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The effect of World War II on the United States
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Recommended: The effect of World War II on the United States
1940-1949
In the United States during the 1940’s, people were getting restless about the war. At the beginning of the 40’s, before the war started, life was pretty much normal and people were talking about how there might be a war. Finally, when the war began, life changed for most Americans. Men were enlisted and drafted to war. Women stayed home and worked numerous jobs to support their family. Industry slowed down so production of weapons, etc. could be produced and shipped to the war. Rationing had to be used so there would be enough food, water, etc. for people to use. It was a change for all people.
During the 40’s, especially during the war times, Women had to play the role as mother and father. They had to carry on jobs their husbands used to do, maintain the household environment, and in some cases played baseball to keep the economy up and keep people happy. According to the book, American Decades, by Victor Bond, the war was what brought the country out of depression. The pressure to prepare and produce goods from for the war was enough to jump-start the economy. After the war, the economy kept booming and people were finally getting their lives back together.
The beliefs and values in the United Sates were basically to live for the war, and deal with it. There wasn’t much else that could be done. People had husbands, brothers, sons, nephews, etc. entering the war. It took the effort of many Americans to stabilize their lives so that the war wouldn’t bring them down. After the war however, the attitude in the country was very optimistic. People wanted to go to school and get an education. Industry took off again and people were back to their normal lives. Many couples had children. This craze of births is known...
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...among blacks. Literature was influenced and art moved to an abstract expressionistic style. The economy grew and America began to regain its strength and power, and used it to grow. The 1940’s, what an amazing time in history.
Works Cited
Bond, Victor. American Decades, 1940-1949. Gale Research Inc. 1995
Williams, Neville. Chronology of World History, "The Modern World" 1901-1998. Volume IV. Helicon Publishing Limited, 1999
The Reader’s Digest. Great Events of the 20th Century. The Reader’s Digest Association Inc. 1997
University of Dayton Archives. Archives Collection, Albert Emmanuel Hall.
-"Hallowed Memories"
-"University of Dayton, from Nazareth to the new Millennium" 1850-2000. WDG Publishing.
www.lovett.org/libraryweb/amstud.htm
Perkins, George and Perkins, Barbara. The American Tradition in Literature. 9th Edition. McGraw-Hill. 1999
After the end of World War II, the United States went through many changes. Most of the changes were for the better, but some had an adverse effect on certain population centers. Many programs, agencies and policies were created to transform American society and government.
When WWII had begun it essentially was the beginning of the end of the depression. It got the momentum to move forward to create a better society. After world world II social and development in the united states was created through economic materialism, family structure, post-war trauma, and changes in work life. These ideas can be seen being carried out through a novel called The Man in the Grey Flannel suit because it sets an example of what a typical middle class family lived like in the 1950’s. In order for the country to develop the united states needed to modify to these four ideas.
For the first time women were working in the industries of America. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific, millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men in peacetime. Women were making a living that was not comparable to anything they had seen before. They were dependent on themselves; for once they could support the household. Most of the work in industry was related to the war, such as radios for airplanes and shells for guns. Peggy Terry, a young woman who worked at a shell-loading plant in Kentucky, tells of the money that was to be made from industrial work (108). “We made a fabulous sum of thirty-two dollars a week. To us that was an absolute miracle. Before that, we made nothing (108)." Sarah Killingsworth worked in a defense plant. " All I wanted to do was get in the factory, because they were payin more than what I'd been makin. Which was forty dollars a week, which was pretty good considering I'd been makin about twenty dollars a week. When I left Tennessee I was only makin two-fifty a week, so that was quite a jump (114)." Terry had never been able to provide for herself as she was able to during the war. " Now we'd have money to buy shoes and a dress and pay rent and get some food on the table. We were just happy to have work (108).” These women exemplify the turn around from the peacetime to wartime atmosphere on the home front. The depression had repressed them to poverty like living conditions. The war had enabled them to have what would be luxury as compared to life before.
Some historians have argued that 1950s America marked a step back for the advancement that women made during WWII. What contributed to this “return to domesticity” and do you believe that the the decade was good or bad for women? The end of World War II was the main contributing factor to the “return to domesticity”. During the war, women played a vital role in the workforce because all of the men had to go fight overseas and leave their jobs. This forced women to work in factories and volunteer for wartime measures.
The 1920’s was a period of extremely economic growth and personal wealth. America was a striving nation and the American people had the potential to access products never manufactured before. Automobile were being made on an assembly line and were priced so that not just the rich had access to these vehicles, as well as, payment plans were made which gave the American people to purchase over time if they couldn't pay it all up front. Women during the First World War went to work in place of the men who went off to fight. When the men return the women did not give up their positions in the work force.
During WWII, women took over the work force, and had such inspirations as Rosie the Riveter. This created a generation of women who wanted more out of life than birthing children, and keeping a nice home for their husband. The end of the war, however, brought with it a decrease of working women. In the 1950’s the rate of working women had slightly rebounded to 29% following the post-war decrease in 1945. These women were well rounded, working outside the home, and still having dinner on the table by 5PM.
With the beginnings of the cold war the media and propaganda machine was instrumental in the idea of the nuclear family and how that made America and democracy superior to the “evils” of the Soviet Union and Communism; with this in mind the main goal of the 50’s women was to get married. The women of the time were becoming wives in their late teens and early twenties. Even if a women went to college it was assumed that she was there to meet her future husband. Generally a woman’s economic survival was dependent on men and employment opportunities were minimal.
The 1940s provided a drastic change in women’s employment rates and society’s view of women. With the end of the Depression and the United States’ entrance into World War II, the number of jobs available to women significantly increased. As men were being drafted into military service, the United States needed more workers to fill the jobs left vacant by men going to war. Women entered the workforce during World War II due to the economic need of the country. The use of Patriotic rhetoric in government propaganda initiated and encouraged women to change their role in society.
For blacks living in America during the 1920's, life was surprisingly getting better as well. Many of them migrated north seeking ways to prove their usefulness to society. Blacks united in ghettos, cities, and many ended up in Harlem which caused the sprouting of the Harlem Renaissance....
World War II was based on the idealistic view of Americans, especially concerning the people’s perspectives on how America was being perceived, and how they wanted to be seen. The American public, witnessing foreign tragedy worked to push against suppression in order to rise in equality. Coming out of the Great Depression America was extremely cautious about intervention in foreign affairs spurring an isolationist view. When determining their entrance into World War II America thought about the immense amount of casualties brought from World War I and the lack of positive consequences. Much of the changes enveloping society were a continuation of the new deal policies.
Flory, Harriette, and Samuel Jenike. A World History: The Modern World. Volume 2. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1992. 42.
Ellis, Elizabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler. World History: The Modern Era. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
The time after World War II (Postwar 1950s, and 60s) was a time of change in America. The main change from the time from before the war was the rise of Liberalism. This political idea would bring about changes in in the economic and the industrial corners of the world. Due to this we saw the rise of consumerism in teenagers and also the stimulation of the housing and automobile industries. It also saw the rise highway construction and suburban society (known as Levitowns or suburbia). However it did not bring change to an issue that had been within the United States since really when the country had begun. This problem was racial discrimination and it was an idea that
During the Great War and the huge amount of men that were deployed created the need to employ women in hospitals, factories, and offices. When the war ended the women would return home or do more traditional jobs such as teaching or shop work. “Also in the 1920s the number of women working raised by fifty percent.” They usually didn’t work if they were married because they were still sticking to the role of being stay at home moms while the husband worked and took care of the family financially. But among the single women there was a huge increase in employment. “Women were still not getting payed near as equally as men and were expected to quit their jobs if they married or pregnant.” Although women were still not getting payed as equally it was still a huge change for the women's