1943 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Vice President: Henry A. Wallace
• Chief Justice: Harlan F. Stone
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn
• Senate Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley
• Congress: 77th, 78th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January

• January 1 - Project Y, the Manhattan Project's secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, for development and production of the first atomic bombs under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, begins operations.
• January 4 - Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California, is succeeded by Earl Warren.
• January 11 - The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
• January 14
• * The Casablanca Conference, where Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel by airplane while in office.
• * Aircraft carrier USS Independence is commissioned.
• January 15 - The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
• January 23
• *Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.
• *Critic and commentator Alexander Woollcott suffers an eventually fatal heart attack during a regular broadcast of the CBS Radio roundtable program "People's Platform".

  February

• February 3 - The legendary Four Chaplains of the U.S. Army are drowned when their ship is struck by a German torpedo.
• February 5 - Howard Hughes's Western The Outlaw, starring Jane Russell, is released for a week prior to Motion Picture Production Code censors requiring its withdrawal from distribution.
• February 7 - WWII: It is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in the US in two days.
• February 8 - WWII - Battle of Guadalcanal: United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
• February 11 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower is selected to command the Allied armies in Europe.
• February 14 - Battle of the Kasserine Pass: German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war.
• February 17 - Aircraft carrier USS Lexington is commissioned.
• February 20 - American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
• February 25 - Aircraft carrier USS Princeton is commissioned.
• February 27 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.

  March

• March 2 - WWII: Battle of the Bismarck Sea - United States and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships.
• March 4 - The 15th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles.
• March 8 - WWII: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville, in a battle that lasts five days.
• March 13 - WWII: On Bougainville, Japanese troops end their assault on American forces at Hill 700.
• March 26 - WWII - Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands, the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese troops attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
• March 31 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! opens on Broadway, heralds a new era in "integrated" stage musicals, becomes an instantaneous stage classic, and goes on to be Broadway's longest-running musical up to that time.

  April

• April 13 - The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birthday. The bronze statue is added in 1947.
• April 27 - The U.S. Federal Writers' Project is shuttered.

  May

• May 11 - WWII: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands, in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• May 12 - The Trident Conference begins in Washington, D.C., with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill taking part.
• May 17
• *The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the computer ENIAC.
• *The Memphis Belle becomes the first airplane in the 8th Air Force to complete a 25-mission tour of duty.
• May 19 - Winston Churchill addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
• May 23 - Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is commissioned.
• May 31 - The Zoot Suit Riots erupt between military personnel and Mexican American youths in East Los Angeles.

  June

• June 6 - The first game of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League is played, a precursor of professional women's sports in the U.S.
• June 15–17 - Beaumont race riot of 1943 in Texas.
• June 20–22 - 1943 Detroit race riot.
• June 22 - The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division lands in North Africa, prior to training at Arzew, French Algeria.

  July

• July 6 - WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
• July 10 - WWII - Allied invasion of Sicily: The Allied invasion of Axis-controlled Europe begins with landings on the island of Sicily off mainland Italy, by the U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division and a number of Allied paratroopers.
• July 11 - United States Army forces assault the village of Piano Lupo, just outside Gela, Sicily.
• July 21 - Release of the musical film Stormy Weather starring Lena Horne, "Bojangles" Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, the Nicholas Brothers and other African American performers.
• July 24 -
• * WWII: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian airplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
• * Aircraft carrier USS Cabot is commissioned.

  August

• August 1 - WWII: Operation Tidal Wave - 177 B-24 Liberator bombers from the U.S. Army Air Force bomb oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania.
• August 1–2 - Harlem riot of 1943, a race riot.
• August 3 - WWII: John F. Kennedy's patrol torpedo boat PT-109 is rammed by a destroyer.
• August 5 - WWII: John F. Kennedy and crew are found by Solomon Islanders coastwatchers Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana with their dugout canoe.
• August 6 - WWII - Battle of Vella Gulf: Americans defeat a Japanese convoy off Kolombangara, as the U.S. Army drives the Japanese out of Munda airfield on New Georgia.
• August 14 - WWII: The Quadrant Conference begins in Quebec City; Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King meets with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• August 16 - WWII: Aircraft carrier USS Intrepid is commissioned.
• August 17 - WWII: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Sicily, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
• August 30 - The Lackawanna Limited train wreck at Wayland in upstate New York causes 29 deaths and injures 114 others.

  September

• September 5 - WWII: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nadzab, just east of the port city of Lae in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
• September 7 - A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55 people.
• September 8 – United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies.

  October

• October 1 - WWII: American forces enter liberated Naples.
• October 6 - WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Vella Lavella.
• October 11 - The New York Yankees defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 1, to win their 10th World Series Title.
• October 28 - The alleged date of the Philadelphia Experiment, in which the U.S. destroyer escort USS Eldridge was to be rendered invisible to human observers for a brief period.
• October 30 - The Merrie Melodies animated short Falling Hare, one of the few shorts with Bugs getting out-smarted, is released in the United States.

  November

• November 1 - WWII - Operation Goodtime: United States Marines land on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
• November 2 - WWII: In the early morning hours, American and Japanese ships fight the inconclusive Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville.
• November 14 - Leonard Bernstein, substituting at the last minute for ailing principal conductor Bruno Walter, directs the New York Philharmonic in its regular Sunday afternoon broadcast concert over CBS Radio. The event receives front-page coverage in The New York Times the following day.
• November 16
• *WWII: After flying from Britain, 160 American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vemork, Norway.
• *WWII: A Japanese submarine sinks the surfaced U.S. submarine USS Corvina near Truk.
• November 17 – Aircraft carrier USS Bataan is commissioned
• November 20 - WWII: Battle of Tarawa: United States Marines land on Tawara and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands and take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns.
• November 22 – WWII: War in the Pacific: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
• November 25 - WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Cape St. George between Buka and New Ireland.
• November 28 - WWII - Tehran Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss war strategy.
• November 29 - WWII: Aircraft carrier USS Hornet is commissioned.

  December

• December 2 - Fifteen atomic scientists, including soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, arrive from Britain to join the US atomic research project.
• December 3 - Edward R. Murrow delivers his classic "Orchestrated Hell" broadcast over CBS Radio, describing a Royal Air Force nighttime bombing raid on Berlin.
• December 4 - The Great Depression officially ends in the United States: With unemployment figures falling fast due to World War II-related employment, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration.
• December 15 - Aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto is commissioned.
• December 24 - WWII: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

  Ongoing

• World War II, U.S. involvement

  Births

January

• January 1
• * Jerilyn Britz, American golfer
• * Jimmy Hart, American wrestling manager and singer
• * Don Novello, American comedian, screenwriter and producer
• * Ronald Perelman, American businessman and philanthropist, founder of MacAndrews & Forbes
• January 4 – Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer
• January 8 – Jimmy Elledge, American country musician
• January 9 – Scott Walker, singer and composer
• January 10 – Jim Croce, American surburbia musician
• January 11 – Jim Hightower, American radio host, author
• January 13 – Richard Moll, American actor
• January 14 – Holland Taylor, American actress
• January 16 – Peter T. Snowe, American politician, businessman
• January 18 – Kay Granger, American politician
• January 19 – Janis Joplin, American rock singer
• January 24
• * Janice Raymond, American second-wave feminist activist
• * Sharon Tate, American actress and model
• January 25 – Tobe Hooper, American film director
• January 28 – John Beck, American actor

  February

• February 3
• * Blythe Danner, American actress
• * Dennis Edwards, American soul, R&B singer
• February 5
• * Nolan Bushnell, American video game pioneer
• * Michael Mann, American film director, writer, and producer
• * Craig Morton, American football player
• February 8 – Creed Bratton, American actor
• February 9
• * Joe Pesci, American actor
• * Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• February 10 – Walter B. Jones Jr., American politician
• February 14 – Maceo Parker, American musician
• February 19 – Homer Hickam, American author, retired NASA engineer
• February 20 – Moshe Cotel, American composer, pianist
• February 21 – David Geffen, American record executive, film producer
• February 23 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player, coach
• February 26
• * Bill Duke, American actor, director
• * Bob Hite – American singer, musician
• February 27 – Morten Lauridsen, American composer
• February 28 – Donnie Iris, American rock singer, guitarist

  March

• March 1
• * Gil Amelio, American entrepreneur
• * Richard H. Price, American physicist
• March 2 – Peter Straub, American author
• March 9
• * Bobby Fischer, American chess player
• * Charles Gibson, American television journalist
• March 12 – Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Chicago-born Israeli rabbi
• March 14
• * Anita Morris, American actress, singer and dancer
• * Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, American guitarist
• March 15 – Sly Stone, African-American singer
• March 16 – Helen Armstrong, American violinist
• March 18
• * Kevin Dobson, American actor
• * Lowrell Simon, American singer
• March 20
• * Gerard Malanga, American poet, photographer
• * Douglas Tompkins, American conservationist, businessman
• March 22 – George Benson, African-American guitarist, singer and songwriter
• March 23
• * Lee May, American baseball player
• * Sharon Presley, American author and academic
• March 25 – Paul Michael Glaser, American actor
• March 26 – Bob Woodward, American journalist
• March 30
• * Jay Traynor, American singer
• * Dennis Etchison, American author and editor
• March 31 – Christopher Walken, American actor

  April

• April 4 – Judy Buenoano, American serial killer
• April 5 – Max Gail, American actor
• April 6 − Susan Tolsky, American actress and voice actress
• April 8
• * Miller Farr, American football player
• * Jack O'Halloran, American boxer and actor
• April 11 – Harley Race, American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer
• April 15 – Mighty Sam McClain, American singer, songwriter
• April 21 – Jim Jamieson, American golfer
• April 22 – Louise Glück, American poet, 12th US Poet Laureate
• April 24 – Richard Sterban, American singer
• April 25 – Alan Feduccia, American paleornithologist
• April 26 – Gary Wright, American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer
• April 28 – John O. Creighton, American astronaut
• April 30 – Bobby Vee, American pop singer

  May

• May 3 – Jim Risch, American politician
• May 8 – Danny Whitten, American musician
• May 10 – Richard Darman, American federal government official, businessman
• May 11
• * Clarence Ellis, American computer scientist and academic
• * Matthew Lesko, American author
• May 12 – Linda Dano, American actress and author
• May 16 – Dan Coats, American politician
• May 17 – Mark W. Olson, American economist, politician
• May 23 – General Johnson, American singer-songwriter and producer
• May 24 – Gary Burghoff, American actor
• May 25 – Jessi Colter, American singer, composer
• May 27 – Bruce Weitz, American actor
• May 30 – James Chaney, African-American civil rights worker
• May 31
• * Sharon Gless, American actress
• * Joe Namath, American football player

  June

• June 1 – Richard Goode, American pianist
• June 6
• * Ken Hatfield, American football player and coach
• * Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• June 7
• * Nikki Giovanni, African-American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator
• * Mel Levine, American lawyer and politician
• June 11 – Henry Hill, American gangster
• June 14 – Jim Sensenbrenner, American politician
• June 16 – Joan Van Ark, American actress
• June 17
• * Newt Gingrich, American politician, author and historian
• * Barry Manilow, American pop musician
• June 23
• * Vint Cerf, American Internet pioneer
• * James Levine, American conductor
• June 26
• * John Beasley, American actor
• * Warren Farrell, American educator, activist and author on gender issues
• June 27 – Rico Petrocelli, American baseball player
• June 30 – Florence Ballard, African-American singer, founder of The Supremes

  July

• July 1
• * Freddie Lewis, American basketball player
• * Jeff Wayne, American musician
• July 2 – Lauri Peters, American actress, dancer, singer, drama teacher, and author
• July 3 – Kurtwood Smith, American actor
• July 4 – Geraldo Rivera, American reporter, talk show host
• July 5 – Curt Blefary, American baseball player
• July 7 – Joel Siegel, American film critic
• July 9 – Suzanne Rogers, American actress
• July 10 – Arthur Ashe, African-American tennis player
• July 11 – Tom Holland, American screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker
• July 12 – Walter Murch, American film editor, sound designer
• July 14
• * George Thomas Coker, United States Navy commander
• * Harold Wheeler, American orchestrator, composer, conductor, arranger, record producer, and music director
• July 16 – Jimmy Johnson, American football coach, television analyst
• July 18 – Jerry Chambers, American basketball player
• July 20 – Christopher Murney, American actor, vocal artist
• July 21
• * Edward Herrmann, American actor
• * Bob Shrum, American political consultant
• July 22 – Kay Bailey Hutchison, American politician
• July 23
• * Dr. Randall Forsberg, American nuclear freeze advocate
• * Bob Hilton, American game show announcer, host
• * Tony Joe White, American singer, songwriter and guitarist
• * Larry Manetti, American actor
• July 27 – Mary Love, African-American soul, gospel singer
• July 28
• * Mike Bloomfield, American guitarist and composer
• * Bill Bradley, American politician

  August

• August 2 – Max Wright, American actor
• August 5 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player
• August 6 – Jim Hardin, former Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves pitcher
• August 9 – Ken Norton, African-American boxer, actor
• August 11 – Abigail Folger, American heiress, murder victim
• August 17 – Robert De Niro, American actor
• August 19 – Edwin Hawkins, urban contemporary gospel musician
• August 21 – Clydie King, American musician
• August 23 – Bobby Diamond, American actor
• August 27
• * Bob Kerrey, American politician
• * Tuesday Weld, American actress
• August 28 – Lou Piniella, American baseball player, manager
• August 30
• * Tal Brody, American-born Israeli basketball player
• * R. Crumb, American artist, illustrator
• * Altovise Davis, American entertainer

  September

• September 6 – Harris Hines, American judge
• September 9 – Art LaFleur, American actor
• September 10
• * Daniel Truhitte, American actor
• * Neale Donald Walsch, American author
• September 13 – Mildred D. Taylor, American writer
• September 18 – Nina Wayne, American actress
• September 19 – Joe Morgan, American Hall of Fame baseball player
• September 21 – Jerry Bruckheimer, American film and television producer
• September 22 – Toni Basil, American musician, video artist
• September 25 – Robert Gates, 22nd United States Secretary of Defense
• September 28 – J. T. Walsh, American actor

  October

• October 1 – Jerry Martini, American musician
• October 2 – Franklin Rosemont, American poet
• October 3 – Jeff Bingaman, American politician
• October 4 – Buddy Roemer, American politician, investor and banker
• October 5
• * Bonnie Bryant, American golfer
• * Ben Cardin, American politician
• October 6 – Michael Durrell, American actor
• October 7 – Oliver North, American military officer, military historian, political commentator, author and television host
• October 8
• * Chevy Chase, American comedian, actor
• * R. L. Stine, American novelist
• October 11 – Gene Watson, American country singer
• October 12 – Jeffrey R. MacDonald, American physician and United States Army Officer
• October 14
• * Lois Hamilton, American model, actress and artist
• * Lance Rentzel, American football player
• October 15 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director and producer
• October 18 – Herschel Sparber, American actor
• October 20 – Noreen Corcoran, American child actress, director
• October 24 – José E. Serrano, American politician
• October 27 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor
• October 29 – Don Simpson, American film producer, screenwriter, and actor

  November

• November 4 – Chuck Scarborough, American news anchor
• November 5 – Sam Shepard, American playwright, actor
• November 7
• * Stephen Greenblatt, American literary critic
• * Michael Spence, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• November 10 – Saxby Chambliss, American politician
• November 12 – Wallace Shawn, American actor
• November 13 – Jay Sigel, American golfer
• November 14 – Peter Norton, American software engineer, businessman
• November 17 – Lauren Hutton, American actress, model
• November 21 – Larry Mahan, American rodeo cowboy
• November 22
• * Peter Adair, American filmmaker
• * Billie Jean King, American tennis player
• * William Kotzwinkle, American novelist, screenwriter
• November 24 – Dave Bing, American mayor, longtime NBA player
• November 26 – Marilynne Robinson, American writer
• November 28 – Randy Newman, American musician
• November 30 – Terrence Malick, American film director

  December

• December 2
• * Wayne Allard, American politician
• * William Wegman, American photographer
• December 8
• * Larry Martin, American paleontologist
• * Jim Morrison, American singer, songwriter and poet
• December 11 – John Kerry, American politician, 68th U.S. Secretary of State
• December 12
• * Dickey Betts, American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer
• * Gianni Russo, American actor
• * Grover Washington, Jr., African-American saxophonist
• December 13 – David W. Huff, American rock singer, guitarist of
• December 16 – Steven Bochco, American television producer
• December 17 – Rick Nolan, American politician
• December 19 – Ross M. Lence, American political scientist
• December 21 – Jack Nance, American actor
• December 22 – Paul Wolfowitz, American political scientist
• December 23
• * Elizabeth Hartman, American actress
• * Harry Shearer, American actor, comedian and screenwriter
• December 24 – James A. Johnson, American business leader, philanthropist
• December 27 – Cokie Roberts, American broadcast political journalist
• December 28 – Craig MacIntosh, American illustrator
• December 31 – John Denver, American musician

  Deaths

• January 5 - George Washington Carver, African American botanist
• January 7 - Nikola Tesla, electrical engineer
• January 23 - Alexander Woollcott, critic
• February 11 - Bess Houdini, stage assistant and wife of Harry Houdini
• April 3 - Conrad Veidt, actor
• April 4 - David Roitman, cantor
• May 22 - Helen Herron Taft, First Lady of the United States
• September 15 - John Flammang Schrank, attempted assassin of Theodore Roosevelt
• November 22 - Lorenz Hart, lyricist
• December 14
• * John W. Brady, Texas judge and murderer
• * John Harvey Kellogg, doctor
• December 15 - Fats Waller, African American jazz pianist