THE AMERICAS-1942

The Americas!

01/01/1942 The ‘United Nations’ of 26 allied countries, sign a UN Declaration in Washington of co-operation and no separate peace. 06/01/1942 Roosevelt announces that US forces are to be based in UK. 07/01/1942 Roosevelt’s first War Budget includes $13,250 million of defence expenditure. 14/01/1942 At the so called Arcadia Conference held in Washington, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill agree to concentrate the Allied war effort on the European theatre. President Roosevelt also orders that all aliens are to register with the government. This is the beginning of a plan to move Japanese-Americans into internment camps in the belief that these people might aid the enemy. 02/02/1942 Congress appropriates $26.5 billion for the U.S. Navy, bringing total U.S. war costs since June of 1940 to more than $115 billion. 19/02/1942 Executive Order 9066 is signed by President Roosevelt, authorizing the transfer of more than 100,000 German, Italian and Japanese-Americans living in coastal Pacific areas to concentration camps in various inland states (and including inland areas of California). Those interned lose an estimated 400 million dollars in property, as their homes and possessions are taken from them. 23/02/1942 A Japanese submarine shells the Californian coast. 13/03/1942 Three German spies in New York get a total of 117 years imprisonment. 25/03/1942 In one of the greatest "trading with the enemy" scandals of the war, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold announces that William Stamps Farish Sr. has pled "no contest" to charges of criminal conspiracy with the Nazis. Arnold discloses that Standard Oil of New Jersey (later Exxon) of which Farish is president and CEO has agreed to stop hiding patents from the U.S. for synthetic rubber, which the company has in its possession. Missouri Sen. Harry Truman later roasts Farish in front of his committee investigating home front wrongdoing, an event that raises Truman's profile and makes him a plausible running mate for FDR in 1944. The exposure of the scandal is widely believed to have contributed to Farish's sudden death from a heart attack in November of 1942. 30/03/1942 The Pacific War Council is set up in Washington, with representatives from Britain, Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, Netherlands, Philippines and the the US. 10/04/1942 The Soviet Ambassador to the USA gives a speech in Philadelphia demanding an immediate second front in Europe. 28/04/1942 Coastal "dimouts" go into effect along a fifteen-mile strip on the Eastern Seaboard, in response to German U-boat activity of the U.S. Atlantic coast. 14/05/1942 The U.S. Congress establishes The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), under the direction of Oveta Culp Hobby, editor of the Houston Post. 15/05/1942 Gasoline rationing goes into effect in the Eastern United States. 01/06/1942 Mexico declares war on Germany, Italy and Japan. 05/06/1942 USA warns Japan that she will retaliate in kind if gas is used. 13/06/1942 President Roosevelt authorizes the creation of the U.S. Office on War Information (OWI). The first director is Elmer Holmes Davis, a CBS commentator and novelist. 14/06/1942 Two German U-boats land teams of saboteurs on Long Island and near Jacksonville, Florida. However, all are captured with days and six are executed after a trial. 19/06/1942 Churchill and Roosevelt meet to discuss the number of conflicting offensive plans which might be launched against Germany in 1942. The main ones were 'Rutter', a 24-hour cross Channel raid on Dieppe. 'Sledgehammer' using six division to establish a lodgement on the French coast at Cherbourg and 'Jupiter' which called for a lodgement in northern Norway. Discussion were also had on the up and coming operation 'Gymnast', which was the proposed Anglo-American landing in French North Africa later in the year. 13/07/1942 President Roosevelt orders the establishment of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), with Colonel Donovan as director. 21/07/1942 US losses since the war began are reported at 44,143 killed, wounded and missing. 24/07/1942 Roosevelt agrees with Churchill that operation 'Gymnast' should proceed, whilst operation 'Sledgehammer' should be cancelled. 30/07/1942 The Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services (WAVES) is authorized by the U.S. Congress. 03/08/1942 The FBI arrests 89 ‘dangerous aliens’ in USA. 21/08/1942 Roosevelt says the perpetrators of barbarism in occupied countries ‘will have to stand in courts of law, in the very countries which they are now oppressing and answer for their acts’. 22/08/1942 Under heavy pressure from the US, Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy. 28/08/1942 A Japanese seaplane catapulted from submarine I-25 and drops firebombs on forests in Oregon, USA. 07/09/1942 Roosevelt threatens to override Congress unless they take action to curb inflation. 09/09/1942 Japanese bomb Oregon forests with incendiaries for second time. 16/09/1942 The Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) are established in the U.S.. The armed forces will be supplied with more than 1000 auxiliary pilots through this organization. 23/09/1942 Wendell Willkie, 1940 Republican presidential candidate, confers with Stalin and calls for a second front at the earliest possible moment. 06/10/1942 The setting up of a UN commission to investigate war crimes is announced in Washington. 10/11/1942 President Roosevelt announces the breaking-off of diplomatic relations with Vichy France. 11/11/1942 The United States extends Lend-Lease aid to the Free French Forces under General de Gaulle. 01/12/1942 Coffee joins the list of rationed items in the US. 02/12/1942 The first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is realized by Professor Fermi and a team of scientists working under the name of the "Manhattan Engineering District." 07/12/1942 The US Navy launches the Battleship New Jersey and 11 other ships on the anniversary of Pearl Harbour.