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Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
- (Below, many events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.)
January
February
March
- March 2 - Cartoon character Elmer Fudd makes his debut in the animated short Elmer's Candid Camera.
- March 3 - In Sweden, a time bomb destroys the office of Norrskenflamman (a Swedish communist newspaper), killing 5.
- March 5- Katyn massacre: Members of the Soviet Politburo (Stalin, Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria) sign an order, prepared by Beria, for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs.
- March 12 - The Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow ending the Winter War; Finns, along with the world at large, are shocked by the harsh terms.
- March 18 - WWII - Axis powers: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
- March 21 - Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France; Paul Reynaud succeeds him.
- March 23 - The Pakistan Resolution is rallied around by the All-India Muslim League; Muslims from every corner of India meet up around Iqbal Park, Lahore (now in modern-day Pakistan).
April
May
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June
July
August
September
- September - The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division (previously a National Guard Division in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma), is activated and ordered into federal service for 1 year, to engage in a training program in Ft. Sill and Louisiana, prior to serving in World War II.
- September 2 - WWII: An agreement between America and Great Britain is announced to the effect that 50 U.S. destroyers needed for escort work will be transferred to Great Britain. In return, America gains 99-year leases on British bases in the North Atlantic, West Indies and Bermuda.
- September 7
- September 12
- September 16 - WWII: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 is signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt, creating the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
- September 26 - WWII: The United States imposes a total embargo on all scrap metal shipments to Japan.
- September 27 - WWII: Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
October
November
- November 5 - U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the United States' first third-term president.
- November 7 - In Tacoma, Washington, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (known as Galloping Gertie) collapses in a 42-mile per hour wind storm, causing the center span of the bridge to sway. When it collapses, a 600 foot-long design of the center span falls 190 feet above the water, killing Tubby, a black male cocker spaniel dog.
- November 9 - Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez premieres in Barcelona, Spain.
- November 10 - An Earthquake in Bucharest, Romania kills 1,000.
- November 11 - WWII:
- November 13 - Walt Disney's Fantasia is released. It is the first box office failure for Disney, though it eventually recoups its cost years later, and becomes one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films.
- November 14 - WWII: The city of Coventry, England is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed).
- November 16
- November 18 - WWII: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
- November 20 - WWII: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers.
- November 27
December
- December 1 - Manuel Ávila Camacho takes office as President of Mexico.
- December 8 - The Chicago Bears, in what will become the most one-sided victory in National Football League history, defeat the Washington Redskins 73-0 in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.
- December 9 - WWII: Operation Compass - British forces in North Africa begin their first major offensive with an attack on Italian forces at Sidi Barrani, Egypt.
- December 12 & December 15 - WWII- "Sheffield Blitz": The City of Sheffield is badly damaged by German air-raids.
- December 14 - Plutonium is first isolated chemically in the laboratory.
- December 17 - President Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain that will become known as Lend-Lease.
- December 23 - Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the people of Italy, squarely blames Benito Mussolini for leading his nation to war against the British, contrary to Italy's historic friendship with them.
- December 26 - The film version of The Philadelphia Story, starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
- December 29
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."
- WWII - "Second Great Fire of London": Luftwaffe carries out a massive incendiary bombing raid, starting 1,500 fires. Many famous buildings, including the Guildhall and Trinity House, are either damaged or destroyed.
- December 30 - California's first modern freeway, the future State Route 110, opens to traffic in Pasadena, California, as the Arroyo Seco Parkway (now the Pasadena Freeway).
Undated
Ongoing
Births
January
- January 4
- January 6 - Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (d. 1989)
- January 9 - Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Costa Rican politician, lawyer, economist, and businessman
- January 14 - Julian Bond, African-American civil rights activist
- January 19 - Mike Reid, English actor (d. 2007)
- January 20 - Carol Heiss, American figure skater
- January 21 - Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
- January 22 - John Hurt, English actor (1984)
- January 27 - James Cromwell, American actor
- January 31 - Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (d. 1998)
February
- February 2 - David Jason, English actor
- February 3 - Fran Tarkenton, American football player
- February 4 - George Romero, American film writer, producer, and director
- February 5 - H.R. Giger, Swiss artist
- February 6
- February 8
- Ted Koppel, American journalist (ABC News Nightline)
- Joe South, American singer and songwriter (Games People Play)
- February 9 - J. M. Coetzee, South African writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 12 - Richard Lynch, American actor
- February 17 - Gene Pitney, American singer (d. 2006)
- February 19 - Smokey Robinson, African-American musician (Tracks of My Tears)
- February 20 - Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
- February 21 - James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
- February 22
- February 23 - Peter Fonda, American actor (Easy Rider)
- February 24 - Denis Law, Scottish footballer
- February 24 - Peter Deuel American Actor
- February 25 - Ron Santo, American baseball player
- February 28 - Mario Andretti, American race car driver
March
- March 3 - Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist
- March 3 - Owen Spencer-Thomas, English broadcaster, journalist and clergyman
- March 6 - Willie Stargell, Afrian-American baseball player (d. 2001)
- March 7 - Rudi Dutschke, German radical student leader (d. 1979)
- March 9 - Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (Addams Family Values) (d. 1994)
- March 10 - Chuck Norris, American actor and martial artist (Walker: Texas Ranger)
- March 12 - Al Jarreau, African-American singer (We're In This Love Together)
- March 15 - Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead)
- March 16
- March 17 - Mark White, Governor of Texas
- March 22 - Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian actor (The Killing Fields) (d. 1996)
- March 25 - Anita Bryant, American entertainer
- March 26
- March 27
- March 29 - Ray Davis, American musician (P-Funk)
- March 30 - Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian-born singer
April
May
- May 1 - Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
- May 7 - Jim Connors, American radio personality (d. 1987)
- May 8
- May 8 - Toni Tennille, American singer (The Captain and Tennille)
- May 9
- May 11 - Juan Downey, Chilean-born video artist (d. 1993)
- May 14 - 'H'. Jones, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
- May 15 - Don Nelson, American basketball player and coach
- May 17
- May 18 - Lenny Lipton, American inventor
- May 20
- May 22 - Bernard Shaw, American journalist and television news reporter (CNN)
- May 24 - Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- May 29 - Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan
June
- June 1 - René Auberjonois, American actor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
- June 2 - King Constantine II of Greece
- June 4 - Ludwig Schwarz, Austrian bishop
- June 6 - Richard Paul, American actor (d. 1998)
- June 7 - Tom Jones, Welsh singer (It's Not Unusual)
- June 8 - Carole Ann Ford, British actress
- June 8 - Nancy Sinatra, American singer (These Boots Are Made For Walkin')
- June 16 - Neil Goldschmidt, Governor of Oregon
- June 16 - Taylor Gun-Jin Wang, Chinese-American stronaut
- June 17 - George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 17 - Alan Murray, Australian professional golfer
- June 20 - John Mahoney, English-born actor
- June 21 - Mariette Hartley, American actress
- June 22
- June 23
- June 25 - A.J. Quinnell, English writer (d. 2005)
- June 29 - Vyacheslav Artyomov<
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