In 1941, Joe the Hero made his big speech. To read about him >>
February 11
The Big Three -- Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin -- meet at Yalta to decide the future of Europe.
February 14
Allied planes smash historic Dresden in Germany, destroying many European art treasures and killing more than a hundred thousand civillians.
February 23
The Marines raise an American flag at Iwo Jima.
February 25
American B-29 bombers bomb Tokyo.
April
Deaths of Roosevelt (cerebral hemmorage), Mussolini (firing squad), Hitler (suicide). American troops free the Buchenwald concentration camp, where 50,000 died.
May 7
A week after Berlin was besieged by the Soviets, Germany surrenders, agreeing to all Allied demands.
June 21
A bloody battle for Okinawa ends with an American victory.
July 26
At the Potsdam Conference, the Russians and the Western allies -- who have carved up German territories -- disagree on the fate of Poland.
August 6
An American plane drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 60,000. Dayus later, a second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
August 15
Japan surrenders, ending World War II.
November 20
Nuremburg war crimes trial begins.
5/2/40
Joe the hero's big
speech
11/16/40
Jane the hero's last
stand
"Good night and sweet dreams...which we'll analyze in the morning." Alfred Hitchcock's surreal Spellbound is about murder and psychotherapy.
The Lost Weekend takes viewers along for the ride as Ray Milland, as an alcoholic, goes off the wagon for four days.
Richard Wright's Black Boy is his story of growing up in Mississippi and Tennessee.
George Orwell's Animal Farm casts barnyard animals as the characters in the Russian Revolution. When the pigs overthrow the humans, their new government is even more oppressive.
Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein features the song, "You'll Never Walk Alone."
|