Events

: (Below, many events of World War II have the "World War II" prefix.)

January

• January 1 – Thailand Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months).
• January 4 – The short subject Elmer's Pet Rabbit is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card.
• January 6 – The keel of the USS Missouri is laid at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn.
• January 10 – Lend-Lease is introduced into the U.S. Congress.
• January 13 – All persons born in Puerto Rico since this day are declared U.S. citizens by birth, through U.S. federal law .
• January 15 – John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry describe the workings of the Atanasoff–Berry Computer in print.
• January 19 – World War II: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.
• January 20 – Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his third term.
• January 21 – World War II – Battle of Tobruk: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
• January 22 – World War II: British troops capture Tobruk from the Italians.
• January 23 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
• January 30 – World War II – Australians capture Derna, Libya from the Italians.

February

• February 3 – World War II: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy France.
• February 4 – World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
• February 5 – Air Training Corps: The Air Training Corps was formed.
• February 6 – World War II – Fall of Benghazi to the Western Desert Force. Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel is appointed commander of Afrika Korps.
• February 8 – World War II – The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act (260–165).
• February 9 – Winston Churchill, in a worldwide broadcast, tells the United States to show its support by sending arms to the British: "Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."
• February 12 – World War II: Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli.
• February 19–February 22 – World War II: Three Nights' Blitz over Swansea, South Wales: Over these 3 nights of intensive bombing, which last a total of 13 hours and 48 minutes, Swansea's town centre is almost completely obliterated by the 896 high explosive bombs employed by the Luftwaffe. A total of 397 casualties and 230 deaths are reported.
• February 23: Glenn T. Seaborg isolates and discovers plutonium.

March

• March – Captain America Comics #1 issues the first Captain America & Bucky comic.
• March 1 – World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, thus joining the Axis powers.
• March 1 – W47NV begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first FM radio station.
• March 1 – Arthur L. Bristol becomes Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy's Support Force, Atlantic Fleet.
• March 4 – World War II: British Commandos carry out a successful raid on the Lofoten Islands off the north coast of Norway.
• March 8 – World War II: The U.S. Senate passes the Lend-Lease Act (60–31).
• March 11 – World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
• March 11 – The Kinsmen Club of Brantford is chartered.
• March 16 – A fleet of U.S. warships arrive in Auckland, New Zealand on a goodwill visit. On March 20, they visit Sydney, Australia.
• March 17 – In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• March 17 – British Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin calls for women to fill vital jobs.
• March 22 – Washington's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.
• March 24 – World War II:Rommel launches his first offensive in Cyrenaica.
• March 25 – World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers in Vienna.
• March 27 – World War II: An anti-Axis coup d'état in Yugoslavia forces Prince Paul into exile; 17-year-old King Peter II assumes power.
• March 27 – World War II – Attack on Pearl Harbor: Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives in Honolulu, Hawaii and begins to study the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor.
• March 27 – World War II – Battle of Cape Matapan: Off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean, British naval forces defeat those of Italy, sinking 5 warships. Battle ends on March 29.
• March 30 – All German, Italian, and Danish ships anchored in United States waters are taken into "protective custody".

April

• April 4 – World War II: Axis forces capture Benghazi.
• April 6 – World War II: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
• April 9 – The U.S. acquires full military defense rights in Greenland.
• April 10 – World War II: The U.S. destroyer Niblack, while picking up survivors from a sunken Dutch freighter, drops depth charges on a German U-Boat (the first "shot in anger" fired by America against Germany).
• April 12 – World War II: German troops enter Belgrade.
• April 13 – The Soviet Union and Japan sign a neutrality pact.
• April 15 – World War II: Axis forces reach Halfaya Pass on the Libyan-Egyptian frontier.
• April 17 – World War II: The Yugoslav Royal Army capitulates.
• April 18 – World War II: Prime Minister of Greece Alexandros Koryzis commits suicide as German troops approach Athens.
• April 21 – World War II: Greece capitulates. Commonwealth troops and some elements of the Greek Army withdraw to Crete.
• April 23 – The America First Committee holds its first mass rally in New York City, with Charles Lindbergh as keynote speaker.
• April 25 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, criticizes Charles Lindbergh by comparing him to the Copperheads of the Civil War period. In response, Lindbergh resigns his commission in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve on April 28.
• April 27 – World War II: German troops enter Athens.

May

• May 1 – The breakfast cereal Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by General Mills.
• May 1 – Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane premieres in New York City.
• May 1 – The first Defense Bonds and Defense Savings Stamps go on sale in the United States, to help fund the greatly increased production of military equipment.
• May 5 – World War II: Emperor Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, which had been liberated from Italian forces; this date has been since commemorated as Liberation Day in Ethiopia.
• May 6 – At California's March Field, entertainer Bob Hope performs his first USO Show.
• May 9 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the British Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine, which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
• May 10 – World War II: The British House of Commons is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
• May 10 – Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland, claiming to be on a peace mission.
• May 12 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
• May 15 – The first British jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39, is flown.
• May 15 – Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak begins as the New York Yankee center fielder goes one for 4 against Chicago White Sox Pitcher Eddie Smith.
• May 20 – World War II: The Battle of Crete begins as Germany launches an airborne invasion of Crete.
• May 24 – World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German battleship Bismarck sinks the HMS Hood, killing all but 3 crewman on what was the pride of the Royal Navy.
• May 26 – World War II: In the North Atlantic, Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the carrier HMS Ark Royal fatally cripple the Bismarck in an aerial torpedo attack.
• May 27 – World War II: President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency."
• May 27 – World War II: The Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic, killing 2,300.
• May 30 – World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas tear down the Nazi swastika on the Acropolis in Athens, and replace it with the Greek flag

June

• June 5 – Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing.
• June 8 – World War II: British and Free French forces invade Syria.
• June 8 – A Serbian ammunition plant explodes at Smederevo on the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia, killing 1,500.
• June 13 – TASS, the official Soviet news agency, denies reports of tension between Germany and the Soviet Union.
• June 14 – Mass deportations by Soviet Union authorities take place in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
• June 14 – All German and Italian assets in the United States are frozen.
• June 16 – All German and Italian consulates in the United States are ordered closed and their staffs to leave the country by July 10.
• June 20 – Walt Disney's live-action animated feature, The Reluctant Dragon, is released.
• June 22 – World War II: Italy and Romania declare war on the Soviet Union.
• June 22 – World War II: Germany invades the Soviet Union under Operation Barbarossa.
• June 22 – World War II: Winston Churchill promises all possible British assistance to the Soviet Union in a worldwide broadcast: "Any man or state who fights against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe."
• June 22 – World War II: The First Sisak Partisan Brigade, the first anti-fascist armed unit in occupied Europe, is founded by partisans near Sisak, Croatia.
• June 23 – World War II: Hungary and Slovakia declare war on the Soviet Union.
• June 25 – World War II: Finland attacks the Soviet Union to seek the opportunity of revenge in the Continuation War.
• June 28 – World War II: Albania declares war on the Soviet Union.

July

• July – The British army's Special Air Service is formed.
• July 2 – World War II: Japan calls up 1 million men for military service.
• July 3 – World War II: Joseph Stalin, in his first address since the German invasion, calls upon the Soviet people to carry out a "scorched earth" policy of resistance to the bitter end.
• July 4 – The Mass murder of Polish scientists and writers is committed by German troops in the captured Polish city of Lwów.
• July 5 – World War II: German troops reach the Dnieper River.
• July 5 – July 19 – War is fought between Peru and Ecuador.
• July 7 – World War II: American forces take over the defense of Iceland from the British.
• July 7 – World War II: German troops take over Estonia from the Soviets.
• July 13 – World War II: Montenegro starts the first popular uprising in Europe against the Axis Powers.
• July 14 – World War II: Vichy France signs armistice terms, ending all fighting in Syria and Lebanon.
• July 17 – Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak ends.
• July 19 – World War II: A BBC broadcast by "Colonel Britton" calls on the people of occupied Europe to resist the Nazis under the slogan "V for Victory".
• July 25 – The Postal Code system was introduced for the first time in Germany.
• July 26 – World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
• July 26 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur is named commander of all U.S. forces in the Philippines; the Philippines Army is ordered nationalized by President Roosevelt.
• July 31 – World War II – Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring orders S.S. General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."

August

• August – Political Warfare Executive is formed in the United Kingdom.
• August 1 – The first Jeep is produced.
• August 6 – Six-year-old Elaine Esposito goes to an appendix operation in Florida and lapses into a coma. She dies in 1978, still in a coma.
• August 9 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet at Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Atlantic Charter is created as a result.
• August 16 – The HMS Mercury, Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School open at Leydene, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.
• August 18 – Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of the mentally ill and handicapped due to protests. However, graduates of the T-4 Euthanasia Program are then transferred to concentration camps, where they continue in their trade.
• August 22 – World War II – France: The German Occupation Authority announces that anyone found either working for or aiding the Free French will be sentenced to death.
• August 24 – World War II: A Luftwaffe bomb hits an Estonian steamer with 3,500 Soviet-mobilized Estonian men on board, killing 598 of them.
• August 25 – World War II: Operation Countenance begins with United Kingdom and Soviet forces invading Iran.
• August 27 – World War II – Pierre Laval is shot in an assassination attempt at Versailles, France.
• August 28 – World War II: The Soviets announce the destruction of the massive Dnieper River dam at Zaporozhye, to prevent its capture by the Germans.
• August 31 – The Great Gildersleeve debuts on NBC Radio.

September

• September 6 – Holocaust: The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed, is extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.
• September 8 – World War II – The Siege of Leningrad begins: German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. Stalin orders the Volga Germans deported to Siberia.
• September 11 – World War II: Charles Lindbergh, at an America First Committee rally in Des Moines, Iowa, accuses "the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt administration" of leading the United States toward war. Widespread condemnation of Lindbergh follows.
• September 12 – World War II: The first snowfall is reported on the Russian front.
• September 15 – The Estonian Self-Administration, headed by Hjalmar Mäe, is appointed by the German military administration.
• September 16 – Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran is forced to resign in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, under pressure from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.
• September 22 The town of Reshetylivka in the Soviet Union is occupied by German forces.
• September 27 – The first Liberty Ship, the SS Patrick Henry, is launched at Baltimore, Maryland.
• September 29 – World War II: The Moscow Conference begins; U.S. representative Averill Harriman and British representative Lord Beaverbrook meet with Soviet foreign minister Molotov to arrange urgent assistance for Russia.
• September 29 and September 30 – Holocaust: Babi Yar massacre – German troops, assisted by Ukrainian police and local collaborators, killed 33,771 Jews of Kiev, Ukraine.

October

• mid-month – First production P38E Lightning fighter produced by Lockheed.
• October 2 – World War II: Operation Typhoon begins as Germany launches an all-out offensive against Moscow.
• October 7 – John Curtin becomes the 14th Prime Minister of Australia.
• October 8 – World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
• October 16 – World War II: The Soviet Union government moves to Kuibyshev (modern Samara), but Stalin remains in Moscow.
• October 17 – World War II: The destroyer USS Kearny is torpedoed and damaged near Iceland, killing 11 sailors (the first American military casualties of the war).
• October 18 – General Hideki Tojo becomes the 40th Prime Minister of Japan.
• October 21 – World War II: The Germans rampage in Yugoslavia, killing thousands of civilians.
• October 23 – Walt Disney's animated film Dumbo is released.
• October 24 – Franz von Werra disappears during a flight over the North Sea.
• October 30 – World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves US$1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
• October 31 – After 14 years of work, drilling is completed on Mount Rushmore.
• October 31 – World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.

November

• November 6 – World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his three-decade rule (the first time was earlier that year on July 2). He states that even though 350,000 troops have been killed in German attacks so far, that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a gross exaggeration) and that Soviet victory is near.
• November 7 – World War II: The Soviet hospital Ship Armenia is sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees, wounded military and the staff of several Crimean hospitals. It is estimated that over 5,000 people die in the sinking.
• November 10 – In a speech at the Mansion House in London, Winston Churchill promises, "should the United States become involved in war with Japan, the British declaration will follow within the hour."
• November 12 – World War II: As Battle of Moscow begins, temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C, and the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
• November 13 – World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is hit by German U-boat U-81.
• November 14 – World War II: The HMS Ark Royal capsizes and sinks, having been torpedoed by U-81.
• November 17 – World War II – Attack on Pearl Harbor: Joseph Grew, the United States ambassador to Japan, cables to Washington a warning that Japan may strike suddenly and unexpectedly at any time.
• November 18 – World War II: Operation Crusader in North Africa begins
• November 19 – World War II: The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney sinks off the coast of Western Australia, killing 645 sailors.
• November 21 – The radio program King Biscuit Time is broadcast for the first time (it later becomes the longest running daily radio broadcast in history and the most famous live blues radio program).
• November 26 – World War II – Attack on Pearl Harbor: A fleet of 6 aircraft carriers commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo leaves Hitokapu Bay for Pearl Harbor under strict radio silence.
• November 27 – A group of young men stop traffic on U.S. Highway 99 south of Yreka, California, handing out fliers proclaiming the establishment of the State of Jefferson.
• November 27 – World War II: Germans reach their closest approach to Moscow. They are subsequently frozen by cold weather and attacks by the Soviets.

December

• December 1 – World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol under the authority of the United States Army Air Force.
• December 1 – World War II: A state of emergency is declared in Malaya and the Straits Settlements.
• December 2 – World War II – Attack on Pearl Harbor: The code message "Climb Mount Niitaka" is transmitted to the Japanese task force, indicating that negotiations have broken down and that the attack is to be carried out according to plan.
• December 4 – The State of Jefferson is declared in Yreka, California, with judge John Childs as a governor.
• December 6 – World War II – Soviet counterattacks begin against German troops encircling Moscow. Wehrmacht is subsequently pushed back over 200 miles.
• December 6 – World War II – The United Kingdom declares war on Finland.
• December 7, (December 8, Japan standard time) – The Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor, thus drawing the United States into World War II. Tobruk's garrison is relieved.
• December 8 – World War II: The United States officially declares war on Japan.
• December 8 – World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Japan.
• December 8 – World War II: China declares war on Japan.
• December 8 – World War II: The Netherlands declares war on Japan.
• December 8 – World War II: Japan launches invasions in Hong Kong, Malaya, Manila, and Singapore.
• December 8 – World War II: Japan launches invasions in the Philippines.
• December 10 – World War II: The British battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea north of Singapore.
• December 11 – World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The U.S. responds in kind.
• December 12 – World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
• December 12 – World War II: India declares war on Japan.
• December 12 – World War II: The United States seizes the French ship SS Normandie.
• December 12 – World War II: The Kimura Detachment of the Japanese Imperial forces was occupied in Legaspi, Albay in Eastern Philippines.
• December 13 – Sweden's low temperature record of -53°C is set in a village within the Vilhelmina Municipality.
• December 19 – World War II: Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.
• December 23 – World War II: A second Japanese landing attempt on Wake Island is successful, and the American garrison surrenders after a full night and morning of fighting.
• December 24 – World War II: British forces capture Benghazi.
• December 25 – World War II: The British and Canadians are defeated by the Japanese at Hong Kong.
• December 26 – World War II: Winston Churchill becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
• December 27 – World War II: British Commandos raid the Norwegian port of Vaagso, causing Hitler to reinforce the garrison and defenses, drawing vital troops away from other areas.

Undated

• The Valley of Geysers is discovered in Russia.
• Results of the Ives–Stilwell experiment are published, showing that ions radiate at frequencies affected by their motion.
• In Sweden, Victor Hasselblad forms the Hasselblad Camera Company.
• The Indochina Communist party, led by Ho Chi Minh, combines with the Nationalist party to form the Viet Minh.

Ongoing

• Japanese Occupation of the Philippines (1941–1945)
• Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)
• World War II (1939–1945)

Births

January

• January 3 – Van Dyke Parks, American composer, producer, and musician
• January 4 – John Bennett Perry, American actor
• January 4 – Maureen Reagan, American actress (d. 2001)
• January 5 – Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese filmmaker
• January 5 – Kevin Keelan, English footballer
• January 7 – Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
• January 7 – Manfred Schellscheidt, German American soccer coach
• January 7 – John E. Walker, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• January 8 – Graham Chapman, British comedian (d. 1989)
• January 9 – Joan Baez, American singer and activitist
• January 11 – Dave Edwards, American musician (d. 2000)
• January 12 – Long John Baldry, British singer (d. 2005)
• January 14 – Faye Dunaway, American actress
• January 14 – Milan Kučan, Slovenian politician and statesman
• January 14 – David Johnston, retired Australian newsreader
• January 15 – Captain Beefheart, American singer
• January 18 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)
• January 19 – Pat Patterson, Canadian professional wrestler
• January 21 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish-born tenor
• January 21 – Richie Havens, American musician
• January 24 – Neil Diamond, American singer and songwriter
• January 24 – Aaron Neville, American singer
• January 26 – Scott Glenn, American actor
• January 26 – Henry Jaglom, English film director
• January 27 – Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (d. 1981)
• January 30 – Dick Cheney, former Vice President of the United States
• January 30 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
• January 31 – Dick Gephardt, American politician

February

• February 1 – Jerry Spinelli, American children's author
• February 3 – Dory Funk, Jr., American professional wrestler
• February 5 – David Selby, American actor
• February 5 – Kaspar Villiger, Swiss Federal Councilor
• February 6 – Howard Phillips, American politician
• February 7 – Peter Foxhall, Australian evangelist
• February 8 – Nick Nolte, American actor
• February 10 – Michael Apted, English film director
• February 12 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer (d. 1984)
• February 13 – Sigmar Polke, German painter
• February 19 – David Gross, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• February 20 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, American singer
• February 26 – Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)
• February 27 – Paddy Ashdown, British politician

March

• March 1 – Joo Hyun, South Korean actor
• March 4 – Adrian Lyne, English film director
• March 4 – John Aprea, American actor
• March 5 – Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player
• March 6 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player (d. 2001)
• March 13 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian prominent poet and writer of prose (d. 2008)
• March 14 – Wolfgang Petersen, German film director
• March 15 – Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys)
• March 16 – Robert Guéï, military ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 2002)
• March 16 – Chuck Woolery, American game show host
• March 18 – Wilson Pickett, American singer (d. 2006)
• March 20 – Kenji Kimihara, Japanese long-distance runner
• March 23 – Jim Trelease, American educator and author
• March 26 – Richard Dawkins, British scientist
• March 28 – Jim Turner, American football player
• March 29 – Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• March 30 – Wasim Sajjad, President of Pakistan

April

• April 2 – Dr. Demento (Barret Eugene Hansen), American radio disc jockey and novelty music collector
• April 3 – Philippe Wynne, American musician (d. 1984)
• April 8 – Peggy Lennon, American singer (The Lennon Sisters)
• April 9 – Kaye Adams, American country singer
• April 11 – Shirley Stelfox, British actress
• April 12 – Bobby Moore, English football player and World Cup winning captain (d. 1993)
• April 13 – Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• April 14 – Julie Christie, British actress
• April 14 – Pete Rose, American baseball player
• April 23 – Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland
• April 23 – Ed Stewart, English disc jockey
• April 24 – John Williams, Australian guitarist
• April 27 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
• April 28 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-born actress
• April 28 – K. Barry Sharpless, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• April 28 – Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet

May

• May 5 – Alexander Ragulin, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)
• May 11 – Eric Burdon, English singer (The Animals)
• May 13 – Senta Berger, Swedish actress
• May 13 – Ritchie Valens, American singer (d. 1959)
• May 15 – K.T. Oslin, American musician
• May 19 – Bobby Burgess, American dancer and singer
• May 19 – Nora Ephron, American film, producer, director, and screenwriter
• May 20 – Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister of Singapore
• May 22 – Menzies Campbell, British politician
• May 22 – Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)
• May 24 – Bob Dylan, American poet and musician
• May 26 – John Kaufman, English sculptor
• May 31 – Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

June

• June 4 – Erkin Koray, Turkish musician
• June 5 – Martha Argerich, Argentine pianist
• June 5 – Spalding Gray, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2004)
• June 6 – Neal Adams, American comic book artist
• June 8 – Robert Bradford, Irish footballer and politician (d. 1981)
• June 8 – Fuzzy Haskins, American musician (P-Funk)
• June 9 – Jon Lord, organist of Deep Purple, the "Lord of the Hammond organ"
• June 10 – Mickey Jones, American actor and musician
• June 10 – Valeri Zolotukhin, Soviet/Russian actor
• June 10 – James A. Paul, American writer and non-profit executive
• June 12 – Marv Albert, American sports announcer
• June 14 – Roy Harper, British rock guitarist
• June 15 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (d. 1994)
• June 19 – Conchita Carpio-Morales, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• June 21 – Joe Flaherty, American-Canadian actor
• June 22 – Ed Bradley, American journalist (60 Minutes) (d. 2006)
• June 22 – Michael Lerner, American actor
• June 24 – Bill Reardon, American politician and educator
• June 27 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish film director (d. 1996)
• June 28 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (d. 2006)

July

• July 1 – Alfred G. Gilman, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• July 1 – Myron Scholes, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• July 6 – Harold Leighton Weller, American conductor
• July 7 – Bill Oddie, English comedian and ornithologist
• July 10 – Jackie Lane, British actress
• July 11 – Tommy Vance, English disc jockey (d. 2005)
• July 12 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver (d. 2007)
• July 14 – Maulana Karenga, American author and activist
• July 14 – Andreas Khol, Austrian politician
• July 19 – Vikki Carr, American singer
• July 27 – Bill Baxley, Alabama politician
• July 28 – Riccardo Muti, Italian conductor
• July 29 – Jennifer Dunn, American politician (d. 2007)
• July 29 – David Warner, English actor
• July 30 – Paul Anka, Canadian-American singer and songwriter
• July 31 – Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician

August

• August 3 – Martha Stewart, American television and magazine personality
• August 6 – Lyle Berman, American poker player
• August 8 – George Tiller, American physician (d. 2009)
• August 14 – Connie Smith, American singer
• August 14 – David Crosby, American singer (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
• August 20 – Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia (d. 2006)
• August 22 – Bill Parcells, American football coach
• August 28 – Joseph Shabalala, South African musician (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)

September

• September 2 – David Bale, South African–born activist (d. 2003)
• September 2 – John Thompson, American basketball coach
• September 4 – Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian politician
• September 9 – Otis Redding, American musician (d. 1967)
• September 9 – Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist
• September 10 – Christopher Hogwood, English conductor and harpsichordist
• September 10 – Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese computer game producer (d. 1997)
• September 13 – Tadao Ando, Japanese Architect
• September 14 – Alberto Naranjo, Venezuelan musician
• September 15 – George Saimes, American football player
• September 15 – Mirosław Hermaszewski, first Polish cosmonaut in space
• September 17 – Bob Matsui, U.S. Congressman from California (d. 2005)
• September 19 – Cass Elliott, American singer (d. 1974)
• September 20 – Dale Chihuly, American glass sculptor
• September 24 – Guy Hovis, American singer
• September 24 – Linda McCartney, American singer and late wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney
• September 27 – Gay Kayler Ashcroft, Australian country music singer

October

• October 2 – Zareh Baronian, Archimandrite doctor, theologian of the Armenian Church, Bucarest
• October 4 – Elizabeth Eckford, American activist
• October 4 – Anne Rice, American writer
• October 5 – Eduardo Duhalde, President of Argentina
• October 8 – Jesse Jackson, American clergyman and civil rights activist
• October 9 – Trent Lott, former United States Senate Minority Leader and United States Senate Majority Leader
• October 10 – Peter Coyote, American actor
• October 13 – Paul Simon, American singer and composer
• October 16 – Tim McCarver, American baseball commentator
• October 20 – Anneke Wills, British actress
• October 23 – Mel Winkler, American actor
• October 25 – Helen Reddy, Australian singer and actress
• October 25 – Anne Tyler, American novelist
• October 28 – John Hallam, Irish actor
• October 28 – Hank Marvin, British guitarist, singer and songwriter
• October 27 – Gerd Brantenberg, Norwegian feminist author and gay rights activist
• October 30 – Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics

November

• November 1 – Nigel Dempster, British journalist, author, broadcaster and diarist (d.2007)
• November 1 – Robert Foxworth, actor
• November 5 – Art Garfunkel, American singer
• November 6 – Doug Sahm, American musician (d. 1999)
• November 17 – Tova Traesnaes, American cosmetician and fifth wife of Ernest Borgnine
• November 18 – David Hemmings, English actor (d. 2003)
• November 23 – Derek Mahon, Irish poet
• November 25 – Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi, Pakistani author, spiritual leader and founder of the international spiritual movement Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam (d. 2001)
• November 26 – G. Alan Marlatt, American psychologist
• November 27 – Eddie Rabbitt, American country musician (d. 1998)
• November 29 – Bill Freehan, American baseball player

December

• December 9 – Beau Bridges, American actor
• December 10 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer and actor (d. 1985)
• December 13 – John Davidson, American singer and actor
• December 18 – Prince William of Gloucester
• December 19 – Lee Myung Bak, 17th president of South Korea
• December 21 – Lo Hoi Pang, Hong Kong actor
• December 23 – Ron Bushy, American rock musician (Iron Butterfly)
• December 23 – Tim Hardin, American musician (d. 1980)
• December 24 – John Levene, British actor
• December 30 – Mel Renfro, American football player
• December 31 – Alex Ferguson, English football manager (Manchester United)

Deaths

January–February

• January 4 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1859)
• January 5 – Amy Johnson, English aviator (b. 1903)
• January 8 – Lord Robert Baden-Powell, English soldier and founder of the Boy Scouts (b. 1847)
• January 10
  • Frank Bridge, English composer (b. 1879)
  • Sir John Lavery, Irish artist (b. 1856)
  • Joe Penner, American comedian and actor (b. 1904)
• January 13 – James Joyce, Irish writer (b. 1882)
• February 6 – Banjo Paterson, Australian poet & journalist (b. 1864)
• February 9 – Aaron S. Watkins, American temperance movement leader (b. 1863)
• February 11 – Rudolf Hilferding, German economist and Minister of Finance (b. 1877)
• February 21 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)
• February 24 – Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German submariner (b. 1886)
• February 27 – William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)
• February 28 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)

March–July

• March 5 – Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, Russian royal (b. 1891)
• March 6 – Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor (Mount Rushmore) (b. 1867)
• March 8 – Sherwood Anderson, American author (b. 1876)
• March 15 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)
• March 28
  • Virginia Woolf, English writer (b. 1882)
  • Kavasji Jamshedji Petigara, Indian police commissioner (b. 1887)
• April 13 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (b. 1863)
• April 16 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, Bt, GCB, GBE, FBA, British civil servant, industrialist, economist, statistician and banker (b.1880)
• April 24 – Karin Boye, Swedish poetess (suicide) (b. 1900)
• April 30 – Edwin S. Porter, American film director (b. 1870)
• May 1 – Jenny Dolly, American singer (b. 1892)
• May 11 – Peggy Shannon, American actress (b. 1910)
• May 12 – Ruth Stonehouse, American actress (b. 1892)
• May 16 – Minnie Vautrin, American missionary and heroine of the Nanjing Massacre (b. 1887)
• May 30 – Prajadhipok, Rama VII, king of Thailand (b. 1893)
• June 1 – Hugh Walpole, British writer (b. 1884)
• June 2 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• June 4 – Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany (b. 1859)
• June 6 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born automobile builder and race car driver (b. 1878)
• June 21 – Elliott Dexter, American actor (b. 1870)
• June 29 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist, composer, and third Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1860)
• July 4 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (b. 1881)
• July 10 – Jelly Roll Morton, African-American jazz musician and composer (b. 1890)
• July 11 – Arthur Evans, English archaeologist (b. 1851)
• July 15 – Walter Ruttmann, German director (b. 1887)
• July 20 – Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer (b. 1867)
• July 25 – Allan Forrest, American actor (b. 1885)
• July 26 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (b. 1875)
• July 29 – James Stephenson, British actor (b. 1889)

August–December

• August 7 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
• August 13 – James Stuart Blackton, American film producer (b. 1875)
• August 14 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
• August 30 – Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish engineer and physicist (b. 1874)
• August 31 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (suicide) (b. 1892)
• September 12 – Hans Spemann, German embryologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1869)
• September 18 – Fred Karno, British music hall comedian (b. 1866)
• October 5 – Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1856)
• October 8
  • Gus Kahn, German songwriter (b. 1886)
  • Valentine O'Hara, Irish author and authority on Russia and the Baltic States (b. 1875)
• October 9 – Helen Morgan, American singer and actress (b. 1900)
• October 26
  • Arkady Gaidar, Russian writer (b. 1904)
  • Victor Schertzinger, American composer and director (b. 1888)
• October 29 – Harvey Hendrick, American baseball player (b. 1897)
• November 18
  • Émile Nelligan, Canadian poet (b. 1879)
  • Walther Nernst, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
  • Chris Watson, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1867)
• November 21 – Henrietta Vinton Davis, American elocutionist, dramatist, impersonator, public speaker (b. 1860)
• November 26 – Niels Hansen Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and ceramist (b. 1861)
• November 30 – Esmond Romilly, British socialist (b. 1918)
• December 3 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (b. 1856)
• December 7 – Isaac Campbell Kidd, American admiral (died in the attack on Pearl Harbor) (b. 1884)
• December 12 – Cesar Basa, Filipino pilot (b. 1915)
• December 25 – Blanche Bates, stage actress (b. 1873)
• December 30 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – not awarded
• Chemistry – not awarded
• Medicine – not awarded
• Literature – not awarded
• Peace – not awarded

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1941
• List of ship commissionings in 1941
• List of shipwrecks in 1941

External links

• 1941 Coin Pictures