1940s America
A decade of tension and transition
Cost of Living
1940
Average Cost of a New Home: $6,550
Median Household Income: $1,900
Cost of a First Class Stamp: $0.03
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.18
Cost of a gallon of milk: $0.34
Unemployment: 14.6%
Buying Power of $1 USD (in 2017): $17.48
1949
Average Cost of a New Home: $14,500
Median Household Income: $3,600
Cost of a First Class Stamp: $0.03
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.26
Cost of a gallon of milk: $0.84
Unemployment: 5.9%
Buying Power of $1 USD (in 2017): $10.29
Federal Government
1940
President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Vice President: John N. Garner / Henry Wallace
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Charles E. Hughes
Speaker of the House: William B. Bankhead / Sam Rayburn
Senate Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley
1949
President: Harry Truman
Vice President: Alben W. Barkley
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Charles E. Hughes
Speaker of the House: Joseph W. Martin / Sam Rayburn
Senate Majority Leader: Wallace H. White / Scott W. Lucas
1940 -
-Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to appear on a stamp.
-First McDonalds opens in San Bernardino
-The first pair of nylon pantyhose are sold
-A Wild Hare, the first Bugs Bunny cartoon debuts
-The Selective Training Service Act of 1940 is passed, becoming the first peacetime draft issued.
-FDR becomes the first and only 3 term president.
1941
-All persons born in Puerto Rico are declared American citizens by birth
-The USO is created
-FDR's Lend-Lease Act is passed, providing aid to Britian
-First FM radio station, W47NV in Nashville TN, broadcasts
-Citizen Kane premieres on May 1
-US Air Force becomes a separate branch of the armed forces, replacing the US Army Air Corps
-Mt. Rushmore is completed
-US joins WWII after attack on Pearl Harbor in the morning of Dec. 7
1942
-The federal government issues a ban on the sale of new cars to save steel
-The Internment of Japanese Americans begins
-Women's Auxiliary Army Corps is created
-African Americans are admitted into the Navy
-Battle of Midway, a US Naval victory, marks the turning point in the War in the Pacific
-Casablanca premieres on Nov. 26
-Gas rationing begins in the US
1943
-Project Y is opened - a laboratory for building the atomic bomb.
-The Pentagon, the world's largest office building, is dedicated.
-Duke Ellington performs at Carnegie Hall for the first time
-Oklahoma! opens, integrating Broadway
-Zoot Suit riots take place in East Los Angeles
-Stormy Weather is released
-Italy surrenders to the Allies
-The Tehran Conference takes place
-The Great Depression ends
1944
-Louis Buchalter, leader of Murder, Inc. is executed at Sing Sing
-The United Negro College Fund is established
-The Battle of Normandy, which will come to be called D-Day, takes place on June 6.
1945
-US captures Manila, Philippines
-Yalta Conference with Winston Churchill, FDR and Joseph Stalin takes place
-Battle of Iwo Jima begins. The iconic flag is raised on Feb. 23
-The Academy Awards is broadcast on the radio for the first time.
-Battle of Okinawa begins April 1
-War correspondent Ernie Pyle is killed
- FDR unexpectedly dies in office on April 12. Harry Truman is sworn in as President
-US and Allies celebrates Victory in Europe Day on May 8
-On July 21, President Truman oks atomic warfare
-Aug. 6, US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
-The US joins the United Nations
-Aug. 9, US drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki
-Korea splits, becoming North and South Korea
-WWII ends with Japan's surrender on Sept. 2
1946
-CIA established
-Strikers with General Electric and the police clash
-Olivier's Henry V premieres in the US, the first Shakespearean film in color
-July 4, the Philippines gain independence from the US
-First United Nations Conference is held
-It's a Wonderful Life premieres Dec. 20
1947
-The Black Dahlia murder takes place in California
-Polaroid Land camera debuts
-Jackie Robinson signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers
-First Tony Awards ceremony held
-House Unamerican Activities Committee begins investigations
-Chuck Yeager flies faster than the speed of sound
-A Streetcar Named Desire opens
1948
-NASCAR is established
-McCollum vs. Board of Education rules that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional
-Marshall Plan provides $15 billion in aid for 16 countries
-US recognizes Israel
-First monkey Astronaut, Albert I
-Executive Order 9981 ends segregation in the armed forces
1949
-President Truman outlines his Fair Deal plan
-The first Volkswagen Beetle arrives in the United States
-Death of Salesman opens
-NATO is established
-South Pacific opens April 7
-Last US troops withdraw from South Korea
-Howard Unruh, a WWII veteran, commits America's first single episode mass murder, shooting and killing 11 of his neighbors.
-1949 becomes the first year in which no African American is lynched in the USA.