1941: The Senate passed a $5.98 billion supplemental Lend-Lease Bill bringing the United States one step closer to direct involvement in World War II. The Lend-Lease Act, approved by Congress in March 1941, had given President Roosevelt virtually unlimited authority to direct material aid such as ammunition, tanks, airplanes, trucks, and food to the war effort in Europe without violating the nation's official position of neutrality. President Roosevelt, who favored U.S. intervention in WWII, advocated creating the program as a way to provide indirect support for the Allies without engaging the U.S. in a war for which there was not yet overwhelming public support. The United States formally entered the war itself in December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (Source: Library of Congress)

1925: Johnny Carson, comedian and host of The Tonight Show for 30 years from 1962-1992, was born in Iowa.