- U. S. troops landed in Northern Ireland

- Office of Civil Defense was established

- Emergency Price Control Act was enacted

- Japanese won Battle of Java Sea

- Presidential order relocated West Coast Japanese citizens

- MacArthur left Philippines for Australia

- Bataan fell, American forces withdrew to Corregidor

- Doolittle led air raid on Toyko

- Japanese suffered first loss in Battle of Coral Sea

- American and Filipino forces on Corregidor surrendered to Japanese

- German troops reached Stalingrad

- U. S. Navy won battle at Midway Island

- WACS, WAVES, and SPARS began recruiting

- U. S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal

- Montgomery defeated Rommel at El Alamein

- Halsey defeated Japanese in Solomons

- WPA ended

- I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo (Glenn Miller)

- White Christmas (Bing Crosby)

- Sleepy Lagoon (Harry James)

- Moonlight Cocktail (Glenn Miller)

- Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (Andrews Sisters)

- Strip Polka (Kay Kyser)

- Tangerine (Jimmy Dorsey)

- Jersey Bounce (Benny Goodman)

- My Devotion (Vaughn Monroe)

- Blues in the Night (Woody Herman)

- Kellogg's Raisin Bran

- Dannon yogurt

- Gasoline, coffee, and sugar rationing

- Napalm

- Bazookas

- K rations

- Manhattan Project

- WACS and WAVES

- The term "G.I. Joe"

- "Sad Sack" cartoon

- "Stars and Stripes" military newspaper

- National War Labor Board

- War Production Board (replaced Office of Production Management)

- Office of War Information

- Bambi (movie)

- Barnaby (cartoon)

- V-mail

- Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

- St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series

- Washington Redskins were NFL champs

- Ohio State University was college football champ

- Stanford University won NCAA basketball title

- Frank Sinkwich of Georgia won the Heisman Trophy

- Ted Shroeder won the men's U.S. Open tennis title

- Pauline Betz won the women's U.S. Open tennis title

- Byron Nelson won the Masters golf tournament

- The Whistler

- Red Ryder

- The Frank Sinatra Show

- Chase and Sanborn Hour

- Fibber McGee and Molly

- Lux Radio Theater

- Walter Winchell

- Chattanooga Choo Choo became first gold record

- Enrico Fermi accomplished first controlled nuclear chain reaction

- Hollywood produced some 70 war-related movies within 6 months after Pearl Harbor

- Many high schools began preparing students for military service

- An estimated 40% of vegetables eaten by Americans are grown in "Victory Gardens"

- Japanese fired on oil refinery in Santa Barbara, California

- The pain killer Demerol was developed

- Tests began on the first American jet aircraft, the P-59A

- Radar was into operational use

- Casablanca

- Pride of the Yankees

- Wake Island

- Yankee Doodle Dandy

- Tortilla Flat

- Road to Morocco

- The Magnificent Ambersons

- Woman of the Year

- Best Director: William Wyler (Mrs. Miniver)

- Best Actress: Greer Garson (Mrs. Miniver)

- The Moon is Down, John Steinbeck

- Dragon Seed, Pearl S. Buck

- And Now Tomorrow, Rachel Field

- Drivin' Woman, Elizabeth Pickett

- Windswept, Mary Ellen Chase

- The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas

- Kings Row, Henry Bellamann

- The Sun is My Undoing, Marguerite Steen