Today in World War II History—Oct. 30, 1940 & 1945
Liberty Ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien, San Francisco, CA, Fleet Week, October 2014 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)
80 Years Ago—Oct. 30, 1940: In presidential campaign speech in Boston, President Roosevelt promises, “Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.”
In a radio broadcast to France, Head of the French State Marshal Philippe Pétain advocates collaboration with Germany.
RAF Bomber Command directive shifts focus of bombing to industrial targets in highly populated areas, a step closer to area bombing.
Germans begin collecting art looted from Jewish homes and from the Louvre and other museums at the Jeu de Paume in Paris.
75 Years Ago—Oct. 30, 1945: The final Liberty Ship is delivered, the Albert M. Boe; 2711 Liberty Ships were produced during the war.
US ends shoe rationing, effective at midnight. [Read more: “Shoe Rationing in World War II”]
Movie premiere of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
