By: Lauren Anderson and Alayna Mihaly *and Alan Schurman THE GREAT 1940’S

SCIENCE The Jeep was created in 1940 by Willy’s Truck Company. The Jeep aided the army in World War II. General Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that America could not have won the war without them. In 1942, John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built the first electronic digital computer. In this era, mechanical analog computers were used for military applications. The Manhattan Project, started in 1942, was a development program for the atomic bomb. The creation of the atomic bomb in 1945 was headed by Robert Oppenheimer. The Soviet Union had them by 1949.

SCIENCE* In 1944 the first V1 and V2 rockets were launched. In 1945 the microwave oven was created and the U.S. dropped Atomic bombs on Japan. Also in 1945 the first computer was built called ENIAC. In 1947 Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier. In 1948 the “Big Bang” theory was formulated.

CULTURE IN HOLLYWOOD... Musicals were the most popular genre. Famous Females: Olivia De Havilland, Ingrid Bergman, and Betty Grable. Famous Males: Bing Crosby, Humphrey Bogart, and Gary Cooper. Best picture Oscars: 1940: Rebecca 1941: How Green Was My Valley. 1942:Mrs. Miniver. 1943: Casablanca. 1944: Going My Way. 1945: The Lost Weekend. 1946: The Best Years of Our Lives. 1947: Gentlemen's Agreement. 1948: Hamlet. 1949: And All the King’s Men.

CULTURE IN FASHION… Women: The dresses were knee length and featured padded shoulders. Homemade accessories and elaborate hairstyles. Hats, hair curls, and bright red lipstick. Shorter jackets, and peplums, narrowing the hips to show off a trim waist. Men: Long coats and full cut trousers, which was a sign of opulence and luxury. Hand painted ties.

CULTURE IN THE MEDIA… OTR (Old Time Radio)– Radio: Programs reflected America’s involvement in WWII. They often featured anything from adventure and horror, to comedy and musicals. Along with classical music concerts, farm reports, sports broadcasting, weather forecasts, and news. Featured Original stars: Lucille Ball, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Vincent Price. Newspapers: Although not as popular as the radio, it was primarily used to keep people updated on the war.

CULTURE* In 1940 nylons went on the market. In 1942 the t-shirt was first introduced. In 1944 the ball point pen came out and changed the business world. In 1945 the Slinky toy came out. In 1947 the Polaroid camera came out. In 1948 the “Dewey defeats Truman” headline mistake came out. In 1949 the first nonstop flight around the world happened.

GOVERNMENT Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933 – 1945) In 1941, he declared war on Japan and Germany. In 1942, Unemployment rates dropped to 2%, and the industrial economy grew rapidly. Harry S. Truman (1945 – 1953) He oversaw the Berlin Airlift in 1948, and the creation on NATO in 1949.

GOVERNMENT* The big leaders of that time were Hitler, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill. At the end of the last decade, war was started when Hitler attacked Poland. This war would dominate the rest of this decade. The politics of this decade were focused on new technology to win the war. In 1940 Leon Trotsky was assassinated. He led the Communist Revolution in 1917 and was exiled from the Soviet Union when he lost a power struggle to Stalin.

GOVERNMENT* After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were put into camps in America for the duration of the war. FDR dies in 1945 and Truman is sworn in. Germany surrenders. Hitler commits suicide. The United Nations is founded. In 1946 the Nuremburg trials take place. In 1948, the Declaration of the State of Israel was made. In 1949 China becomes communist and NATO is established.

GOVERNMENT Laws/ Acts Passed: Smith Act (1940): Law required all alien residents in the U.S. over 14 years old to file a comprehensive statement of their personal and occupational status and a record of their political beliefs. National Security Act of 1947: merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment. It also created the Department of the Air Force, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligece Agency Act (1949): Gives the CIA specific authority to carry out the duties assigned to it in 1947.

GOVERNMENT Civil rights: In 1943, 34 people were killed in a race riot in Detroit. As well as 6 more people killed in a riot in Harlem, New York. In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the exclusion of African Americans from voting in the Texas Democratic primary violated the fifteenth amendment. Jackie Robinson plays his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, becoming the first African-American player in the major leagues since the 1800’s.

ART Visual Arts: Abstract expressionism, was the first American artistic movement, which put New York at the center of the art world. Jackson Pollock’s No. 5 (1948) Bold posters advertising the war were also very popular among the people.

ART* The art of the 1940s mainly consisted of pieces of art having to do with the war and production. Among the soldiers, the pin up posters were popular because they showed beautiful women, which they hadn’t seen in a long time.

ART*

ART Performing arts: Music was built around the jazz and big band styles. Popular artists: Rosemary Clooney, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw. Dizzy Gillespie innovated the musical style with his prominent trumpeting skills. Cab Calloway was a popular scat singer that came to prominence in the 1940’s. Glen Miller wrote the song “in the mood”

ART Novels and poems: The Black Stallion, Walter Farley (1941) The Adventures of Superman, George Lowther (1942) Earnest Hemingway’s, For Whom the Bell Tolls’ William Faulkner won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1949.

MEDIA CLIP #1: If you were born in the 1940’s: #2: FDR at Pearl Harbor:

SOURCES SOURCES #1 Wikipedia.com Reportingcivilrights.loa.org Enotes.com Nndb.com Thepeoplehistory.com Learningzoneclass.com YouTube.com SOURCES #2* AP U.S. History with Duvall and Porziki Google images YouTube