1940-1950 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt takes oath on March 4; begins third term. 1941 Lend-Lease Act became law March 11. 1941 Churchill & Roosevelt develop The Atlantic Charter, Aug 14 in Argentina. 1941 December 7, the Day of Infamy, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, HI. U. S. declares war on Japan, December 8, and on Germany December 11. 1942 Executive Order 9066 imprisons Japanese-Americans for 3 years. 1942 The Battle of the Coral Sea, May 7-8. The Battle of Midway, June 4. The Battle of Guadalcanal: August 7. 1942 First self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, by Fermi, December 2. 1944 Landing at Anzio Beach by the Allies, January 22. 1944 D-Day at Normandy! The Longest Day begins, June 6. 1944 The Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 19. 1945 Marines raise the flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, February 23. 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt takes oath on March 4; begins fourth term. 1945 Roosevelt dies on April 12; Harry S Truman becomes 33rd President. 1945 First atomic bomb exploded at Los Alamos, New Mexico, July 16. 1945 B-29 'Enola Gay' drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Aug 6. 1945 Last atomic bomb then in existence dropped at Nagasaki, August 9. 1945 World War II ends: first in Europe, May 7; then in Japan, Sept 2. 1945 United Nations chartered in San Francisco; in 1950 moves to NYC. 1946 Cold War begins as U.S.S.R. expands through eastern Europe. Sir Winston Churchill coins term "Iron Curtain." 1946 Taft-Hartley Act outlaws certain practices of trade unions. 1947 Truman Doctrine opposes Communism in Greece, Turkey; Mar 12. 1947 Marshall Plan helps rebuild Europe, June 5. 1947 Transistor invented at Bell Labs, in New Jersey, Dec 23. 1948 Foreign Assistance Act funds the Marshall Plan, April 3. 1948 Organization of American States (OAS) formed, April 30. 1948 United Nations creates Republic of Israel out of Palestine. 1948 Berlin airlift begins nearly a year of relief to overcome blockade. 1948 Native Americans allowed to vote (finally) in New Mexico and Arizona. 1949 Harry S Truman takes oath on January 20; begins second term. 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization born, April 4.