Bob Hope performed his first United Service Organization show at California's March Field for service members and their families.
The National Gallery of Art opens in Washington. D.C.
Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg discovered the chemical element Plutonium.
Peruvian ambassador Ricardo Rivera-Schreiber gave a warning that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor.
Pioneering English pilot Amy Johnson went missing after bailing out of her plane over the Thames River.
California's first freeway, Arroyo Seco Parkway, officially opened to traffic.
The worst German air raid of the Blitz occurred.
Nazis officially sealed off the Warsaw Ghetto.
Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first African American US Army brigadier general.
The Blitz bombing of London's Balham Tube Station was bombed, killing over 60 people.
Tripartite Pact is signed.
17,000-year-old cave art was discovered in France.
Buckingham Palace, London, was blasted during The Blitz mass air bombings by Germany.
The Blitz began.
Adolf Hitler made plans to invade Britain starting on September 21, 1940.
Exiled Soviet leader Leon Trotsky was assassinated with an ice axe in Mexico City.
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic is established.
Adolf Hitler offered peace to Great Britain if they would surrender and allow Germany to dominate the country.
Adolf Hitler planned to invade Britain under the guise name 'Operation Sealion.'
Nazi forces moved on Britain for the first time after attacking shipping containers in the English Channel.
Hitler had his first and only tour of Paris, ticking Eiffel Tower and Napoleon's grave off his bucket list.
The first Dairy Queen restaurant opened in Joliet, Illinois, US.
A speech by Charles de Gaulle sparks the French Resistance to German occupation.
Sir Winston Churchill gave his famous 'Finest Hour' speech in the House of Commons.
The three Baltic states fall under Soviet occupation.
German troops occupy Paris.
Auschwitz concentration camp started operation after 728 Polish prisoners became the first to arrive.
Italy declared war on France and Britain.
The discovery of the chemical element Neptunium was announced.
Germany invaded France during WWII.
Winston Churchill presented his famous speech 'We Shall Fight on the Beaches.'
The first prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp.
The world's first Mcdonald's opened in San Bernardino, California.
Winston Churchill made his famous speech to the House of Commons.
Heinrich Himmler ordered the construction of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
Booker T. Washington became the first Black person pictured on a US postage stamp.
Soviet troops murder about 22,000 Polish nationals.
The first US telecast was made from an airplane flying over New York City.
Two scientists from the University of California Radiation Laboratory discovered carbon-14, a new isotope of carbon.
Walt Disney released their second feature-length movie, 'Pinocchio,' in New York City.
Between 20,000 and 40,000 people died in a magnitude eight earthquake in Erzincan, Turkey.
Gone with the Wind, the drama film directed by Victor Fleming, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
After invading Finland, the Soviet Union was kicked out of the League of Nations.
U.S.S.R. attacks Finland.
Hitler survives assassination attempt.
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt received a letter from Albert Einstein detailing the possibility of atomic weapons.
Finnish long-distance runner Taisto Mäki broke the 10,000-meter world record in 29:52:06.
Germany invaded Poland in the free city of Danzig, which started World War II.
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed.
