Mirabilis Member Years

1940

FDR elected President for an unprecedented third time.

Winston Churchill elected Prime Minister in England and seeks to form special relationship with the American President, FDR.

1941

The Empire of Japan attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, initiating war with the United States. In response, Congress declared war on Japan. Germany followed with a declaration of war against the Americans and the war became truly world-wide.

1942

Doolittle Raid struck back at Japan, shocking the Japanese high command that American planes could retaliate for Pearl Harbor so quickly.

United States defeated Japanese fleet at the Battle of Midway, considered by many historians, the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

The U.S. Eighth Air Force began bombing campaign against Germany.

1943

United States production capabilities transform industry to fight a two-front war. No nation in history could even be in the conversation about the home-front mobilization that was in full swing by this year.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower chosen as Supreme Allied Commander as plans go forward for the Allied attack on France.

The Allies defeated German and Italian forces in the North Africa Campaign, The Sicily Campaign and battles on Pacific Islands like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and the Aleutians.

Churchill and Roosevelt meet three times to discuss war strategy. They meet with Stalin also twice, assuring the continuity of the British, American, Russian alliance against Germany.

1944

After landing on the beaches of Normandy, the Allied armies march across France, pause before the frontiers of Germany, and suffer the bloodiest campaign of the war in the “Battle of the Bulge.”

1945

President FDR died and was succeeded by Harry S. Truman, who presided over the end of the Second World War.

Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, changing the world of warfare and foreign policy for the indeterminate future.

1946

The newly formed United Nations met for the first time, in New York. The creation of the organization was agreed to during WWII and supported by the “Big Three,” created a Security Council with single-nation veto power over any actions proposed by the body of the UN.

In a speech in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill described an “an iron curtain” that had descended on Europe through Soviet conquest and subversion.

1947

The United States announced the Marshal Plan, a strategy for reconstruction and relief of Europe in the post-war era.

President Truman oversaw the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Department of Defense, through the National Security Act of 1947.

The “Hollywood 10” were cited for contempt of Congress by an overwhelming vote, for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

1948

In a surprise upset, Democrat Harry S. Truman of Missouri elected President of the United States.

1949

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization assured the mutual defense of all the signatories in the event of Soviet attack.