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1942 Facts, Fun Trivia and History |
Quick Facts from 1942 |
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Here are some significant WW2 events that occurred in 1942
1942 was a significant year for World War II, with several major military engagements. It was also a time of great social upheaval, with the internment of Japanese Americans and other controversial events occurring in the United States. |
Top Ten Baby Names of 1942Mary, Barbara, Patricia, Linda, Carol, James, Robert, John, William, Richard |
US Life Expectancy1942 Males: 64.7 years, Females: 67.9 years |
The StarsIngrid Bergman, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Katharine Hepburn, Lena Horne, Veronica Lake, Hedy Lamarr, Carole Landis, Brenda Marshall, Alexis Smith, Gene Tierney, Lana Turner |
Entertainment History: The OscarsThe 14th Academy Awards were held on February 26, 1942, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The master of ceremonies for the evening was none other than Bob Hope. The big winner was How Green Was My Valley, which walked away with Best Picture, beating out other esteemed films like Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon. John Ford received the Best Director award for the film, which also snagged Best Supporting Actor for Donald Crisp. Gary Cooper won Best Actor for his role in Sergeant York, and Joan Fontaine took home Best Actress for her performance in Suspicion. The eligibility year for the awards spanned from October 1940 to December 1941. |
Miss AmericaJo-Carroll Dennison (Tyler, TX) |
Time Magazine’s Man of the Year |
Firsts, Inventions, and WondersTrain Kept A-Rollin was recorded by Freddie Slack in 1942, Tiny Bradshaw in 1951, Johnny Burnette in 1956, the Yardbirds in 1965, Led Zeppelin in 1968, and Aerosmith in 1974. The Voice of America began broadcasting. C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters was first published in book format in England. |
World War II NewsProduced in 1942 and released on January 1, 1943, the only Donald Duck film to win an Oscar was a Disney propaganda called Der Fuehrer’s Face. |
In the spring of 1942, German U-boats patrolled the east coast of the United States, sinking fuel tankers and cargo ships, often within sight of shore, and in less than seven months, destroyed 22 percent of the tanker fleet and sank 233 ships, killing 5,000 people, mostly civilians. Nazi U-boat U-166 was sunk 100 miles off the coast of Louisiana the day after attacking a US Naval Patrol in the Gulf of Mexico. Between 1942 and 1943, more than 20 German U-boats operated in the Gulf of Mexico. They attacked tankers transporting oil from ports in Texas and Louisiana and successfully sank 56 vessels. Invented in 1942 by Julius Fieser, a Harvard organic chemist, napalm was the ideal incendiary weapon: cheap, stable, and sticky—a burning gel that stuck to roofs, furniture, and skin. It killed more Japanese than both Atomic Bombs combined. Between 1941 and 1945, the USA built almost 6,000 ships. The average time to build a ship went from 240 days in early 1942 to only 56 days at the end of the year. Hawaii had its own money during WW2 with a “Hawaii stamp” on it, so if the Japanese took over the island, America could say that the money was no good. In January 1942, Lytle S. Adams, a dentist, proposed strapping tiny incendiary bombs to bats, to bomb Japanese cities to the White House. “Think of thousands of fires breaking out simultaneously over a circle of forty miles in diameter for every bomb dropped. Japan could have been devastated, yet with a small loss of life.” From May 1942 to August 1945, the US had a nationwide speed limit of 35 miles per hour called The “Victory Speed Limit”. Stop That Tank! is a 22-minute 1942 instructional film created during World War II by Walt Disney Productions to demonstrate the proper use and handling of the Mk.1 Boys Anti-Tank Rifle. |
| The last time Congress declared war was in 1942 (against Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania). The Executive branch declared the Korean War. The 1942 Battle Of The Coral Sea was the first naval battle in history in which the opposing ships never saw each other, the engagement being entirely one of opposing airstrikes from carrier-borne aircraft. Calvin Graham was 12 years old and enlisted in the Navy in 1942. During WW2, he was awarded The Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and other medals. They were taken away because he was underage. President Jimmy Carter Approved all the medals except his Purple Heart to be reinstated. His Purple Heart was reinstated in 1994. During World War II, penicillin was scarce, so it was expected to collect urine from patients to recycle penicillin. In 1942, Japanese troops landed and occupied the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska. They were driven out entirely a year later, between May and August 1943, by American and Canadian forces. This was American soil’s first significant foreign occupation since the War of 1812. In 1942, a Finnish sound engineer secretly recorded 11 minutes of a candid conversation between Adolf Hitler and Finnish Defence Chief Gustaf Mannerheim before being caught by the SS. It is the only known recording of Hitler’s normal speaking voice. (11 min, English translation) |
| Dr. Harry Coover accidentally invented Super Glue during World War II. In 1942, he searched for materials for making clear plastic gun sights to be used by Allied soldiers in the war against the Axis. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a female Soviet sniper with 309 credited kills, toured the US in 1942 to gain support for a second front in Nazi-occupied Europe. Of course, the press was more interested in her appearance and if she wore make-up on the front lines. “If Day” was a simulated Nazi German invasion and occupation of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and surrounding areas on February 19, 1942. Tea was so crucial for morale in the British army that 1942, the UK bought the entire world’s crop of tea. The Savoia Cavalleria Charge at Izbushensky, many consider history’s last significant cavalry charge. It took place on August 24, 1942. 700 Italian cavalrymen took on and drove back over 2,500 soviet foot soldiers armed with machine guns and mortars. Twelve-year-old Calvin Leon Graham (April 3, 1930 – November 6, 1992) was the youngest U.S. serviceman to serve and fight during World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the United States NAVY at the age of 12 on August 15, 1942. The original painting of “Washington Crossing the Delaware” was destroyed by a British bombing raid in 1942. It was in Breman, Germany at the time. The deadliest battle in history was the Battle of Stalingrad from 1942-1943. Lasting several months, the clash between Russian and German forces ended 1,971,000 lives, making it 23 times deadlier than the next deadliest, the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. In 1942, ihe Japanese, led by General Imamura, fed 200 American POWs to the sharks off Java Island in what became known as the “Pig Basket Atrocities”. The “The Death Match” was a 1942 soccer match between Nazi soldiers and Ukrainian prisoners of war. It was the inspiration behind the movie The Longest Yard. |
Pop Culture Facts & HistoryThe idea that the federal government can regulate almost any business was established in a 1942 Supreme Court case, Wickard v. Filburn. Since a farmer could theoretically sell products over state lines, the US government had the authority to control what he could grow. On Mexico’s Mother’s Day in 1942, the government announced that all Mexican women could reclaim their pawned sewing machines from the National Pawnshop at no cost. The US government made a short film in 1942 called “Hemp for Victory,” which discussed the many virtues of hemp and its products. |
| The Marines rejected actor Audie Murphy for being too short and the Navy for being too skinny. The Army accepted him but did not want to send him into combat because he looked so young. He received every military award for valor available from the Army. Hollywood actress Carole Lombard visited her hometown (Indiana) in 1942 and, in one night, raised $2 million in war bonds (about $35 million today). She died in a plane crash on her return home due in part to a lack of airport lighting turned off to conceal American airstrips from the Japanese. Camp David was converted to a presidential retreat by Franklin D. Roosevelt and renamed “Shangri-La” (for the fictional Himalayan paradise). Camp David received its present name from Dwight D. Eisenhower, in honor of his father and grandson, both named David. DDT was first used as a pesticide. The University of Chicago produced the first nuclear chain reaction using uranium isotope U-235. Before the 20th century, people mainly reported dreaming in color. But in 1942, 70% of college sophomores “rarely/never” had color dreams. By 2001, that rate had dropped to 17%. The change is thought to be because of the influence of black and white media in the mid-1900s. Due to wartime blackouts, there was no lit New Year’s Eve Ball at One Times Square in 1942 and 1943. President Gerald Ford worked as a male model in his late 20s and was featured on the cover of Cosmopolitan in 1942 wearing his Navy Uniform. On March 18, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9102, creating the War Relocation Authority (WRA), which caused the internment of Americans of Japanese and, to a lesser extent, German and Italian descent, many of them legal citizens. Pinball machines were banned in NYC from 1942 to 1976 as lawmakers considered them luck-based, similar to gambling, and were ‘stealing’ money from kids. Bing Crosby’s recording of White Christmas was so popular that he had to re-record it in 1947 using the same musicians and backup singers in the 1942 original master because it had become damaged due to its frequent use. There was no digital recording in the 1940s. The Battle of Los Angeles: In February 1942, unknown objects were reportedly seen over Los Angeles. A nearby artillery brigade fired over 1400 rounds into the skies over the city in response. On August 16, 1942, a military blimp left San Francisco Bay on a routine submarine-spotting mission. A few hours later, the airship wandered back over land and crashed with nobody aboard. Life rafts and other gear had not been touched. To this day, the two-man crew has never been found. Hoagy Carmichael’s 1942 song I’m a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doin’ Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues arguably holds the world record for the longest song title. Bambi and Bambi II hold the record for the longest gap between movie sequels, the first being released in 1942 and the second being released 64 years later in 2006. On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank received an autograph book from her father for her 13th birthday. That book became her diary. Dr. Alf Alving, working for the US Army’s Office of Scientific Research and Development, tested some 441 convicts from Statesville Penitentiary with Malaria drugs without their knowledge. Poon Kim holds the record for surviving adrift in a life raft at 133 days in 1942-43. When told no one had ever survived longer on a raft at sea, he replied, “I hope no one will ever have to break that record.” Jack Kerouac, the author of the book On the Road, enlisted in the US Navy in 1942 but served only eight days of active duty before being dismissed after doctors diagnosed him with dementia and a schizoid personality. Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo on January 8, 1642. Three Musketeers Bars originally had three smaller chocolate bars. Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla variety. In 1942, the strawberry and vanilla flavors were cut due to increased production costs due to sugar rationing. The 1942 Rose Bowl was played in Durham, NC, due to fears of the Japanese attack on the west coast of the US. |
The DisastersThe Cocoanut Grove Fire on November 28, 1942, killed nearly 500 people in a mad panic to escape the fire people when they were crushed against the inward opening doors and could not pull them open. It changed the fire, door, and safety laws in the United States forever. In 1942, over 300 skeletons were found around Roopkund, an obscure high-altitude lake in India. The skeletons were the remains of a 9th-century AD party killed by a freak hail storm. When USS Juneau was sunk in November 1942, all five brothers of the Sullivan family from Waterloo, Iowa, were killed. Soon after, the U.S. War Department adopted the Sole Survivor Policy. |
The Biggest Films of 1942 |
| 1. Bambi (Pop Culture Classic) |
| 2. Casablanca (Pop Culture Classic) |
| 3. Yankee Doodle Dandy (Pop Culture Classic) |
| 4. Mrs. Miniver |
| 5. Woman of the Year (Pop Culture Classic) |
| 6. Once Upon a Honeymoon |
| 7. Tales of Manhattan |
| 8. For Me and My Gal |
| 9. Holiday Inn |
| 10. Road to Morocco (Pop Culture Classic) |
| 11. Cat People |
| 12. My Favorite Blonde |
| 13. Jungle Book |
| 14. Pride of the Yankees (Pop Culture Classic) |
| 15. The Magnificent Ambersons |
| 16. Saboteur |
| 17. I Married A Witch |
| 18. The Talk of the Town |
| 19. To Be or Not to Be |
| 20. Rio Rita |
| 21. Gentleman Jim |
| 22. Arabian Nights |
| 23. Reap The Wild Wind |
| 24. The Young Mr. Pitt |
| 25. Sons of the Pioneers |
| *Movies beyond the Top Ten are based on (a somewhat subjective) ranking based on how much they had a long-lasting effect on Pop Culture. |
Popular Quotes“Here’s looking at you, kid.” “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.'” “Round up the usual suspects.” |
Nobel PrizesPhysics – not awarded |
The Number One Hits Of 1942December 27, 1941 – January 6, 1942 February 7, 1942 – February 13, 1942 February 14, 1942 – February 20, 1942 February 21, 1942 – February 27, 1942 February 28, 1942 – May 8, 1942 May 9, 1942 – June 19, 1942 June 20, 1942 – July 17, 1942 July 18, 1942 – September 11, 1942 September 12, 1942 – October 30, 1942 October 31, 1942 – January 15, 1943 |
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1942And Now Tomorrow by Rachel Field |
SportsWorld Series Champions: St. Louis Cardinals |
More 1942 History Resources:Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com) |
