1942 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Vice President: Henry A. Wallace
• Chief Justice: Harlan F. Stone
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn
• Senate Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley
• Congress: 77th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January

• January 1
• *Sales of new cars are banned to save steel.
• *WWII: The United States and Philippines troops fight the Battle of Bataan.
• January 10 - WWII: The last German air-raid on the English port of Liverpool destroys the home of William Patrick Hitler, Adolf Hitler's nephew. After his house is destroyed, William Hitler goes to the United States and joins the navy to fight against his uncle.
• January 14-15 - WWII: Operation Drumbeat - German submarine U-123 under the command of Reinhard Hardegen sinks a Norwegian tanker within sight of Long Island before entering New York Harbor and sinking a British tanker off Sandy Hook as she leaves heading south along the East Coast.
• January 16 - Film actress Carole Lombard and her mother are among all 22 aboard TWA Flight 3 killed when the Douglas DC-3 plane crashes into Potosi Mountain near Las Vegas in Nevada while she is returning from a tour to promote the sale of war bonds.
• January 19
• *WWII: Japanese forces invade Burma.
• *The United States VIII Bomber Command, later to become the Eighth Air Force, is established in Savannah, Georgia.
• January 25 - WWII: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
• January 26 - WWII: The first American forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland.

  February

• February 2 - WWII: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order directing the internment of Japanese Americans and the seizure of their property.
• February 7 – President Roosevelt signs an Executive Order creating the War Shipping Administration.
• February 8
• *WWII: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
• *Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States.
• February 9 - WWII: The ocean liner catches fire while being converted into the troopship USS Lafayette at pier 88 in New York City. In the early hours of February 10 she capsizes.
• February 18 - WWII: More than 200 American sailors die in Newfoundland when the runs aground near Chambers Cove and the runs aground at Lawn Point.
• February 19 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
• February 20 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
• February 22 - WWII: President Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
• February 23 - WWII: The Japanese submarine I-17 fires 17 high-explosive shells toward an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.
• February 24 - The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
• February 25 - Battle of Los Angeles: Over 1,400 AA shells are fired at an unidentified, slow-moving object in the skies over Los Angeles. The appearance of the object triggers an immediate wartime blackout over most of Southern California, with thousands of air raid wardens being deployed throughout the city. In total there are 6 deaths. Despite the several hour barrage no planes are downed.
• February 26 – The 14th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles; How Green Was My Valley wins Best Picture.

  March

• March - Construction begins on the Badger Army Ammunition Plant.
• March 9 - WWII: Executive order 9082 reorganizes the United States Army into three major commands: Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces.

  April

• April 3 - WWII: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.

  May

• May 6 - WWII: On Corregidor, the last American and Filipino forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
• May 14 - Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait is performed for the first time by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
• May 15 - WWII: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps is signed into law.
• May 20 - The first African-American seamen are taken into the United States Navy.

  June

• June 4-7 - World War II - Battle of Midway: The United States Navy defeats an Imperial Japanese Navy attack against Midway Atoll.
• June 7 - World War II - Aleutian Islands Campaign: Japanese forces invade the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
• June 13
• * The United States opens its Office of War Information, a propaganda center.
• * Office of Strategic Services is created.
• June 21 - World War II - Bombardment of Fort Stevens: Fort Stevens, Oregon is fired upon by a Japanese submarine.

  July

• July 4 - WWII in the European Theater of Operations: US Eighth Air Force flies its first inauspicious mission in Europe using borrowed British planes; six aircraft went out, only three came back.
• July 19 - WWII - Battle of the Atlantic: German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast positions, in response to an effective American convoy system.
• July 30 – WWII: A bill creating the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve is signed into law.

  August

• August 7 - WWII: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - USMC initiate the first American offensive of the war with a landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
• August 8 – WWII: In Washington, DC, six German would-be saboteurs are executed.
• August 15 - WWII: The American tanker SS Ohio reaches Malta as part of the convoy of Operation Pedestal.
• August 16 – The U.S. Navy blimp L-8 comes ashore near San Francisco, eventually coming down in Daly City.

  September

October

• October 5 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Yankees, 4 games to 1, to win their 4th World Series Title.
• October 11 - WWII - Battle of Cape Esperance: On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
• October 23 - Award-winning composer and Hollywood songwriter Ralph Rainger is among 12 people killed in the mid-air collision between an American Airlines DC-3 airliner and a U.S. Army bomber near Palm Springs, California.
• October 26 - WWII - Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands: Two Japanese aircraft carriers are heavily damaged and one U.S. carrier is sunk.
• October 28 - The Alaska Highway is completed.

  November

• November 8 – Operation Torch - United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
• November 9 - WWII: U.S serviceman Edward Leonski is hanged at Melbourne's Pentridge Prison for the "Brown-Out" murders of three women in May.
• November 12 - WWII - Battle of Guadalcanal: A naval battle near Guadalcanal starts between Japanese and American forces.
• November 13 - Battle of Guadalcanal: Aviators from the sink the Japanese battleship Hiei.
• November 15 – The Battle of Guadalcanal ends: Although the United States Navy suffers heavy losses, it retains control of Guadalcanal.
• November 21 - The completion of the Alaska Highway is celebrated.
• November 23 – A bill creating the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve is signed into law.
• November 26 - The movie Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
• November 28 – In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club kills 491 people.
• November 29 – Coffee rationing begins in the United States.

  December

• December 1 - Gasoline rationing begins in the United States.
• December 2 - Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
• December 22 - In Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, an avalanche kills 26, including Vulcan Crucible Steel Co heir-apparent Samuel A. Stafford Sr., when two 100 ton boulders fall on a bus filled with wartime steel workers on their way home.

  Ongoing

• World War II, U.S. involvement

  Unknown

• The Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals open in the American Museum of Natural History, with 10 dioramas

  Births

January

• January 1
• * Al Hunt, American journalist
• * Billy Lothridge, American football player
• * Country Joe McDonald, American musician
• January 2
• * Dennis Hastert, American politician
• * Hugh Shelton, American military leader, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• January 3 – Donna Axum, American beauty pageant winner and model
• January 4 – Jim Downing, race car driver and inventor
• January 5 – Charlie Rose, American television anchor and talk show host
• January 7
• * Jim Lefebvre, baseball player and manager
• * Danny Steinmann, director and screenwriter
• January 11
• * Clarence Clemons, African-American saxophonist
• * Leo Cullum, soldier, pilot, and cartoonist
• * George Mira, American football player
• January 17 – Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay, African-American boxer, activist, and philanthropist
• January 18 – Ruby Winters, American singer
• January 24
• * Melvin Fitting, logician
• * Gary Hart, American wrestler and manager
• January 25 – Carl Eller, American football player
• January 27
• * John Witherspoon, American actor and comedian
• * Steve Wynn, American businessman and art collector
• January 30 – Marty Balin, American singer, songwriter, and musician

  February

• February 5 - Roger Staubach, American football player
• February 9 - Carole King, American singer and composer
• February 10 - Howard Mudd, American offensive lineman & offensive line coach
• February 11
• * Otis Clay, African-American R&B and soul singer
• * Leon Haywood, American funk and soul singer, songwriter and record producer
• February 13
• * Carol Lynley, American actress
• * Peter Tork, American musician and actor
• * Donald E. Williams, American astronaut
• February 14 - Michael Bloomberg, American businessman
• February 15 - Sherry Jackson, American actress
• February 19 - Paul Krause, American football player
• February 20 - Mitch McConnell, American politician, United States Senator
• February 24 - Joe Lieberman, American politician, longtime Connecticut Senator
• February 25 - Karen Grassle, American actress
• February 27 - Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

  March

• March 2
• * John Irving, American author
• * Lou Reed, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• March 7
• * Tammy Faye Bakker, American evangelist, singer and television personality
• * Michael Eisner, American film studio executive
• March 12 – Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player
• March 13
• * Dave Cutler, American software engineer
• * Scatman John, singer and songwriter
• March 17 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer
• March 20 – Earl Bramblett, American mass murderer
• March 21 – Willie Brown, American football player and coach
• March 25 – Aretha Franklin, African-American singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist
• March 26
• * Erica Jong, American author
• * Ronald Bass, American screenwriter and film producer
• March 28
• * Jerry Sloan, American basketball coach
• * Daniel Dennett, American philosopher
• March 29
• * Larry Pressler, U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 1979 to 1997
• * Scott Wilson, American actor

  April

• April 1
• * Chris Buttars, American politician
• * Samuel R. Delany, American science fiction author
• April 2 - Leon Russell, singer-songwriter, keyboard player and guitarist
• April 3
• * Marsha Mason, American actress
• * Wayne Newton, American entertainer and singer
• * Billy Joe Royal, American singer
• April 5 - Peter Magowan, American businessman
• April 6 - Barry Levinson, American film producer and director
• April 8 - Douglas Trumbull, American film director
• April 15
• * Kenneth Lay, American businessman
• * Julie Sommars, American retired actress
• April 23 - Sandra Dee, American actress
• April 24 - Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, composer, and film director
• April 25 - Jon Kyl, U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1995 to 2013
• April 26 - Bobby Rydell, American singer
• April 27
• * Ruth Glick, American writer
• * Jim Keltner, American drummer

  May

• May 1
• * Stephen Macht, American actor
• * Jean Saubert, American alpine ski racer
• May 5 – Tammy Wynette, American country singer
• May 6 – David Friesen, bassist
• May 9
• * John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
• * Jerry Buchek, American baseball player
• May 10
• * Bill Coday, American musician and singer
• * Ingram Marshall, American composer
• * Tommy Roe, American singer-songwriter
• May 14 – Byron Dorgan, American politician
• May 15
• * Anthony W. England, American astronaut
• * Lois Johnson, American country music singer
• May 17 – Taj Mahal, African-American singer and guitarist
• May 19 – Gary Kildall, American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur
• May 20 – Carlos Hathcock, American Marine sniper
• May 21 – Robert C. Springer, American astronaut and test pilot
• May 22
• * Rich Garcia, American Major League Baseball umpire
• * Ted Kaczynski, American mathematician, professor and murderer
• May 27
• * Priscilla McLean, American composer, performer, video artist, writer, and music reviewer
• * Lee Baca, American law enforcement official and convicted felon
• May 28 – Stanley B. Prusiner, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• May 29 – Kevin Conway, American actor and director
• May 31 – Happy Hairston, American basketball player

  June

• June 3 - Curtis Mayfield, African-American musician
• June 7 - Charles R. Boutin, lawyer and politician
• June 8
• *Chuck Negron, singer-songwriter and guitarist
• *Andrew Weil, author and educator
• June 18 - Roger Ebert, film critic
• June 19 - Bob Kasten, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1981 to 1993
• June 20
• * Richard I. Neal, military commander
• * Brian Wilson, American singer, composer and producer
• June 21
• * T. D. Little, American politician
• * Marjorie Margolies, American politician
• * Nicholas Santora, American criminal
• June 22 - George Banks, American spree killer
• June 24 - Michele Lee, American actress and singer
• June 25
• * Willis Reed, African-American basketball player, coach and general manager
• * Richard Stephen Ritchie, U.S. military officer
• June 26
• * James J. Dillon, American professional wrestling manager
• * Conrad C. Lautenbacher, U.S Vice Admiral
• June 27 - Bruce Johnston, American singer and songwriter
• June 28 - Frank Zane, American professional bodybuilder and author

  July

• July 1 – Andraé Crouch, American gospel singer
• July 3 – Willie Porter, American basketball player
• July 4
• * Floyd Little, American football player and coach
• * Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• July 5 – Louise Shaffer, American actress, script writer, and author
• July 7 – Thomas D. Pollard, American educator, cell biologist and biophysicist
• July 8 – Phil Gramm, American politician
• July 9 – Richard Roundtree, African-American actor
• July 10 – Sixto Rodriguez, American singer-songwriter
• July 12 – Steve Young, American country music singer-songwriter
• July 13
• * Harrison Ford, American actor and film producer
• * Roger McGuinn, American musician
• July 16 – John Purdin, American baseball player
• July 18 – Bobby Susser, American songwriter and producer
• July 19 – Frederick Kantor, American physicist
• July 24 – Chris Sarandon, American actor
• July 27 – Dennis Ralston, American tennis player
• July 28 – Henry Wessel Jr., American photographer and educator

  August

• August 1 – Jerry Garcia, American musician
• August 4 – Cleon Jones, American baseball player
• August 7
• * Jane Fortune, American author, journalist, and philanthropist
• * Tobin Bell, American film and television actor
• * Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
• August 9 – Tommie Agee, American baseball player
• August 13 – Arthur K. Cebrowski, American admiral
• August 16 – Barbara George, American singer-songwriter
• August 19 – Fred Thompson, American politician and actor
• August 20 – Isaac Hayes, African-American singer and actor
• August 23 – Nancy Richey, American tennis player
• August 24 – Max Cleland, American politician
• August 27 – Daryl Dragon, American musician
• August 29 – Sterling Morrison, American musician

  September

• September 2 – Robert Shapiro, American lawyer and entrepreneur
• September 3 – Al Jardine, American musician
• September 6
• * Carol Wayne, American television and film actress
• * Mel McDaniel, American country music singer-songwriter
• September 7 – Alan Haskvitz, American educator
• September 17 – Lupe Ontiveros, American actress
• September 19 – Freda Payne, American singer and actress
• September 22
• * Marlena Shaw, American jazz singer
• * David Stern, American businessman and lawyer
• September 29
• * Madeline Kahn, American actress
• * Bill Nelson, American politician
• September 30 – Frankie Lymon, American singer

  October

• October 3 – Earl Hindman, American actor
• October 6 – Fred Travalena, American comedian and impressionist
• October 7
• * Ronald Baecker, American computer scientist
• * Joy Behar, American comedian and television personality
• October 10 – Janis Hansen, American singer and author
• October 13 – Jerry Jones, American football team owner
• October 19 – Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney
• October 21
• * Hugh Dane, African-American actor
• * Judy Sheindlin, American retired judge turned television personality
• October 22
• * Bobby Fuller, American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist
• * Annette Funicello, American actress and singer
• October 23 – Michael Crichton, American author
• October 24
• * Ruthann Aron, American politician
• * Maggie Blye, American actress
• * Don Francis, American epidemiologist and virologist
• * Don Gant, American singer-songwriter and producer
• October 25 – Gloria Katz, American screenwriter and film producer
• October 29
• * James Orange, African-American pastor and civil rights activist
• * Bob Ross, American painter, art instructor and television host
• October 31 – David Ogden Stiers, American actor and voice-over artist

  November

• November 1
• * Larry Flynt, American publisher
• * Marcia Wallace, American actress and comedian
• * Michael Zaslow, American actor
• November 2
• * Shere Hite, American-born German sexologist
• * Stefanie Powers, American actress
• November 7 – Tom Peters, American writer
• November 10 – Robert F. Engle, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• November 17
• * Bob Gaudio, American musician
• * Martin Scorsese, American film director
• November 18
• * Linda Evans, American actress
• * Susan Sullivan, American actress
• November 20
• * Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009
• * Bob Einstein, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• November 21 – Al Matthews, African-American actor and singer
• November 22
• * Dick Stockton, American sports announcer
• * Guion Bluford, African-American astronaut
• November 23 – Susan Anspach, American actress
• November 26 – Olivia Cole, American actress
• November 27 – Jimi Hendrix, African-American rock musician, singer and songwriter
• November 28
• * Eric Shinseki, American U.S. Army General
• * Paul Warfield, American football player

  December

• December 4 – Al Hunt, American columnist
• December 6 – Chelsea Brown, American actress
• December 7
• * Harry Chapin, American singer-songwriter
• * Reginald Lewis, American businessman
• * Peter Tomarken, American game-show host
• December 9 – Dick Butkus, American football player
• December 15 – Kathleen Blanco, American politician, 54th Governor of Louisiana
• December 17 – Paul Butterfield, American musician
• December 19 – Gene Okerlund, American wrestling announcer
• December 20 – Bob Hayes, African-American athlete
• December 21 – Carla Thomas, American singer
• December 27
• * Muruga Booker, American drummer, composer, inventor, artist, and recording artist
• * Charmian Carr, American actress
• * Thomas Menino, 53rd Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
• December 29 – Gifford Pinchot III, management consultant
• December 30
• * Betty Aberlin, American actress
• * Allan Gotthelf, American philosopher
• * Michael Nesmith, American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, businessman and philanthropist

  Deaths

• January 3 - Charles Mann Hamilton, politician
• January 4
• *Mel Sheppard, Olympic track athlete
• *Otis Skinner, stage actor
• January 6 - John Bernard Flannagan, sculptor, suicide
• January 16 - Carole Lombard, film actress, air crash
• January 18 - James P. Parker, U.S. Navy commodore
• January 18 - Mason Patrick, Chief of United States Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces 1918
• February 9 - Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, portrait and genre painter
• February 12 - Grant Wood, painter
• February 18 - Albert Payson Terhune, journalist and author
• March 26 - Carolyn Wells, prolific novelist and poet
• April 18 - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art
• April 27 - Arthur L. Bristol, U.S. Navy admiral
• May 29 - John Barrymore, actor
• June 4 - killed in action at the Battle of Midway
• *William Abercrombie, U.S. Navy officer and aviator
• *Edgar R. Bassett, U.S. Navy officer
• *Harold John Ellison, U.S. Navy officer
• *Lofton R. Henderson, U.S. Marine Corps aviator and commanding officer of Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 241
• *John C. Waldron, U.S. Navy aviator and commander of Torpedo Squadron 8
• June 5 - Virginia Lee Corbin, silent film actress
• June 19 - Frank Irons, Olympic field athlete
• June 23 - William Couper, sculptor
• June 30 - William Henry Jackson, explorer and photographer
• July 30 - Jimmy Blanton, African American jazz double bassist
• August 7
• *Louis J. Carpellotti, U.S. marine, killed in action
• *Charles E. Ford, film director and producer
• September 7 - Cecilia Beaux, portrait painter
• October 5 - Dorothea Klumpke, astronomer
• November 4 - Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, novelist and textbook and children's writer
• December 5 - Richard Tucker, film actor
• December 6 - Amos Rusie, baseball player
• December 7 - Orland Steen Loomis, Governor of Wisconsin
• December 8 - Albert Kahn, architect
• December 12 - Helen Westley, character actress
• December 13 - Robert Robinson Taylor, first accredited African American architect
• December 21 - Franz Boas, anthropologist
• December 27 - William G. Morgan, inventor of volleyball