Gail E. Haley is an American writer and illustrator. She has won the annual awards for children's book illustration from both the American and British librarians, for two different picture books. She won the 1971 Caldecott Medal for A Story a Story, which she retold from an African folktale, and the 1976 Kate Greenaway Medal for The Post Office Cat, her own historical fiction about a London post office.

1939Michael Meacher, English academic and politician, Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (died 2015)^[†]

Michael Hugh Meacher was a British politician who served as a government minister under Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Oldham West and Royton, previously Oldham West, from 1970 until his death in 2015.

Historical Events

1939World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.^[†]

World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.