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B2 1940s Gallagher

Page history last edited by Gabriel 13 years, 9 months ago

 

Lanre Dawodu, Samuel Kwong, Gabriel Ojo, Adorian Marc

 

 

MYP Unit Question: How did culture, events and leadership shape and reflect post-WWII America?

 

The 1940s

                       

 

Business & the Economy

 

          The first half of this decade was mainly based around creating policies and items that could be useful during World War Two. Things such as merchant ships, battle ships, planes, tanks, guns, ammunition and other war materials were created. Some of these were later used but since the U.S. was not actually in World War Two but the bulk of these items were sold to other countries like Great Britain. The way these items were sold held maximum profit for the U.S.. The Cash-Carry system that President Roosevelt implemented allowed the U.S. to sell things to other countries without having to take it to the countries. This saved us a lot of money on oil and didn't put our ships at risk when they went out to sea. Making all of these items also put a lot of people to work who had been out of a job before. It may not have been the jobs that people wanted but a job is a job and people got paid, allowing the money to recirculate. Many historians argue that it was actually World War Two that brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression.

          After the war, President Truman is elected and his goal is to get people back to work in the fields they wanted and returning the country to a free market. The World Bank Opened in 1947 and the first thing it did was loan out money to France; $250 million to be exact. The French would have to pay us back later in some way or another so Truman was looking at the future. The Marshall Plan was also created to help out the rest of Europe in its recovery. Tariffs on imports and exports were lowered as well so that U.S. would have more international customers. Lastly the anti-inflation act was created to prevent all other recessions and depressions and the Taft-Hartley act gave trade and labor unions less power. This era was definitely one that helped out the future of the country.

 

Education

 

            The increase in nationalism and unity in the U.S. due to World War II can be directly seen in the education policies of the U.S. in the era.  In June of 1943, the United States Supreme court ruled in favor of the Pennsylvania law stating that a student may be expelled if he did not salute the American flag (Rose, Important). These nationalistic feelings continued to be seen in education when On March 17, the New York Board of Higher Education voted to fire faculty members who belonged to fascist or communist organizations (Rose, Important). These actions taken were steps taken by the general government to make sure the future generation was properly indoctrinated to support capitalistic and democratic beliefs. Towards the end of the war, school districts like the ones in Seattle taught elementary school students how to prepare meals since their mothers were busy with wartime jobs (Rose, Important). By June 1943, 2 million students between the ages of 14 and 18 left school to earn money (Rose, Important). These actions helped support their families and stimulate the economy further during the final war years.

            The wartime ideologies helped shape education during the rest of the decade of 1940. By 1948, the Census Bureau announced that only 2.7 percent of the population was illiterate (Rose, Important). The United States realized that in order to maintain its number one status in the world, it would have to continue pursing educational services. In 1949, the National Education Association voted 2882-5 to deny Communists from joining the organization (Rose, Important). The capitalistic and nationalistic feelings continued to affect education to the end of the decade.


Fashion

 

     American Fashion was altered in the 1940s by WWII in the sense that during the war, fashion was not allowed great advances. Since both women and men were participating in the war effort, no one had time to pursue fashion and could not easily initiate new trends. Rather, the government presided over setting trends, keeping the styles elegant, yet unfettered by the other trinkets that had been common during the 1930s. Having these embellishments taken away, women resorted to their inner fashionista and accessorized, using unique hats, handbags, high heels and lipstick.

     Men stopped wearing double-breasted suits, and the vest-jacket-slacks combination. They instead dressed in two piece suits in gray, brown, or black. Their pants had smaller cuffs, their shirts had less pockets and their jackets were squared with shoulder padding, and, unlike women, fashion for men almost completely ceased because more and more men were going to the war. Instead of men's clothing, producers of menswear began making military uniforms, creating a shortage of clothing for men not in the war.

     The war changed architecture by driving many famous European architects to the United States. This resulted in many prestigious emigrants taking positions in universities and teaching the youth of America about the Modernist International Style. Notables such as Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe transformed the look of American cities by building tall skyscrapers sheathed in glass, chrome, and steel. The war also created a need for prefabricated housing, long low buildings with few internal walls, laid on a slab of concrete. These houses were easily moved. However, while production of prefabricated houses increased, production of normal houses decreased, and there were less houses made during the war. There was a more significant development that occurred as a result of these prefabricated homes. People began to live in nearly identical homes, forming suburbs. These suburbs came to be known as Levittowns, named after Abraham Levitt, the man who capitalized on the idea of the suburb. The most important thing that came out of the suburb was America's postwar romance with the car. Cars were needed to transport people in and out of suburbs, and to urban jobs.

 

Film and theater

 

     1940 was the year that the movie Gone With The Wind won its first Academy Award. This marked the start of a great decade in film and theater. Another great Academy Award winning movie was made in this decade and that movie was Hamlet. There were many other successful movies as well during this decade but most of this was because movies were now played in color instead of the original black and white films. This made movies much more popular events and increased the revenue the film and theater industry was making. Plays were not as common anymore since they were just filmed and put onto the big screen but some people still put on an occasional show or 2.

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Food &  Drink

 

     In the 1940s, the foods were all about rationing and living off of less. Half the decade was a time of war so the solders needed the food more than other people did. This made people have to get creative with the food supply that they did have. This brought many cookbooks and creative cooking ideas into the U.S.. The rationing first started in 1942 to save food supplies during the Great Depression. Later on in 1945, the National School Lunch Act was passed, allowing the WPA to feed the needy in America. 

Print Culture

 

     News of the war filled newspapers, magazines, and the airwaves throughout the war's duration. In fact, the war was so popular that people were talking about it after it was over and done with, breaking out new stories about the atrocities that the Nazis had committed. In the aftermath of the war, the 1940s became the graveyard of pulp magazines, because of the increase in comic books for youths and paperback books for adults. The 1940s were the golden age for comic books, because they were now geared more towards youths. In a few short years, comic books had beaten pulp magazines out of the dominant spot in print culture, the spot that pulp mags had held throughout the 1920s and 1930s. By the 1950s, pulp magazines had virtually disappeared, except for some detective, science fiction, and fantasy magazines that remained in print.

 

Sports &  Games

 

     In the 1940s many American men and women became famous through sports. They proved their athleticism and determination by setting new trends, others proved themselves by breaking old records. The Chicago Bears was one of these teams. In the 1940 championship, the Bears beat the Redskins 73-0. Not only did they shut down the Redskins, but this remains to be the highest score in NFL history.

     Another team that made themselves known was the Army. The Army consisted of military members interested in football. Nobody really considered them an actual team, until November 9, 1946. On this day, Army played the prestigious Notre Dame and came out with a tie. Although neither team won, Notre Dame took it as a big loss. The Army however gained fame and proved themselves to be more than a third-rate team.

     Another headliner in the 1940's sports was Babe Didrikson. Before the 1930's, women's sports wasn't really payed attention to. However, Babe Didrikson was an exceptional athlete, and almost impossible to ignore. She won countless medals and competitions in Javelin, hurdles, track, and  golf. Many would consider her a prime athletic specimen. But the significance of this is that she was a women. In most competitions she went against men, and beat them. She was proof that females were just as capable in sports as males.

 

Music

 

     The 1940's developed a unique flavor of music. From electric blues and hard bop, to serial music and folk opera, new types of music just kept popping up. Advancements in technology brought about a greater variety in music tastes. A big influence in the music styles were African Americans. During this time African Americans were becoming more vocal and so many of them brought music influenced by their home culture. The boundaries between genres were fluid and songs mixed and matched different genres. Since this was right after World War Two, music tastes began to accommodate many soldiers back from the war. The most popular music style during this time was swing. Swing was popular because of it was catchy. People found a strong attraction to it as it was both energetic and easy to dance to. After swing died out many lesser composers of swing music became famous pop artists.

     In the 1940's, movie music was not what one would call "spectacular." Most movie music fell into two categories: European emigres, and homegrown hacks. Both were not what movies needed. There was something that was just missing. Then Copland came along. Copland was able to add that American touch to a refined tune. He reinvented American movie music.  He was able to pave the way for movie music composers to this very day. One could say he was the Father of Movie Music.

 

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"The Way We Lived"

 

     At the beginning of the 1940s, the United States was emerging from the despair that had gripped it for over 10 straight years. The New Deal had helped to alleviate the economic stress of the times, but it was not enough. At the beginning of World War II, in 1941, things changed. Jobs that had been unavailable were suddenly in excess. However, America's population had learned from the suffering and hardships they went through during the Great Depression and were hesitant to take risks in the suddenly expanding economy. These same people decided to live frugally and grew "victory gardens" in an effort to minimize the risk of being without food. However, this suffering was what prepared them for the life of rationing that they endured during the war as well as the mandatory restrictions on food, clothing, and miscellaneous items needed to help the war effort. Americans were able to live frugally even through that time of economic prosperity.

     The baby boom was an aftereffect of the large amounts of marriages before the war. The deprivation of the Great Depression had been what caused these mass marriages because many people were afraid to get married during the Depression. When these couples were reunited, they moved into ranch houses in the suburbs and began to have children - a lot of children. This was the baby boom. By the mid-1940s, the economy had improved to the point that it was almost like the Great Depression had not happened. People began buying things: homes, cars, electric appliances, and other luxuries. Americans were now taking vacations to go to Las Vegas, the gambling capital of America and to sunny locations.

The downside of the war, was that the world emerged divided. There were two main factions, capitalist and communist. While capitalism sought to stop and eradicate communism, communism did not try to control other countries; instead, communist countries such as Russia and China spread their influence to countries that were either trying to gain independence or were aspiring to become communist. The propaganda that America and other capitalist countries generated against communism caused many people to build bomb shelters and bunkers to protect themselves from communist attacks. Both sides prepared for a clash and there was a era of fear throughout the 1940s and until 1991, when the Soviet Union disbanded.

 

Government & Politics

     The Politics and Government of the 1940's was drastically different from the previous decade. America had come out of World War II. In the previous decade, the Great Depression dominated the society. There was extensive signs of poverty everywhere, however, after World War II, Americans were back in jobs and happier than ever.

     Many stories made the new in the 1940's. One example was Dwight D. Eisenhower. On June 6, 1944 this extraordinary man coordinated Operation Overlord. Operation Overlord consisted of a full fledged assault on Normandy. The difficulty in this Operation was due to the scale of this assault. The largest assault to date, in total an estimated 2.8 million personnel, 14,000 land vehicles, 7,000 aircraft, and 5,000 ships were to be moved to attack. The plan was extremely successful and eleven months later, the Germans surrendered.

     Another important event was the split of the American Republican Party. The issues was whether or not to follow Roosevelt's policies. On one side some Republicans believed that the best thing for America would be to "trickle down." This was the more conservative side. On the other side, were industrialists and financiers who agreed with Roosevelt and that foreign trades was essential to America's success.

     Another issues regarding the Republican party was the rise of Anticommunists. Many conservative Republicans did not trust the Liberal Republicans. When the Cold War broke out, many politicians eager for success jumped on the opportunity and began attacking the Truman Administration, accusing them of being careless against the new rise in communism. One politician, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy even went as far as to accuse the Truman Administration of being Communist.

 

Leadership

                                        


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Law &  Justice

 

            World War II created a sense of nationalism and pride for America. However, along with this nationalism came borderline paranoia. These feelings of suspicion and need for repression are reflected directly in the laws and judicial rulings of the 1940’s. Starting with the Alien Registration Act in 1940, which made it illegal to call for the overthrow of the government by force, the government began to repress the rights of people (Law, Rose). By 1942, “On January 7, Attorney General Francis Biddle announces the arrest of 3,234 Axis nationals in the United States”  and “By March 29, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans from California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington have been moved to relocation camps” (Law, Rose). The increase in nationalism caused certain the government to take extreme measures in repressing anyone who might even have the smallest “risk” to overthrowing the government. The government was not in the least bit worried about the public perception of the crackdown on rights. In 1943, the Supreme Court refused “to review a lower court decision that held that Japanese who are born in this country are American citizens and are therefore entitled to vote” (Law, Rose). During the war, the government took all actions necessary (including ignoring constitutional rights) to prevent governmental collapse.

            The paranoia of the early and mid 1940’s continued to influence the rest of the decade. In 1948, “On August 3, the House Committee on Un-American Activities hears testimony from admitted Communist courier Whittaker Chambers that a State Department official, Alger Hiss, had been a member of a Communist organization prior to World War II. Hiss is later indicted for perjury and, after a first trial ending in a hung jury, is found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison” (Law, Rose). The crackdown on anyone believing in the communist ideology within the U.S. continued when in 1949 “On October 14, eleven leaders of the U.S. Communist Party are convicted of violation of the Smith Act of 1940” (Law, Rose). These actions were taken were the early beginnings of McCarthyism and were directly influenced by the nationalistic feelings of the public and government during the early and mid 1940’s.

 

 

Religion

 

            While religion may have had an enormous impact on the day to day lives of Americans during the 1940’s, World War II impacted religion greatly. In 1941, the Presbyterian Church in the United States reported that its membership had declined 8,654 people to a new total of 2,013,247 (Religion, Rose). In the beginning of the war, church membership in the Presbyterian Church like in other denominations declined most likely due to the amount of work and war efforts put in place to support the men overseas. In 1944, towards the end of the war, “On September 6, the Presbyterian Church in the United States reports a membership decrease of 8,654 to a new total of 2,013,247” and “On May 18, the official Catholic Directory reports the U.S. Catholic population at 23,419,701—an increase of 474,564 over 1943” (Religion, Rose). The final few months of battle called for unity and hope which many people found in religious activities.

            The increase in church activity continued well into the end of the decade leaving a lasting imprint on the generation that was to come. In 1948, “On January 10, a Gallup poll shows that 94 percent of Americans believe in God and 68 percent believe in life after death” while “On August 1, the Christian Herald reports that a record 77,386,188 Americans are church members—a gain of 3,713,000 over 1946” (Religion, Rose). Church life increased in the years after and the strive for unity could still be seen. “On December 3, delegates to the national convention of the Federated Council of Churches pass a resolution calling on members to end racial segregation” (Religion, Rose). The unity of World War II continued to be passed on as churches tried to end segregation. 

 

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MYP Unit Question: How did culture, events and leadership shape and reflect post-WWII America?

 

     World War II affected every aspect of American culture. The devastating events brought upon through World War II only strengthened the nation economically and culturally. Americans drew closer together to unite behind the war effort, cultural aspects from diverse groups of people began to merge into modern day America. Social reforms in education, law, print, and politics helped stir cultural renovations in fashion, music, and even religion. A strong sense of nationalism due to the increased war effort pulled America out of the Great Depression and led way to industrial reforms. Every aspect of society was affected by WWII and the effects continued to last through the 1940's. Many lives were lost during WWII but many things would not be as they are present day. Like mentioned before, WWII unified all the races in the country because it was the whole country fighting for the same cause. Many cultural aspects of society would not be around were it not due to the social changes of the 1940's.

    Our current president most likely could not have been elected due to racism. During the 1940's Americans explored racial issues which led way to the Civil Rights Movement. America's paranoia caused racial laws to be put in place such as the ones against Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans were isolated from society and Japanese were not allowed to enter the country. After the war however, Japan and the U.S. became allies economically. America's remorse for the atomic bombings led also helped lead to the removal of segregation and racism against Japanese Americans. These actions sparked thoughtful debates about the racial and social issues in American which eventually led to the downfall of racism.
     Senator Joseph R. McCarthy helped start the McCarthyism era as he was part of the Senate. He was part of the anticommunist group in the government and he accused anybody that went against him or his "organization" of being communist. Most of the government supported this since they were either part of this group or were afraid of speaking out against McCarthy for fear of being labeled a Communist. The "paranoia" began in the late 1940's and continued into the Cold War into the next decade. It still leaves traces around today and can be seen in tighter regulations on free speech amongst other policies.

     The 1940's were an important decade in American history. Not only did they mold the next few decades, but they continue to shape our future today. The culture, events, and leadership in the 1940's may have caused racism and "paranoia," but they created a learning experience for the people of the next few decades to build on. The 1940's were a stepping stone into domestic changes and a vault into global power for America. Without the events of the 1940's, post WWII America would not be the same.  

 

Works  Cited

"Didrikson, Mildred 'Babe' 1911-1956." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"Eisenhower, Dwight D. 1890-1969." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"Important Events in Business and the Economy, 1940–1949." American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 56-57. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"Important Events in Education, 1940–1949." American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 112-113. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 6 June 2010.

 

"Important Events in Law and Justice, 1940–1949." American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 254-255. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 6 June 2010.

 

"Important Events in Religion, 1940–1949." American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 456-457. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 6 June 2010.

 

"Important Events in the Arts, 1940–1949." American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 2-5. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"Music." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"The 1940s: Government and Politics: Overview." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.


"The Aims of Music for Films." American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 5: 1940-1949. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 6-9. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"Fashion in the 1940s: Overview." DISCovering U.S. History. Gale Research, 1997. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/ 

 

"1940s: Print Culture." Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 3: 1940s-1950s. Detroit: UXL, 2002. 567. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"1940s: The Way We Lived." Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 3: 1940s-1950s. Detroit: UXL, 2002. 615-616. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 June 2010.

 

"The Food Timeline" Lynne Oliver, 7 March 2010 <http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html>

 

Photograph. Web. 9 June 2010. <http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2008/09/24/pages/2698/PoliticalCartoon9.jpg>.

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