1945 in the United States

Events from the year 1945 in the United States. World War II ended during this year following the surrender of Germany in May and that of Japan in September.

Incumbents

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

President:
[Vice President of the United States|President of the United States|Vice President]:
Chief Justice: Harlan F. Stone
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn
Senate Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley
Congress: 78th, 79th

Events

January

January - American troops cross the Siegfried Line into Belgium.
January 6
* Naval lieutenant George H. W. Bush, future president of the United States, and future First Lady Barbara Pierce marry in Rye, New York.
* Pepe Le Pew makes his debut as the first major Looney Tunes character, in "Odor-able Kitty"
January 20 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States. No president before, or since, reaches a third term in office. Harry S. Truman is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
January 24 - Nine OSS men and Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton are summarily executed by the Germans at Mauthausen concentration camp, contrary to the Geneva Convention.
January 30 - Raid at Cabanatuan: 121 American soldiers and 800 Filipino guerrillas free 813 American POWs from the Japanese-held camp in Cabanatuan, Philippines.
January 31 - Eddie Slovik is executed by firing squad for desertion, the first American soldier since the American Civil War, and last to date to be executed for this offense.

February

February 2 - WW II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
February 3
*WW II: United States forces capture Manila, Philippines from the Japanese Imperial Army.
*Walt Disney Productions' seventh feature film, The Three Caballeros, is released. It is Disney's second of six package films to be released through the 1940s and the first feature film to incorporate traditional animation with live-action actors.
February 4 - WW II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin begin the Yalta Conference.
February 7 - WW II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
February 8 - The Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, championed by charismatic native leader Elizabeth Peratrovich, is passed by the territorial Senate, after the legislature defeated a previous bill in 1943.
February 12 - A devastating tornado outbreak in Mississippi and Alabama kills 45 people and injures 427 others.
February 16
*Combined American and Filipino forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.
*American and Filipino ground forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
February 19 - WW II: Battle of Iwo Jima - About 30,000 United States Marines land on Iwo Jima.
February 23
*The American and Filipino troops enter Intramuros, Manila.
*The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined American and Filipino ground troops.
*Battle of Iwo Jima: A group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, later wins a Pulitzer Prize.
February - Raymond L. Libby of American Cyanamid's research laboratories, at Stamford, Connecticut, announces a method of orally administering the antibiotic penicillin.

March

March 1 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives what will be his last address to a joint session of Congress, reporting on the Yalta Conference.
March 2 - Former Vice President Henry Agard Wallace starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, serving under President Roosevelt.
March 3 - WW II: United States and Filipino troops take Manila, Philippines.
March 7 - WW II: American troops seize the bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany and begin to cross.
March 15 - The 17th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by John Cromwell and Bob Hope, is held at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles, broadcast via radio for the first time. Leo McCarey's Going My Way wins Outstanding Motion Picture. The film also wins the most awards overall with seven, including McCarey's second win for Best Director, and ties for the most nominations with Henry King's Wilson, both with ten.
March 19 - WW II: Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier, killing about 800 of her crewmen and crippling the ship.
March 24 - The cartoon character Sylvester the cat debuts in Life with Feathers
March 29 - The "Clash of Titans" in basketball: George Mikan and Bob Kurland duel at Madison Square Garden as OSU defeats DePaul 52–44.

April

April 1 - WW II: Battle of Okinawa - U.S. troops land on Okinawa.
April 4 - The Holocaust: American troops liberate their first Nazi concentration camp, Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
April 7 - The only flight of the German ramming unit known as the Sonderkommando Elbe takes place, resulting in the loss of some 24 B-17s and B-24s of the United States Eighth Air Force.
April 12 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies suddenly at Warm Springs, Georgia; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd president.
April 18 - The American war correspondent Ernie Pyle is killed by Japanese machine gun fire on the island of Ie Shima off Okinawa.
April 19 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, a musical play based on Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, opens on Broadway and becomes their second long-running stage classic.
April 25
*WW II: Elbe Day - United States and Soviet troops link up at the Elbe River, cutting Germany in two.
*Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
April 27 - U.S. Ordnance troops find the coffins of 18th-century Prussian kings Frederick Wilhelm I and Frederick the Great, in addition to German President Paul von Hindenburg and his wife.
April 30 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide by shooting himself with a gun in an underground bunker. Eva Braun, his wife, bit into a cyanide capsule.

May

May 3 - Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and 120 members of his team surrender to U.S. forces.
May 4 - The Holy Crown of Hungary is found in Mattsee, Austria, by the United States Army 86th Infantry Division. The U.S. government keeps the crown in Fort Knox for safekeeping from the Soviets until it is returned to Hungary on January 6, 1978.
May 5
*A Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb kills five children and a grown woman, Elsie Mitchell, near Bly, Oregon, when it explodes as they drag it from the woods. They are the only people killed by an enemy attack on the American mainland during World War II.
*The US 11th Armored Division liberates the prisoners of Mauthausen concentration camp, including Simon Wiesenthal.
*Expatriate American poet and author Ezra Pound turns himself in to American soldiers in Italy and is imprisoned for treason.
* The cartoon character Yosemite Sam debuts in Hare Trigger.
May 8
*Victory in Europe Day: The Allies accept Germany's unconditional surrender. War in Europe is over
*Hermann Göring surrenders himself to the U.S. Army near Radstadt.

June

June 22 - WWII: Battle of Okinawa ends, with U.S. occupation of the island until 1972.
June 26 - The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.
June 30 - John von Neumann's First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC is distributed, containing the first published description of the logical design of a computer, with stored-program and instruction data stored in the same address space within the memory.

July

July 8 - WW II: President Harry S. Truman is informed that Japan will talk peace if it can retain the Emperor.
July 9 - A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn.
July 15 - The Scott Morrison Award of Minor Hockey Excellence is first given; the first recipient is Gordie Howe.
July 16 - The Trinity test detonates the world's first atomic bomb.
July 21 - WW II: President Harry S. Truman approves the order for atomic bombs to be used against Japan.
July 28 - A U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building, killing 14 people, including all on board.
July 30 - WW II: The heavy cruiser is hit and sunk by torpedoes from the in the Philippine Sea. Some 900 survivors jump into the sea and are adrift for up to four days. Nearly 600 die before help arrives. Captain Charles B. McVay III of the cruiser is later court-martialed and convicted; in 2000, he is posthumously exonerated.

August

August 6 - WW II: Atomic bombing of Hiroshima - United States Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops a uranium-235 atomic bomb, codenamed "Little Boy", on the Japanese city of Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time, resulting in between 90,000 and 146,000 deaths.
August 7 - President Harry Truman announces the successful bombing of Hiroshima with the atomic bomb, while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
August 8 - The United Nations Charter is ratified by the United States Senate, and this nation becomes the third one to join the new international organization.
August 9 - Atomic bombing of Nagasaki: United States B-29 Bockscar drops a plutonium-239 atomic bomb, codenamed "Fat Man", on the Japanese city of Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m. local time, resulting in between 39,000 and 80,000 deaths.
August 14 - Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender on the radio. The United States calls this day V-J Day. This ends the period of Japanese expansionism and begins the period of Occupied Japan.
August 17 - The United States and the U.S.S.R. split up the Korean Peninsula making North Korea and South Korea
August 31 - A team at American Cyanamid's Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, New York, led by Yellapragada Subbarow, announces they have obtained folic acid in a pure crystalline form.

September

September 2
*World War II ends: The final official surrender of Japan is accepted by the Supreme Allied Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz for the United States, and delegates from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, China, and others from a Japanese delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, on board the American battleship in Tokyo Bay.
*General MacArthur is given the title of Supreme Commander Allied Powers and tasked with the occupation of Japan.
*Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita surrenders to Filipino and American forces at Kiangan, Ifugao.
September 5
* The Russian code clerk Igor Gouzenko comes forward with numerous documents implicating the Soviet Union in numerous spy rings in North America: both in the United States and in Canada.
*Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose", is arrested in Yokohama.
September 8 - American troops occupy southern Korea, while the Soviet Union occupies the north, with the dividing line being the 38th parallel of latitude. This arrangement proves to be the indirect beginning of a divided Korea.
September 9 - The first actual case of a bug being found, is a moth lodged in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at the Naval Weapons Center in Dahlgren, Virginia.
September 20 – The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) is disbanded and split up among several other agencies.

October

October 2 - George Albert Smith becomes president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
October 3–10 - The Detroit Tigers win the World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
October 5 - Hollywood Black Friday: A strike by the Set Decorator's Union in Hollywood results in a riot.
October 23 - Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals, making him the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s.
October 29 - At Gimbel's Department Store in New York City, the first ballpoint pens go on sale at $12.50 each.

November

November 15 - Harry S. Truman, Clement Attlee, and Mackenzie King call for a U.N. Atomic Energy Commission.
November 16
* Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.
* The cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost debuts, in The Friendly Ghost.
* The motion picture The Lost Weekend, starring Ray Milland, is released. The most realistic film portrayal of alcoholism up to this time, it wins several Academy Awards the following year.
* Yeshiva College is founded in New York City.
November 29 - Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer, is completed, covering of floor space, and the first set of calculations is run on it.

December

December 4 - By a vote of 65–7, the United States Senate approves the entry of the United States into the United Nations.
December 5 - Flight 19 of U.S. Navy Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers disappears on a training exercise from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale.
December 9 - General George S. Patton is injured in an automobile accident in France, resulting in his death on December 21.
December 24 - Sodder children disappearance: Five of nine children go missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down.

Undated

The U.S. House of Representatives calls for unrestricted Jewish immigration to Palestine in order to establish a Jewish commonwealth there.
The Berklee College of Music is founded in Boston.
The Galleries Maurice Sternberg is established in Chicago.
Russian-American physicist Vladimir Kosma Zworykin coauthors Electron Optics and the Electron Microscope.

Ongoing

World War II, U.S. involvement

Births

January

January 3 – Stephen Stills, American rock singer, songwriter
January 4 – Richard R. Schrock, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005
January 5 – Lynn Di Nino, American artist
January 6
* Allen Appel, American author, illustrator, and photographer
* Barry Lopez, American author
January 7
* Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player
* Tom Reed, American football player and coach
January 10 – Steven P. Perskie, American politician, judge
January 12 – Steven Hoffenberg, American businessman and fraudster
January 15 – Vince Foster, American deputy White House counsel during the first term of President Bill Clinton
January 20
* Dave Boswell, American baseball player
* Robert Olen Butler, American writer
* Susan Rothenberg, American painter
January 22
* Jophery Brown, American baseball player, actor and stuntman
* Isaiah Jackson, American conductor
January 25 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
January 28
* Frank Doubleday, actor
* Karen Lynn Gorney, actress
* Chuck Pyle, country-folk singer-songwriter
* John Perkins, author and activist
January 29 – Tom Selleck, American actor
January 30 – Michael Dorris, American author
January 31 – Joseph Kosuth, American artist

February

February 3 – Bob Griese, American football player
February 5 – Sarah Weddington, attorney and law professor
February 9
* Bill Bergey, American football player
* Mia Farrow, actress
February 12 – David D. Friedman, economist
February 15 – Douglas Hofstadter, cognitive scientist
February 16
* Pete Christlieb, jazz musician
* Elliot Mintz, radio personality and media consultant
February 17 – Zina Bethune, actress, dancer and choreographer
February 19 – Michael Nader, actor
February 20
* Henry Polic II, actor
* George Smoot, astrophysicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
February 22 – Oliver, singer
February 24 – Barry Bostwick, actor
February 26
* Mitch Ryder, singer-songwriter and guitarist
* Roy Saari, swimmer
February 27 – Carl Anderson, singer, actor
February 28 – Bubba Smith, American football player, actor

March

March 1 – Dirk Benedict, American actor
March 2 – Joy Garrett, American actor and vocalist
March 3 – Hattie Winston, American actress
March 4 – Gary Williams, American basketball coach
March 6 – Bob Trumpy, American football player and sports commentator
March 7 – Arthur Lee, American musician
March 8
* Jim Chapman, American politician
* Micky Dolenz, American actor, director and rock musician
March 9 – Dennis Rader, American serial killer
March 12 – Sammy Gravano, American mobster
March 14
* Michael Martin Murphey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
* Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist
March 16 – Douglas Ahlstedt, American operatic tenor
March 18
* Michael Reagan, American political commentator
* Chuck E. Weiss, American songwriter and vocalist
March 20 – Pat Riley, American basketball coach
March 21 – Charles Greene, American Olympic athlete
March 22 – Sheila Frahm, American politician
March 24 – Curtis Hanson, American film director, screenwriter
March 29 – Walt Frazier, African-American basketball player
March 31
* Edwin Catmull, American computer scientist
* Gabe Kaplan, American actor, comedian, and professional poker player

April

April 2
* Linda Hunt, actress
* Richard Taruskin, musicologist
April 9 – Peter Gammons, baseball sportswriter
April 10 – Shirley Walker, composer and conductor for film and television
April 11 – George W. Owings III, politician
April 13
* Joan Acocella, dance critic
* Tony Dow, actor, producer, and director
* Lowell George, rock musician
* Bob Kalsu, American football player
April 16 – John Andrew Barnes III, soldier
April 20
* Bobby Jameson, singer, songwriter
* Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
* Mike, Wyandotte chicken, lived 18 months following decapitation
April 24
* Doug Clifford, drummer
* Bob Lunn, golfer
April 25 – Stu Cook, bassist
April 27 – August Wilson, playwright
April 29 – Tammi Terrell, African-American soul singer
April 30
* Ray Miller, baseball manager
* Michael J. Smith, astronaut

May

May 1
* Diahnne Abbott, American actress and singer
* Rita Coolidge, American pop singer
May 2
* Mark Klein, American whistleblower
* James Vaupel, American scientist
May 3 – Jeffrey C. Hall, American geneticist and chronobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017
May 5
* Chuck Holmes, American adult film producer
* Kurt Loder, American film critic, author and television personality
May 6
* Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American musician
* Bob Seger, American rock singer
May 8 – Keith Jarrett, American musician
May 21 – Richard Hatch, American actor
May 22 – Victoria Wyndham, American actress
May 23 – Lauren Chapin, American child actress, evangelist
May 24 – Priscilla Presley, American actress, businesswoman and wife of singer Elvis Presley
May 28
* Patch Adams, American physician, comedian, social activist, clown and author
* John Fogerty, American rock singer
* Gary Stewart, American singer
May 30
* Andrea Bronfman, American philanthropist
* Gladys Horton, American singer
May 31 – Blackberri, American singer-songwriter and community activist

June

June 1
* Jim McCarty, blues rock guitarist
* Linda Scott, singer
* Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano
June 2 – Jon Peters, film producer
June 3 – Hale Irwin, professional golfer
June 4 – Anthony Braxton, composer, musical instrumentalist
June 5
* John Carlos, athlete
* Don Reid, country singer
June 6 – David Dukes, actor
June 7 – Billy Butler, singer, songwriter
June 8 – Steven Fromholz, singer, songwriter
June 11 – Adrienne Barbeau, actress, television personality and author
June 13 – Rodney P. Rempt, admiral
June 14 – Bruce Degen, illustrator and writer
June 16 – Chip Damiani, drummer
June 17
* Frank Ashmore, actor
* Art Bell, radio talk show host
June 19 – Greil Marcus, music journalist, cultural critic
June 23 – Jim Fouratt, gay activist and entertainer
June 24 – George Pataki, Governor of New York
June 25 – Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, politician
June 26 – Dwight York, musician, fashion consultant, cult leader, and child molester
June 27 – Norma Kamali, fashion designer
June 30
* Jerry Kenney, Major League Baseball infielder
* James Snyder Jr., author, attorney and politician

July

July 1
* Mike Burstyn, American actor and singer
* Debbie Harry, American singer
* Billy Rohr, American Major League Baseball player
July 2 – Linda Warren, American author
July 6 – Burt Ward, American actor and activist
July 9 – Dean Koontz, American novelist
July 10 – Ron Glass, African-American actor
July 11 – Richard Wesley, American playwright, screenwriter
July 12
* Edwin Neal, American actor
* Larry Zierlein, American football coach
July 13
* Danny Abramowicz, American football player, coach
* Robert H. Foglesong, U.S. General
July 14 – Jim Gordon, American rock drummer and convicted murderer
July 15 – Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor
July 18 – Boomer Castleman, American singer, songwriter
July 20
* Kim Carnes, American singer, songwriter
* Larry Craig, American politician
July 21 – Alton H. Maddox Jr., African-American lawyer
July 23 – Edie McClurg, comedian, screen and voice actress
July 26 – Betty Davis, African-American funk and soul singer
July 28 – Jim Davis, American cartoonist
July 30
* Lloyd Carr, American football coach
* Roger Dobkowitz, American game show producer
* David Sanborn, American saxophonist
July 31 – William Weld, American politician

August

August 1 – Douglas Osheroff, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996
August 4 – Alan Mulally, American businessman, CEO of the Ford Motor Company
August 5 – Loni Anderson, American actress
August 7 – Alan Page, American football player
August 11 – Embeth Davidtz, American actress
August 12 – J. D. McClatchy, American poet and literary critic
August 14 – Steve Martin, American actor, comedian
August 15
* Duffy Dyer, American baseball player and coach
* Gene Upshaw, American football player
August 16 – Paul Morantz, American attorney and investigative journalist
August 20 – Jonathan Goodson, American television game show producer, son of Mark Goodson
August 22
* David Chase, American writer, director and television producer
* Ron Dante, American rock singer, songwriter and record producer
* Steve Kroft, American journalist, correspondent
August 23 – Patti McGee, American skateboarder
August 24
* Marsha P. Johnson, born Malcolm Michaels Jr., African-American gay liberation activist and drag queen
* Vince McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter, chairman and CEO of WWE
August 26
* Tom Ridge, American politician
* Mel Watt, African-American politician and lawyer
August 29 – Wyomia Tyus, American Olympic athlete
August 31 – Bob Welch, American musician

September

September 4 – Danny Gatton, American guitarist
September 6 – Larry Lucchino, American lawyer and baseball executive
September 8 – Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, American musician
September 9 – Doug Ingle, American singer, songwriter
September 10 – Marlin Briscoe, American football player
September 12
* Jim Liberman, American drag racer
* Richard Thaler, American economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
September 14 – Benjamin Harjo Jr., Native American artist
September 15 – Jessye Norman, African-American operatic soprano
September 16 – Pat Stevens, voice actress
September 17 – Phil Jackson, basketball coach
September 18 – P. F. Sloan, singer, songwriter
September 19 – Randolph Mantooth, actor, motivational speaker
September 20
* Charlie Smithgall, American politician and businessman
* Candy Spelling, socialite, writer
* Laurie Spiegel, electronic composer
September 21 – Kay Ryan, poet
September 23 – Paul Petersen, child actor, advocate for other child actors
September 24 – Lou Dobbs, political commentator and television host

October

October 1 – Donny Hathaway, African-American soul singer, songwriter
October 2 – Don McLean, American rock singer, songwriter
October 3 – Kay Baxter, American bodybuilder
October 4 – Clifton Davis, African-American actor, minister
October 11 – Dusty Rhodes, wrestler
October 13 – Susan Stafford, television presenter
October 15 – Jim Palmer, baseball player
October 18 – Huell Howser, television personality, host of California's Gold
October 19 – John Lithgow, actor
October 20
* Ron Franz, basketball player
* George Wyner, actor
October 22
* Buzz Potamkin, television producer
* Leslie West, singer and guitarist
October 24
* Eugenie Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education
* Sean Solomon, Principal Investigator of NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury
October 25 – David Schramm, astrophysicist
October 26
* Pat Conroy, author
* Jaclyn Smith, actress
October 27 – Carrie Snodgress, actress
October 29
* Melba Moore, African-American singer, actress
* Daniel Albright, literary critic and musicologist
October 30
* Ron Slinker, wrestler
* Henry Winkler, actor, director, producer and author
October 31 – Brian Doyle-Murray, actor

November

November 3 – Ken Holtzman, American baseball player and coach
November 7 – Bob Englehart, American editorial cartoonist
November 8 – Joseph James DeAngelo, American serial killer and rapist
November 9 – Charlie Robinson, American actor ''
November 12
* Michael Bishop, American author
* Tracy Kidder, American journalist and author
November 21 – Goldie Hawn, American actress, producer and singer
November 22 – Robert Ben Rhoades, American serial killer, rapist known as "The Truck Stop Killer"
November 23 – Jerry Harris, American sculptor
November 25
* Gail Collins, American journalist and author
* Mary Jo Deschanel, American actress
November 26 – Daniel Davis, American actor
November 27
* Barbara Anderson, American actress
* James Avery, African-American actor
November 30
* Linda Bove, American actress
* Billy Drago, American actor

December

December 1 – Bette Midler, American actress and singer
December 2 – Charles "Tex" Watson, American prisoner, 'Manson Family' member
December 6
* Larry Bowa, American baseball player and manager
* Dan Harrington, lawyer and poker player
December 9 – Michael Nouri, American actor
December 13
* Herman Cain, African-American conservative politician, author, business executive, radio host, syndicated columnist, and Tea Party activist
* Kathy Garver, actress, author and online radio hostess
* Heather North, actress
December 16 – Patti Deutsch, voice actress
December 17
* Ernie Hudson, African-American actor
* Chris Matthews, news anchor
December 18 – Carolyn Wood, professional swimmer
December 19 – Elaine Joyce, actress, game show panelist
December 20
* Bruce Baker, geneticist
* Peter Criss, rock drummer
December 22
* Diane Sawyer, news journalist
* T. K. Wetherell, politician, educator
December 23 – Donald A. Ritchie, historian
December 24 – Nicholas Meyer, screenwriter, producer, director and novelist
December 25 – Gary Sandy, actor
December 26 – John Walsh, media personality

Date unknown

full date unknown - David M. Alexander, science fiction and mystery author

Deaths

January 3 – Edgar Cayce, mysticist
January 6 – William Noble, missionary
January 7
* Alexander Stirling Calder, sculptor
* Thomas McGuire, fighter ace
January 13 – Margaret Deland, novelist
January 23 – Newton E. Mason, U.S. Navy rear admiral
January 25 – Volga Hayworth, showgirl
January 30 – Herbert L. Clarke, cornet virtuoso
January 31 – Eddie Slovik, soldier
February 2
* Joe Hunt, tennis player
* William E. Johnson, leader of the Anti-Saloon League
February 11 – Al Dubin, songwriter
February 13 – John West Sinclair, silent film actor
February 18 – Jimmy Butler, actor
February 19 – John Basilone, Medal of Honour recipient
February 22 – Sara Josephine Baker, physician
February 23 – Reginald Barker, film director
February 26
* James Roy Andersen, general
* Millard Harmon, general
March 1 – U.S. Marine flag raisers on Iwo Jima
** Harlon Block
** Henry Oliver Hansen
** Michael Strank
March 3 – Bessie Alexander Ficklen, doggerel poet and hand puppet specialist
March 4
* Lucille La Verne, actress
* Mark Sandrich, film director
March 5 – Lena Baker, African American maid executed for capital murder, pardoned posthumously
March 8 – Jack Lummus, athlete and Medal of Honor recipient
March 21 – Franklin Sousley, U.S. Marine flag raiser on Iwo Jima
March 22 – John Hessin Clarke, Supreme Court Justice
March 30 – Maurice Rose, U.S. Army general
March 31 – Harriet Boyd Hawes, archaeologist
April 10 – Gloria Dickson, actress
April 12 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945
April 17 – Ernie Pyle, journalist
April 29 – Malcolm McGregor, silent film actor
April 30 – William Orlando Darby, U.S. Army colonel, creator of the Rangers
May 5 – George Cary, architect.
May 14 - Heber J. Grant, 7th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
May 17 – Bobby Hutchins, Our Gang films child actor
May 18 – William Joseph Simmons, founder of the second Ku Klux Klan
May 21
* Horace B. Carpenter, actor
* Frank Cable, naval architect
June 16 – Henry Bellamann, author
June 18 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., U.S. Army general
June 20 – Bruno Frank, German author, poet, dramatist and humanist
July 13 – Alla Nazimova, scriptwriter and actress
July 16 – Addison Randall, Western film actor
July 19 – George Barbier, actor
July 25 – Charles Gilman Norris, novelist
August 9 – Harry Hillman, track athlete
August 10 – Robert H. Goddard, rocket scientist
August 25 – Willis Augustus Lee, U.S. Navy admiral and Olympic shooter
September 1 – Frank Craven, actor
September 6 – John S. McCain Sr., U.S. Navy admiral
September 15 – Harry Daghlian, physicist
September 18 – Blind Willie Johnson, African American gospel singer and guitarist
September 20 – Jack Thayer, survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic
September 26 – A. Peter Dewey, soldier, first American casualty in Vietnam
October 1
* Walter Bradford Cannon, physiologist
* George Van Haltren, baseball player
October 13 – Milton S. Hershey, chocolate tycoon
October 24 – Charles D. Barney, stockbroker
October 28 – Gilbert Emery, film actor and author
November 7 – Gus Edwards, songwriter
November 11 – Jerome Kern, popular composer
November 21
* Robert Benchley, humorist, theater critic and actor
* Ellen Glasgow, novelist
* Alexander Patch, U.S. Army general
November 23 – Charles Armijo Woodruff, U.S. Navy officer and 11th Governor of American Samoa from 1914 to 1915
November 25 – Doris Keane, stage actress
November 26 – John Jenkins, auto racer
November 28 – Dwight F. Davis, tennis player
December 4 – Thomas Hunt Morgan, biologist, geneticist and embryologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933
December 21 – George S. Patton, U.S. Army general
December 25 – Russell Gleason, actor
December 28 – Theodore Dreiser, novelist