1943

Events from the year **1943 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Frank M. Dixon (Democratic) (until January 19), Chauncey Sparks (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Arizona: Sidney Preston Osborn (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Homer Martin Adkins (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Culbert Olson (Democratic) (until January 4), Earl Warren (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Colorado: Ralph Lawrence Carr (Republican) (until January 12), John Charles Vivian (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Connecticut: Robert A. Hurley (Democratic) (until January 6), Raymond E. Baldwin (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Delaware: Walter W. Bacon (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Spessard Holland (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Eugene Talmadge (Democratic) (until January 12), Ellis Arnall (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Idaho: Chase A. Clark (Democratic) (until January 4), C. A. Bottolfsen (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Illinois: Dwight H. Green (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Henry F. Schricker (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: George A. Wilson (Republican) (until January 14), Bourke B. Hickenlooper (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Governor of Kansas: Payne Ratner (Republican) (until January 11), Andrew F. Schoeppel (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Kentucky: Keen Johnson (Democratic) (until December 7), Simeon S. Willis (Republican) (starting December 7)
* Governor of Louisiana: Sam H. Jones (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Sumner Sewall (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Herbert R. O'Conor (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Leverett Saltonstall (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Murray Van Wagoner (Democratic) (until January 1), Harry Kelly (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: Harold E. Stassen (Republican) (until April 27), Edward John Thye (Republican) (starting April 27)
* Governor of Mississippi: Paul B. Johnson Sr. (Democratic) (until December 26), Dennis Murphree (Democratic) (starting December 26)
* 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)
* Governor of New Mexico: John E. Miles (Democratic) (until January 1), John J. Dempsey (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* 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: Leon C. Phillips (Democratic) (until January 11), Robert S. Kerr (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Oregon: Charles A. Sprague (Republican) (until January 11), Earl Snell (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Arthur James (Republican) (until January 19), Edward Martin (Republican) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Rhode Island: J. Howard McGrath (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: Richard Manning Jefferies (Democratic) (until January 19), Olin D. Johnston (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of South Dakota: Harlan J. Bushfield (Republican) (until January 5), Merrill Q. Sharpe (Republican) (starting January 5)
* 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: Julius P. Heil (Republican) (until January 4), Walter S. Goodland (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Wyoming: Nels H. Smith (Republican) (until January 4), Lester C. Hunt (Democratic) (starting January 4)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Albert A. Carmichael (Democratic) (until January 19), Leven H. Ellis (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Robert L. Bailey (Democratic) (until January 12), James Lavesque Shaver (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Ellis E. Patterson (Democratic) (until January 4), Frederick F. Houser (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: John Charles Vivian (Republican) (until January 12), William Eugene Higby (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Odell Shepard (Democratic) (until January 8), William L. Hadden (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Isaac J. MacCollum (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Charles C. Gossett (Democratic) (until January 4), Edwin Nelson (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Hugh W. Cross (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Charles M. Dawson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Bourke B. Hickenlooper (Republican) (until January 14), Robert D. Blue (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Carl E. Friend (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Jess C. Denious Sr. (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Rodes K. Myers (Democratic) (until December 7), Kenneth H. Tuggle (Republican) (starting December 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Marc M. Mouton (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Francis E. Kelly (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Frank Murphy (Democratic) (until January 1), Eugene C. Keyes (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota:
	+ until January 4: C. Elmer Anderson (Republican)
	+ January 4-April 27: Edward John Thye (Republican)
	+ April 27-May 6: vacant
	+ starting May 6: Archie H. Miller (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Dennis Murphree (Democratic) (until December 26), vacant (starting December 26)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Frank Gaines Harris (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Ernest T. Eaton (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: William E. Johnson (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Roy W. Johnson (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Maurice J. Sullivan (Democratic) (until January 3), Vail M. Pittman (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Ceferino Quintana (Democratic) (until January 1), James B. Jones (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Thomas W. Wallace (Republican) (until July 17), Joseph R. Hanley (Republican) (starting July 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Reginald L. Harris (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Oscar W. Hagen (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Henry Holt (Democratic) (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:
	+ until January 19: Samuel S. Lewis (Democratic)
	+ January 19-January 20: vacant
	+ starting January 20: John C. Bell Jr. (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Louis W. Cappelli (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: vacant (until January 19), Ransome Judson Williams (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Albert C. Miller (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Blan R. Maxwell (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Joseph H. Ballew (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: vacant (until January 19), John Lee Smith (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* 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: Walter S. Goodland (Republican) (until January 4), Oscar Rennebohm (Republican) (starting January 4)

## 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)