Timeline November 1940

Events in November 1940 13

• 1849 – 1940 Saionji Kinmochi (1849-1940) Died 24 November 1940, aged 91 Japanese statesman who served twice as Prime Minister and was the last of the genrō, the elder advisers to the emperor. He was a leading moderate voice against militarism.
• 1869 – 1940 Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) Died 9 November 1940, aged 71 British Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940, known for the policy of appeasement and the Munich Agreement. He resigned in May 1940 but served in Churchill's War Cabinet until illness forced him out. He died of bowel cancer six months later.
• 1880 – 1940 Manuel Azaña (1880-1940) Died 3 November 1940, aged 60 President of the Second Spanish Republic from 1936 until its defeat in the Civil War. He died in exile in Montauban, France.
• 1882 – 1940 Eric Gill (1882-1940) Died 17 November 1940, aged 58 English sculptor, printmaker and designer of the Gill Sans and Perpetua typefaces.
• 1940 Roosevelt elected to a third term FDR breaks the two-term tradition On 5 November Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated the Republican Wendell Willkie and became the only US president to win a third term. He took 449 electoral votes. The two-term limit was later written into the Constitution by the 22nd Amendment.
• 1940 Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge "Galloping Gertie" tears itself apart in the wind On 7 November the new Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge in Washington State collapsed after wind set off violent twisting oscillations. The collapse was filmed, and the only death was a dog left in a car. The failure changed how engineers design suspension bridges for aerodynamic stability.
• 1940 Battle of Taranto British carrier aircraft cripple the Italian fleet On the night of 11-12 November Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from HMS Illustrious attacked the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto. They put three battleships out of action for the loss of two aircraft. Japanese planners studied the raid before attacking Pearl Harbor.
• 1940 Molotov visits Berlin Soviet-German talks on spheres of influence fail On 12-13 November Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov met Hitler and Ribbentrop in Berlin to discuss the Soviet Union joining the Axis. The talks stalled over Soviet claims in Finland, the Balkans and the Turkish Straits. Soon afterwards Hitler ordered planning for an invasion of the Soviet Union.
• 1940 Fantasia premieres Disney's animated concert film Walt Disney's Fantasia premiered in New York on 13 November. It set animation to classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Its early stereo sound system, Fantasound, was a technical innovation, though the film lost money on its first release.
• 1940 Coventry Blitz The Luftwaffe devastates Coventry On the night of 14-15 November about 500 German bombers attacked Coventry, killing around 570 people. The raid destroyed much of the city centre and St Michael's Cathedral. The Germans coined the word "coventrieren" for such destruction.
• 1940 Warsaw Ghetto sealed Germans enclose Warsaw's Jews behind walls On 16 November the German authorities sealed the Warsaw Ghetto, confining more than 400,000 Jews in about 3.4 square kilometres. Starvation and disease killed tens of thousands. Most of the survivors were deported to Treblinka in 1942.
• 1940 – 1973 Bruce Lee Martial artist, actor and philosopher — born San Francisco 1940 Bruce Lee (Lee Jun-fan) was born on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco. He became the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, transforming how Asian people were portrayed in film and inspiring generations worldwide. He died on July 20, 1973, aged 32.
• 1940 Bruce Lee born Born in San Francisco's Chinatown, November 27, 1940 Lee Jun-fan was born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940, in the Year of the Dragon, between 6am and 8am — the hour of the dragon. His father Lee Hoi-chuen was a Cantonese opera singer touring the US.