The Times Square Ball drop was suspended in 1942 and 1943 during World War II.
New York City observed wartime blackout rules during those years to reduce the chance that enemy aircraft or ships could use city lights for navigation. Times Square therefore did not carry out its usual illuminated ball descent. Instead, crowds observed a minute of silence at midnight, followed by church bells ringing across the city.
The pause did not end the tradition permanently. The ball drop returned for New Year’s Eve 1944, when wartime restrictions and public circumstances allowed the celebration to resume. This two-year interruption is the only World War II suspension commonly noted in the history of the Times Square Ball.
The ball itself had first appeared in 1907 after fireworks were prohibited for the newspaper’s New Year celebration. The wartime interruption is sometimes confused with later cancellations or changes caused by weather, construction, or public-health measures, but the World War II blackout years were specifically 1942 and 1943.