1940

Events from the year **1940 in the United States**.

* Speaker of the House of Representatives: William B. Bankhead (D-AL) (until September 15), Sam Rayburn (D-TX) (starting September 16)
* Senate Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley (D-KY)
* Congress: 76th

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Frank M. Dixon (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Robert Taylor Jones (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Carl Edward Bailey (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Culbert Olson (Democratic)
* Governor of Colorado: Ralph Lawrence Carr (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: Raymond E. Baldwin (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Richard C. McMullen (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: Fred P. Cone (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Eurith D. Rivers (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: C. A. Bottolfsen (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Henry Horner (Democratic) (until October 6), John H. Stelle (Democratic) (starting October 6)
* Governor of Indiana: M. Clifford Townsend (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: George A. Wilson (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Payne Ratner (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Keen Johnson (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Earl K. Long (Democratic) (until May 14), Sam H. Jones (Democratic) (starting May 14)
* Governor of Maine: Lewis O. Barrows (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Herbert R. O'Conor (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Leverett Saltonstall (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Luren Dickinson (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Harold E. Stassen (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Hugh L. White (Democratic) (until January 16), Paul B. Johnson Sr. (Democratic) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Missouri: Lloyd C. Stark (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Roy E. Ayers (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Robert Leroy Cochran (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Edward P. Carville (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Francis P. Murphy (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: A. Harry Moore (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: John E. Miles (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Herbert H. Lehman (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Clyde R. Hoey (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: John Moses (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: John W. Bricker (Republican)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Leon C. Phillips (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Charles A. Sprague (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Arthur James (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: William Henry Vanderbilt III (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Burnet R. Maybank (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Harlan J. Bushfield (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Prentice Cooper (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: W. Lee O'Daniel (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Henry H. Blood (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: George David Aiken (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: James H. Price (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Clarence D. Martin (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: Homer A. Holt (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Julius P. Heil (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Nels H. Smith (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Albert A. Carmichael (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Robert L. Bailey (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Ellis E. Patterson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: John Charles Vivian (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: James L. McConaughy (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Edward W. Cooch (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Donald S. Whitehead (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John H. Stelle (Democratic) (until October 6), vacant (starting October 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Henry F. Schricker (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Bourke B. Hickenlooper (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Carl E. Friend (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Rodes K. Myers (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Coleman Lindsey (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Marc M. Mouton (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Francis E. Kelly (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: vacant (until month and day unknown), Matilda Dodge Wilson (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: C. Elmer Anderson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Jacob Buehler Snider (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Dennis Murphree (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Frank Gaines Harris (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Hugh R. Adair (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: William E. Johnson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Maurice J. Sullivan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: James Murray, Sr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Charles Poletti (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Wilkins P. Horton (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Jack A. Patterson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Paul M. Herbert (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Samuel S. Lewis (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: James O. McManus (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Joseph Emile Harley (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Donald McMurchie (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Blan R. Maxwell (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Coke Robert Stevenson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: William H. Wills (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Saxon W. Holt (Democratic) (until March 31), vacant (starting March 31)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Victor A. Meyers (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Walter S. Goodland (Republican)

## Events

### January - March

* February 7 – RKO release Walt Disney's second full-length animated film, *Pinocchio*.
* February 9 – Mae West and W. C. Fields join comedic forces for *My Little Chickadee* with tremendous success. The film becomes one of the highest-grossing of the year.
* February 10 – Tom and Jerry make their debut in *Puss Gets the Boot*.
* February 27 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.
* February 29 – The 12th Academy Awards, hosted by Bob Hope, are presented at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, with Victor Fleming's Gone with the Wind winning eight awards out of thirteen nominations, including Outstanding Production and Best Director for Fleming.
* March 1 – *Truth or Consequences* debuts on *NBC* Radio.
* March 2 – Cartoon character Elmer Fudd makes his debut in the animated short *Elmer's Candid Camera*.
* March 4 – Kings Canyon National Park is established in California.

### April - June

* April 1 – Census date for the 16th U.S. Census.
* April 2 – Dick Grayson (AKA as Robin, the Boy Wonder) first appears with Batman.
* April 3 – Isle Royale National Park is established in Michigan.
* April 7 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
* April 12 – Opening day at Jamaica Racetrack features the use of pari-mutuel betting equipment, a departure from bookmaking heretofore used exclusively throughout New York state. Other NY tracks follow suit later in 1940.
* April 13 – New York Rangers win their Third Stanley Cup in ice hockey (and last until 1994) by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 2.
* April 21 – *Take It or Leave It* makes it debut on CBS Radio, with Bob Hawk as host.
* April 23 – Rhythm Club fire: A fire at the Rhythm Night Club in Natchez, Mississippi kills 209.
* May 15
	+ The very first McDonald's restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California.
	+ Women's stockings made of nylon are first placed on sale across the U.S. Almost five million pairs are bought on this day.
* May 16 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressing a joint session of Congress, asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900 million to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.
* May 18 – The 6.9 Mw El Centro earthquake affects California's Imperial Valley with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (*Extreme*), causing nine deaths and twenty injuries. Financial losses are around $6 million. Significant damage also occurs in Mexicali, Mexico.
* May 25 – The Crypt of Civilization at Oglethorpe University is sealed.
* May 29 – The Vought XF4U-1, prototype of the F4U Corsair U.S. fighter later used in WWII, makes its first flight.
* June 10 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his "Stab in the Back" speech during the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
* June 14 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law, which aims to increase the United States Navy's tonnage by 11%.
* June 16 – The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time in Sturgis, South Dakota.
* June 22 – The first Dairy Queen opens in Edina, Minnesota.
* June 24 – U.S. politics: The Republican Party begins its national convention in Philadelphia and nominates Wendell Willkie as its candidate for president.

### July - September

* July 1 – The doomed first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens for business, built with an 8-foot (2.4 m) girder and 190 feet (58 m) above the water, as the third longest suspension bridge in the world.
* July 15 – U.S. politics: The Democratic Party begins its national convention in Chicago and nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term as president.
* July 20 – The Arroyo Seco Parkway, one of the first freeways built in the U.S., opens to traffic, connecting downtown Los Angeles with Pasadena, California.
* July 27 – Bugs Bunny makes his debut in the Oscar-nominated cartoon short, *A Wild Hare*.
* August 4 – Gen. John J. Pershing, in a nationwide radio broadcast, urges all-out aid to Britain in order to defend the Americas, while Charles Lindbergh speaks to an isolationist rally at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* September 1 – The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division (previously a National Guard Division in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma), is activated and ordered into federal service for 1 year, to engage in a training program in Ft. Sill and Louisiana, prior to serving in World War II.
* September 2 – World War II: An agreement between America and Great Britain is announced to the effect that 50 U.S. destroyers needed for escort work will be transferred to Great Britain. In return, America gains 99-year leases on British bases in the North Atlantic, West Indies and Bermuda.
* September 12 – The Hercules Munitions Plant in Succasunna-Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
* September 16 – World War II: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 is signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt, creating the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
* September 26 – World War II: The United States imposes a total embargo on all scrap metal shipments to Japan.

### October - December

* October 1 – The first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the country's first long-distance controlled-access highway, is opened between Irwin and Carlisle.
* October 8 – The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 3, to win their 2nd World Series Title in baseball.
* October 16 – The draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the United States.
* October 29 – The Selective Service System lottery is held in Washington, D.C.
* November 5 – U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the nation's first and only third-term president.
* November 7 – In Tacoma, Washington, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (nicknamed the "Galloping Gertie") collapses in a 42-mile-per-hour (68 km/h) wind storm, causing the center span of the bridge to sway. When it collapses, a 600-foot-long (180 m) design of the center span falls 190 feet above the water, killing Tubby, a black male cocker spaniel dog.
* November 11 – Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in the Midwest.
* November 12 – Case of *Hansberry v. Lee*, 311 U.S. 32 (1940), decided, allowing a racially restrictive covenant to be lifted.
* November 13 – Walt Disney's third feature film, *Fantasia*, is released. It is the first box office failure for Disney, though it recoups its cost years later and becomes one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films.
* November 16 – An unexploded pipe bomb is found in the Consolidated Edison office building (only years later is the culprit, George Metesky, apprehended).
* December 8 – The Chicago Bears, in what will become the most one-sided victory in National Football League history, defeat the Washington Redskins 73–0 in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.
* December 17 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain that will become known as Lend-Lease.
* December 20 – 1940 New Hampshire earthquakes: A 5.3 Mw earthquake shakes New England with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (*Very strong*). This first event in a doublet earthquake is followed four days later by a 5.6 Mw shock, but total damage from the events is light.
* December 21 – Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (author of *The Great Gatsby*) dies of a heart attack aged 44 in the apartment of Hollywood gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, leaving his novel *The Last Tycoon* unfinished.
* December 29 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great Arsenal of Democracy."
* December 30 – California's first modern freeway, the future State Route 110, opens to traffic in Pasadena, California, as the Arroyo Seco Parkway (later the Pasadena Freeway).

## Memoriam

### January to June

* January 4 – Flora Finch, silent film actress and comedian (aged 72; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 19 – William Borah, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1907 to 1940 (aged 74; Washington, DC, USA)
* January 20 – Omar Bundy, U.S. Army General (aged 78; Washington, DC, USA)
* January – Matilda McCrear, last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade in the U.S. (aged 83; Selma, AL, USA)
* February 1 – Philip Francis Nowlan, science fiction writer, creator of Buck Rogers (aged 51; Bala Cynwyd, PA, USA)
* February 4 – Samuel M. Vauclain, steam locomotive engineer (aged 83; Rosemont, PA, USA)
* February 9 – William Edward Dodd, diplomat and historian (aged 70; Round Hill, VA, USA)
* February 11 – Ellen Day Hale, painter and printmaker (aged 85; Brookline, MA, USA)
* March 4 – Hamlin Garland, writer (aged 79; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* March 7 – Edwin Markham, poet (aged 87; Staten Island, NY, USA)
* March 11 – John Monk Saunders, screenwriter (aged 42; Fort Myers, FL, USA)
* March 27 – Madeleine Astor, socialite, survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, widow of John Jacob Astor IV (aged 46; Palm Beach, FL, USA)
* April 8 – David C. Shanks, army officer (aged 79; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 29 – Edgar Buckingham, physicist and soil scientist (aged 72; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 30 – Furnifold McLendel Simmons, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1901 to 1931 (aged 86; New Bern, NC, USA)
* May 28 – Walter Connolly, film character actor (aged 53; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* May 29 – Mary Anderson, stage actress (aged 80; Worcestershire, England, UK)
* June 7
	+ James Hall, film actor (aged 39; Jersey City, NJ, USA)
	+ Hugh Rodman, U.S. Navy admiral (aged 81; Bethesda, MD, USA)
* June 11 – Alfred S. Alschuler, Chicago architect (aged 63; Chicago, IL, USA)
* June 13 – George Fitzmaurice, film director (aged 55; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* June 14 – Henry W. Antheil Jr., diplomat, killed in shootdown of airplane Kaleva (aged 27; Trenton, NJ, USA)
* June 20 – Charley Chase, comedian (aged 46; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* June 21 – John T. Thompson, U.S. Army officer, inventor of the Thompson submachine gun (aged 79; Great Neck, NY, USA)

### July to December

* July 1 – Ben Turpin, comic silent film actor (aged 70; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* July 15 – Robert Wadlow, tallest man ever (aged 22; Manistee, MI, USA)
* July 30 – Spencer S. Wood, U.S. Navy rear admiral (aged 78; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 5 – Frederick Cook, explorer (aged 75; New Rochelle, NY, USA)
* August 8 – Johnny Dodds, jazz clarinetist (aged 48; Chicago, IL, USA)
* August 18 – Walter Chrysler, automobile pioneer (aged 65; Kings Point, NY, USA)
* August 19 – Allan L. Benson, newspaper editor and author (aged 68; Yonkers, NY, USA)
* August 21 – Ernest Thayer, writer, comic poet (aged 77; Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
* August 22 – Mary Vaux Walcott, botanical artist (aged 80; St. Andrews, NB, Canada)
* August 28 – William Bowie, geodetic engineer (aged 68; Washington, DC, USA)
* August 31 – Ernest Lundeen, lawyer and politician (aged 62; Lovettsville, VA, USA)
* September 1 – Lillian Wald, nurse and humanitarian (aged 73; Westport, CT, USA)
* September 6 – Leonor F. Loree, civil engineer and railroad executive (aged 82; West Orange, NJ, USA)
* September 15 – William B. Bankhead, politician (aged 66; Washington, DC, USA)
* September 23 – Hale Holden, president of Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (aged 71; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 25 – Marguerite Clark, stage and silent film actress (aged 57; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 5 – Ballington Booth, co-founder of Volunteers of America (aged 83; NY, USA)
* October 11 – Charles Stanton Ogle, actor (aged 75; Long Beach, CA, USA)
* October 12 – Tom Mix, Western film actor (aged 60; Florence, AZ, USA)
* October 17 – George Davis, baseball player (aged 70; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* November 5 – Otto Plath, entomologist, father of poet Sylvia Plath (aged 55; Winthorp, MA, USA)
* November 9 – John Henry Kirby, Texas legislator and businessman (aged 79; Houston, TX, USA)
* November 17
	+ Ralph Barnes, journalist (aged 41; Yugoslavia (Now Croatia))
	+ Raymond Pearl, biologist (aged 61; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* November 18 – Sylvia Ashton, silent film actress (aged 60; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 30 – George B. McClellan Jr., statesman, author, historian, and educator (aged 75; Washington, DC, USA)
* December 10 – William V. Mong, film actor, screenwriter and director (aged 65; Studio City, CA, USA)
* December 15 – Billy Hamilton, baseball player (aged 74; Worcester, MA, USA)
* December 21 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, fiction writer (aged 44; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 22 – Nathanael West, fiction writer, in automobile accident (aged 37; El Centro, CA, USA)
* December 23 – Eddie August Schneider, aviator, in airplane crash (aged 29; Brooklyn, NY, USA)
* December 25 – Agnes Ayres, silent film actress (aged 49; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 26 – Daniel Frohman, theater producer (aged 89; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 27 – Ella Rhoads Higginson, poet (aged 78; Bellingham, WA, USA)
* December 30 – C. Harold Wills, automobile engineer and businessman (aged 62; Detroit, MI, USA)
* December 31 – Roberta Lawson, Indigenous American (Lenape) activist and musician (aged 62; Tulsa, OK, USA)