Top News Stories from 1942

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion
population by decadeMore World Statistics...
  • Nazi leaders attend the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "final solution to the Jewish question," the systematic genocide of Jews known as the Holocaust.
  • Declaration of United Nations is signed in Washington.

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

Vice President: Henry A. Wallace
Population: 134,859,553
More U.S. Statistics...

Economics

Federal spending: $35.14 billion
Federal debt $79.2 billion
Consumer Price Index: $16.3
Unemployment: 4.7%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03

Sports

World Series
St. Louis Cardinals d. NY Yankees (4-1)
Stanley Cup
Toronto d. Detroit
Kentucky Derby Champion
Shut Out
NCAA Basketball Championship
Stanford d. Dartmouth
NCAA Football Champions
Ohio St. (9-1-0)

Entertainment

Events

  • Casablanca premieres in theaters.
  • Bing Crosby releases "White Christmas," from the film Holiday Inn. The song goes on to be the all-time, top-selling song from a film.
  • RCA Victor sprays gold over Glenn Miller's million-copy-seller Chattanooga Choo Choo, creating the first "gold record."

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: None awarded
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
  • The first safe self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is accomplished by Erico Fermi, Edward Teller and Leo Szilard at the University of Chicago.
  • Harvard University chemist Louis F. Fieser invents napalm, a jelly-like mixture of gasoline and palm oils that sticks to its target until it burns out.
  • Radar comes into operational use.
  • The U.S. government establishes the Manhattan Project, led by Robert Oppenheimer, to coordinate ongoing American efforts to design and build the atomic bomb.
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