| Events of 1940 |
| Date |
Event |
| Apr 09, 1940 |
Germany invades Norway, Denmark |
| May 10, 1940 |
Germany invades the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg |
| May 12, 1940 |
Germany invades France |
| Jun 03, 1940 |
The United States government approves a sale of surplus war material to Great Britain |
| Jun 14, 1940 |
Paris falls to the German army |
| Jun 14, 1940 |
Auschwitz receives its first Polish prisoners |
| Jun 14, 1940 |
The U.S. Naval Expansion Act is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, increasing the capacity of the U.S. Navy by 11% |
| Aug 20, 1940 |
Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister. Trotsky assassinated in Mexico |
| Sep 02, 1940 |
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is officially dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. |
| Sep 14, 1940 |
The U.S. Congress approves the first peacetime conscription draft. |
| Nov 05, 1940 |
President Franklin D. Roosevelt continues his dominance of presidential politics with a 449 to 82 Electoral College victory over Republican candidate Wendell Wilkie, winning his third presidential election. Roosevelt becomes the first man to hold office for three terms. |
| , 1940 |
The 1940 census indicated a United States population of 132,164,569. This represented an increase of 7.3% since 1930, the lowest rate of increase in the 20th century. The center of the United States population was geographically placed two miles southeast by east of Carlisle, Indiana. |
| , 1940 |
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania annexed by USSR. |
| , 1940 |
U.S. trades 50 destroyers for leases on British bases in Western Hemisphere. |
| , 1940 |
Selective Service Act signed. |
| , 1940 |
The first official network television broadcast is put out by NBC. |
