carlos P. Romulo. American forces land on the beaches in Dulag, Leyte, accompanied by Filipino troops entering the town, and fiercely opposed by the Japanese occupation forces. The combined forces liberate Tacloban.
	+ An LNG explosion destroys a square mile (2.6 km2) of Cleveland, Ohio.
* October 21 – World War II: Aachen, the first German city to fall, is captured by American troops.
* October 23 – World War II: Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines begins: In the largest naval battle in history by most criteria and the last naval battle in history between battleships, combined U.S. and Australian naval forces decisively defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy.
* October 25 – Florence Foster Jenkins gives a notorious recital in Carnegie Hall, New York City.
* October 26 – World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf ends.
* October 30 – *Appalachian Spring*, a ballet by Martha Graham with music by Aaron Copland, debuts at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Graham in the lead role.

### November

* November 1 – World War II: Mariana and Palau Islands campaign ends.
* November 2 – World War II: Burma campaign begins.
* November 6 – Hanford Site in state of Washington produces its first plutonium.
* November 7
	+ U.S. presidential election, 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey, becoming the only U.S. president elected to a fourth term.
	+ A passenger train derails in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, due to excessive speed on a declining hill; 16 are killed, 50 injured.
* November 26 – USS *Bon Homme Richard* is commissioned.

### December

* December 10 – Legendary Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini leads a concert performance of the first half of Beethoven's *Fidelio* (minus its spoken dialogue) on NBC Radio, starring Rose Bampton. He chooses this opera for its political message, a statement against tyranny and dictatorship. Presenting it in German, Toscanini intends it as a tribute to the German people who are being oppressed by Hitler. The second half is broadcast a week later. The performance is later released on LP and CD, the first of 7 operas that Toscanini conducts on radio.
* December 13 – Battle of Mindoro: United States, Australian and Philippine Commonwealth troops land in Mindoro Island, the Philippines.
* December 16
	+ General George C. Marshall becomes the first Five-Star General.
	+ World War II: Battle of the Bulge begins.
* December 22 – World War II: Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, commander of the U.S. forces defending Bastogne, refuses to accept demands for surrender by sending a one-word reply, "Nuts!", to the German command.
* December 24 – Agana race riot begins in Guam between white and black United States Marines.
* December 26
	+ World War II: American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
	+ *The Glass Menagerie* by Tennessee Williams premieres in Chicago.
	+ Agana race riot ends.
* December 30 – Edward Stettinius Jr. becomes the last United States Secretary of State of the Roosevelt administration, filling the seat left by Cordell Hull.

## Memoriam

* January 6 – Ida Tarbell, investigative journalist (aged 86; Bridgeport, CT, USA)
* January 7 – Lou Henry Hoover, First Lady of the United States as wife of Herbert Hoover (aged 69; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 25 – Charles L. McNary, politician (aged 69; Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA)
* March 7 – August Busck, entomologist and author of works on microlepidoptera (aged 74; Washington, DC, USA)
* March 11 – Irvin S. Cobb, writer (aged 67; New York City, NY, USA)
* March 16 – James H. Maurer, trade unionist (aged 79; Reading, PA, USA)
* March 19 – Henry Francis Bryan, governor of American Samoa (aged 78; Meriden, CT, USA)
* April 21 – Florence Trail, educator and author (aged 89; Frederick, MD, USA)
* April 25 – George Herriman, cartoonist (Krazy Kat) (aged 63; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* April 28 – Frank Knox, 47th United States Secretary of the Navy (aged 70; Washington, DC, USA)
* May 8 – Albert Leo Stevens, balloonist (aged 67; Bardonia, NY, USA)
* May 23 – Thomas Curtis, hurdler (aged 71; Nahant, MA, USA)
* June 30 – Georgia Hopley, journalist, political figure and temperance advocate (aged 86; Bucyrus, OH, USA)
* July 25 – Frank S. Regan, businessman and politician (aged 81; Canton, IL, USA)
* August 7 – John S. McGroarty, poet, Los Angeles Times columnist, and author (aged 81; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 12 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Navy lieutenant (aged 29; East Suffolk, England, UK)
* September 2 – George W. Norris, politician (aged 83; McCook, NE, USA)
* September 8 – James A. Reed, politician (aged 82; Fairview, MI, USA)
* September 21 – James E. Ferguson, 26th Governor of Texas (aged 73; Austin, TX, USA)
* September 27 – Aimee Semple McPherson, Pentecostal evangelist (aged 53; Oakland, CA, USA)
* October 4 – Al Smith, politician (aged 70; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 8 – Wendell Willkie, lawyer, corporate executive, and the 1940 Republican presidential nominee (aged 52; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 21 – Lionel Pape, actor (aged 67; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
* October 22 – Richard Bennett, stage and silent screen actor (aged 74; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 2 – Thomas Midgley Jr., mechanical and chemical engineer (aged 55; Worthington, OH, USA)
* November 4 – Sir John Dill, British Army field marshal (aged 62; Washington, DC, USA)
* November 9 – Frank Marshall, chess player (aged 67; Jersey City, NJ, USA)
* November 26 – Florence Foster Jenkins, socialite and amateur soprano (aged 76; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 4
	+ Grace Denio Litchfield, poet and novelist (aged 95; Goshen, NY, USA)
	+ Benjamin Wistar Morris, architect (aged 74; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Georgiana Simpson, African American philologist (aged 79; Washington, DC, USA)
* December 31 – Ruth Hanna McCormick, politician, activist and publisher (aged 64; Chicago, IL, USA)