A minute of silence replaced New York City's Times Square ball drop during the World War II blackout years.
The illuminated ball was not lowered on New Year's Eve in 1942 or 1943 because wartime blackout restrictions limited public lighting. The restrictions were intended to make it harder for enemy forces to identify targets along the coast, so a brightly lit public spectacle was inappropriate.
Crowds still gathered in Times Square during those years. Instead of watching the ball descend, they observed a minute of silence at midnight, followed by the ringing of church bells carried over loudspeakers. The ceremony preserved a shared moment of transition without the normal illumination.
The ball drop returned after the blackout restrictions ended. This interruption is sometimes overlooked because the event is commonly described as an unbroken annual tradition. The ball itself was also not used in 1944 and 1945, when the wartime restrictions were still relevant.