Born in 1940
People born in 1940 turn 86 in 2026. A dollar in 1940 buys what $24.05 buys in September 2026, and about 2.29 billion people were alive. Every figure below links to the source it came from.
Your birthday in 1940
1940
What things cost in 1940
| U.S. average | 1940 | in today’s dollars | latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| One dollar | $1.00 | $24.05 | CPI-U |
1940 figures are annual averages of the published monthly (or quarterly) values. “Today’s dollars” uses the Consumer Price Index for September 2026; “latest” is the most recent published price. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, via FRED. Average retail prices are only published from 1976 on; 1940 has the CPI alone.
Who was in charge in 1940
- United States
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (President)
- United Kingdom
- George VI (King); Neville Chamberlain, then Winston Churchill (Prime minister)
- Soviet Union
- Joseph Stalin (General Secretary); Mikhail Kalinin (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet); Vyacheslav Molotov (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars)
- Republic of China (1916–1949)
- Chiang Kai-shek (Premier)
- French Third Republic
- Albert François Lebrun (President); Édouard Daladier, then Philippe Pétain (President of the Council of ministers)
- Vichy France
- Philippe Pétain (Chief of state); Pierre Laval, then Pierre-Étienne Flandin (Prime minister)
- Nazi Germany
- Adolf Hitler (Führer); Adolf Hitler (Chancellor)
- Empire of Japan
- Hirohito (Emperor); Nobuyuki Abe, then Mitsumasa Yonai, then Fumimaro Konoe (Prime minister)
From Wikipedia’s List of state leaders in the 20th century (1901–1950) (revision 1377869146), each name checked against Wikidata. Every country in 1940 →
Famous people born in 1940
- February 28 – Mario Andretti, Italian-born American racing driver source
- December 21 – Frank Zappa, American musician, songwriter, composer, guitarist, record producer, actor and filmmaker (died 1993) source
- January 1 — Prathia Hall, American civil rights movement activist (died 2002) source
- July 6 – Nursultan Nazarbayev, 1st President of Kazakhstan source
- 9 October – John Lennon, rock singer-songwriter (The Beatles) (murdered 1980) source
- November 27 — Bruce Lee, Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor (died 1973) source
- March 26 – Nancy Pelosi, American politician; Speaker and Minority Leader (alternately) of the United States House of Representatives source
- March 12 – Al Jarreau, African-American singer (died 2017) source
- January 3 – Thelma Schoonmaker, Algerian-born American film editor source
- 3 January – Leo de Berardinis, Italian stage actor, theatre director (died 2008) source
- 29 December — Brigitte Kronauer, German writer (died 2019) source
- July 7 – Sir Ringo Starr, English musician, singer, songwriter and actor (The Beatles) source
- 6 January – John Byrne, playwright and artist source
- January 6 – Penny Lernoux, journalist and author (died 1989) source
- March 9 – Raul Julia, Puerto Rican actor (died 1994) source
What happened in 1940
- 10 March – General elections are held. Enrique Peñaranda (I-CONC) wins by 85.99% source
- January 6 – WWII: Winter War – General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Soviet forces. source
- February 7 – RKO release Walt Disney's second full-length animated film, Pinocchio. source
- 12 January – Transvaal: Crown to Langlaagte, 3 mi 18 ch. source
- 16 February – Altmark incident: Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack pursues German tanker Altmark into the neutral waters of the Jøssingfjorden in southwestern Norway and frees the 290 British seamen held aboard. source
- January 9 – WWII: British submarine HMS Starfish is sunk in the Heligoland Bight. source
- February 2–11 – Scheduled dates for the 1940 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, cancelled in November 1939 due to WWII (originally allocated to Sapporo, Japan). source
- June 3 – The Weather Bureau is transferred to the United States Department of Commerce. source