WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO DECEMBER 1939
Find out what all happened April to December 1939

World War II: Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations. (23. August 1939)

World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, the country's first independent declaration of war (11. September 1939)

NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game between the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets and the Fordham Rams. Fordham won the game 34-7. (30. September 1939)

In Washington, D.C., US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial. (15. November 1939)

The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York. (12. June 1939)

Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps. (4. June 1939)

Erzincan, Turkey is hit by an earthquake, killing 30,000. (27. December 1939)

World War II: Canada declares war on Nazi Germany, joining the Allies – France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. (10. September 1939)

The Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as Lord Haw-Haw begins transmitting. (18. September 1939)

Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland. (14. December 1939)

The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.[citation needed ] (13. May 1939)

First flight of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter-bomber airplane. (1. June 1939)

World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. (3. September 1939)

Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball. (4. July 1939)

World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland. (9. September 1939)

The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated. (15. October 1939)

Joint victory parade of Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest-Litovsk at the end of the Invasion of Poland. (22. September 1939)

The 1939-40 New York World's Fair opens. (30. April 1939)

First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft. (27. August 1939)

World War II: The Battle of the Heligoland Bight, the first major air battle of the war, takes place. (18. December 1939)