Microsoft word - 1940stimeline.doc

1940s TIME LINE

• War escalated in Europe as Germany invaded Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and Russia took over Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. • U.S. passed military draft law. • Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Wendell Willkie for FDR’s unprecedented third term. • U.S.S.R. and Japan signed neutrality pact. • Germany invaded U.S.S.R.; Stalin called for “scorched earth policy”. • Rationing began in the U.S. • FDR enunciated Four Freedoms: of Speech, of Worship, from Want, from Fear. • General MacArthur incorporated Philippine forces in U.S. Army. • Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor; U.S. entered war. • War continued in Europe, Russia, and the South Pacific. • Gas rationing was instituted in the U.S. • Americans and its allies continued to fight on three continents. • World War II continued; huge allied invasion force landed on Normandy Beaches. • FDR won fourth term with Harry Truman as Vice President. • FDR died and Vice President Truman was sworn in. • War ended in Europe, Victory in Europe Day, V-E Day (May) • U.S. atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. (August) • World War II ended on Victory in Japan Day, V-J Day. (August - announcement & September - ratification) • United Nations was formed. • Cold War began. • Inflation, housing shortages, and nuclear age dominated talk. • U.S. birthrate soared. • Returning veterans, aided by GI Bill, crowded campuses. • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) organized under National Security Council. • Everglades National Park founded. • Gandhi assassinated in Delhi. • President Truman presented civil rights package to Congress. • First Olympic games since 1936 were held in London. • Congress authorized billions of dollars for European recovery under Marshall Plan. • Truman inaugurated for another Presidential term.
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed.
• Federal civil rights legislation was enacted.
• Minimum hourly wage raised from 40¢ to 75¢.
BOOKS: For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), Native Son (Wright), You Can’t Go Home
Again (Wolfe), The Last Tycoon (Fitzgerald), The Moon Is Down (Steinbeck), The Last Time I
Saw Paris (Paul), My World and Welcome To It (Thurber), The Fountainhead (Rand), A Tree
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Grows in Brooklyn (Smith), Brave Men (Pyle), The Lost Weekend (Jackson), Animal Farm
(Orwell), Cannery Row (Steinbeck), Stuart Little (White), Baby and Child Care (Spock), Zorba
the Greek (Kazantzakis), Tales of the South Pacific (Michener), The Diary of Anne Frank
(Frank) Crusade in Europe (Eisenhower), The Gathering Storm (Churchill) Cheaper By the
Dozen (Gilbreth, Carey), The Greatest Story Ever Told (Oursler), Nineteen Eighty-four (Orwell)
STAGE: The Corn is Green, Charley’s Aunt, Arsenic and Old Lace, Porgy and Bess, This Is the
Arm, Oklahoma!, Something for the Boys, Harvey, I Remember Mama, On the Town, The Glass
Menagerie, Carousel, Billion Dollar Baby, Born Yesterday, Annie Get Your Gun, A Streetcar
Named Desire, Brigadoon, Finian’s Rainbow, Mister Roberts, Anne of a Thousand Days, Kiss
Me Kate, Death of a Salesman, South Pacific, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

MOVIES: The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Dictator, Our Town, The Philadelphia Story, My Little
Chickadee, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Citizen Kane, How Green Was My Valley, The Maltese Falcon,
Dumbo, Casablanca, Woman of the Year, The Pride of the Yankees, Bambi, Holiday Inn,
Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Road to Morocco, Stage Door Canteen, For Whom the Bell Tolls,
My Friend Flicka, Jane Eyre, National Velvet, To Have and Have Not, Going My Way, Meet Me
in St. Louis, The Bells of St. Mary's, State Fair, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Anchors Aweigh, The
Best Years of Our Lives, To Each His Own, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Big Sleep, The Jolson
Story, The Road to Utopia, Great Expectations, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Bachelor
and the Bobby-soxer, Miracle on 34th Street, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Hamlet, Red River,
Sorry Wrong Number, Easter Parade, Samson and Delilah, Twelve O’Clock High, Adam’s Rib,
The Barkleys of Broadway, On the Town
SONGS: Fools Rush In, How High the Moon, When You Wish Upon a Star, You Are My
Sunshine, The White Cliffs of Dover, Waltzing Matilda, Deep in the Heart of Texas, There! I’ve
Said it Again, Tonight We Love, White Christmas, I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen,
Paper Doll, That Old Black Magic, Jingle, Jangle, Jingle, Be Careful! It’s My Heart, Comin’ In on
a Wing and a Prayer, Pistol-Packin’ Mama, Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Oklahoma!, I Couldn’t
Sleep a Wink Last Night, They’re Either Too Young or Too Old, Tico-Tico, Mairzy Doats,
Sentimental Journey, Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year, Swinging on a Star, Don’t Fence
Me In, Rum and Coca-Cola, Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive, It’s Been a Long, Long Time,
Autumn Serenade, June is Bustin’ Out All Over, It Might as Well Be Spring, Let It Snow! Let It
Snow! Let It Snow!, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, Come Rain or Come Shine,
The Girl That I Marry, Shoofly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy, There’s No Business Like Show
Business, Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah, Chiquita Banana, All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth,
How Are Things in Glocca Morra?, If This Isn’t Love, When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love, Baby,
It’s Cold Outside, Buttons and Bows, It’s Magic, “A” - You’re Adorable, On a Slow Boat to China,
Tennessee Waltz, The Syncopated Clock, Wunderbar, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, Some Enchanted
Evening, Younger Than Springtime, Bali Ha’I, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair,
Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch
of Cocoanuts, Riders in the Sky

RADIO SHOWS: Amos ‘n’ Andy, The Lone Ranger, Your Hit Parade, Jack Benny, Lux Radio
Theater, Dick Tracy, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Fibber McGee and Molly, Kay Kyser’s Kollege of
Musical Knowledge, Burns and Allen, Truth or Consequences, Take It or Leave It, People Are
Funny, Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, Jimmy Durante, Queen for a Day, Abbott & Costello,
Red Skelton, One Man’s Family
FIRSTS: 1940 - synthetic-rubber tires 1941 - Liberty ship, quonset huts, penicillin treatments,
commercial TV license (W2XBS, New York City), FM station (W47NV, Nashville), woman test
pilot (Alma Heflin) 1942 - controlled nuclear chain reaction, V-mail, V-1 rockets, magnetic
recording tapes 1943 - five-star generals, aqua-lungs, air-to-surface guided missiles, kidney
machines, postal-zone numbering, streptomycin, income tax withholding 1944 - rocket
airplanes, eye banks 1945 - A-bomb explosion (Alamogordo, NM), fluoridated water supply
(Grand Rapids, MI) 1946 - Fulbright scholars, bikini swimsuits, electronic digital computers,
Copyright 2010 Creative Forecasting, Inc. (719) 633-3174, Fax: (719) 632-4721,
E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.creativeforecasting.com
electric blankets, Italian and Japanese women gain suffrage, bone banks, mobile telephones 1947 - Polaroid® cameras, black major league baseball player (Jackie Robinson), tubeless auto
tires, ballistic missiles, home tape recorders, microwave ovens 1948 - LP records, supersonic
planes, radial tires, transistors, dramamine 1949 - radio free Europe broadcasts, prepared cake
mixes, cortisone
FADS: 1940 - roller-rink skating, calypso music 1941 - color in women’s cotton, wool hosiery,
campus blanket parties, floppy hats 1942 - short hairdos, clothes patches, women’s slacks
1943 - women’s sweaters (for all occasions), reflective dim-out anklets, his-and-her bow ties
1944 - I.D. bracelets, hair ribbons (to signal love-life status), skimpy swimsuits (to save
materials) 1945 - surplus GI equipment (for leisure and sports), women’s short-legged overalls
1946 - bubble gum, tasseled stocking caps, Eskimo diet 1947 - bobby socks as hair curlers,
dog chains on skirts 1948 - raccoon coat, Hawaiian muumuus, the shmoo 1949 - canasta, Silly

SPORTS HEADLINES
• Horseracing Triple Crown Winners: Whirlaway (1940), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948) • Ted Williams finished the 1941 season with an average of .406, the first baseball player to top .400 since Bill Terry did it in 1930. • Jake LaMotta pulled off an upset when he won a unanimous 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson. (1943) • Jackie Robinson became the first black major league baseball player after signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 10, 1947. • Other names in the headlines: Bob Feller (Cleveland Indians pitcher), Eddie Arcaro (jockey), Sammy Baugh (quarterback), Bryan Nelson (golfer), Yogi Berra (catcher), “Babe” Zaharias (female golfer) • Shortly after the U.S. became involved in World War II, rationing books were issued. Foods like meat, sugar, canned goods, and coffee were rationed. Red meat was priced according to the quality of the cut, so as a result, most people ate hamburger. Since sugar was rationed, recipes for sugarless cakes were used. • Individual and community Victory Gardens were grown so people had fresh vegetables. • Because so many women were working in the war effort, cookie baking and other home tasks had to be speeded up. Refrigerator cookies (cookie dough that could be mixed one day, sliced and baked the next) became popular. Betty Crocker introduced “double-quick cakes” with a one bowl method that eliminated creaming. • Since sugar was no longer rationed after the war, rich cookies and desserts were popular. Home freezers were introduced in 1946, promising greater mealtime variety. • In 1948, Betty Crocker introduced the chiffon cake, the first new cake in 100 years. • Also introduced in 1948 was V-8 juice from Campbell and Nestles Quik (powdered chocolate milk mix). Copyright 2010 Creative Forecasting, Inc. (719) 633-3174, Fax: (719) 632-4721,
E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.creativeforecasting.com

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