Neutrality
Requests Congress to amend the Neutrality Act to sell arms
Permanent historical records · Updated 2026-11-03
1939 in United States of America
Explore 64 historical events and records for United States of America in 1939.
Historical records for United States of America in 1939
Sorted by month and day. Records with no month are shown last. Showing 40 of 64 unique records.
64Unique records
1 of 2Page
25Named events on this page
18Named people on this page
7Places on this page
January
Neutrality Act
Requests Congress to amend the Neutrality Act to sell arms
Requests Congress to amend the Neutrality Act to sell arms
Requests Congress to amend the Neutrality Act to sell arms
February
Birth of Ray Manzarek
Birth of Ray Manzarek
Birth of Ray Manzarek
Birth of Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek.
Massive Neutron Cores
With George Volkoff, shows that sufficiently massive neutron cores have no static equilibrium, helping establish the theoretical path toward gravitational collapse.
May
Birth of Harvey Keitel
Birth of Harvey Keitel
August
Einstein-Szilard Letter
Signs the Einstein-Szilard letter warning President Roosevelt about uranium chain reactions and possible powerful bombs.
Invention of Atomic Bomb
Einstein writes a letter to Roosevelt to develop the atomic bomb
Invention of Atomic Bomb
Einstein writes a letter to Roosevelt to develop the atomic bomb
September
Continued Gravitational Contraction
With Hartland Snyder, models continued stellar collapse and shows a sufficiently massive star can become cut off from communication with distant observers.
Birth of Michael Cimino
Birth of Michael Cimino
October
Advisory Committee on Uranium
Authorises creation of the Advisory Committee on Uranium.
Advisory Committee on Uranium
Roosevelt authorizes the creation of the Advisory Committee on Uranium
Einstein-Szilard Letter
Economist Alexander Sachs meets with President Roosevelt and delivers the Einstein-Szilard letter
Einstein-Szilard Letter
Delivers the uranium warning letter to Roosevelt.
Manhattan Project
Roosevelt authorizes the creation of the Advisory Committee on Uranium. Economist Alexander Sachs meets with President Roosevelt and delivers the Einstein-Szilard letter
Manhattan Project
Economist Alexander Sachs meets with President Roosevelt and delivers the Einstein-Szilard letter
Birth of Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was born in New Orleans on October 18, 1939, two months after the death of his father.
Advisory Committee on Uranium
First meeting of the Uranium Committee, headed by Lyman Briggs of the National Bureau of Standards, 6000 dollars is budgeted for neutron experiments
Advisory Committee on Uranium
First meeting of the Uranium Committee, headed by Lyman Briggs of the National Bureau of Standards, 6000 dollars is budgeted for neutron experiments
Manhattan Project
First meeting of the Uranium Committee, headed by Lyman Briggs of the National Bureau of Standards, 6000 dollars is budgeted for neutron experiments
Uranium Committee
First meeting of the Uranium Committee, headed by Lyman Briggs of the National Bureau of Standards, 6000 dollars is budgeted for neutron experiments
Uranium Committee
Chairs the first Uranium Committee meeting.
Uranium Committee
First meeting of the Uranium Committee, headed by Lyman Briggs of the National Bureau of Standards, 6000 dollars is budgeted for neutron experiments
November
Armament
Arms can be shipped to belligerent powers if they pay cash & US ships transport them
Legislation
Signs an amendment to the Neutrality Act
Neutrality
Signs an amendment to the Neutrality Act
Neutrality
Signs an amendment to the Neutrality Act
Signs an amendment to the Neutrality Act
Signs an amendment to the Neutrality Act
Other events (month unknown)
Barred Spirals
Hubble publishes a report on barred spiral galaxies, extending his morphological work on systems whose spiral arms emerge from a central bar rather than directly from the nucleus.
Beau Geste
Stars in, "Beau Geste"
Chain Reaction Warning
Warns of uranium chain-reaction possibilities with Szilard.
Chairman
Appointed Chairman of the War Resources Board
Chief of Staff
Appointed Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
Appointed Chief of Staff
Colonel
Appointed Colonel
Cosmology
Gamow begins applying nuclear physics to early universe problems that will shape hot Big Bang theory
Education
Attends a Columbia University evening writing class taught by Whit Burnett, longtime editor of Story magazine
Einstein-Szilard Letter
President Franklin Roosevelt calls on Lyman Briggs of the National Bureau of Standards to head "The Uranium Committee" to undertake nuclear research, as a result of the Einstein-Szilard letter
How these records were prepared
Generated from the World History Database historical_events table. Identical display records are collapsed; descriptions otherwise retain the stored text. Coverage and source quality vary. Check primary and specialist sources before citing individual historical claims.