The following topics are ideas for Research Papers. You may find
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Name HR Due Dates MUST be adhered to. Failure to do so will result in 20% points for that increment deducted daily. Assignment Points Possible Date Due Topic Selection 5 1/13 Research Question 10 1/17 Source Cards 15 1/22 Note Cards (min 50) 50 2/5 Thesis Statement 10 2/5 Outline 20 2/7 Rough draft-Body Quotations – Notes in narrative form Commentary and analysis Three COPIES printed. One copy sent to me electronically in MS Word format Peer Review-Author 70 2/17 10 2/20 Peer Review-Evaluator 1 10 2/20 Peer Review-Evaluator 2 10 2/20 Date Completed Points Earned If rough drafts are in need of major corrections, they should be resubmitted with the introductions. Rough Draft-Introduction 15 2/25 Rough Draft-Conclusion 15 2/25 Works Cited Page 10 2/25 Final Draft 200 3/6 Oral Presentation 50 In class Total Points 500 Due Dates may be changed depending upon weather or other events that interrupt class times. Students will be given due dates as each increment is explained and will have the latest information. I will attempt to keep this page updated, but Students are responsible for turning in work according to dates they have been given. Students may print this form in order to keep track of their points on this assignment. The following topics are ideas for Research Papers. You may find other topics that interest you, but they must have some relevance to a period between 1930 and 1948. The following topics are sorted according to category, but are in no particular order within the category. It is important that you, not your parents or friends, select your topic. It should be something YOU are interested in, because you will be doing a lot of reading about this topic. It should be something that you can do research on; there must be plenty of sources out there for you to use. Avoid selecting one which you think is “the easiest,” or something you already know a lot about. It actually will make it harder because you will be unable to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes and come up with a good question. Do some preliminary research. Think about what interests you – what hobbies do you have, what subjects do you like in school, what really interests you? Above all, what would you like to know more about? Do you have questions about the Holocaust that you would like answered? Your enthusiasm will show through in your writing, and you will enjoy your research far more if it is something you want to learn. Once you have narrowed your topic, think about what, where, when, why, how, and take some brief notes. Think about a specific question you would like to answer. That will direct your research and the answer to your questions will eventually form your thesis statement. For example, you might be interested in Josef Mengele (a rather dark topic, by the way) and want to know “Did his medical experiments during WWII influence modern medicine?” (It’s not a topic I would suggest – which is why I am using it as an example. He was an evil man who took advantage of his position of power to perform cruel and often pointless experiments on people he refused to consider as anything other than lab animals. There was nothing about him that is deserving of admiration, and his unethical approach prohibits any confirmation of the results of his experimentation). After you have done your research, your thesis might be something like: Without Mengele’s experiments, medical techniques that have been used to revive people exposed to severe cold, would not be possible. Once again, I use this only as an example. His monstrous methods should not be considered to have had any positive effect and the above thesis statement could not be proven since it is false. I only choose it because it is something you will not be tempted to use in your research paper. As a second example – yet another one which is false – you might choose to research Walt Disney. You might want to know how his films changed the public’s perception of WWII and assisted in the government’s propaganda efforts. Thus your question would be: “How did the films of Walt Disney change the public’s perception of WWII and assist the government in its efforts to spread propaganda?” This is, by the way, a valid question, although I am going to take a completely opposite stance just as an example. Let’s say that your research shows that his movies, instead of helping the government, did in fact make the American public more sympathetic towards Hitler. If that had been the case, your thesis statement might become: “Walt Disney, while thought of as a patriotic American, proved his lack of loyalty by turning the public against the American Government’s efforts during WWII.” Your research paper would then have to go on to prove this. It would, however, be difficult to research. You could find information about the movies he made and the messages those movies contained. However, it would be difficult to measure, or find information about the reactions of the public to those movies. You may be able to find some critics responses or the government’s responses, etc., but it would be difficult to find enough to use as a basis for a research paper. That would leave you with the possibility that it is not, in fact, the best question to be asking. Before you launch into an in depth study, therefore, it is important that you consider your question and the availability of sources. In the above case, you might want to rephrase your question to something else, such as: “Did Walt Disney just want to make money and entertain people, or did he actually work towards the war effort.” This could be researched, and your thesis statement could be something like “Although Disney was hugely successful in providing entertainment to people during WWII, he also used his considerable resources to aid the war effort.” There is a lot to consider when choosing your topic and your research question. Think carefully, and choose wisely. Below are some suggestions of topics along with some information from the internet. YOU DO NOT NEED TO LIMIT YOURSELF TO THESE TOPICS. There are countless sites out there – try a search of the dates 1930-1945, or “timeline WWII,” or something similar and you will find many ideas. You will need a minimum of 6 sources, at least one of which must be a book. Additionally, you must be very careful to check the validity of your internet sources (http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/). I will only allow one student per topic (not per question) so the sooner you respond, the more likely you will be to have your first choice. Please turn in an index card clearly marked with your name and homeroom, with your top three topic choices by January 13 (you may turn it in earlier). Do not choose a topic before you have done some preliminary research. I will need your research question by January 15. WWII People & TOPICS Hitler’s rise to power Josef Mengele’s experiments on Twins Douglas MacArthur Admiral Chester Nimitz Japanese-American internment Pearl Harbor Franklin D Roosevelt Victory Gardens Rationing Harry Truman Propaganda Salina Utah POW massacre – Allied war crimes Germany’s advance on Europe – or specific battles Pacific Rim war Censorship Propaganda The Final Solution POST WWII GI Bill of Rights Marshall Plan Communism House Un-American Activities Committee Office of War 1940 Census and significance 1940s’ Guatemala Study FBI/J Edgar Hoover Prelude to the Vietnam War World Trade Organization Public Housing WWII Veterans Roots of Affirmative Action MISCELLANEOUS Aryan Race Radar Alcan Highway D-Day Iwo Jima Tangsudo Social Security China political reforms SCIENCE Manhattan Project Albert Einstein Discovery of penicillin ENIAC Movies – make sure you are considering the version from this time period (1930) "All is Quiet on the Western Front" (1931) “Little Caesar” (1931) “City Lights” (1932) "Scarface" (1932) “Grand Hotel” (1933) “Duck Soup” (1933) "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934) “It Happened One Night” (1935) "The Thirty Nine Steps" (1939) “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1940) “The Grapes of Wrath” (1944) “Double Indemnity” (1940) “The Philadelphia Story” (1939) “Stagecoach” (1939) "Wuthering Heights" (1936) “Modern Times” (1938) “Bringing up Baby” (1942) "Yankee Doodle Dandy" Over 5 productions involving the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" during this 15 year period Seabiscuit/War Admiral 1939 World Fair Baby Boom Detroit Race Riots 1943 Zoot Suit Riots Harley-Davidson Agana Race Riot Port Chicago Disaster Fort Lawton Riot First Tacoma Bridge Women in the media – images as they have changed. Recycling THE ARTS Doris Day The Andrew Sisters Shirley Temple Television Television Original Amateur Hour Texaco Star Theater Ed Sullivan Abstract Expressionism Jackson Pollock Andrew Wyeth Alexander Calder Skyscrapers/ Pietro Belluschi Suburbs/Levittown Rita Hayworth Betty Grable Hollywood and Propaganda Big Band music Jazz Ella Fitzgerald Rogers & Hammerstein Fred Astaire Benny Goodman Swing Humphrey Bogart Katherine Hepburn Charlie Chaplin Gary Cooper Elizabeth Taylor Greta Garbo Jimmy Stewart Bob Hope Cary Grant Marlene Dietrich Judy Garland Marilyn Monroe Katharine Hepburn The Wizard of Oz SCIENCE Dr. Benjamin Spock Aqua Lung/ Jacques Cousteau DuPont Labs – nylon Artificial Limbs Sigmund Freud Country doctors PEOPLE Rosie the Riveter /Betty Crocker Women’s place in the workforce Duquesne Spy Ring Bonnie & Clyde Al Capone The Rosenbergs (spies) Klaus Fuchs (spy) Richard Sorge (spy) The Moonlight Murderer Father Charles Coughlin WACS/WAVES/Navy Nurses Corps/Army Nurses Corps Dwight D Eisenhower Benito Mussolini Adolph Eichmann Rudolph Hess Reinhard Heydrich Josef Mengele Heinrich Muller Julius Streicher Heinrich Himmler Joseph Goebbels Maximilian Kolbe Romanies/Gypsies Charlie Parker LITERATURE The Human Comedy/William Saroyan (1929) - Look Homeward Angel by: Thomas Wolfe (1929) - The Sound and the Fury by: William Faulkner (1931) - The Good Earth by: Pearl S. Buck (1933) - Autobiograpy of Alice B Toklas by: Gertrude Stein (1935) - Tortilla Flat by: John Steinbeck (1937) - The Age of Innocence by: Edith Wharton's (1938) - Our Town by: Thornton Wilder (1939) - The Grapes of Wrath by: John Steinbeck (1939) - The Little Foxes by: Lillian Hellman (1940) - For Whom the Bell Tolls by: Ernest Hemingway (1940) - Native Son by: Richard Wright (1943) - Four Quartets by: Burnt Norton (1945) - The Glass Menagerie by: Tennessee Williams FADS/CULTURAL CHANGES/FASHION Frozen Dinners Tupperware Diners Toys – slinky Seventeen Magazine Clothing – Zoot suit, Convertible suit Coco Chanel Christian Dior Monopoly (1934) Prohibition War Related Topics Hitler Youth Concentration Camps Battle of Kursk Battle of Stalingrad Nuremberg Trials Wehrmacht SS and SA Military Transportation Catholic martyrs of the Holocaust Righteous Gentiles Underground movement in France or other occupied countries Comparison of women’s roles Nazi Germany vs USA Additional Ideas Nuremberg Laws Luftwaffe Hitler’s speeches Shanghai Polio Zeppelin Gestapo Howard Hughes Wonder Woman Captain Marvel Captain America Superman Batman Elsa Schiaparelli Vichy Regime Potsdam Conference Roswell Army Airfield Newfoundland Education 1930-1949 Martha Graham New Deal Eleanor Roosevelt Frank Capra Isolationism Father Jean Bernard Genocide survivors Air warfare Yalta Conference Battle of the Bulge War of the Worlds Broadcast – Orson Wells American Comic Books of 30s and 40s Cameras of the 1930s and 40s Wall Street 1930s and 1940s Labor strikes and Fair Labor Standards Act Motion Picture Production Code American Kennel Club Field Obedience Trials R Buckminster Fuller/ Walter Dorwin Teague Karl Taylor Compton/MIT Women’s Fashion 1930-1949 Manchuria/Stimson Doctrine Babe Didriksen Zaharias Civilian Conservation Corps Public Works Administration Works Progress Administration Indian Reorganization Act All-American Girls Baseball League 1942 Army Navy Game Peace Mission Movement Tuskegee airmen – red tails Margaret Bourke-White Chicago Renaissance Nation of Islam Emperor Hiroshima Hindenburg Disaster Empire State Building Japanese Invasion of 20th Amendment Thornton Wilder Tennessee Williams SPORTS Jackie Robinson Pete Gray Joe DiMaggio Boxing Nascar Integration in sports Harry S Truman Truman Doctrine Battle of Britain Paul Klee Pietr Gynt Black cinema Selective Services Act Bugs Bunny Tom and Jerry Alien Registration Act Atlantic Charter Billboard’s Top 100 GI Bill Walt Disney Radio Dust Bowl Great Depression Unionization Social Security Churchill Amelia Earhart Pope Pius XI Woody Guthrie Pete Seeger The Cold War The Truman Doctrine The Marshall Plan Sugar Ray Robinson Indianapolis 500 Jack Kramer Byron Nelson Patty Berg Jeep Picasso Battle of Okinawa Billie Holiday Thomas Dorsey James Baldwin Joe Louis Ralph Ellison Louis Armstrong The following is taken from an online assignment by Adam Dagley, Paula Lambert, Miranda Hampton, Vickie Davis, and Jaclyn Suarez at http://assignment1-5.blogspot.com/ 1930 - 1945 The depression left money scarce in the 1930s.This forced people to do what they could to enjoy their lives. This included movies, parlor games, and board games. Listening to Yankees games on the radio was also big. Big bands were a hit, and many people spent time enjoying mystery novels from writers like Agatha Christie and Dashielle Hammett. The 1940s was impacted by WWII. Artists from Europe brought along new ideas and thoughts. The Great depression was fading out and replaced by war time production. Women soon replaced men in the working world. Rationing of many everyday items had become common. The following information will provide a mode in depth view of several topics pertaining to the time period of 1930-1945 Historical Events from 1930 - 1945 WWII World War 2 started in 1939 and ended September 2, 1945. This was the single largest war in the history of the world and cost more money than any other war. The United States suffered the loss of more people than any other country involved. There hasn’t been a war of this level since. The Depression The Great Depression began didn’t come until World War 2 war. With the large need for war ever after the war was over. The factors like the 1930 drought when the stock market crashed in 1929. Complete relief began when the Government required supplies to fight the supplies, the economy bounced back and was better than economy wasn’t the only cause of the depression; other were factors as well. Prohibition Prohibition started in 1920 and ended in 1933 for the United States. It prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages and spurred illegal activity by organized crime organizations. Many other countries adopted prohibition and years later found themselves repealing the law. Empire State Building The construction of the Empire State building was completed in 1931. It is considered the Worlds second tallest building. It was the tallest building from 1931 until 1972 when the World Trade Center was built. After 9-11-2001 it was the tallest building in New York City but not in the world. Since the World Trade centers had been built, other buildings had been built to beat the world record. Science from 1930 - 1945 1930-Chocolate Chip Cookie Invented Ruth Wakefield accidentally invented the chocolate chip cookie know as the “Toll House Crunch Cookies”. Wakefield was baking chocolate cookies one day only to realize that she was out of baker’s chocolate. Instead she through in chunks of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate thinking it would melt into the batter to create chocolate cookies. Instead she had invented chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate chip cookie has become the most popular cookie in America. 1943-Slinky Invented The Slinky was invented by a naval engineer named Richard James. James was trying to develop a meter designed to monitor horsepower on naval battleships. While working with tension springs to use on the meter one fell to the ground and continued to move. This gave him the idea for the slinky. Slinky made its début at Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the 1945 Christmas season and then at the 1946 American Toy Fair. Today, all Slinky’s are made in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania using the original equipment designed and engineered by Richard James. Each one is made from 80 feet of wire and over a quarter billion Slinky’s have been sold worldwide. 1943-Aqualung Invented Jacques Cousteau (commander in the French navy) and Emile Gagnan (control valve engineer) invented the Aqualung in 1943. The Aqualung is a device that supplies air to under water divers. It supplies air automatically to the lungs from an oxygen cylinder on the divers back. The Aqualung has been modified since 1943, but is basically operated the same today. These are what the divers now use today. 1945- First Atomic Bomb Blast Before the beginning of WWII Albert Einstein Wrote to the US president Roosevelt and told him of of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify uranium-235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb. This caused the US government to start the Manhattan Project. From 1939 to 1945, more than $2 billion was spent during the history of the Manhattan Project. After 3 years of planning, in a remote area of New Mexico the first Atom Bomb was tested. Even before the bomb was tested, a second bomb was secretly dispatched to the Pacific for an attack on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Scientists Who Invented the Atomic Bomb under the Manhattan Project: Robert Oppenheimer, David Bohm, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Otto Frisch, Rudolf Peierls, Felix Bloch, Niels Bohr, Emilio Segre, James Franck, Enrico Fermi, Klaus Fuchs and Edward Teller. OTHER TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES Ballpoint Pen - 1938 Hungary by Laszlo Biró - also called a biro (UK) BBC Television - 1932 England first regular TV broadcasts (London) Catseyes - 1934 England by Percy Shaw - for lighting roads Electric Razor - 1931 USA by Jacob Schick Electron Microscope - 1933 Germany by Ernst Ruska Frequency Modulation FM - 1939 USA by Edwin H Armstrong - sound by radio waves Helicopter - 1936 Germany by Heinrich Focke Jet Engine - 1930 England by Frank Whittle Nylon - 1931 USA by Wallace Corothers - artificial silk Magnetic Recording - 1936 USA audio tapes Photocopier - 1938 USA by Chester Carlston Polaroid - 1932 USA by Edwin Herbert Land Radar (for Aircraft) - 1935 Scotland by Robert Watson-Watt Radio Telescope - 1932 USA by Karl Jansky Sticky Tape - 1930 USA Atomic Power - 1942 USA by Enrico Fermi's team creating first self-sustaining chain reaction Guided Missile - 1942 Germany by Werner von Braun Kidney Dialysis - 1944 Netherlands by Willem Kolff Napalm - 1942 USA from Harvard University US literature from 1930 - 1940 The literature of United States was call the Wasteland of Depression Era Better known as the New Deal Era. The United States was merging into an economy of prosperity of the World War II years with hardly a change. Social change during the period went to liberalism or radical socialism. Literary Events from 1930 - 1945 (1929) - Look Homeward Angel by: Thomas Wolfe (1929) - The Sound and the Fury by: William Faulkner (1931) - The Good Earth by: Pearl S. Buck (1933) - Autobiograpy of Alice B Toklas by: Gertrude Stein (1935) - Tortilla Flat by: John Steinbeck (1937) - The Age of Innocence by: Edith Wharton's (1938) - Our Town by: Thornton Wilder (1939) - The Grapes of Wrath by: John Steinbeck (1939) - The Little Foxes by: Lillian Hellman (1940) - For Whom the Bell Tolls by: Ernest Hemingway (1940) - Native Son by: Richard Wright (1943) - Four Quartets by: Burnt Norton (1945) - The Glass Menagerie by: Tennessee Williams Music Big Band Big Band was very popular in the 1930’s and 40’s. It was before the wildness of Rock and Roll exploded. There were entire clubs created just for dancing to the music. The groups like Glen Miller consisted of about 10 to 30 musicians and included many different instruments. Country Music Country Music actually started before the 1940’s but was not called country. It was originally called hillbilly music. Pictured above is the Grand Ole Opry House that sits in Nashville Tennessee. It is referred to as the Mother Church of Country Music. Today there are still a few artists that stick to the traditional country music sound but most have changed to a more Contemporary Country. The new Contemporary Country Music has some Rock and Roll mixed in. Bluegrass While it may have existed before the 1940’s, Bluegrass music was named in the mid 1940’s. It is music that is played completely with acoustic instruments. Bluegrass music also relies heavily on vocals. Singing normally with a gourp of others. Pictured above is Bill Monroe he was considered the father of bluegrass. The Swing Culture Swing Music is similar to Big Band Music, but is more up-beat and is meant for a more involved kind of dancing. The dancing is much more fast paced and includes, jumping, swinging, and flipping. It took a lot of skill to be good at dancing to this music. Even today some still swing dance. Art The 1930’s art was looked at as essentially a bridge between two more interesting and vital eras. For emerging artists, especially those seeking liberation from academic stylistic and thematic strictures, the decade offered exciting, though unsettling, possibilities. The American Abstract Artists was born in this turbulent time. Artists Grant Wood 1930 American Gothic An American scene printer responsible for creating that Regionalists are best remembered today Jackson Pollack 1943 Moby Dick Considered the leading member of the group of painters who worked in the abstract expressionists style. Studied in New York at the Art Students League. Early work was a combination of the regionalist style and the style of the Mexican Muralists. Stuart Davis 1938 Swing Landscape Great mural of 1938 that represents the waterfront of Gloucester, Massachusetts Magazines from 1930 - 1945 Magazine covers in the 1930s exhibited the beauty of the era. Hats were glorious, as was the hair they were covering. The model gracing the cover always had the most beautiful, plump lips – nothing like the over-collagenated lips you see today. Shown is a cover from Marie Claire, circa 1937, the first female fashion magazine (Thomas, 2005). Time Magazine was first published in 1923 as a summary for “busy men” to stay current (History of TIME, 2008). Elizabeth Helm graces the cover of Time magazine in the August 21, 1939 edition. Eleanor was on Olympic champion, who was in her home state of New York to perform in the New York World’s Fair. From the founders of Time, Life was born. Life magazine was first published in 1937. The photos were astounding as were the articles. For several decades, Life was published weekly. It was later published semiannually, and now is published monthly (History of Life, 2005). The foregoing are just a few examples of the iconic culture imparted by way of the magazine. Each has evolved to keep up with the changing times, yet stayed true to the philosophies that made it so popular. Television For a long time radio was the only form of broadcast that American's had. News shows, radio shows, music, comedy and sports were among the many topics that radio stations covered. In the late 1930's over 44 million radio's were in use all over the country. It wasn't until the late 1920's that American's began to grasp the idea's behind the invention of the television. During the 1930's television was in a major state of development. During the late 1920's television signals were just beginning to travel through phone lines, and the world's very first television broadcasts were taking place. By 1930 American companies such as RCA (now NBC) and ABC (formerly The Blue Network) were transferring their focus from radio to television. It wasn't until 1939 at the world's fair (where RCA broadcasted the first televised presidential speech) that television receivers were introduced commercially to the US. At this time most of these receivers needed to be coupled with radio to receive sound. In late 1939, regular broadcasts were being scheduled in New York and Los Angeles. Although commercial television sets had been in production since the late 1920's, they were what we would now consider a radio with a small viewing tube. Cheaper pre-war American television sets (sold around 1939) had a 3-inch screen and were priced around $125 (equivalent to $1,863 in 07'). When WWII began, the war production board stopped the manufacturing of commercial television sets, which wouldn't resume until 1945. Below are some TV images from 1940. Films The 1930's gave birth to what is widely known as the "Golden Age" of film. The Academy Award was named the “Oscar”, box office records were set, the Three Stooges were born, tri-color film was introduced, full feature animations were released, silent films were declared a thing of the past and some of the greatest films of all time were released. Even when the US entered WWII after the attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR issued a statement saying, “The American motion picture is one of the most effective mediums in informing and entertaining our citizens. The motion picture must remain free in so far as national security will permit. I want no censorship of the motion picture.” FAMOUS ACTORS Shirley Temple Gary Cooper Clark Gable Charlie Chaplin Cary Grant Elizabeth Taylor Humphrey Bogart Greta Garbo Katherine Hepburn For most Americans, with the Great Depression on their backs, escapism became extremely popular. Theater thrived during this time period and film jumped to an all new height providing America with titles that would never fade away. It is shocking that so many of these films became staples in our culture. This group of films were regarded as the best of their time, and became a huge part of today’s film culture: (1930) "All is Quiet on the Western Front" - considered one of the greatest films based on World War I events (1931) “Little Caesar” - becoming a vanguard for a bloom of Gangster Films, soon to be followed by huge hits like "Public Enemy" (1931) “City Lights” (1932) "Scarface" (1932) “Grand Hotel” - "The most important film since the arrival of talking pictures" –New York Times (1933) “Duck Soup” (1933) "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934) “It Happened One Night” (1935) "The Thirty Nine Steps" - ranking Alfred Hitchcock as the leading British director of his generation (1939) “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” - considered a cinema classic (1939) "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1940) “The Grapes of Wrath” (1944) “Double Indemnity” (1940) “The Philadelphia Story” (1939) “Stagecoach” (1939) "Wuthering Heights" (1936) “Modern Times” (1938) “Bringing up Baby” (1942) "Yankee Doodle Dandy" Over 5 productions involving the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" during this 15 year period In addition to these break-through films, this time period introduced a group of films that would stick to American pop culture for generations to come. Through characters, quotes, songs, figurines, posters, cartoons, halloween costumes and blatant re-makes these movies have influenced Pop Culture as we know it. (1931) – “Dracula” - Dracula, according to the IMDB, is referenced in over 650 films. This novel turned film also sparked a huge vampire subculture in the 20th century, making the city of Translvania synonymous with vampires. Dracula has also become one of the most popular Halloween costumes in history and has inspired cereal brands like Count Chocula. (1931) – “Frankenstein” - Also an extremely popular Halloween costume in America. This character continues to be adapted in film, comics, books and music. (1932) – “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” - Inspired countless numbers of movies, musicals, television and stage performances. The term "Jekyll and Hyde" has become an expression for people who are extremely erratic. The Jekyll and Hyde Club is a themed restaurant in New York City. (1932) – “Tarzan the Ape Man” - birthed Tarzan, the best known ape man in the world. This film, throughout history, is followed by countless other films, comics, cartoons, and video games. (1937) – “Snow White” - The first full feature animation film, Snow White and her seven Dwarfs are among the most popular characters in Disney history. Inspiring all forms of art, this film gave meaning to the "poisonous apple", "the kiss", and the phrase "mirror mirror on the wall" (1938) – “The Adventures of Robin Hood” - Robin Hood, who some claim was a real person, made history. Songs, novels, music, games, films, and television have all been created in Robin Hood's honor and the nam e itself references anyone who might take from the rich and give to the poor (ie - non-profit organizations). This character made Nottingham famous. (1939) – “The Wizard of Oz” – The first film released in color and one of the most beloved films of all time, The Wizard of Oz has become a cult classic for children (1939) – “Gone with the Wind” - The most expensive film in American film history, Gone with the wind cost over 4 million to make. This release of this film followed the most intense publicity campaign ever mounted by Hollywood and set new record winning 8 Oscars in 1939. It has become one of the most popular films of all time, providing famous quote after famous quote. "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" (1940) – “Pinocchio” - An extremely famous disney character who's growing nose is widely recognized as the consequence or liars. (1940) – “Fantasia” - This full feature animation made way for Mickey Mouse, probably the most famous character in American History. (1941) – “Citizen Cane” - Was a box office flop. William Hearst forbid any mention of the film in any one of his newspapers. He considered the film to be defamatory, however the decades of people to follow would strongly disagree. Citizen Cane is now regarded as one of, if not THE greatest film of all time. (1943) – “Casablanca” - The characters, quotations, and music have become iconic, and Casablanca keeps growing in popularity as time passes. It is one of the highest ranked films of all time and has provided dozens of famous quotes. Casablanca and Citizen Cane consistently tie for number one movie of all time. REFERENCES Ruth Wakefield. (2008). Famous women inventors. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://www.womeninventors.com/Ruth-Wakefield.asp The History of the Slinky. (n.d.) Slinky print. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://www.slinkyprint.com/slinky_history.htm Aqualung. (n.d.) Thinkquest. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://library.thinkquest.org/10236/equ.htm Belis, M. (1997). History of the atomic bomb & the manhattan project. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/atomic_bomb.htm The First Atomic Bomb Blast. (n.d.) Eye witness history. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/atomictest.htm 1930s. (2008). The people history. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1930s.html 1940s. (2008). The people history. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html Bell A, Heiney DW, Downs LH.(1946) American Literature: 1930 to the present Barron’s Educational Serie,Inc. NY 11788 Smith E (1985) Art of the 1930’s The Age Anxiety Rizzoli International Publications, Inc NY 10017 DISSENTING VOICES retrieved June 7,2008 from http://nmaaryder.si.edu/collections/exhibits/abstraction/Mecklenberg.html History of Life. (2005). Retrieved June 2, 2008, from www.life.com: http://www.life.com/Life/aboutlife/lifefaqs01.html History of TIME. (2008). Retrieved June 5, 2008, from www.time.com: http://www.time.com/time/archive/collections/0,21428,c_time_history,00.shtml Thomas, P. W. (2005, September 9). 1930 Marie Claire History. Retrieved June 4, 2008, from Fashion Era: http://www.fashion-era.com/hats-hair/hats_hair_8b_marie_claire_1930s.htm http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade30.html http://www.pictureshowman.com/timeline_1930_1939.cfm http://www.filmsite.org/milestones1940s.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_%28film%29 http://www.evliving.com/movies.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=3343 http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/stars.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_television#Broadcast_television http://f.webring.com/hub?ring=ontheboxthebesto The following is also taken directly from online references http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_history_%281930%E2%80%9349%29 Timeline of United States history (1930–49) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This section of the Timeline of United States history concerns events from 1930 to 1949. 1930s 1930s in the United States: 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939. Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother", an iconic image of the Great Depression in United States 1930 - The Motion Picture Production Code becomes set of industry censorship guidelines governing production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios; is effective for 38 years 1930 - Frozen vegetables, packaged by Clarence Birdseye, become the first frozen food to go on sale 1931 - Empire State Building opens in New York City. 1931 - Japanese invasion of Manchuria 1931 - The Whitney Museum of American Art opens to the public in New York City. 1932 - Stimson Doctrine 1932 - Norris-La Guardia Act 1932 - Hans Hofmann - influential artist and teacher emigrated to the United States from Germany. 1932 - Bonus Army marches on DC 1932 - Reconstruction Finance Corporation 1932 - Ford introduces the Model B, the first low-priced car to have a V-8 engine 1933 - 20th Amendment, establishing the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal offices on January 20. 1933 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt sworn in as President; he is the last president to be inaugurated on March 4. 1933 - President Roosevelt establishes the New Deal, a response to the Great Depression, and focusing on what historians call the "3 Rs": relief, recovery and reform 1933 - Sweeping new programs proposed under President Roosevelt take effect: the Agricultural Adjustment Act, Civil Works Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Farm Credit Administration the Home Owners Loan Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Public Works Administration, the National Industrial Recovery Act 1933 - Giuseppe Zangara assassinates Chicago mayor Anton Cermak; the intended target was Presidentelect Roosevelt, who was not wounded. 1933 - Frances Perkins appointed United States Secretary of Labor 1933 - 21st Amendment, ending Prohibition 1934 - Glass–Steagall Act 1934 - U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission established 1934 - Dust Bowl begins, causing major ecological and agricultural damage to the Great Plains states; severe drought, heat waves and other factors were contributors. 1934 - Federal Housing Administration 1934 - Johnson Act 1934 - Philippine Commonwealth established 1934 - Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act 1934 - Tydings–McDuffie Act 1934 - John Dillinger killed 1934 - Indian Reorganization Act 1934 - Share the Wealth society founded by Huey Long 1935 - Works Progress Administration 1935 - The F.B.I. is established with J. Edgar Hoover as its first director. 1935 - Neutrality Act 1935 - Motor Carrier Act 1935 - Social Security Act 1935 - Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States 1935 - National Labor Relations Act 1935 - Huey Long assassinated 1935 - Congress of Industrial Organizations formed 1935 - Alcoholics Anonymous founded 1935 - Revenue Act of 1935 1936 - Robinson-Patman Act 1936 - Life magazine publishes first issue 1936 - United States v. Butler, which ruled that the processing taxes instituted under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were unconstitutional 1936 - Second London Naval Treaty 1937 - Look magazine publishes first issue 1937 - Neutrality Acts 1937 - Hindenburg disaster, killing 35 people and marking an end to airship travel 1937 - Panay incident, a Japanese attack on the United States Navy gunboat USS Panay while anchored in the Yangtze River outside of Nanjing 1937 - Golden Gate Bridge completed in San Francisco 1938 - Wheeler-Lea Act 1938 - Fair Labor Standards Act 1939 - Hatch Act, aimed at corrupt political practices and prevented federal civil servants from campaigning 1938 - Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds broadcast 1939 - Nazi Germany invades Poland; World War II begins 1939 - Cash and carry proposed to replace the Neutrality Acts 1939 - President Roosevelt, appearing at the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair, becomes the first President to give a speech that is broadcast on television. Semi-regular broadcasts air during the next two years 1940s 1940s in the United States: 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949. The USS Arizona, aflame and sinking, on December 7, 1941 1940 - Selective Service Act, establishing the first peacetime draft in U.S. history 1940 - Alien Registration (Smith) Act 1940 - Oldsmobile becomes the first car maker to offer a fully automatic transmission 1940 - Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry make their cartoon debuts 1940 - Billboard magazine publishes its first music popularity chart, the predecessor to today's Hot 100 1940 - U.S. presidential election, 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection to a record third term 1941 - Regular commercial television broadcasting begins; NBC television launched. 1941 - Lend-Lease, which supplies the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material during World War II 1941 - Attack on Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters World War II by declaring war on Japan the next day on December 8; and three days later against Germany and Italy. 1941 - Atlantic Charter, drafted by the UK and U.S., to serve as the blueprint for the postwar world after World War II 1942 - Japanese American internment begins, per executive order by President Roosevelt; the order also authorizes the seizure of their property. 1942–1945 - Automobile production in the United States for private consumers halted. 1942 - Casablanca released 1942 - Office of Price Administration 1942 - Cocoanut Grove fire kills 492 people, leads to vast reforms in fire codes and safety standards 1942 - Congress of Racial Equality 1942 - Revenue Act of 1942 1942 - U.S.-controlled Commonwealth of the Philippines conquered by Japanese forces 1943 - Office of Price Administration established 1943 - Oklahoma! the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II opens on Broadway 1943 - Detroit, Michigan race riots 1943 - Cairo Conference 1943 - Casablanca Conference 1943 - Tehran Conference 1944 - Dumbarton Oaks Conference 1944 - G.I. Bill 1944 - D-Day 1944 - Bretton Woods Conference 1944 - Battle of the Bulge 1944 - U.S. presidential election, 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection, becomes the only U.S. president elected to a fourth term 1945 - Yalta Conference 1945 - Battle of Okinawa 1945 - United Nations Conference on International Organization; United Nations established 1945 - Nationwide labor strikes due to inflation; OPA disbanded 1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; Harry S. Truman becomes President 1945 - Germany surrenders, end of World War II in Europe 1945 - Carousel opens on Broadway 1945 - Potsdam Conference 1945 - Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Days later, Japan surrenders, ending World War II 1945 - United Nations Charter signed in San Francisco, establishing the United Nations; it replaces the League of Nations 1945–1949 - Nuremberg Trials and Subsequent Nuremberg Trials 1946 - Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech 1946 - Benjamin Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care published 1946 - Employment Act 1946 - United States Atomic Energy Act of 1946 1946 - President's Committee on Civil Rights 1946 - Philippines regain independence from the U.S. 1947 - Presidential Succession Act 1947 - Taft Hartley Act 1947 - U.F.O. crash at Roswell, New Mexico 1947 - National Security Act of 1947 1947 - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 - The Marshall Plan 1947 - Polaroid camera invented 1947 - Truman Doctrine establishes "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures" 1947 - Federal Employee Loyalty Program 1947 - Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in baseball 1947 - Studebaker becomes the first automobile manufacturer to introduce a "post-war" model; most automakers wait until 1948 or 1949 1947 - Jackson Pollock begins painting his most famous series of paintings called the drip paintings in Easthampton, New York 1947 - First broadcast of Meet the Press; the World Series is broadcast live for the first time 1948 - The Texaco Star Theater, starring Milton Berle, becomes the first major successful U.S. television program; The Toast of the Town also debuts 1948 - Berlin Blockade 1948 - U.S. presidential election, 1948: President Truman re-elected 1948 - Truman desegregates armed forces 1948 - Selective Service Act of 1948: Passed after first such act expired 1948 - Organization of American States: Alliance of North America and South America 1948 - Alger Hiss Case 1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed 1949 - In China, Communists under Mao Zedong force Chiang Kai-shek's KMT government to retreat to Taiwan 1949 - Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb 1949 - Department of War becomes Department of Defense 1949 - Germany divided into East and West 1949 - Truman attempts to continue FDR's legacy with his Fair Deal, but most acts don't pass References Kutler, Stanley L., ed. Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century (4 vol, 1996) Morris, Richard, ed. Encyclopedia of American History (7th ed. 1996) Schlesinger, Jr., Arther M. The Almanac of American History (1983) http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html http://articles.usa-people-search.com/content-american-history-of-the-1930s.aspx American History of the 1930's Running a background check on the 1930s in America is a sad thing. The Great Depression left many without jobs and around 25% of the entire country was unemployed. Considering that the country had nearly 123 million people, that was a significant amount of people without jobs. The average salary dropped as well, with some earning as little as $20 a month and others earning around $40 a month. Food prices were fairly low, but most couldn’t afford even the basics. A dozen eggs cost 18 cents, soap was 6 cents and a loaf of bread was just 8 cents. The following resources cover even more topics relating to America in the 1930s. Art & Architecture Art and Entertainment in the 1930s and 1940s : focuses on art created after the Great Depression. Art in the 1930s : offers information on modern art from this era. American Art of the 1930s and 1940s : focuses on the European influence found in early American art. Mumford on Modern Art in the 1930s : book that discusses the themes in early modern art. New Deal Cultural Programs : discusses the art programs as part of the New Deal. New Deal Art During the Great Depression : provides insight into the artists working as part of the New Deal program. History of the New Deal Art Projects : describes the different types of projects created in the program. 1930s on Display : offers examples of 1930s artwork. Books & Literature 1930s Bestsellers : lists the top selling books for each year. Newberry Books 1930s : discusses the Newberry Award winning books from each year in the 1930s. Popular Books : focuses on the books that were popular with readers during this era. Exoticism in the Literature of the 1930s : looks at this theme used in early books. 1930’s Literature : provides details on books from this time period. The 1930s : discusses common themes used by authors. Literature of the 1930s : focuses on popular authors as well as other topics like comic books. Dr. Seuss : provides details on Dr. Seuss and the books published in the 1930s. Newberry Winners from the 1930s : offers details on all of these award winners. Fashion and Fads 1930s Fashion History : provides resources on understanding fashion history. 1930-1945 in Fashion : looks at both men’s and women’s clothing and fads. Men’s Fashions of the 1930s : looks at popular clothing worn by men. Fads of the 1930’s : focuses on popular trends and fads from this decade. Fads of the 20s-40s : offers different fads that swept the nation after the Great Depression. Fads and Fashions of the 1930s : gives pictures and information about popular fashions and fads. The History of Fashion and Dress : focuses on women’s clothing. The Costumer’s Manifesto : offers drawings and photographs of common clothing. 20th Century Fashions : focuses on popular female fashions from the 1930s. Fashion in the 1930s : details the popular fashions from the era for both women and men. People & Personalities Marlene Dietrich : one of the most popular actresses working in the 1930s. Gary Cooper : information on the popular actor. FDR : biography of the revered 1930s president. George & Ira Gershwin : focuses on the popular composer. Duke Ellington : a popular musician from this era. Top 10 Actors 1930 : lists the most popular actors working during the decade. Superstars of the 1930s : gives information on popular actors, musicians and artists from the 1930s. Paul Robeson : details the actor’s life. Carl Sandurg : popular poet who started in the 1930s. The Noel Coward Society : devoted to providing information about the popular 1930s personality. Events World Events of the 1930s : lists a number of events that occurred in the United States. America in the 1930s : provides different events that influenced people in the country. The People History : compares modern day prices with prices from the 1930s. Important Events in the 1930s : discusses major events such as the Great Depression. Empire State Building : offers a look at the construction and opening of the building. Amelia Earhart : provides information on her flights during the 1930s. Great Depression and the New Deal : focuses on how the US struggled to escape the Great Depression. Lindbergh Kidnapping : covers the hottest topic at the time. Music American Popular Music in the 1930s : covers the different artists and their popular songs. Music in the United States in the 1930s : focuses on folk music and the artists working in that genre. Some Music from the 1930s : gives lyrics to popular songs. 1930 in Music : lists the major events from 1930 in the music industry. The Evolution of Jazz Music in the 1930s : focuses on how jazz music changed during this era. Music During the 1920s-1930s : shows how music changed and evolved. The Swing Era : discusses how swing music grew. Jazz & Blues : provides information on popular musicians working in blues and jazz music during the 1930s. A Brief History of Blues Music : looks at how blues music grew during the 1930s. Education Art Education Timeline : shows how art history programs started during this era. Education in the 1930s : gives a brief history of school during the 1930s. Going to School : discusses the hardships of early schooling. Ideas and Realities : shows what school was actually like during this era. Maury County Tennessee School Records & History : provides a history of schools in this area prior to 1940. The Prosperous Twenties : gives a history of one school during the early years. Krannert School of Management : offers a timeline of the school from the 1930s. Cumberland County High School : provides a look at the history of one high school in this era. Radio 1930s TV and Radio : focuses on soap operas airing over the radio. Radio’s Forgotten Years : discusses how radio changed during this era. Soap Opera : focuses on the early days of radio serials. Old Time Commercials : offers audio clips of old radio commercials. The Golden Age of Radio : discusses popular shows and programs. A Night to Remember : focuses on the infamous War of the Worlds program. Radio Days : mentions older radio programs. War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast : looks at the panic that the broadcast caused. Living in America during the 1930s was a difficult time. Employee background checks didn’t exist because those who could afford hiring new workers hired those who needed help. The country managed to have some fun and exciting times, but it wasn’t until World War II that things really improved. http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade30.html PEOPLE AND PERSONALITIES Mary McLeod Bethune a very influential African American woman educator and friend of Eleanor Roosevelt who, as a board member of the National Youth Administration, was able to extend benefits to African Americans. Richard E. Byrd a famous explorer of the Antarctic and Arctic whose 1933-35 expedition to Antartica conducted many scientific search projects. Father Charles E. Coughlin a Catholic priest who gathered a large following of all denominations with his radio broadcasts; an early Roosevelt supporter, he later came to vilify the President and oppose his programs. Mildred Babe Didrikson considered by many to be the finest woman athlete of all time, she won medals or distinction in such varied sports as baseball, basketball, track and field, and golf. Amelia Earhart an aviation pioneer who was the first woman and second person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Karl Menninger an American psychiatrist whose book The Human Mind had a great effect on public attitudes toward mental illness. Jesse Owens an African American athlete who won four gold medals in track-and-field at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and put to shame Hitler's Aryan superiority message. Frances Perkins the first woman cabinet member who advocated the 8 hour day, stricter factory safety laws, and laws for the protection of women and children in the labor force. Will Rogers a homespun philosopher who began his career as an Oklahoma cowboy. Well loved and respected radio commentator, film actor, and author Walter Winchell a 'gossip' columnist and radio commentator whose controversial stands and scoops on celebrities made him one of the most famous twentieth-century American journalists. LINKS Biography Index | Biography of over 15,000 famous persons. Genealogy Guide | Helpful guide for locating past people, places and events. Documents | Documents for the study of American history (1930's) ART & ARCHITECTURE: The arts, like everything else in the 30's, were dominated by the Great Depression. In the 1930's this discipline was supported by government programs such as the Public Works of Art Project and later the Federal Art Project. The artists employed by these projects (over 5,000 at one period of time) chose themes based on American culture and history. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, was able to complete his Mount Rushmore Memorial with funds supplied by the WPA. Other "starving artists" were able to survive the hard times by painting murals on the lobby walls of government buildings. There were some of these individuals who became artists of note, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. This decade saw the beginning of the American regionalist style with Grant Wood's famous work, "American Gothic". Artists that adopted this style include John Steuart Curry, Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O'Keeffe with her southwestern themes, and Edward Hopper with his realistic scenes from city life. Many of the nation's most memorable skyscrapers (the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center) were completed in the early 30's. In 1937 the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece of home design, "Falling Water", was built. In 1932 the word "mobile" was coined to describe the kenetic sculpture created by Alexander Calder. In 1935 Andrew Mellon gave his $25 million dollar art collection to the American people and contributed $10 million to the construction of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. LINKS New Deal for the Arts / a history of the government's support for the arts Great US Buildings of the 1930s | Descriptions of great American buildings, many with photos. WPA Poster Art EDUCATION The 1930's were a perilous time for public education. With cash money in short supply parents were unable to provide their children with the necessary clothes, supplies, and textbooks (which were not furnished in some states) to attend school. Taxes, especially in rural areas, went unpaid. With the loss of revenue, school boards were forced to try numerous strategies to keep their districts operating. School terms were shortened. Teachers' salaries were cut. One new teacher was paid $40 a month for a five month school year - and was very glad for the job! When a rural county in Arkansas was forced to charge tuition one year in order to keep the schools open, some children were forced to drop out for that year. One farmer was able to barter wood to fuel the classrooms' potbellied stoves for his four children's tuition, thus enabling them to continue their education. The famous Dick and Jane books that taught millions of children to read were first published in 1931. These primers introduced the students to reading with only one new word per page and a limited vocabulary per book. All who learned to read with these books still recall the "Look. See Dick. See Dick run." FADS & FASHION With the reduction of spendable income, people had to look to inexpensive leisure pursuits. President Roosevelt helped make stamp collecting a popular hobby. Parlor games and board games became the rage. In 1935 Parker Brothers introduced the game of Monopoly and 20 thousand sets were sold in one week. Gambling increased as people sought any means to add to their income. Between 1930 and 1939 horse racing became legal in 15 more states bringing the total to 21. Interest in spectator sports such as baseball grew. Stars like Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio drew fans into the stadium, and those who could not attend the games gathered around their radios to listen to the play-by-play. The separate Negro League was in its golden years. The 1932 Winter Olympics, held at Lake Placid, New York, renewed interest in winter sports. The Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal work project for youths, built ski runs and jumps on public land as well as recreational facilities in the national parks. Paris fashions became too expensive for all but the very rich, and American designers came into their own. Hollywood movie stars such as Bette Davis and Greta Garbo set fashion trends in dresses designed by Adrian and Muriel King and hats designed by Lily Dache. Clothes had to last a long time so styles did not change every season. The simple print dress with a waist line and longer hem length replaced the flapper attire of the 1920's. The use of the zipper became wide spread for the first time because it was less expensive than the buttons and closures previously used. Another innovation of the 30's was different hem lengths for different times of the day - mid calf for day wear, long for the evening. Men's pants were wide and high waisted. Vest sweaters were an alternative to the traditional matching vest of the three piece suit. Hats were mandatory for the well dressed male. LITERATURE Many of America's most distinguished writers produced works of fiction during the thirties. The list includes such names as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thornton Wilder. Some of the novels of this period explored what was happening in the country during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath chronicled the life of a displaced Oklahoma family who had lost its farm to the drought of the Dust Bowl. James T. Farrell wrote a trilogy of novels about an Irish-American named Studs Lonigan and his attempt to rise above his poor beginnings. Richard Wright took on the issue of racial prejudice and the plight of blacks in Native Son. Erskine Caldwell's novel Tobacco Road described the life of poor whites in the rural South. All four of these works were cited on the recent Modern Library list of the top 100 novels, in English, of the 20th century. There were notable works in other forms of literature. The poet Carl Sandburg published his poem "The People, Yes" in 1936. Ogden Nash wrote light verse for the New Yorker magazine. Dr. Seuss delighted children with his rhyming books for youngsters learning to read. Wallace Stevens' collection of poetry, The Man With the Blue Guitar was published in 1937. The public speaking instructor, Dale Carnegie, in 1936 MUSIC "It Don't Mean a Thing (if it Ain't Got That Swing)". The title of this Duke Ellington song sums up the "in" music of the thirties. There were popular songs such as "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" that spoke to the hardships of the time, but the young people flocked to hear and dance to the big bands of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey. In this same era Broadway produced some of the most famous and lasting American musicals. George and Ira Gershwin wrote the hits Strike Up the Band, Girl Crazy, and Of Thee I Sing. Cole Porter produced such works as Anything Goes, Jubilee, and Red Hot and Blue. Songwriters and lyricists like Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, and Richard Rodgers composed melodies still being played and sung today. The Federal Music Project (FMP) supported the musical arts and sponsored performances of both classical and popular compositions. The FMP emphasized American music and promoted the works of Aaron Copland, Roy Harris and Virgil Thomson. In 1936 the Department of the Interior hired Woody Guthrie to travel throughout the Northwest and perform his folk songs. During this tour he wrote twenty-six songs in twenty-six days. By 1938 Guthrie was making appearances in support of labor unions and wrote such songs as "I Ain't Got No Home", inspired by visits to migrant labor camps. . It was in 1935 that George Gershwin's American folk opera Porgy and Bess was first performed, still played. In 1931 Congress designated "The Star Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. In 1938 Kate Smith sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" and made the song her own. There have been many proponents of making this the national anthem, replacing the hard to sing "Star Spangled Banner". In the same year a young Mary Martin captivated theatergoers with her rendition of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in Cole Porter's Leave It to Me. LINKS American Popular Music 1900-1950 | A look at the music and the times. Music in the Public Domain | Includes song lists - with links to some lyrics. RADIO Radio reached its zenith of popularity in this decade.By 1939 about 80 percent of the population owned radio sets. Americans loved to laugh at the antics of such comedians as Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Amos and Andy, and Fibber McGee and Molly. The soap opera dominated the daytime airwaves.Our Gal Sunday began each episode with the question, "Can a girl from a little mining town in the west find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?' Many a woman's ear was glued to her radio every day in hopes of learning the answer. The heroics of the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, the Shadow, and Jack Armstrong, all-american boy, thrilled listeners both young and old and sold countless boxes of cereal. News broadcasts by commentators like H. V. Kaltenborn and Edward R. Murrow kept the public aware of the increasing crisis in Europe. Franklin Roosevelt used the medium in his "Fireside Chats" (listen)to influence public opinion. One of the most dramatic moments in radio history occurred on May 6, 1937, when the German airship Hindenburg burst into flames as it was about to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The horror of the incident was conveyed live by the reporter Herb Morrison. His reaction to what was happening in front of him still enthralls today. On October 30, 1938, a twenty-three-year-old Orson Welles broadcast on his Mercury Theater of the Air the H.G. Wells story War of the Worlds. Despite the disclaimer at the end of the program, the tale of a Martian invasion of Earth panicked a million listeners who mistook the play for a newscast. Such was the influence of radio in this its golden age. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY The New York's World Fair of 1939 - true to its theme of "The World of Tomorrow" - gave its estimated 25.8 million visitors a glimpse of the future. The fairgoers marveled at the flickering images of a TV set at the RCA Building and were amazed at the General Motors exhibit of a seven-lane cross-country highway system. Many of the innovations demonstrated did not become a part of every day life until after World War II, but there was a peek at the technology to come. Medical advances in the thirties included a new and safer way to do blood transfusions. An advance that was to save many a soldier's life in the upcoming war. In 1937 Chicago's Cook County Hospital opened the first blood bank that stored blood given by live donors. This, with improved anesthesia, made the chances of surviving major surgery on vital organs much greater. Pure scientific research suffered from the lack of funding. Nevertheless, in physics ground breaking experiments in atom smashingwere being conducted at such institutions as Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology. Albert Einstein immigrated to the United States in 1933 and became a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University. From here in 1939 he wrote his famous letter to President Rooseveltrecommending the development of the atomic bomb. In the field of astronomy the ninth major planet, Pluto, was discovered in 1930. Industrial research led to better refrigeration for foods, a variety of products made from synthetic materials such as plexiglass, nylon, and cellophane, and improved manufacturing techniques such as polymerization, which increased production of gasoline by nine million gallons a year. In 1938 American physicist Chester F. Carlson made the first copy by an electrostatic process called xerography. THEATER AND FILM The theater flourished in this fourth decade of the twentieth century. In addition to musicals, Broadway marques lit up with play titles like Green Pastures by Marc Connelly, The Man Who Came to Dinner by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman, Winterset by Maxwell Anderson, Abe Lincoln in Illinois by Robert Sherwood, and Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets. In 1936 the foremost American dramatist Eugene O'Neill won the Nobel prize for literature for such works as Anna Christie and Mourning Becomes Electra. Hollywood turned out movie after movie to entertain its Depression audience and the 30's are often referred to as Hollywood's "Golden Age". Movie goers wanted mainly escapist fare that let them forget their everyday troubles for a few hours. They swooned over such matinee idols as Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, and Errol Flynn. They laughed at the likes of W. C. Fields, Bob Hope, and the Marx Brothers. America fell in love with the little curly headed moppet Shirley Temple and flocked to see her tap dance and sing to the song "The Good Ship Lollipop". Busby Berkeley's elaborate dance numbers delighted many a fan. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers tapping and ballroom dancing across the screen enthralled the audience. Notable writers like William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald penned screenplays. Not all movies were fantasy and lightness. The picture version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath brought to film the story of the Joab family and its migration from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma to the agricultural fields of California. One of the top money makers of all time Gone With the Wind debuted in Atlanta, Georgia in 1939. Walt Disney produced the first full-length animated movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. LINKS: The WPA Federal Theater Project Classic Movies http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html The 1940's were dominated by World War II. European artists and intellectuals fled to the United States from Hitler and the Holocaust, bringing new ideas created in disillusionment. War production pulled us out of the Great Depression. Women were needed to replace men who had gone off to war, and so the first great exodus of women from the home to the workplace began. Rationing affected the food we ate, the clothes we wore, the toys with which children played. After the war, the men returned, having seen the rest of the world. No longer was the family farm an ideal; no longer would blacks accept lesser status. The GI Bill allowed more men than ever before to get a college education. Women had to give up their jobs to the returning men, but they had tasted independence. The purpose of this web / library guide is to help the user gain a broad understanding and appreciation for the culture and history of the 1940-1949 period in American history. In a very small way, this is a bibliographic essay. To see the whole picture, we encourage users to browse all the way through this page (and the other decades as they come online) and then visit the suggested links for more information on the decade. As you can see, the best way to immerse oneself in a topic is to use both Internet and the library. Some information is best viewed or read in books. This is where the real depth of information can be found. Then there is information that will be found only on the Internet. If you can add a valuable site or information to this page, we invite you to write. Thanks for the visit. ENJOY! HISTORIC EVENTS The forties are pretty well defined by World War II. US isolationism was shattered by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt guided the country on the homefront, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded the troops in Europe. Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester Nimitz led them in the Pacific. The successful use of an antibiotic, penicillin, by 1941 revolutionized medicine. Developed first to help the military personnel survive war wounds, it also helped increase survival rates for surgery. The first eye bank was established at New York Hospital in 1944. Unemployment almost disappeared, as most men were drafted and sent off to war. The government reclassified 55% of their jobs, allowing women and blacks to fill them. First, single women were actively recruited to the workforce. In 1943, with virtually all the single women employed, married women were allowed to work. Japanese immigrants and their descendants, suspected of loyalty to their homelands, were sent to internment camps. There were scrap drives for steel, tin, paper and rubber. These were a source of supplies and gave people a means of supporting the war effort. Automobile production ceased in 1942, and rationing of food supplies began in 1943. Victory gardens were re-instituted and supplied 40% of the vegetables consumed on the home front. In April, 1945, FDR died, and President Harry Truman celebrated V-E Day on May 8, 1945. Japan surrendered only after two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States emerged from World War II as a world superpower, challenged only by the USSR. While the USSR subjugated the defeated countries, the US implemented the Marshall Plan, helping war-torn countries to rebuild and rejoin the world economy. Disputes over ideology and control led to the Cold War. Communism was treated as a contagious disease, and anyone who had contact with it was under suspicion. Alger Hiss, a former hero of the New Deal, was indicted as a traitor and the House Un-American Activities Committee began its infamous hearings. Returning GI's created the baby boom, which is still having repercussions on American society today. Although there were rumors, it was only after the war ended that Americans learned the extent of the Holocaust. Realization of the power of prejudice helped lead to Civil Rights reforms over the next three decades. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act, commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights, entitled returning soldiers to a college education. In 1949, three times as many college degrees were conferred as in 1940. College became available to the capable rather than the privileged few. Television made its debut at the 1939 World Fair, but the war interrupted further development. In 1947, commercial television with 13 stations became available to the public. Computers were developed during the early forties. The digital computer, named ENIAC, weighing 30 tons and standing two stories high, was completed in 1945. WEB SITES American History 1860 to the present | Lone Star College - Kingwood Library history page for this period. World War II | Historical text archive. Women and the Home Front during World War II | Rosie the Riveter, WASPS, WAVES and nurses. Historical Atlas of the 20th Century | Collection of maps and stats of the 20th century. Biography Index | Biographies of over 25,000 famous persons, from the History Channel. Genealogy Guide | Helpful in locating past people, places and events. The 1940's | Film, fashion, radio and music, with video clips. BOOKS REF E169.12 .A419 American Decades 1940-1949 Business, government, education, arts, science and sports . REF E178.5.A48 Album of American History Vol V and VI This is a great book to give the reader the real flavor of the decade because it is made up of photographs, captions, and brief entries. REF E174.D62 Dictionary of American History From very brief to multi-page signed entries on topics in American history. Also available through NetLibrary. REF E740.7 .E53 Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century Articles evaluating the trends in American politics, people, economics, culture. REF E169.1 A471872 America in the 20th Century 1940-1949 is covered in volume 5. Information is readable and concise, covering the War, the homefront, labor and the arts. REF E173.A793 The Annals of America Use volume 16. Set contains essays and excepts from important writers and on important topics of the time. Most valuable for this research. ART & ARCHITECTURE As Adolf Hitler systematically eliminated artists whose ideals didn't agree with his own, many emigrated to the United States, where they had a profound effect on American artists. The center of the western art world shifted from Paris to New York. To show the raw emotions, art became more abstract. Abstract Expressionism, also known as the New York School, was chaotic and shocking in an attempt to maintain humanity in the face of insanity. Jackson Pollock was the leading force in abstract expressionism, but many others were also influential, including Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Robert Motherwell, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Piet Mondrian, Arshile Gorky, Adolf Gottlieb, and Hans Hofmann. Andrew Wyeth, the most popular of American artists, didn't fit in any movement. His most popular work, Christina's World, was painted in 1948. Sculpture, too, became abstract and primitive, utilizing motion in Alexander Calder's mobiles, and modern materials such as steel and "found objects" rather than the traditional marble and bronze. In architecture, nonessentials were eliminated, and simplicity became the key element. In some cases, such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's famous glass house, even practicality was ignored. Modern glass-and-steel office buildings began to rise after the war ended. Pietro Belluschi designed the prototype Equitable Savings and Loan building, a "skyscraper" of twelve stories. Eliel Saarinen utilized contemporary design, particularly in churches. The dream home remained a Cape Cod. After the war, suburbs, typified by Levittown, with their tract homes and uniformity, sprang up to house returning GI's and their new families. The average home was a one level Ranch House, a collection of previously unaffordable appliances surrounded by minimal living space. The family lawn became the crowning glory and symbol of pride in ownership. WEB SITES Skyscrapers | A look at some of the skyscrapers in New York City. While not necessarily designed in the 1940's, they are a result of the 1940's innovations. Twentieth Century Art Links | Worldwide Great Buildings Online | Important architecture of the 1940s. Descriptions included. Library of Congress. American Memories | Interiors and exteriors of American homes, stores, offices, factories and historic buildings; photographs taken from 1935-1955 BOOKS NA712 .L 20th Century American Archicture Photographs and descriptions of the key buildings of the era. REF NA6512 .A578 American Artists Brief entries and representational pictures of the artists' work. ND213.5 .R4 W36 American Realist Painting 1945-1980 Post-war trends REF N6490 .O94 Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Art Medium length entries on the major artists of the century, worldwide. REF NA680 .E495 Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture People, places and trends, worldwide. MUSIC & RADIO Like art, music reflected American enthusiasm tempered with European disillusionment. While the European émigrés George Szell, Bela Bartok, Arnold Schoenberg, Paul Hindemith, Kurt Weill, and Nadia Boulanger introduced classical dissonance, American born composers remained more traditional, with Aaron Copland's Rodeo (1942) and Appalachian Spring (1944). William Schuman wrote his symphonies #3(1941) through #7(1949). At the beginning of the decade, Big Bands dominated popular music. Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman led some of the more famous bands. Eventually, many of the singers with the Big Bands struck out on their own. Bing Crosby's smooth voice made him one of the most popular singers, vying with Frank Sinatra. Dinah Shore, Kate Smith and Perry Como also led the hit parade. Be-Bop and Rhythm and Blues, grew out of the big band era toward the end of the decade. Although these were distinctly black sounds, epitomized by Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Billy Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Herman also performed blues and jazz. Radio was the lifeline for Americans in the 1940's, providing news, music and entertainment, much like television today. Programming included soap operas, quiz shows, children's hours, mystery stories, fine drama, and sports. Kate Smith and Arthur Godfrey were popular radio hosts. The government relied heavily on radio for propaganda. Like the movies, radio faded in popularity as television became prominent. Many of the most popular radio shows continued on in television, including Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and Truth or Consequences. WEB SITES American Popular Music 1900-1950 | A look at the music and the times. Lyrics Database | 61,000 song lyrics. Search by keyword. Music in the Public Domain | Includes song lists - with links to some lyrics. History of Radio | Arranged chronologically. American Pop Culture | Songs, fads and inventions from the first half of the century. BOOKS REF ML200.H15 A Chronicle of American Music 1700-1995 Arranged by year, historical highlights, world cultural highlights, American art and literature, music - commercial and cultural. REF ML197.S634 Music Since 1900 Arranged by day, includes important premiers and musical events. REF ML128.S37L4 The Great Song Thesaurus Arranged by year, summary of world and musical events, list of important songs. REF ML390.S983 Show Tunes 1905-1985 Features important composers. Lists their shows and the published music for each show. REF ML102 .M88 H593 Oxford Companion to the American Musical. Brief entries on the best known shows and entertainers REF ML200 .C36 Cambridge History of American Music Several volumes. REF ML128 .P63 T95 Hit Songs 1900-1955 Interesting background about popular tunes. BOOKS & LITERATURE The decade opened with the appearance of the first inexpensive paperback. Book clubs proliferated, and book sales went from one million to over twelve million volumes a year. Many important literary works were conceived during, or based on, this time period, but published later. Thus, it took a while for the horror of war and the atrocities of prejudice to come forth. Shirley Jackson wrote The Lottery to demonstrate how perfectly normal, otherwise nice people, could allow something like the Holocaust. In The Human Comedy, William Saroyan tackles questions of prejudice against the setting of World War II. Richard Wright completed Native Son in 1940 and Black Boy in 1945, earning acclaim, but government persecution over his communist affiliation sent him to Paris in 1945. Nonfiction writing proliferated, giving first-hand accounts of the war. The first edition of Dr. Benjamin Spock's Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care is considered by some to have changed child rearing. World War II as Seen through Children's Literature | Overview and bibliography of books written during or about the war. Books That Define the Time Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead Irwin Shaw's Young Lions John Hershey's A Bell for Adano William Saroyan's The Human Comedy Richard Wright's Black Boy Dr. Spock's Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care Books About Books REF PN50 .L574 Literature and its Times Examines literature in light of the events and prejudices of the day. Vol. 4 covers works about, but not necessarily written during, the forties. REF PS21 M34 Magills Survery of American Literature Gives author background and a synopsis of significant works, including those listed as "defining the time." REF PS221 .T835 Twentieth Century American Literature An 8 volume set with long essays and criticism of twentieth century works. REF PS350 .A53 American Playwrights since 1945 Gives an overview of each playwright's life and works, including criticism. Children's Book Award winners of the forties: Newbery Award Winners - Began in 1922 (award for the most distinguished child's book of the previous year) 1940: Daniel Boone by James Daugherty 1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry 1942: The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds 1943: Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray 1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes 1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson 1946: Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski 1947: Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois 1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry Caldecott Award Winners - Began in 1938 (award for the most distinguished child's picture book of the previous year) 1940: Abraham Lincoln by Ingri & Edgar Parin d'Aulaire 1941: They Were Strong and Good, by Robert Lawson 1942: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey 1943: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton 1944: Many Moons, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin; text: James Thurber 1945: Prayer for a Child, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones; text: Rachel Field 1946: The Rooster Crows by Maude & Miska Petersham 1947: The Little Island, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard; text: Golden MacDonald, pseud. [Margaret Wise Brown] 1948: White Snow, Bright Snow, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin; text: Alvin Tresselt 1949: The Big Snow by Berta & Elmer Hader FADS In popular dancing, the Jitterbug made its appearance at the beginning of the decade. It was the first dance in two centuries that allowed individual expression. GI's took the dance overseas when they to war, dancing with local girls, barmaids, or even each other if necessary. Rosie the Riveter was the symbol of the working woman, as the men went off to war and the women were needed to work in the factories. GIs, however, preferred another symbol, the pin-up girl, such as Rita Hayworth or Betty Grable. Pictures were mounted on lockers and inside helmets to remind the men what they were fighting for. Wherever American soldiers went, even the first to arrive would find a picture of eyes and a nose, with the message, Kilroy was Here. After they returned, Kilroy began to mark his place on the walls and rocks of public places. More than one pregnant woman came into the delivery room with "Kilroy was here" painted on her belly. Working mothers, combined with another new phenomenon, the refrigerator, led to the invention of frozen dinners. With the advent of television later in the decade, they became known as TV Dinners. Tupperware and aluminum foil eased the postwar housewives' burden, and diners, originally horse drawn carriages with a couple of barstools, became a stationary, respectable staple of the postwar culture. The Slinky was invented by a ship inspector in 1945. Teenagers became a recognized force in the forties. With the men off to war, teenagers - boys and girls - found employment readily available, and so had money to spend. Seventeen magazine was established in 1944. Advertisement began to be aimed at teens. With fathers away and mothers at work, another new phenomenon arose - the juvenile delinquent. BOOKS REF E169.1.P19 Panati's Parade of Fads, Follies and Manias Arranged by decade, includes fads, dance crazes, radio, TV, popular books and songs. E 69.1.R7755 Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America Important essays analyzing mass culture in American history. FASHION The Zoot Suit was the height of fashion among daring young men until the War Production Department restricted the amount of fabric that could be used in men's garments. The same restrictions led to the popularity of the women's convertible suit, a jacket, short skirt, and blouse. The jacket could be shed for more formal attire at night. Silk stockings were unavailable, so, to give the illusion with stockings with their prominent seam, women would draw a line up the backs of their legs with an eyeliner. At work, as "Rosie the Riveter" took on a man's work, slacks became acceptable attire. When the war and it's restrictions ended, Christian Dior introduced the New Look, feminine dresses with long, full skirts, and tight waists. Comfortable, low-heeled shoes were forsaken for high heels. Hair was curled high on the head in front, and worn to the shoulders in the back, and make-up was socially acceptable. Glamorous Rita Hayworth made the sweater look popular. It took time to put the New Look together, time the women now had as the men returned to their jobs in the factories and offices. WEB SITES Solemates: Century in Shoes | Shoe styles and other fashion trends of the 1940's. Includes film clips. Vintage Blues - History of Fashion 1940-1950 The Costume Gallery - Women's Fashions 1940's BOOKS GT615 .H86 The Way We Were: Styles of the 1930's and 1940's Clothing of the decade worn on screen by actress Marsha Hunt. Hairstyles and hats are also featured. GT605 .W5 Five Centuries of American Costume Chapter 9 discusses the dress of men and women from 1940-1949. Illustrations included. GT605 .H35 Common Threads: A Parade of American Clothing Includes an overview of the 20th century, then chapters on contributors to changes in fashion. It has photographs of people at work, in college, and at play. THEATER and FILM The theater, too, turned to abstractionism. Thornton Wilder's The Skin of our Teeth (1942) was bizarre and difficult to understand but won the Pulitzer Prize. Tennessee Williams wrote of selfdisillusionment and futility in the Glass Menagerie (1945) and Streetcar named Desire (1947). In contrast Musical Theater was reborn, with Agnes de Mille's technique of dancing in character in Oklahoma (1943). Carousel (1945), and Annie get your Gun (1946). The forties were the heyday for movies. The Office of War declared movies an essential industry for morale and propaganda. Most plots had a fairly narrow and predictable set of morals, and if Germans or Japanese were included, they were one-dimensional villains. Examples are Casablanca, Mrs. Miniver, Lifeboat, Notorious, Best Years of our Lives, Wake Island, Battle of Midway, Guadalcanal Diary, and Destination Tokyo. Citizen Kane, not fitting the template, was one of the masterpieces of the time. Leading actors were Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Stewart, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner. Walt Disney's career began to take off, with animated cartoons such as Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942). During the war years, the studio produced cartoons for the government, such as Donald gets Drafted (1942), Out of the Frying Pan into the Firing Line (1942) and Der Fuehrer's Face (1943). The Emergency Committee of the Entertainment Industry, composed of both black and white actors, fought for better roles for blacks. Lena Horne, Hattie McDaniel, and Cab Calloway, among others, made small inroads. The boom years of movies faded with the advent of television in 1948. TELEVISION At the end of the war, only 5,000 television sets, with five inch black & white screens, were in American homes. By 1951, 17 million had been sold. The Original Amateur Hour, a revival of a popular radio show, was the first top-rated show in 1948 . Milton Berle's slapstick comedy, Texaco Star Theater, was credited with creating the demand for televisions. Its greatest rival was Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town. Kukla, Fran & Ollie kicked off children's television as Junior Jamboree in 1947, followed by the Howdy Doody Show. The sitcom made its appearance in January, 1949, with The Goldbergs. WEB SITES Broadway 101 - History of theater on Broadway, by decade E-Online movies and stars Starbuzz: Guide to Stars Online Television History - The First 75 Years Movie Timeline - Search for "current events" in the movies by date BOOKS REF PN2189.L65 Twentieth Century Theatre A theater buff's bible. This book lists and describes by year premiers, productions, revivals, events, births/death/debuts in both America and Great Britain. REF PN1992.18 .E53 Encyclopedia of Television Photographs and information about the stars and the shows. REF PN1993.5 .U6 H55 History of the American Cinema: Boom and Bust. Stars and trends. Volume 6 covers the forties. REF ML390.S983 Show Tunes: 1905-1985 Limited because it only covers only Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin from this era. Worth a look for these two - because it lists plays, performances, theater information, and published songs. SPORTS World War II had its effect on sports as all able-bodied men between 18 and 26 were expected to serve in the military. Rubber went to the war effort; consequently, balls were soggy and unresponsive. Wood was in short supply, leading to a shortage of baseball bats and bowling pins. Even so, professional sports were encouraged to continue, to improve the morale of the troops. President Roosevelt signed the Green Light letter, supporting baseball. Baseball games were considered so important to troop morale that the Japanese tried to jam radio broadcasts. By 1943, half the baseball players had enlisted. Teams used older veterans and even a one-armed outfielder, Pete Gray of the St. Louis Browns. In the All-American Girls Baseball League, players wore dresses and had to attend charm school. After the war, television and easier transportation changed the face of American sports. In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black professional baseball player - in fact, the first black professional athlete outside of boxing. Baseball players negotiated for a minimum salary of $5500 a year. By 1950, the top earning player, Stan Musial, was making $50,000. Postwar baseball names included Ted Williams, Ralph Kiner and Joe DiMaggio. Before 1941 when two-platoon football was allowed, all eleven players on a football team played the entire game. Only injury was an excuse for substitution. That changed in 1941, when free subs were allowed, enabling weakened college teams to continue playing. Because of travel restrictions, the 1942 Army Navy game was played in Annapolis, and half the midshipmen were assigned to cheer for West Point. Sixty years later, Bill Williams, a Navy midshipman (Class of 1945), remembered that game. "We yelled the cheers and sang the songs but I don't remember being very energetic. Also when Navy scored, we forgot whose side we were supposed to be on. We won fourteen to nothing." The penalty flag, first used in 1941, became official in 1948. Elaborate playbooks were introduced by Paul Brown, turning football into a game of strategy. Some of the northern college football teams began to integrate blacks. Basketball was less affected by the war than other sports because a player's height often made him ineligible for military service. The Basketball Association of America formed in 1946, merged in 1949 with the National Basketball League to form the NBA. Joe Fulks of the Philadelphia Warriors had a record high score of 63 points in a game when most whole teams didn't score that high. The 1940's were the heyday of boxing. Boxing was big money, mainly because of gambling, and was ruled by gangland boxing czar Frankie Carbo. Joe Louis was the heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1948, in part because major boxing titles were frozen from 1941 to 1946 as four thousand professional boxers joined the military. Louis not only enlisted, he donated over $100,000 to war relief efforts in 1942. Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams and Willie Pep were other big names in boxing. The Indianapolis 500 was closed duirng the war and the racetrack deteriorated. In the first postwar race in 1946, twenty-four cars dropped out due to wrecks and mechanical difficulties. NASCAR, a stock car racing club that purportedly ran cars that you could buy from a dealer's showroom started the Grand Nationals in 1949. The Women's Professional Golf Association formed in 1946, and the Ladies Professional Golf Association in 1949. Babe Didriksen Zaharias and Patty Berg were the stars, with Byron Nelson the men's champion. Jack Kramer dominated men's tennis. WEB SITES Organization of American Historians - Baseball and World War II http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html Money and Inflation 1940's To provide an estimate of inflation we have given a guide to the value of $100 US Dollars for the first year in the decade to the equivalent in today's money If you have $100 Converted from 1940 to 2005 it would be equivalent to $1433.77 today In 1940 a new house cost $3,920.00 and by 1949 was $7,450.00 In 1940 the average income per year was $1,725.00 and by 1949 was $2,950.00 In 1940 a gallon of gas was 11 cents and by 1949 was 17 cents In 1940 the average cost of new car was $850.00 and by 1949 was $1,420.00 More Cars and car prices from the 1940's A few more prices from the 40's and how much things cost 100 aspirin 76 cents Philco Refrigerator $239.00 Pork Loin Roast per pound 45 cents Nylon Hose 20 cents New Emerson Bedroom Radio 1938 $19.65 Men's Suits from $24.50 Portable electric heater $42.50 Ford Super Deluxe Sedan Coupe $1395 Sealey Mattress $38.00 Toys 1940s From Our 1940s 40stoys Page Price: From $2.98 to $11.98 Check out the new toys pages where you can see some of the children's toys that could be found that relected World War II with Model Plane Kits and Army Doctor/Nurses Kit. Food Prices Clothes Prices Electrical Prices Furniture Prices Example of a house for sale Example From Realty for sale in the 40's 1945 Income property Lincoln Nebraska 3 apartments furnished 2 separate baths automatic heat $5,300 Events 40's First nuclear bomb that dramatically changed the war and international relationships between those who had the technology and those countries who did not VE Victory In Europe Celebrated May 8th VJ Victory In Japan Celebrated August 14th Which signals the end of World War II Following the end of the war during the second half of the 40's marked the beginning of the East-West conflict and the Cold War. One of the gains from the war was the setting up of the United Nations to help negotiate and manage future world conflicts Countries gaining independence from the UK included Pakistan and India NATO / North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, was formed by the major western powers for collective security and established in 1949 Following the continued growth of Jewish refugees and settlers to Israel during the war, in 1948 the region became embroiled in Arab-Israeli War After achieving the independence he so desired for his country On January 30, 1948, on his way to a prayer meeting, Gandhi was shot dead Forties Popular Culture The late 30's and The war in the 40's changed many things and one of those was how black sportsmen became popular heroes and paved the way for future generations, these included Joe Louis ( Boxer ), Jesse Owens ( Runner ) and Jackie Robinson ( Baseball Player ). Find Out More About The History Of Baseball including the Jackie Robinson and other great players Some of the Most Well Known Movie Stars of the Forties Clark Gable couple of his films from the 40's The Hucksters and Bob Hope couple of his films from the 40's Bing Crosby couple of his films from the 40's Humphrey Bogart couple of his films from the 40's Abbott and Costello couple of films from the 40's Gary Cooper couple of his films from the 40's Spencer Tracy couple of his films from the 40's James Cagney couple of his films from the 40's Music From The 40's Rhythm and blues Music becomes popular and the beginnings of Rock and roll World War II 1940's The Forties were dominated by World War II , and after a long period of Economic Recession throughout the world, starting with Wall Street Crash in 1929 and through most of the 30's, the world would be a different place after the 2nd world war ended. As so often happens during war technological advances in any technology that is seen to provide some advantage jump in leaps and bounds the 40's provide some of the best examples America helped fun the war by issueing War Savings Bonds, for each $75.00 American's invested 10 years later they would pay out $100.00 The first ever use of a Nuclear Bomb during wartime when the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Major advancements in radar to help with tracking Enemy aircraft which after the war changed the aviation industry The improvements in the use of Jet Engines The use of unmanned rockets as a weapon ( V2 ) to carry bombs Mans inhumanity to Man exceeded anything preceding with the use of concentration camps as part of "The Holocaust " the name applied to the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of the Jews More About Hiroshima Sporting Changes In The 40's Baseball Baseball Stars are quick to join the forces and fight for their country Following the end of world war II Jackie Robinson signed a contract to play first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the color barrier in baseball. Basketball Other Leagues created earlier fall by the wayside and the National Basketball Association NBA comes to the fore Association Football (Soccer) The famous Latin goal call is first heard, when Brazilian radio announcer Rebelo Junior. shouts (GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL) during a soccer match. American Football Notre Dame / Fighting Irish win four championships The platoons introduced using different players for offense and defense Ice Hockey Rocket Richard The center red line Introduced The first All-Star Ice Hockey game The first All-Star Ice Hockey game For More Sporting history, Origins, Events and Changes, Please Check Out Our New Sports History Section. Technology From The Forties Jet Engines, Radar and Nuclear Fission technological advances due to the war Colossus, the world's first totally electronic and digital computer First Supersonic faster than sound Flight ( Chuck Yager ) First Transistor developed Inventions The Year Invented Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use ) 45 rpm Record ----- 1949 USA Artificial Intelligence ----- 1947 England by Alan Turing Atomic Bomb ----- 1945 USA by Robert Oppenheimer's team Atomic Power ----- 1942 USA by Enrico Fermi's team creating first self-sustaining chain reaction Aqualung ----- 1943 France by J Cousteau and E Gagnon Automation ----- 1946 USA by Henry Ford Computer ----- 1948 England by Freddie William's team Guided Missile ----- 1942 Germany by Werner von Braun Hologram ----- 1947 Hungary by Denis Gabor Kidney Dialysis ----- 1944 Netherlands by Willem Kolff Long Playing Record LP ----- 1948 USA made of vinyl and played at 33 rpm Microwave Oven ----- 1946 USA by Percy L Spencer Mobile Phone ----- 1947 USA Napalm ----- 1942 USA from Harvard University Transistor ----- 1947 USA from Bell Laboratories Velcro ----- 1948 Switzerland by George deMestral Money and Inflation 1930's To provide an estimate of inflation we have given a guide to the value of $100 US Dollars for the first year in the decade to the equivalent in today's money If you have $100 Converted from 1930 to 2005 it would be equivalent to $1204.42 today "If You Had 1 billion dollars then it would now be worth 12 billion dollars." In 1930 average new house cost $7,145.00 and by 1939 was $3,800.00 More House Prices In 1930 the average income per year was $1,970.00 and by 1939 was $1,730.00 In 1930 a gallon of gas was 10 cents and by 1939 was 10 cents In 1930 the average cost of new car was $640.00 and by 1939 was $700.00 More Cars and Car Prices Food Prices Clothes Prices Electrical Prices Furniture Prices A few more prices from the 30's and how much things cost Firestone Tyre 1932 from $3.69 Single Vision Glasses 1938 $3.85 Complete Modern 10 piece bedroom Suite $79.85 Steak 1938 1LB 20 cents New Emerson Bedroom Radio 1938 $9.95 History of Radio Shaefer Pens 1933 from $3.35 Plymouth Roadking Car 1938 $685 Emmerson 5 tube bedroom radio $9.95 Howard Deluxe Quality silk lined hat $2.85 Cotton Chiffon Volle Girls Frock $2.98 From Our 1930s 30stoys Page Price: $11.98 Toys 1930s Check out the new toys pages where you can see some of the children's toys that could be found during the Depression Years including Balsa Wood Toy Kits, Flossy Flirt Doll, Electric Train Sets and more Chevrolet 1935 Master Deluxe New Master De luxe Chevrolet with improved master blue flame engine, pressure steam oiling , cable brakes and shock $560 proof steering Example of a house for sale 1934 Stucco Bungalow Oakland California . 5 room stucco bungalow , breakfast room , separate garage, $3,750 delightful location Events 1930's Shantytowns form consisting of wood and cardboard in the United States. They are often referred to in history as Hoovertowns after President Hoover The 30's were a time when the depression caused by the wall street crash in late 1929 caused the world to undergo a fundamental change in lifestyles , and as part of the change some new radical politics became popular as seen in the rise of Fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism The 30's also provided a strange phenomenon never repeated where bank robbers and murderers were thought of as celebrities ( a sort of modern Robin Hood ) which in truthfulness they did not rob from the rich to give to the poor just to rob and murder any who got in their way. More About Wall Street Crash The wearing of Sunglasses became popular in the 30's Music 1930s Big band or swing music becomes popular (from 1935 onward) Popular Culture The Film Wizard of OZ Gone with the Wind Action Comics continued to grow and Superman is seen in a comic for the first time Some of the Most Well Known Movie Stars of the Thirties Clark Gable couple of his films from the 30's Gone with the Wind and Mutiny on the Bounty Shirley Temple couple of her films from the 30's Stand Up and Cheer! and Bright Eyes Joan Crawford couple of her films from the 30's Forsaking All Others and Possessed Will Rogers couple of his films from the 30's Judge Priest and Life Begins At Forty Fred Astaire couple of his films from the 30's Swing Time and Follow the Fleet Ginger Rogers couple of her films from the 30's 42nd Street and Flying Down to Rio Sporting Changes In The 30's Baseball National Baseball Hall of Fame starts with the first players to be chosen Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Babe Ruth Joe DiMaggio starts his career at the New York Yankees taking the crown over from Babe Ruth who retires. To help with falling attendance due to the depression, night games are started. Live Radio broadcasts of baseball games begin to encourage fans to help sell tickets Basketball National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA holds first championship tourney in 1939 which Oregon won. Association Football (Soccer) As it's popularity grew, teams in Britain and later the rest of the world bought in managers who instituted a greater degree of Professionalism, tactics and stricter Training regimes taking the game to new levels. The first world cup is played in Uruguay in 1930 which the home team won. American Football Goalposts were moved from the back of the end zone to the front of the Endzone NFL Championship game Introduced Between Eastern and Western divisions The NFL Draft Introduced Ice Hockey Toronto Maple Leafs Win Stanley Cup Great 30's Depression Hits Ice Hockey Teams For More Sporting history, Origins, Events and Changes, Please Check Out Our New Sports History Section. Technology 30's After the fast pace of technology change in the 20's the 30's did still see some advances including The Jet Engine Tea Bags Are introduced and sold Commercially The First Photocopier Invented but not commercial available till 1948 The BBC broadcasts a wider range of Television Programmes until the Outbreak of War in 1939 and TV History of TV stays off the air until 1946 , many of the technical staff are used during for the development of Radar for the war effort The continued increase in use of Radio for entertainment and the refinement of the Airplane for travel 1930's when the airships LZ127 Graf Zeppelin and LZ129 Hindenburg operated regular transatlantic passenger flights between Germany and both North and South America. Inventions The Year Invented Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use ) Ballpoint Pen ----- 1938 Hungary by Laszlo Biró - also called a biro (UK) BBC Television ----- 1932 England first regular TV broadcasts (London) Catseyes ----- 1934 England by Percy Shaw - for lighting roads Electric Razor ----- 1931 USA by Jacob Schick Electron Microscope ----- 1933 Germany by Ernst Ruska Frequency Modulation FM ----- 1939 USA by Edwin H Armstrong - sound by radio waves Helicopter ----- 1936 Germany by Heinrich Focke Jet Engine ----- 1930 England by Frank Whittle Nylon ----- 1931 USA by Wallace Corothers - artificial silk Magnetic Recording ----- 1936 USA audio tapes Photocopier ----- 1938 USA by Chester Carlson Polaroid ----- 1932 USA by Edwin Herbert Land Radar (for Aircraft) ----- 1935 Scotland by Robert Watson-Watt Radio Telescope ----- 1932 USA by Karl Jansky Sticky Tape ----- 1930 USA Politics and wars Wars Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle ever fought, June 1943 World War II (1939–1945) o Nazi Germany invades Poland, Denmark, Norway, Benelux, and the French Third Republic from 1939 to 1941. o Soviet Union invades Poland, Finland, occupies Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Romanian region of Bessarabia from 1939 to 1941. o Germany faces the United Kingdom in the Battle of Britain (1940). It was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign up until that date. o Germany attacks the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941). o The United States enter World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It would face the Empire of Japan in the Pacific War. o o o o o o o Germany and Japan suffer defeats at Stalingrad, El Alamein, and Midway in 1942 and 1943. Normandy Landings. The forces of the Western Allies land on the beaches of Normandy in Northern France (June 6, 1944). Yalta Conference, wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively—for the purpose of discussing Europe's postwar reorganization, intended to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. The Holocaust, also known as The Shoah (Hebrew: השואה, Latinized ha'shoah; Yiddish: חורבן, Latinized churben or hurban[1]) is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic statesponsored extermination by Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, its allies, and collaborators.[2] Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including ethnic Poles, the Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, gay men, and political and religious opponents.[3] By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims is between 11 million and 17 million people.[4] The German Instrument of Surrender signed (May 7–8, 1945). Victory in Europe Day. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and August 9, 1945); Surrender of Japan on August 15. World War II officially ends on September 2, 1945. Crowds celebrating V-J Day in Times Square, New York City, August 1945 Arab–Israeli conflict (Early 20th century–present) o 1948 Arab–Israeli War (1948–1949) – The war was fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours. The war commenced upon the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine in mid-May 1948. After the Arab rejection of the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine (UN General Assembly Resolution 181) that would have created an Arab state and a Jewish state side by side, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked the state of Israel. In its conclusion, Israel managed to defeat the Arab armies. Major political changes Establishment of the United Nations Charter (June 26, 1945) effective (October 24, 1945). Establishment of the defence alliance NATO April 4, 1949. Internal conflicts 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. Victory of Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong in the Chinese Civil War. Beginning of Greek Civil War, which extends from 1946 to 1949. Decolonization and independence David Ben-Gurion proclaiming Israeli independence from the United Kingdom on May 14, 1948 Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. 1944 - Iceland declares independence from Denmark. 1945 - Indonesia declares independence from the Netherlands (effective in 1949 after a bitter armed and diplomatic struggle). 1946 - The French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon dissolves to the independent states of Syria and Lebanon. The French settlers are forced to evacuate the French colony in Syria. 1947 - Partitioning of the British Raj into a secular Union of India and a Muslim Dominion of Pakistan. British rule in Burma ends in 1948. 1948 - Establishment of the State of Israel. 1949 - The People's Republic of China is officially proclaimed.. Economics US Population is 132,122,000c. Unemployed in 1940- 8,120,000c. National Debt is $43 Billion Average Salary $1299 Average Teacher Salary $1441 Minimum Wage $.43 per hour 55% of US homes have indoor plumbing Life expectancy for women is 68.2 Life expectancy for men is 60.8 Auto Deaths 34,500c. Science and technology ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer. Technology Atanasoff–Berry Computer replica at 1st floor of Durham Center, Iowa State University The Atanasoff-Berry computer is considered the first electronic digital computing device built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937–1942. Construction of the Colossus computer, which was used by British codebreakers to read encrypted German messages during World War II. The Z3 as world's first working programmable, fully automatic computing machine was built. The first test of technology for an atomic weapon is made (Trinity test) as part of the Manhattan Project. The development of radar. The development of ballistic missiles. The development of jet aircraft. The Jeep. The development of commercial television. The Slinky. The microwave oven. The invention of Velcro. The invention of Tupperware. The invention of the Frisbee Science Kon-Tiki, 1947 Physics: the development of quantum theory and nuclear physics. Mathematics: the development of game theory and cryptography. Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki crossed the Pacific Ocean proving the practical possibility that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. Willard Libby developed radiocarbon dating - a process that revolutionized archaeology. The development of modern evolutionary synthesis. Popular culture Film Main article: 1940s in film Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane in "Citizen Kane" (1941) "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) Oscar winners: Rebecca (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Casablanca (1943), Going My Way (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Hamlet (1948), All the King's Men (1949). Some of Hollywood's most notable blockbuster films of the 1940s include: The Maltese Falcon directed by John Huston (1941), It's a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra (1946), Double Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder (1944), Meet Me in St. Louis directed by Vincente Minnelli (1944), Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz (1942), Citizen Kane directed by Orson Welles (1941),"The Great Dictator directed by Charlie Chaplin (1940).",The Big Sleep directed by Howard Hawks (1946), The Lady Eve directed by Preston Sturges (1941), The Shop Around the Corner directed by Ernst Lubitsch (1940), White Heat directed by Raoul Walsh (1949), Yankee Doodle Dandy directed by Michael Curtiz (1942), and Notorious directed by Alfred Hitchcock, (1946). The Walt Disney Studios released the animated feature films Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), Fantasia (1941), and Bambi (1942). Although the 1940s was a decade dominated by World War II, important and noteworthy films about a wide variety of subjects were made during that era. Hollywood was instrumental in producing dozens of classic films during the 1940s, several of which were about the war and some are on most lists of all-time great films. European cinema survived although obviously curtailed during wartime and yet many films of high quality were made in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Soviet Union and elsewhere in Europe. The cinema of Japan also survived. Akira Kurosawa and other directors managed to produce significant films during the 1940s. Film Noir, a film style that incorporated crime dramas with dark images, became largely prevalent during the decade. Films such as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep are considered classics and helped launch the careers of legendary actors such as Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. The genre has been widely copied since its initial inception. In France during the war the tour de force Children of Paradise directed by Marcel Carné (1945), was shot in Nazi occupied Paris.[5][6][7] Memorable films from post-war England include David Lean's Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947) and The Third Man (1949), and Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1946) and The Red Shoes (1948), Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) directed by Robert Hamer. Italian neorealism of the 1940s produced poignant movies made in post-war Italy. Roma, città aperta directed by Roberto Rossellini (1945), Sciuscià directed by Vittorio De Sica (1946), Paisà directed by Roberto Rossellini (1946), La terra trema directed by Luchino Visconti (1948), The Bicycle Thief directed by Vittorio De Sica (1948), and Bitter Rice directed by Giuseppe De Santis (1949), are some well-known examples. In Japanese cinema The 47 Ronin is a 1941 black and white two-part Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945), and the post-war Drunken Angel (1948), and Stray Dog (1949), directed by Akira Kurosawa are considered important early works leading to his first masterpieces of the 1950s. Drunken Angel (1948), marked the beginning of the successful collaboration between Kurosawa and actor Toshirō Mifune that lasted until 1965. Music This section requires expansion. Main article: 1940s in music The most popular music style during the 1940s was swing, which prevailed during World War II. In the later periods of the 1940s, less swing was prominent and crooners like Frank Sinatra, along with genres such as bebop and the earliest traces of rock and roll, were the prevalent genre. Literature Main articles: List of years in literature and List of years in poetry For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway in 1940. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus in 1942. The Stranger by Albert Camus in 1942. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1943. Anti-Semite and Jew by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1943. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand in 1943. No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1944. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren in 1945. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank in 1947. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller in 1949. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell in 1949. Fashion Even with the challenges imposed by shortages in rayon, nylon, wool, leather, rubber, metal (for snaps, buckles, and embellishments) and even the amount of fabric that could be used in any one garment, the fashion industry's wheels kept chugging slowly along, producing what it could. After the fall of France in 1940, Hollywood drove fashion in the United States almost entirely, with the exception of a few trends coming from war torn London in 1944 and 1945, as America's own rationing hit full force, and the idea of function seemed to overtake fashion, if only for a few short months until the end of the war. Fabrics shifted dramatically as rationing and wartime shortages controlled import items such as silk and furs. Floral prints seem to dominate the early 1940s, with the mid-to-late 1940s also seeing what is sometimes referred to as "atomic prints" or geometric patterns and shapes. The color of fashion seemed to even go to war, with patriotic nautical themes and dark greens and khakis dominating the color palates, as trousers and wedges slowly replaced the dresses and more traditional heels due to shortages in stockings and gasoline. [8] See also: 1930–1945 in fashion and 1945–1960 in fashion This section requires expansion. People World leaders Adolf Hitler during the 1940s Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa c. late 1930s Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin in the Yalta Conference, February 1945 Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949 Chancellor Adolf Hitler Prime Minister Ion Victor Antonescu Emperor Hirohito Prime Minister Benito Mussolini General Secretary Joseph Stalin President Franklin D. Roosevelt President Harry S. Truman Prime Minister Winston Churchill Prime Minister Clement Attlee President Federico Laredo Brú - until late 1940 President Fulgencio Batista President Ramón Grau President Carlos Prío Socarrás President Charles de Gaulle Prime Minister John Curtin Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan Chairman Mao Zedong Chairman Chiang Kai-shek Reza Shah Pahlavi - until 1941 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Prime Minister and President Hồ Chí Minh Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion Head of state Francisco Franco President İsmet İnönü Prime-Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru President Juan Perón President Eduardo Santos President Darío Echandía Olaya President Alberto Lleras Camargo President Mariano Ospina Pérez General Aung San President Getúlio Vargas President Romulo Betancourt Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Military leaders General Eisenhower speaks with troops prior to D-Day Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese Imperial Navy Fleet Admiral responsible for attack on Pearl Harbor. Erwin Rommel, German Field Marshal who led the North African Campaign. The Supreme Commanders on 5 June 1945 in Berlin: Bernard Montgomery, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Georgy Zhukov and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring Field Marshal Erich von Manstein Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt Marshal Ion Victor Antonescu General Hideki Tōjō General Kuniaki Koiso Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov Field Marshal Ivan Konev General Dwight D. Eisenhower General George Marshall General Douglas MacArthur General Omar Bradley General George S. Patton Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King Field Marshal Harold Alexander Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery Général d'Armée Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Général d'Armée Charles de Gaulle General Henri Winkelman Activists and religious leaders Mohandas Gandhi during the 1940s Raoul Wallenberg, c. 1944 Muhammed Ali Jinnah with Gandhi, 1944. Chiune Sugihara c.1940s See also: List of individuals and groups assisting Jews during the Holocaust, List of Righteous among the Nations by country, Resistance during the Holocaust, and Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust Joel Brand Behic Erkin Varian Fry Mohandas Gandhi Billy Graham Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog Muhammad Ali Jinnah Necdet Kent Aristides de Sousa Mendes Pope Pius XII Martha Sharp Waitstill Sharp Chiune Sugihara Raoul Wallenberg Entertainers Humphrey Bogart, 1946 Rita Hayworth as Doña Sol des Muire in Blood and Sand (1941) Betty Grable, famous pin-up girl, 1943. Clark Gable with 8th AF B-17 in Britain, 1943 Dana Andrews Jean Arthur Fred Astaire Mary Astor Lauren Bacall Josephine Baker Lucille Ball Joseph Barbera Carl Barks Anne Baxter Jack Benny William Bendix Ingrid Bergman Humphrey Bogart Charles Boyer Walter Brennan James Cagney Cab Calloway Lon Chaney Jr. Charles Chaplin Montgomery Clift Claudette Colbert Ronald Colman Gary Cooper Abbott and Costello Joseph Cotten Joan Crawford Bing Crosby Dorothy Dandridge Bette Davis Doris Day Olivia de Havilland Marlene Dietrich Walt Disney Kirk Douglas Irene Dunne Duke Ellington Alice Faye Errol Flynn Henry Fonda Joan Fontaine Clark Gable Ava Gardner Judy Garland Greer Garson Paulette Goddard Betty Grable Cary Grant Sidney Greenstreet Carl Stuart Hamblen William Hanna Rita Hayworth Katharine Hepburn Bob Hope Lena Horne Walter Huston Jennifer Jones Danny Kaye Gene Kelly Alan Ladd Veronica Lake Hedy Lamarr Dorothy Lamour Bert Lancaster Laurel and Hardy Charles Laughton Peter Lawford Vivien Leigh Gene Lockhart June Lockhart Carole Lombard Peter Lorre Myrna Loy Ida Lupino Vera Lynn Fred MacMurray Fredric March Ray Milland Carmen Miranda Marilyn Monroe Margaret O'Brien Maureen O'Hara Gregory Peck Walter Pidgeon Dick Powell Eleanor Powell William Powell Tyrone Power Anthony Quinn Claude Rains Basil Rathbone Ronald Reagan Edward G. Robinson Ginger Rogers Roy Rogers Cesar Romero Mickey Rooney Rosalind Russell Joseph Schildkraut Lizabeth Scott Barbara Stanwyck James Stewart Elizabeth Taylor Robert Taylor Gene Tierney Spencer Tracy Lana Turner Robert Walker[disambiguation needed] John Wayne Orson Welles Richard Widmark Cornel Wilde Jane Wyman Loretta Young Musicians Marian Anderson The Andrews Sisters Louis Armstrong Gene Autry Pearl Bailey Benny Carter Charlie Barnet Count Basie Irving Berlin Mills Brothers Les Brown Les Paul Sammy Cahn Cab Calloway Nat King Cole Perry Como Bing Crosby Jimmy Dorsey Tommy Dorsey Billy Eckstine Duke Ellington Ella Fitzgerald Ira Gershwin Dizzy Gillespie Benny Goodman Stéphane Grappelli Dick Haymes Billie Holiday Lena Horne Betty Hutton Mahalia Jackson Frank Sinatra performing Ol' Man River in 1946's Till the Clouds Roll By Perry Como as Nicky Ricci performing "Here Comes Heaven Again" in 1946 Doll Face. Benny Goodman performing in 1943 Stage Door Canteen. Harry James Al Jolson Danny Kaye Sammy Kaye Gene Krupa Mario Lanza Peggy Lee Johnny Mercer Glenn Miller Charles Mingus Vaughn Monroe Charlie Parker Édith Piaf Cole Porter Bud Powell Django Reinhardt Max Roach Richard Rodgers Paul Robeson Artie Shaw Dinah Shore Frank Sinatra Kate Smith Ink Spots Billy Strayhorn Ernest Tubb Sarah Vaughan Hank Williams Bob Wills Teddy Wilson Sports During the 1940s Sporting events were disrupted and changed by the events that engaged and shaped the entire world. The 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were cancelled because of World War II. During World War II in the United States Heavyweight Boxing Champion Joe Louis and numerous stars and performers from American baseball and other sports served in the armed forces until the end of the war. Among the many baseball players (including well known stars) who served during World War II were Moe Berg, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, Stan Musial (in 1945), Warren Spahn, and Ted Williams. They like many others sacrificed their personal and valuable career time for the benefit and well being of the rest of society. The Summer Olympics were resumed in 1948 in London and the Winter games were held that year in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Baseball Ted Williams being sworn into the military on May 22, 1942. Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg See also: History of baseball in the United States#The war years and All-American Girls Professional Baseball League During the early 1940s World War II had an enormous impact on Major League Baseball as many players including many of the most successful stars joined the war effort. After the war many players returned to their teams, while the major event of the second half of the 1940s was the 1945 signing of Jackie Robinson to a players contract by Branch Rickey the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Signing Robinson opened the door to the integration of Major League Baseball finally putting an end to the professional discrimination that had characterized the sport since the 19th century. Joe DiMaggio Bill Dickey Bob Feller Josh Gibson Hank Greenberg Monte Irvin Buck Leonard Johnny Mize Stan Musial Satchel Paige Branch Rickey Jackie Robinson Ted Williams Boxing See also: Ring Magazine fighters of the year and List of The Ring world champions During the mid-1930s and throughout the years leading up to the 1940s Joe Louis was an enormously popular Heavyweight boxer. In 1936 he lost an important 12 round fight (his first loss) to the German boxer Max Schmelling and he vowed to meet Schmelling once again in the ring. Louis' comeback bout against Schmelling became an international symbol of the struggle between the USA and democracy against Nazism and Fascism. When on June 22, 1938, Louis knocked Schmelling out in the first few seconds of the first round during their rematch at Yankee Stadium, his sensational comeback victory riveted the entire nation. Louis enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 10, 1942 in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Louis' cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. He is widely regarded as the first African American to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during World War II.[9] Buddy Baer Ezzard Charles Billy Conn Rocky Graziano Joe Louis Sugar Ray Robinson Max Schmelling Jersey Joe Walcott Tony Zale See also 1940s in television 1940s in literature Timeline The following articles contain brief timelines listing the most prominent events of the decade. 1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 • 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949 1936 Olympics Jesse Owens 1940s 1949 in literature - George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman 1948 in literature - Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter and Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, Still Glides the Stream by Flora Thompson 1947 in literature - Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl; Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus; Albert Camus's La Peste 1946 in literature - Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh; Nikos Kazantzakis's Zorba the Greek; Death of H. G. Wells 1945 in literature - George Orwell's Animal Farm; Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy And Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day; Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited; Flora Thompson's Lark Rise to Candleford; John Steinbeck's Cannery Row; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn sentenced to eight years in a labour camp for criticism of Stalin 1944 in literature - Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit; Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers; John Hersey's A Bell for Adano 1943 in literature - Jean-Paul Sartre's Anti-Semite and Jew and Being and Nothingness; Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead; T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets published together for the first time; Hermann Hesse's Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game) 1942 in literature - Albert Camus's Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus) and L'Étranger (The Stranger); Edith Hamilton's Mythology; Enid Blyton's Five on a Treasure Island (first in The Famous Five series); Death of Stefan Zweig 1941 in literature - Virginia Woolf's Between the Acts; Death of James Joyce, Virginia Woolf 1940 in literature - Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon; Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory; Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls; Carson McCullers's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter; Richard Wright's Native Son; Death of F. Scott Fitzgerald; John Cowper Powys's Owen Glendower (novel). 1930s 1939 in literature - James Joyce's Finnegans Wake; Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds; John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath; Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep; Flora Thompson's Lark Rise; Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust; Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley; Death of Sigmund Freud, W. B. Yeats 1938 in literature - Jean-Paul Sartre's La Nausée; Graham Greene's Brighton Rock; Evelyn Waugh's Scoop; Henry Miller's Tropic of Capricorn; T. H. White's The Sword in the Stone; Vladimir Bartol's Alamut 1937 in literature - John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men; J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, or There and Back Again; Georges Bernanos's Journal d'un Curé de Campagne (Diary of a Country Priest) 1936 in literature - William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!; Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind; Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn; First issue of Life magazine; Killing of Federico García Lorca 1935 in literature - Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie; First paperback published by Penguin Books; Death of Fernando Pessoa 1934 in literature - F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night; Robert Graves's I, Claudius; Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer; Irving Stone's Lust for Life; Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man; James Hilton's Goodbye, Mr. Chips; James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice; H. P. Lovecraft completes Supernatural Horror in Literature (1925–34); Death of Andrei Bely 1933 in literature - André Malraux's La Condition Humaine (Man's Fate); Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas; James Hilton's Lost Horizon; Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth; John Cowper Powys A Glastonbury Romance; Death of George Moore 1932 in literature - Aldous Huxley's Brave New World; Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night); Hermann Hesse's Journey to the East 1931 in literature - Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth; Georges Simenon's first Maigret novel; James Hanley's Boy 1930 in literature - William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying; Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon; Luigi Pirandello's The Man With the Flower in His Mouth becomes the first broadcast television drama; Death of D. H. Lawrence http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1930s.html Money and Inflation 1930's To provide an estimate of inflation we have given a guide to the value of $100 US Dollars for the first year in the decade to the equivalent in today's money If you have $100 Converted from 1930 to 2005 it would be equivalent to $1204.42 today "If You Had 1 billion dollars then it would now be worth 12 billion dollars." In 1930 average new house cost $7,145.00 and by 1939 was $3,800.00 More In 1930 the average income per year was $1,970.00 and by 1939 was $1,730.00 In 1930 a gallon of gas was 10 cents and by 1939 was 10 cents In 1930 the average cost of new car was $640.00 and by 1939 was $700.00 More A few more prices from the 30's and how much things cost Firestone Tyre 1932 from $3.69 , Single Vision Glasses 1938 $3.85 , Complete Modern 10 piece bedroom Suite $79.85 , Steak 1938 1LB 20 cents , New Emerson Bedroom Radio 1938 $9.95 , History of Radio , Shaefer Pens 1933 from $3.35 , Plymouth Roadking Car 1938 $685 , Emmerson 5 tube bedroom radio $9.95 , Howard Deluxe Quality silk lined hat $2.85 , Cotton Chiffon Volle Girls Frock $2.98 From Our 1930s Page Toys 1930s Price: $11.98 Check out the new toys pages where you can see some of the children's toys that could be found during the Depression Years including Balsa Wood Toy Kits, Flossy Flirt Doll, Electric Train Sets and more Chevrolet 1935 Master Deluxe New Master De luxe Chevrolet with improved master blue flame engine, pressure steam oiling , cable brakes and shock $560 proof steering Example of a house for sale 1934 Stucco Bungalow Oakland California . 5 room stucco bungalow , breakfast room , separate garage, $3,750 delightful location Other Pages From The People History Events 1930's Shantytowns form consisting of wood and cardboard in the United States. They are often referred to in history as Hoovertowns after President Hoover The 30's were a time when the depression caused by the wall street crash in late 1929 caused the world to undergo a fundamental change in lifestyles , and as part of the change some new radical politics became popular as seen in the rise of Fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism The 30's also provided a strange phenomenon never repeated where bank robbers and murderers were thought of as celebrities ( a sort of modern Robin Hood ) which in truthfulness they did not rob from the rich to give to the poor just to rob and murder any who got in their way. More About Wall Street Crash The wearing of Sunglasses became popular in the 30's Music 1930s Big band or swing music becomes popular (from 1935 onward) Popular Culture The Film Wizard of OZ Gone with the Wind Action Comics continued to grow and Superman is seen in a comic for the first time Some of the Most Well Known Movie Stars of the Thirties Clark Gable couple of his films from the 30's Gone with the Wind and Mutiny on the Bounty Shirley Temple couple of her films from the 30's Stand Up and Cheer! and Bright Eyes Joan Crawford couple of her films from the 30's Forsaking All Others and Possessed Will Rogers couple of his films from the 30's Judge Priest and Life Begins At Forty Fred Astaire couple of his films from the 30's Swing Time and Follow the Fleet Ginger Rogers couple of her films from the 30's 42nd Street and Flying Down to Rio Sporting Changes In The 30's Baseball National Baseball Hall of Fame starts with the first players to be chosen Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Babe Ruth Joe DiMaggio starts his career at the New York Yankees taking the crown over from Babe Ruth who retires. To help with falling attendance due to the depression, night games are started. Live Radio broadcasts of baseball games begin to encourage fans to help sell tickets Basketball National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA holds first championship tourney in 1939 which Oregon won. Association Football (Soccer) As it's popularity grew, teams in Britain and later the rest of the world bought in managers who instituted a greater degree of Professionalism, tactics and stricter Training regimes taking the game to new levels. The first world cup is played in Uruguay in 1930 which the home team won. American Football Goalposts were moved from the back of the end zone to the front of the Endzone NFL Championship game Introduced Between Eastern and Western divisions The NFL Draft Introduced Ice Hockey Toronto Maple Leafs Win Stanley Cup Great 30's Depression Hits Ice Hockey Teams For More Sporting history, Origins, Events and Changes, Please Check Out Our New Sports History Section. Technology 30's After the fast pace of technology change in the 20's the 30's did still see some advances including The Jet Engine Tea Bags Are introduced and sold Commercially The First Photocopier Invented but not commercial available till 1948 The BBC broadcasts a wider range of Television Programmes until the Outbreak of War in 1939 and TV History of TV stays off the air until 1946 , many of the technical staff are used during for the development of Radar for the war effort The continued increase in use of Radio for entertainment and the refinement of the Airplane for travel 1930's when the airships LZ127 Graf Zeppelin and LZ129 Hindenburg operated regular transatlantic passenger flights between Germany and both North and South America. Inventions The Year Invented Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use ) Ballpoint Pen ----- 1938 Hungary by Laszlo Biró - also called a biro (UK) BBC Television ----- 1932 England first regular TV broadcasts (London) Catseyes ----- 1934 England by Percy Shaw - for lighting roads Electric Razor ----- 1931 USA by Jacob Schick Electron Microscope ----- 1933 Germany by Ernst Ruska Frequency Modulation FM ----- 1939 USA by Edwin H Armstrong - sound by radio waves Helicopter ----- 1936 Germany by Heinrich Focke Jet Engine ----- 1930 England by Frank Whittle Nylon ----- 1931 USA by Wallace Corothers - artificial silk Magnetic Recording ----- 1936 USA audio tapes Photocopier ----- 1938 USA by Chester Carlson Polaroid ----- 1932 USA by Edwin Herbert Land Radar (for Aircraft) ----- 1935 Scotland by Robert Watson-Watt Radio Telescope ----- 1932 USA by Karl Jansky Sticky Tape ----- 1930 USA
