-- MOST (...but not all...) of us were born this year (1943)
-- We were all known as "The War Babies"
-- Our flag had 48 stars
THE NEWS IN BRIEF:
World War II is raging: British and Americans are carrying out massive air strikes in Germany; the German Sixth Army surrenders at Stalingrad; Benito Mussolini is deposed in Italy; Axis Forces in North Africa Surrender to Allied Forces; Chiang Kai-shek takes oath of office as President of China; President Roosevelt appoints General Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe. War still raging in the Pacific; JFK's PT-109 is rammed and sunk; entertainer Bob Hope begins his first war-zone tour.
On the "home front", Americans are planting "Victory Gardens", so U.S. troops can have more food for the war effort;
although the "Great Depression" was ending, Americans are limited to three pairs of shoes each year, due to a leather shortage; FDR announces the end of coffee rationing in the U.S.; the new Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. is dedicated; and Glen Miller's Orchestra had many people dancing again.
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In 1943:
• The U.S. population was approx 137 million; world population was approx 2.4 billion
• Average cost of new home: $3,600
• Average American wages: $2,000 / yr
• Average Price for a new car: $900
• Cost of a gallon of gasoline: 15 cents
• Cost of a loaf of fresh-baked bread: 10-cents
• Cost of a First-Class postage stamp: 3-cents
• Cost of a movie theater ticket: 35-cents
• Cost of a glass-bottle of CocaCola: 5-cents
» The Federal Budget: $78.56 billion
» The National Debt level: $142.7 billion
» Unemployment: 1.9 %
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WORLD LEADERS at start of the year 1943
♦ Franklin Delano Roosevelt is President of the United States;
Henry A. Wallace is Vice President, and Sam Rayburn is Speaker of the House;
♦ Adolph Hitler is Chancellor of Nazi Germany
♦ Winston Churchill is Prime Minister of Great Britain (under King George VI)
♦ Benito Mussolini ("Il Duce") is Italy's Premier (but is deposed in July)
♦ Joseph Stalin is General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union
♦ Hideki Tojo is Prime Minister of Japan; the Emperor of Japan is Hirohito
IN POPULAR CULTURE
• The SLINKY toy is invented in the U.S.
• In Hollywood, the first "Golden Globe Awards" start
• Roy Rogers becomes the most popular movie cowboy
• The "Withholding Tax" on wages was introduced
• TIME Magazine's "Man of the Year": U.S. General George Marshall
• Oscar for Best Picture of 1943 goes to: "Casablanca" (Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart)
• Due to shortages in Copper, U.S. pennies are struck in steel
• Baseball: New York Yankees win the World Series
• Notre Dame wins the National Championship of college football
• U.S. Open Golf Championship not played, due to World War II
• The Wimbleton tennis championships are not held, due to the war
SCIENCE
♦ Selman Waksman discovers streptomycin and coins the term "antibiotic"
♦ Doctors first begin to use the Pap Test to detect cervical cancer.
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What Happened in 1943??
Here's a brief "1943 Calendar" of the more significant world events:
JANUARY 1943
1 - 29th Rose Bowl: #2 Georgia beats #13 UCLA, 9-0
4 - Earl Warren becomes the 30th Governor of California
12 - Frankfurters (due to its German name) replaced by "Victory Sausages" (mix of meat & soy meal)
14-24 - Casablanca Conference: War meeting of U.S. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill at Casablanca, French Morocco.
15 – The PENTAGON in Arlington, VA, is opened, and dedicated as the world's largest office building
18 - US rations bread & metal - banning pre-sliced bread in order to reduce bakery demand for metal parts
23 - Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time
27 - First US air attack on Germany (Wilhelmshafen)
FEBRUARY
6 - Singer Frank Sinatra debuts on radio's "Your Hit Parade"
7 - Shoe rationing begins in US (may purchase up to 3 more pairs in 1942)
8 – United States forces defeat Japanese troops in the Battle of Guadalcanal
9 - President Roosevelt orders minimal 48-hour work week in war industry
11 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower is selected to command the Allied armies in Europe.
13 - Women's Marine Corps created
17 - NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio enlists into the US army
20 - Phil Wrigley & Branch Rickey charter an All-American Girls Softball League
28 - "Porgy & Bess" opens on Broadway with Anne Brown & Todd Duncan
MARCH
25 - Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore premiere on radio
27 - Groucho Marx begins his radio career on the CBS program "Blue Ribbon Town"
29 - Meat, butter and cheese are rationed in US
31 - The Rodger and Hammerstein's musical "Oklahoma" premiers on Broadway in NYC
APRIL
8 - President Roosevelt freezes wages and prices in the US, in an attempt to check inflation
13 - The Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. is dedicated by President Roosevelt on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birthday
16 - The psychedelic effects of LSD are discovered by Dr. Albert Hofmann
29 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer arrested by the Nazis for having participated in attempted assassination of Hitler
MAY
1 - Food rationing begins in US
5 - Postmaster General Frank C Walker invents the "Postal Zone" System for U.S. mail delivery
13 - All German & Italian forces in Africa surrender to the Allies
17 - The U.S. Army contracts with the Univ Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the first computer: ENIAC
19 - Winston Churchill addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress
22 - 1st jet fighter is tested
29 - Meat & cheese rationed in US
31 - "Archie" comic strip comedy show first broadcast on radio
JUNE
1 - Actor Leslie Howard (who played Ashley Wilkes in the film "Gone With the Wind) is killed when a German fighter plane shot down the BOAC airliner in which he and 11 other passengers were flying from Spain to England.
4 - Argentina is taken over in a coup by Juan Peron and General Rawson
JULY
1 - The U.S. government started the "Payroll Witholding Tax" to help pay for the war effort
13 - Greatest tank battle in history ends with Russia's defeat of Germany at Kursk, almost 6,000 tanks take part; 2,900 were lost by Germany
17 - Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) bombs Germany's rocket base at Peenemunde, where German scientists (like Werner von Braun) had developed the V-1 and V-2 rockets being launched against England
25 - Italy's Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini ("Il Duce"), is dismissed as Italian Premier and arrested on authority of Italy's King Victor Emmanuel II
30 - The last Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movie is released ("Girl Crazy")
AUGUST
2- John F. Kennedy's PT-109 boat is rammed and sunk by a destroyer; JFK and friends are found 2 days later
16 - The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Intrepid is commissioned.
SEPTEMBER
8 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies
OCTOBER
1 - Averell Harriman named US ambassador to Moscow
11 - NY Yankees beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 1, in the 40th annual World Series, to become 1st team to win 10 World Series
16 - Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly opens the city's new subway system
19 - Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
NOVEMBER
11 - Stan Musial (St. Louis Cardinals baseball team) wins the National League's "Most Valuable Player" Award
14 - Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic for first time, filling in for principal conductor, Bruno Walter, who is ill.
22 - Lebanon becomes an independent nation
28 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss planned June 1944 invasion of Europe codenamed "Operation Overlord."
DECEMBER 1943
4 – The Great Depression officially ends in the United States.
4 - President Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
4 - Baseball Commissioner Landis announces that any professional baseball club may now sign Negroes
24 - U.S. General Eisenhower appointed Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
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GUESS WHO WAS BORN IN 1943
.....(besides MOST of us, of course)
IN LATE 1942: A few of our MPHS1961 classmates, including Joan Duby, and Ken Miller, are born.............
JANUARY 1943
4 - Doris Kearns Goodwin -- historian, biographer author
10 - Jim Croce -- pop singer
16 - Ronnie Milsap -- pop singer
19 - Janis Joplin -- rock singer
FEBRUARY
6 - Fabian -- rock singer, and 1950s teen idol
9 - Joe Pesci -- movie actor
25 - George Harrison -- singer, songwriter, and guitarist with "The Beatles"
MARCH
8 - Lynn Redgrave -- movie actress
9 - Bobby Fischer -- world-champion chess player from the U.S.
9 - Charles Gibson -- TV personality, news anchor journalist
26 - Bob Woodward -- author, journalist
29 - John Major -- British politician, Prime Minister
31 - Christopher Walken -- movie actor
APRIL
30 - Bobby Vee -- pop singer
MAY
24 - Gary Burghoff -- TV actor, who played "Radar" on M*A*S*H
30 - Gale Sayers -- professional football player
31 - Joe Namath -- pro football quarterback (New York Jets)
31 - Joe Pesci -- TV and movie actor
31 - Sharon Gless -- TV actress ("Lacey" in the TV police series "Cagny & Lacey")
JUNE
17 - Barry Manilow -- pop singer, songwriter, pianist
17 - Newt Gingrich -- politician, historian
23 - James Levine -- composer, orchestra conductor
JULY
4 - Geraldo Rivera -- TV personality, talk-show host
10 - Arthur Ashe -- tennis star, world champion
26 - Mick Jagger -- Rock music star
AUGUST
17 - Robert De Niro -- movie actor
23 - Nelson DeMille -- novelist
27 - Tuesday Weld -- movie actress
SEPTEMBER
23 - Julio Iglesias -- singer
29 - Lech Walesa -- Poland political leader
OCTOBER
7 - Oliver North -- soldier & political commentator
8 - Chevy Chase -- movie actor
15 - Penny Marshall -- movie actress & Director
22- Catherine Deneuve -- movie actress
NOVEMBER
5 - Sam Shephard -- movie actor, director
22 - Billie Jean King -- world-champion tennis player
28 - Randy Newman -- rock singer
DECEMBER 1943
8 - Jim Morrison -- rock singer
11 - John Kerry -- politician
31 - John Denver -- folk singer/song writer
31 - Ben Kingsley -- movie actor
Then, in 1944 .......
-- Some of our other classmates (including Denis Nadas) enter the world.........
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