# data[].attributes.body
World War II (1939–1945) profoundly shaped life in the U.S. Nearly every family was affected, with millions serving overseas and the rest supporting the war effort at home.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World War II: Summary, Combatants & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Rising to power in an unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi Party) rearmed the nation and signed treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination. Hitler’s invasion of Poland drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, and World War II had begun. The majority of the world’s countries eventually formed two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Axis.

# data[].attributes.body
American citizens contributed to the war by rationing food, recycling metals, and growing victory gardens. Women and minorities took on new roles in factories and offices.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American Experience in the war that changed the world - why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today.

# data[].attributes.body
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the GI Bill, provided education and housing benefits to returning veterans, shaping the middle-class postwar boom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bonus Marchers

The assimilation of World War I veterans back to civilian life didn't go well. With so many men flooding the labor market, many couldn't make ends meet, even with help from government programs.

Congress stepped in and passed the Bonus Act of 1924, which promised veterans a bonus based on number of days served. But it wouldn't be paid until 1945, almost 20 years later, much too late to help countless struggling veterans.

By 1932, during the Great Depression, around 20,000 frustrated veterans-known as Bonus Marchers-marched on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., demanding their bonus money.

The government didn't capitulate, though, and President Herbert Hoover sent the Army to get them out, a move which pitted soldier against veteran. The confrontation would be an integral turning point in the crusade for veteran's rights.

The GI Bill is born

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was determined to do better for veterans returning from World War II. He also wanted to expand the middle class and help prevent economic turmoil.

He started preparing for the veterans' return well in advance of the end of the war. Congress tossed around various ideas, but they limited benefits to veterans who met specific criteria such as income.

It was former American Legion National Commander and Republican National Chairman, Harry W. Colmery, who proposed extending benefits to all World War II veterans, male or female. His proposal became the first draft of the GI Bill.

The bill went to Congress in January 1944 as the war still raged along the European and Pacific fronts. It was hotly debated in both Congressional houses but finally approved in mid-June. President Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law on June 22, 1944.

GI Bill Benefits

The GI Bill gave World War II servicemen and servicewoman many options and benefits. Those who wished to continue their education in college or vocation school could do so tuition-free up to $500 while also receiving a cost of living stipend.

As a result, almost 49 percent of college admissions in 1947 were veterans. The GI Bill opened the door of higher education to the working class in a way never done before.

The bill provided a $20 weekly unemployment benefit for up to one year for veterans looking for work. Job counseling was also available.

The government guaranteed loans for veterans who borrowed money to purchase a home, business or farm. These loans enabled hordes of people to abandon city life and move to mass-produced, "cookie cutter" homes in suburbia. This exodus from major cities would help shape America's socioeconomic and political landscape for years to come.

Medical care for veterans was also provided in the GI Bill. Additional hospitals were established for veterans and the Veterans Administration took over all veteran-related concerns.

By 1956, almost 10 million veterans had received GI Bill benefits.

The GI Bill and Discrimination

Although the GI Bill extended benefits to all veterans regardless of gender or race, it was easier for some people to collect than others. In many cases, benefits were administered by an all-white Veterans Administration at the state and local level.

In an era of rampant racial and gender discrimination, African Americans and women struggled to receive higher education or loans. In some southern states, they were steered to menial jobs instead of college.

Even if an African American received tuition money, their choices were slim since many colleges were segregated, especially in the southern states. African American veterans in the North fared somewhat better but still didn't receive a higher education in numbers anywhere near their white peers. College choices for women were also slim since men almost always received enrollment preference.

The discrimination didn't end with education. Local banks in the south often refused to lend money to African Americans to buy a home, even with the government backing the loan. And many of America's new, suburban neighborhoods prohibited African American's from moving in. As a result, many African Americans remained in the cities as whites flocked to the suburbs.

Post-9/11 GI Bill

Mississippi Representative G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery proposed legislation in 1984 to make the GI Bill permanent. It insured that veterans of the Vietnam War could receive higher education.

The Montgomery GI Bill is still in action today. It's an opt-in program which offers help to veterans and service members with at least two years active duty. It also provides benefits to those in the Selected Reserve who meet specific criteria.

In 2008, Congress passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, also called the Post-9/11 GI Bill. It gives veterans on active duty on September 11, 2001 or after greater educational benefits. It also allows them to transfer unused educational benefits to their spouse or kids.

Forever GI Bill

In 2017, President Donald Trump signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, also called the Forever GI Bill, into law. The bill further expanded veterans' educational benefits by:

eliminating the 15-year limitation on Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for eligible veterans and their dependents

authorizing certain work-study programs

offering the VetSuccess on Campus program, a vocational rehabilitation program, to students across the country

offering veterans priority enrollment educational counseling

offering Reservists who lost eligibility under the Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP) credit towards the Post-9/11 GI Bill program

The GI Bill played an integral role in shaping post-World War II America. It enabled hundreds of thousands of men and women to get a higher education, many of whom could never have afforded it otherwise.

The bill also helped build America's middle class, although it left many minority veterans behind. It's been decades since President Roosevelt signed the first GI Bill, yet it continues to empower and enable veterans and their families to reach their goals.

Sources

Black and white veterans and the GI Bill. Dartmouth College.
But not all Americans benefitted equally. American Psychological Association.
Education and Training: History and Timeline. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
GI Bill History. The American Legion.
The GI Bill. Khan Academy.
Veterans of Foreign Wars. PBS.
History of the GI Bill. American RadioWorks.
H.R.5740 - Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. Congress.gov.
Forever GI Bill - Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
G.I. Bill - Definition, Forever GI Bill & Benefits

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The G.I. Bill- officially known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944-was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools.

# data[].attributes.body
Over 100,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated to internment camps during WWII following Executive Order 9066, a dark chapter in U.S. history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In his speech to Congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was "a date which will live in infamy." The attack launched the United States fully into the two theaters of World War II - Europe and the Pacific. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the United States had been involved in a non-combat role, through the Lend-Lease Program that supplied England, China, Russia, and other anti-fascist countries of Europe with munitions.

The attack on Pearl Harbor also launched a rash of fear about national security, especially on the West Coast. In February 1942, just two months later, President Roosevelt, as commander-in-chief, issued Executive Order 9066 that resulted in the internment of Japanese Americans. The order authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders to evacuate all persons deemed a threat from the West Coast to internment camps, that the government called "relocation centers," further inland. Read more...

Primary Sources
Links go to DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives.
Teaching Activity

Additional Background Information

Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had identified German, Italian, and Japanese aliens who were suspected of being potential enemy agents; and they were kept under surveillance. Following the attack at Pearl Harbor, government suspicion arose not only around aliens who came from enemy nations, but around all persons of Japanese descent, whether foreign born ( issei) or American citizens ( nisei). During congressional committee hearings, representatives of the Department of Justice raised logistical, constitutional, and ethical objections. Regardless, the task was turned over to the U.S. Army as a security matter.

The entire West Coast was deemed a military area and was divided into military zones. Executive Order 9066 authorized military commanders to exclude civilians from military areas. Although the language of the order did not specify any ethnic group, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt of the Western Defense Command proceeded to announce curfews that included only Japanese Americans. Next, he encouraged voluntary evacuation by Japanese Americans from a limited number of areas; about seven percent of the total Japanese American population in these areas complied.

On March 29, 1942, under the authority of the executive order, DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 4, which began the forced evacuation and detention of Japanese-American West Coast residents on a 48-hour notice. Only a few days prior to the proclamation, on March 21, Congress had passed Public Law 503, which made violation of Executive Order 9066 a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Because of the perception of "public danger," all Japanese Americans within varied distances from the Pacific coast were targeted. Unless they were able to dispose of or make arrangements for care of their property within a few days, their homes, farms, businesses, and most of their private belongings were lost forever.

From the end of March to August, approximately 112,000 persons were sent to "assembly centers" - often racetracks or fairgrounds - where they waited and were tagged to indicate the location of a long-term "relocation center" that would be their home for the rest of the war. Nearly 70,000 of the evacuees were American citizens. There were no charges of disloyalty against any of these citizens, nor was there any vehicle by which they could appeal their loss of property and personal liberty.

"Relocation centers" were situated many miles inland, often in remote and desolate locales. Sites included Tule Lake and Manzanar in California; Gila River and Poston in Arizona; Jerome and Rohwer in Arkansas, Minidoka in Idaho; Topaz in Utah; Heart Mountain in Wyoming; and Granada in Colorado. (Incarceration rates were significantly lower in the territory of Hawaii, where Japanese Americans made up over one-third of the population and their labor was needed to sustain the economy. However, martial law had been declared in Hawaii immediately following the Pearl Harbor attack, and the Army issued hundreds of military orders, some applicable only to persons of Japanese ancestry.)

In the "relocation centers" (also called "internment camps"), four or five families, with their sparse collections of clothing and possessions, shared tar-papered army-style barracks. Most lived in these conditions for nearly three years or more until the end of the war. Gradually some insulation was added to the barracks and lightweight partitions were added to make them a little more comfortable and somewhat private. Life took on some familiar routines of socializing and school. However, eating in common facilities, using shared restrooms, and having limited opportunities for work interrupted other social and cultural patterns. Persons who resisted were sent to a special camp at Tule Lake, CA, where dissidents were housed.

In 1943 and 1944, the government assembled a combat unit of Japanese Americans for the European theater. It became the 442d Regimental Combat Team and gained fame as the most highly decorated of World War II. Their military record bespoke their patriotism.

As the war drew to a close, "internment camps" were slowly evacuated. While some persons of Japanese ancestry returned to their hometowns, others sought new surroundings. For example, the Japanese-American community of Tacoma, WA, had been sent to three different centers; only 30 percent returned to Tacoma after the war. Japanese Americans from Fresno had gone to Manzanar; 80 percent returned to their hometown.

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II sparked constitutional and political debate. During this period, three Japanese-American citizens challenged the constitutionality of the forced relocation and curfew orders through legal actions: Gordon Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu, and Mitsuye Endo. Hirabayashi and Korematsu received negative judgments; but Mitsuye Endo, after a lengthy battle through lesser courts, was determined to be "loyal" and allowed to leave the Topaz, Utah, facility.

Justice Murphy of the Supreme Court expressed the following opinion in Ex parte Mitsuye Endo:

I join in the opinion of the Court, but I am of the view that detention in Relocation Centers of persons of Japanese ancestry regardless of loyalty is not only unauthorized by Congress or the Executive but is another example of the unconstitutional resort to racism inherent in the entire evacuation program. As stated more fully in my dissenting opinion in Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 , 65 S.Ct. 193, racial discrimination of this nature bears no reasonable relation to military necessity and is utterly foreign to the ideals and traditions of the American people.

In 1988, Congress passed, and President Reagan signed, Public Law 100-383 - the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 - that acknowledged the injustice of "internment," apologized for it, and provided a $20,000 cash payment to each person who was incarcerated.

One of the most stunning ironies in this episode of denied civil liberties was articulated by an internee who, when told that Japanese Americans were put in those camps for their own protection, countered "If we were put there for our protection, why were the guns at the guard towers pointed inward, instead of outward?"

A note on terminology: The historical primary source documents included on this page reflect the terminology that the government used at the time, such as alien, evacuation, relocation, relocation centers, internment, and Japanese (as opposed to Japanese American).
Materials created by the National Archives and Records Administration are in the public domain.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Japanese-American Incarceration During World War II

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In his speech to Congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was "a date which will live in infamy." The attack launched the United States fully into the two theaters of World War II - Europe and the Pacific.

# data[].attributes.headline
End of WWII and Beginning of the Cold War

# data[].attributes.subject
End of WWII and Beginning of the Cold War

# data[].attributes.body
The U.S. emerged as a superpower after WWII. The end of the decade was marked by growing tensions with the Soviet Union, leading to the Cold War.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Containment

By the time World War II ended, most American officials agreed that the best defense against the Soviet threat was a strategy called "containment." In his famous "Long Telegram," the diplomat George Kennan (1904-2005) explained the policy: The Soviet Union, he wrote, was "a political force committed fanatically to the belief that with the U.S. there can be no permanent modus vivendi [agreement between parties that disagree]." As a result, America's only choice was the "long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies."

"It must be the policy of the United States," he declared before Congress in 1947, "to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation...by outside pressures." This way of thinking would shape American foreign policy for the next four decades.

Did you know? The term 'cold war' first appeared in a 1945 essay by the English writer George Orwell called 'You and the Atomic Bomb.'

The Cold War: The Atomic Age

The containment strategy also provided the rationale for an unprecedented arms buildup in the United States. In 1950, a National Security Council Report known as NSC-68 had echoed Truman's recommendation that the country use military force to contain communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring. To that end, the report called for a four-fold increase in defense spending.

In particular, American officials encouraged the development of atomic weapons like the ones that had ended World War II. Thus began a deadly " arms race." In 1949, the Soviets tested an atom bomb of their own. In response, President Truman announced that the United States would build an even more destructive atomic weapon: the hydrogen bomb, or "superbomb." Stalin followed suit.

As a result, the stakes of the Cold War were perilously high. The first H-bomb test, in the Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands, showed just how fearsome the nuclear age could be. It created a 25-square-mile fireball that vaporized an island, blew a huge hole in the ocean floor and had the power to destroy half of Manhattan. Subsequent American and Soviet tests spewed radioactive waste into the atmosphere.

The ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation had a great impact on American domestic life as well. People built bomb shelters in their backyards. They practiced attack drills in schools and other public places. The 1950s and 1960s saw an epidemic of popular films that horrified moviegoers with depictions of nuclear devastation and mutant creatures. In these and other ways, the Cold War was a constant presence in Americans' everyday lives.

The Cold War and the Space Race

Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for "traveling companion"), the world's first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth's orbit. Sputnik's launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans.

In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile-seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. air space-made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent.

In 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army under the direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and what came to be known as the Space Race was underway. That same year, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration, as well as several programs seeking to exploit the military potential of space. Still, the Soviets were one step ahead, launching the first man into space in April 1961.

That May, after Alan Shepard become the first American man in space, President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) made the bold public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. His prediction came true on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong of NASA's Apollo 11 mission, became the first man to set foot on the moon, effectively winning the Space Race for the Americans.

U.S. astronauts came to be seen as the ultimate American heroes. Soviets, in turn, were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their massive, relentless efforts to surpass America and prove the power of the communist system.

The Cold War and the Red Scare

Meanwhile, beginning in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee ( HUAC) brought the Cold War home in another way. The committee began a series of hearings designed to show that communist subversion in the United States was alive and well.

In Hollywood, HUAC forced hundreds of people who worked in the movie industry to renounce left-wing political beliefs and testify against one another. More than 500 people lost their jobs. Many of these "blacklisted" writers, directors, actors and others were unable to work again for more than a decade. HUAC also accused State Department workers of engaging in subversive activities. Soon, other anticommunist politicians, most notably Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957), expanded this probe to include anyone who worked in the federal government.

Thousands of federal employees were investigated, fired and even prosecuted. As this anticommunist hysteria spread throughout the 1950s, liberal college professors lost their jobs, people were asked to testify against colleagues and "loyalty oaths" became commonplace.

The Cold War Abroad

The fight against subversion at home mirrored a growing concern with the Soviet threat abroad. In June 1950, the first military action of the Cold War began when the Soviet-backed North Korean People's Army invaded its pro-Western neighbor to the south. Many American officials feared this was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world and deemed that nonintervention was not an option. Truman sent the American military into Korea, but the Korean War dragged to a stalemate and ended in 1953.

In 1955, the United States and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) made West Germany a member of NATO and permitted it to remilitarize. The Soviets responded with the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization between the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria that set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union.

Other international disputes followed. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy faced a number of troubling situations in his own hemisphere. The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis the following year seemed to prove that the real communist threat now lay in the unstable, postcolonial "Third World."

Nowhere was this more apparent than in Vietnam, where the collapse of the French colonial regime had led to a struggle between the American-backed nationalist Ngo Dinh Diem in the south and the communist nationalist Ho Chi Minh in the north. Since the 1950s, the United States had been committed to the survival of an anticommunist government in the region, and by the early 1960s it seemed clear to American leaders that if they were to successfully "contain" communist expansionism there, they would have to intervene more actively on Diem's behalf. However, what was intended to be a brief military action spiraled into a 10-year conflict.

The End of the Cold War and Effects

Almost as soon as he took office, President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) began to implement a new approach to international relations. Instead of viewing the world as a hostile, "bi-polar" place, he suggested, why not use diplomacy instead of military action to create more poles? To that end, he encouraged the United Nations to recognize the communist Chinese government and, after a trip there in 1972, began to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.

At the same time, he adopted a policy of "détente"-"relaxation"-toward the Soviet Union. In 1972, he and Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), which prohibited the manufacture of nuclear missiles by both sides and took a step toward reducing the decades-old threat of nuclear war.

Despite Nixon's efforts, the Cold War heated up again under President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). Like many leaders of his generation, Reagan believed that the spread of communism anywhere threatened freedom everywhere. As a result, he worked to provide financial and military aid to anticommunist governments and insurgencies around the world. This policy, particularly as it was applied in the developing world in places like Grenada and El Salvador, was known as the Reagan Doctrine.

Even as Reagan fought communism in Central America, however, the Soviet Union was disintegrating. In response to severe economic problems and growing political ferment in the USSR, Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) took office in 1985 and introduced two policies that redefined Russia's relationship to the rest of the world: "glasnost," or political openness, and " perestroika," or economic reform.

Soviet influence in Eastern Europe waned. In 1989, every other communist state in the region replaced its government with a noncommunist one. In November of that year, the Berlin Wall-the most visible symbol of the decades-long Cold War-was finally destroyed, just over two years after Reagan had challenged the Soviet premier in a speech at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." By 1991, the Soviet Union itself had fallen apart. The Cold War was over.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cold War: Summary, Combatants, Start & End

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted for decades and resulted in anti-communist suspicions and international incidents that led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster.

# data[].attributes.body
War production boosted the U.S. economy, leading to near full employment and increased industrial output. Factories produced military supplies, vehicles, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Oops! Page not found
Unfortunately, the page you requested was not found or no longer exists.
You can:
Browse our categories
Try a new search above
Visit our home page
We regret any inconvenience this may have caused, and thank you for using Encyclopedia.com!

# data[].attributes.body
After 1945, consumer demand surged. Returning veterans fueled a housing boom in new suburbs, and families sought cars, appliances, and leisure goods.

# data[].attributes.body
Many women entered the workforce out of necessity during WWII (the 'Rosie the Riveter' era). Some stayed employed after the war, but most returned to traditional roles.

# data[].attributes.body
Scarcity of consumer goods and food led to rationing stamps and coupons being used for everything from sugar to shoes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We have redesigned our site, and the page you are looking for might have been moved, renamed, or may be temporarily unavailable.

# data[].attributes.body
With the GI Bill and economic prosperity, new housing developments exploded on the outskirts of cities, leading to the growth of American suburbia.

# data[].attributes.body
After years of wage controls, strikes erupted in major industries as workers demanded better pay and conditions in the late 1940s.

# data[].attributes.body
Swing and big band music dominated radios and dance halls. Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman were household names.

# data[].attributes.body
The silver screen thrived with stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Judy Garland. Films like 'Casablanca' and 'It's a Wonderful Life' remain classics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sorry, something went wrong, and we cannot find the page you are looking for.

# data[].attributes.body
Superheroes like Superman and Wonder Woman rose to popularity, offering hope and entertainment during wartime.

# data[].attributes.body
Families gathered around the radio for news, soap operas, comedies (like 'The Jack Benny Program'), and serials.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to Old Radio World! Here you will find some of the most popular radio programs of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Before television, radio provided entertainment by presenting radio plays and programs of mystery, intrigue, and comedy. There was also news and soap operas.

If you are new to old time radio, have a look at how the sound men created the broadcasts with sound effects. The nine minute video, " Back of the Mike", begins with a child listening to the radio and his imagination is put on the screen. The camera then goes to a 1930s era radio sound studio where the program is originating. This video gives you an insightful look at how those intriguing and astonishing sounds were created.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free Old Time Radio Shows from The Golden Age of Radio - OTR

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to Old Radio World! Here you will find some of the most popular radio programs of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Before television, radio provided entertainment by presenting radio plays and programs of mystery, intrigue, and comedy. There was also news and soap operas.

# data[].attributes.body
Young people flocked to USO dances to do the Jitterbug, Lindy Hop, and other energetic dances to swing music.

# data[].attributes.body
Pin-up posters became famous, boosting morale for troops overseas. Stars like Betty Grable were iconic figures.

# data[].attributes.body
Clothing was practical due to rationing of fabrics; women wore shorter skirts and shoulder pads; men's suits lost their vests and cuffs to save material.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ever since the stock market crash of 1929 and the severe economic depression that followed for most of the 1930s, fashion had been an escape. Looking to the movies, women and men escaped their difficult daily lives and imagined a carefree and very glamorous life in Hollywood. Fashion followed movie stars' apparel both on and off the set. Bias cut dresses were modest but feminine. Men's wide shouldered suits mimicked the masculine physique underneath. Rich furs, white paste jewelry, and coordinated accessories looked like a million bucks. Fashion did not reflect real life in the 1930s.

The tables turned in the 1940s. WWII began in 1939 and fashion took on a new role. Men's fashion stopped progressing until after the war - a reflection that most men were serving in uniforms instead of enjoying life at home. Women's fashion echoed men's traditional clothing with man-tailored dresses, coats and hats. These new serious looks were not about an idealized life, but about supporting the war effort through fashion. A woman's duty was to take care of the homefront, both at her household and in jobs previously held by men. The clothing reflected this practical and conservative time where materials were limited, even after the war ended in 1945. It took until the end of the decade for women to adopt Dior's New Look that returned women to an ultra feminine silhouette, and for men to adopt a relaxed fit in their clothing.

Let's begin the 1940s Style Guide series with a more detailed summary of fashion history. First, for women ( click here to jump to men):

1940s Fashion for Women

The 1940s were defined by a clean and slim silhouette with a somewhat military feel. Jackets, blouses, sweaters, and skirts were short and close-fitting, all unadorned and with the requisite sharp shoulder pads. Long sleeves were out, dresses were casual, and pants and 'playsuits' became everyday attire.

Before World War II, Paris was the epicenter of fashion. All of the new styles originated there. Anonymous American designers simply copied the looks coming from France for their wealthy clientele or for stores. The 1930s will be remembered for their glamour, despite the Depression. Hollywood starlets were clothed in long, draping, flowing gowns made of satin, crepe, silk, and velvet. Dresses and gowns began to be bias cut, meaning the fabric was cut diagonally, allowing it to cling to curves. Coco Chanel brought the day suit into fashion, with a fitted jacket and a long skirt. Fur was the most wanted luxury item.

After Germany took over Paris in 1940, many of the designers closed their fashion houses, some fleeing the country. Those that did stay didn't see their styles leave the country. The rest of the world was left to come up with their own styles. New York took over, creating a look that was dominated by the war going on across the ocean.

A lot of the materials normally used for clothing became scarce during the war. Wool was used to make uniforms and coats for the soldiers. Leather was needed for their boots. Silk, normally used to make dresses, undergarments, and stockings, was turned into parachutes and waterproof maps. Metal and various chemicals were needed to make just about everything for the war effort.

Civilian clothing had to resort to using new materials. Nylon, created by DuPont and introduced in 1938, replaced silk for women's items until it began to be used for the same purposes as silk for the war. American cotton began to take over as a casual fabric of choice. Wool blends were introduced to save wool for military uses, and the synthetic fabric rayon became the most widely used fabric of the time. A softer, silkier version was used for day dresses, and a thick version replaced wool for suits and coats. 'Vinylite' could be used instead of leather, and other forms of plastic were used for all kinds of applications.

Aside from breakthroughs in man-made materials, fashions of the day were most affected by the governmental clothing restrictions put in place for the duration of the war. The very silhouette that dominated the '40s was a casualty of war. In Britain and elsewhere in Europe, ration coupons for clothing were given out on top of the restrictions, and they didn't go far. The United States avoided the coupons by putting strict rules in place for manufacturers. The only clothing item that was rationed were leather shoes starting in 1943, and they were only available in black, white, navy and brown.

The United States Production Board put into place 'Limitation Orders,' order L-85 governing women's clothes, which were in effect until 1946. These restrictions were much less severe than in Europe, but still greatly limited what clothing was to look like. The length and width of blouses, skirts and dresses was restricted, as was sleeve length and hip width. The amount of pockets, buttons, pleats, and seams was dictated, and most decorations were not allowed. This came to be known as the 'no fabric on fabric' rule. The colors of fabrics were set each season to conserve chemicals, so only a handful of patriotically named hues were available. The heels on shoes could only be 1 ½ inches high.

All of this interference resulted in a slim, uncluttered look. Skirts were shorter and tighter than anyone was used to, and shirts and jackets were plain and practical. As the prices of clothes soared due to the shortages, they had to last longer and go further. Pieces were extremely well-tailored and the styles started to work for a multitude of occasions. Although eveningwear was still made and worn, people began to dress more casually in restaurants and theaters. Versatile separates and sportswear took over, and women began to wear pants as a safety precaution in the factories they were working in.

Home sewing became popular. In Europe, fabric could be had for fewer coupons than a ready-made garment. In the United States, pattern sales skyrocketed. Citizens were encouraged to mend old clothes, recycle old fabrics into new garments, and combine dresses to make new ones. Pamphlets with titles like 'Make and Mend,' and 'Make It Do Until Victory' showed women how to fix and care for their clothes to make them last, and to make them from other household items like blankets and curtains. Here is a book on Make-overs from Coats and Suits.

The plain and functional styles lasted throughout the war. When U.S. restrictions were lifted in 1945 and '46, women continued to wear their war-time garb. Colors did return to wardrobes, softer and brighter, and skirts got a little bit longer and more flouncy. In 1947, Paris designer Christian Dior showed his debut collection, soon to be dubbed the 'New Look,' which was the total opposite of the severe styles of the war. The silhouette was soft, an extreme hourglass figure achieved with a corset and bust and hip padding, and the skirts were enormous confections of fabric.

The New Look didn't take off in the United States. Women felt that Parisian designers had acted as though no war had taken place, while they sacrificed their wardrobes for the war effort. However, most were also ready for a change. As soldiers came back, women stopped working and returned to new homes and cars in the suburbs. The economy prospered, and clothing manufacture became cheaper and easier thanks to new methods devised for the war. New York and California remained in the fashion game, and American designers started to be known by name. Eventually, women adopted the New Look that would become the style of the '50s.

1940s Men's Fashion History

1930s men's clothing, either for day, sport, or evening were styled to make a man feel "larger than life." During the 1941-1945 WWII era, fabric rations limited cloth to make suits but not style. The Zoot Suit with its bright colors, baggy legs and long jackets was a complete deviation from the norm. However, that trend was only popular with the young, urban men during the war years. Most men chose basic men's suits that haven't changed dramatically since the beginning of the century. There were, however, a few features that made a suit style unique to the 1940s.

The war board placed restrictions on men's clothing just as they did for women. The restrictions were not as dramatic as they were for women. Suit pockets could not have flaps, trousers could not be more the 19 inches around or be cuffed, and suits were sold without vests (waistcoats). The cuffed look was so popular that men quickly figured out you could purchase longer length pants and cuff them at home. The double breasted suits were forbidden during the war except for formal occasions such as weddings. Most men's kept their clothing from the 1930s and wore them through the early '40s war years. Tailors became skilled at repairing or repurposing double breasted suit jackets from the 1930s into single breasted jackets or sport coats. It was a sign of support for the war to be seen in your pre-war suits.

In Britain the clothing restrictions were harsher. Jackets could not have pleated backs, metal zippers or buttons, feature raglan sleeves, or have half-belts. Zippers in flys, called front fly fasteners, were allowed, although button flys were preferred and easier to obtain materials.

War time clothing influenced men's fashion design after the war by coping or modifying uniforms into civilian clothes. Trench coats, bomber jackets, knit undershirts, pea coats, chino pants, and aviator glasses all have roots in WWII military clothing. With so much military surplus available after the war, civilians would buy and wear military clothing for several more years. The improvement in machinery, textiles, and manufacturing of military clothing made post war ready to wear civilian clothing a booming industry. The quality and eventually affordability of ready made clothing gradually put local tailors and seamstresses out of business.

The biggest influence war time restrictions had on men was the further introduction of casualness. After the war, the need for suits to be worn at all times was replaced by more causal sporting attire. Collarless knit tee shirts, open collar dress shirts, ascot ties, slip on loafers, and sandals in summer became the everyday man's dress code. Men were tired of scratchy uniforms and confining suits. The freedom casual clothes brought to men was a big sigh of relief.

Ironically, the very clothing that caused such turmoil during the war years, the Zoot Suit, was the single piece of fashion that influenced men's post war clothing. Longer, looser jackets, double pleated pants, big hats, and even wide ties made their way into late '40s men's fashions. Men were eager to put the war behind them and embrace the clothing they were previously forbidden to wear.

Fashion History Resources

Research for the 1940s Style Guide series involved years of gathering information from books, magazines, catalogs and online sources. Here are a few of the most useful ones:

BOOKS

More books in this list of Vintage Fashion History Books.

WEBSITES

Even more resources can be found in this article: How to Research Fashion History.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ever since the stock market crash of 1929 and the severe economic depression that followed for most of the 1930s, fashion had been an escape. Looking to the movies, women and men escaped their difficult daily lives and imagined a carefree and very glamorous life in Hollywood.

# data[].attributes.body
Women's hairstyles like victory rolls became symbols of patriotic style and practicality.

# data[].attributes.body
Military uniforms and workwear influenced everyday dress, with khakis and denim gaining in popularity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With the first half of the 1940s dominated by World War II, fashion stalled. Both men and women were often seen in their uniforms during the war and, if they were not, their clothing styles were dictated by rationing and Utility clothing. After the war, Christian Dior launched the New Look in Paris, returning women’s fashion to an overtly feminine silhouette, while men, women, and children’s clothing all began to lean towards the sporty, casual American Look.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1947, Christian Dior introduced his 'New Look': nipped waists, full skirts, and femininity, dramatically changing women's fashion post-war.

# data[].attributes.body
Artists like Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton celebrated rural American themes, emphasizing realism and American life.

# data[].attributes.body
In the late 1940s, artists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko began revolutionary abstract work that would shape postwar art.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A new vanguard emerged in the early 1940s, primarily in New York, where a small group of loosely affiliated artists created a stylistically diverse body of work that introduced radical new directions in art-and shifted the art world's focus. Never a formal association, the artists known as "Abstract Expressionists" or "The New York School" did, however, share some common assumptions. Among others, artists such as Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Franz Kline (1910-1962), Lee Krasner (1908-1984), Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), William Baziotes (1912-1963), Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Barnett Newman (1905-1970), Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974), Richard Pousette-Dart (1916-1992), and Clyfford Still (1904-1980) advanced audacious formal inventions in a search for significant content. Breaking away from accepted conventions in both technique and subject matter, the artists made monumentally scaled works that stood as reflections of their individual psyches-and in doing so, attempted to tap into universal inner sources. These artists valued spontaneity and improvisation, and they accorded the highest importance to process. Their work resists stylistic categorization, but it can be clustered around two basic inclinations: an emphasis on dynamic, energetic gesture, in contrast to a reflective, cerebral focus on more open fields of color. In either case, the imagery was primarily abstract. Even when depicting images based on visual realities, the Abstract Expressionists favored a highly abstracted mode.

Context
Abstract Expressionism developed in the context of diverse, overlapping sources and inspirations. Many of the young artists had made their start in the 1930s. The Great Depression yielded two popular art movements, Regionalism and Social Realism, neither of which satisfied this group of artists' desire to find a content rich with meaning and redolent of social responsibility, yet free of provincialism and explicit politics. The Great Depression also spurred the development of government relief programs, including the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a jobs program for unemployed Americans in which many of the group participated, and which allowed so many artists to establish a career path.

But it was the exposure to and assimilation of European modernism that set the stage for the most advanced American art. There were several venues in New York for seeing avant-garde art from Europe. The Museum of Modern Art had opened in 1929, and there artists saw a rapidly growing collection acquired by director Alfred H. Barr, Jr. They were also exposed to groundbreaking temporary exhibitions of new work, including Cubism and Abstract Art (1936), Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism (1936-37), and retrospectives of Matisse, Léger, and Picasso, among others. Another forum for viewing the most advanced art was Albert Gallatin's Museum of Living Art, which was housed at New York University from 1927 to 1943. There the Abstract Expressionists saw the work of Mondrian, Gabo, El Lissitzky, and others. The forerunner of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum-the Museum of Non-Objective Painting-opened in 1939. Even prior to that date, its collection of Kandinskys had been publicly exhibited several times. The lessons of European modernism were also disseminated through teaching. The German expatriate Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) became the most influential teacher of modern art in the United States, and his impact reached both artists and critics.

The crisis of war and its aftermath are key to understanding the concerns of the Abstract Expressionists. These young artists, troubled by man's dark side and anxiously aware of human irrationality and vulnerability, wanted to express their concerns in a new art of meaning and substance. Direct contact with European artists increased as a result of World War II, which caused so many-including Dalí, Ernst, Masson, Breton, Mondrian, and Léger-to seek refuge in the U.S. The Surrealists opened up new possibilities with their emphasis on tapping the unconscious. One Surrealist device for breaking free of the conscious mind was psychic automatism-in which automatic gesture and improvisation gain free rein.

Early Work
Early on, the Abstract Expressionists, in seeking a timeless and powerful subject matter, turned to primitive myth and archaic art for inspiration. Rothko, Pollock, Motherwell, Gottlieb, Newman, and Baziotes all looked to ancient or primitive cultures for expression. Their early works feature pictographic and biomorphic elements transformed into personal code. Jungian psychology was compelling, too, in its assertion of the collective unconscious. Directness of expression was paramount, best achieved through lack of premeditation. In a famous letter to the New York Times (June 1943), Gottlieb and Rothko, with the assistance of Newman, wrote: "To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical."

Mature Abstract Expressionism: Gesture
In 1947, Pollock developed a radical new technique, pouring and dripping thinned paint onto raw canvas laid on the ground (instead of traditional methods of painting in which pigment is applied by brush to primed, stretched canvas positioned on an easel). The paintings were entirely nonobjective. In their subject matter (or seeming lack of one), scale (huge), and technique (no brush, no stretcher bars, no easel), the works were shocking to many viewers. De Kooning, too, was developing his own version of a highly charged, gestural style, alternating between abstract work and powerful iconic figurative images. Other colleagues, including Krasner and Kline, were equally engaged in creating an art of dynamic gesture in which every inch of a picture is fully charged. For Abstract Expressionists, the authenticity or value of a work lay in its directness and immediacy of expression. A painting is meant to be a revelation of the artist's authentic identity. The gesture, the artist's "signature," is evidence of the actual process of the work's creation. It is in reference to this aspect of the work that critic Harold Rosenberg coined the term "action painting" in 1952: "At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act-rather than as a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyze, or 'express' an object, actual or imagined. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event."

Mature Abstract Expressionism: Color Field
Another path lay in the expressive potential of color. Rothko, Newman, and Still, for instance, created art based on simplified, large-format, color-dominated fields. The impulse was, in general, reflective and cerebral, with pictorial means simplified in order to create a kind of elemental impact. Rothko and Newman, among others, spoke of a goal to achieve the "sublime" rather than the "beautiful," harkening back to Edmund Burke in a drive for the grand, heroic vision in opposition to a calming or comforting effect. Newman described his reductivism as one means of "freeing ourselves of the obsolete props of an outmoded and antiquated legend ... freeing ourselves from the impediments of memory, association, nostalgia, legend, and myth that have been the devices of Western European painting." For Rothko, his glowing, soft-edged rectangles of luminescent color should provoke in viewers a quasi-religious experience, even eliciting tears. As with Pollock and the others, scale contributed to the meaning. For the time, the works were vast in scale. And they were meant to be seen in relatively close environments, so that the viewer was virtually enveloped by the experience of confronting the work. Rothko said, "I paint big to be intimate." The notion is toward the personal (authentic expression of the individual) rather than the grandiose.

The Aftermath
The first generation of Abstract Expressionism flourished between 1943 and the mid-1950s. The movement effectively shifted the art world's focus from Europe (specifically Paris) to New York in the postwar years. The paintings were seen widely in traveling exhibitions and through publications. In the wake of Abstract Expressionism, new generations of artists-both American and European-were profoundly marked by the breakthroughs made by the first generation, and went on to create their own important expressions based on, but not imitative of, those who forged the way.

Paul, Stella. "Abstract Expressionism." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm (October 2004)

Messinger, Lisa Mintz Abstract Expressionism: Works on Paper. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. See on MetPublications

Thaw, Eugene Victor "The Abstract Expressionist." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 44, no. 3 (Winter, 1986-87). See on MetPublications

Tinterow, Gary, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal, eds. Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007. See on MetPublications

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Abstract Expressionism | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The German expatriate Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) became the most influential teacher of modern art in the United States, and his impact reached both artists and critics.

# data[].attributes.body
The Works Progress Administration (ended in 1943) supported thousands of artists who painted murals and public art during the decade.

# data[].attributes.body
Artists contributed to propaganda posters encouraging war bonds, unity, and patriotism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Verifying you are human. This may take a few seconds.

# data[].attributes.body
Polio outbreaks were a major health concern in the 1940s, leading to widespread fear until the vaccine was developed in the 1950s.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The U.S. is polio-free, thanks to a successful vaccination program.

# data[].attributes.body
The mass production of penicillin during WWII revolutionized the treatment of infections and saved countless lives.

# data[].attributes.body
The U.S. placed heavy emphasis on nutrition and creative cooking due to food shortages and rationing during WWII.

# data[].attributes.body
The experiences of wartime stress and PTSD among veterans led to early movements in mental health care awareness.

# data[].attributes.body
Traditional family roles were still dominant, but with men at war, many women managed households and worked outside the home.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Due to the government shutdown, we are temporarily closed. Please check back for reopening updates.

# data[].attributes.body
Children experienced air raid drills, scrap drives, and new responsibilities at home as families contributed to the war effort.

# data[].attributes.body
The return of millions of GIs led to a baby boom and the growth of the suburban nuclear family at the end of the decade.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Baby Boom

What explains this baby boom? Some historians have argued that it was a part of a desire for normalcy after 16 years of depression and war. Others have argued that it was a part of a Cold War campaign to fight communism by outnumbering communists.

Did you know?

Most likely, however, the postwar baby boom happened for more quotidian reasons. Older Americans, who had postponed marriage and childbirth during the Great Depression and World War II, were joined in the nation's maternity wards by young adults who were eager to start families. (In 1940, the average American woman got married when she was almost 22 years old; in 1956, the average American woman got married when she was just 20. And just 8 percent of married women in the 1940s opted not to have children, compared to 15 percent in the 1930s.)

Many people in the postwar era looked forward to having children because they were confident that the future would be one of comfort and prosperity. In many ways, they were right: Corporations grew larger and more profitable, labor unions promised generous wages and benefits to their members, and consumer goods were more plentiful and affordable than ever before. As a result, many Americans felt certain that they could give their families all the material things that they themselves had done without.

Moving to the Suburbs

The baby boom and the suburban boom went hand in hand. Almost as soon as World War II ended, developers such as William Levitt (whose "Levittowns" in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania would become the most famous symbols of suburban life in the 1950s) began to buy land on the outskirts of cities and use mass-production techniques to build modest, inexpensive tract houses there. The G.I. Bill subsidized low-cost mortgages for returning soldiers, which meant that it was often cheaper to buy one of these suburban houses than it was to rent an apartment in the city.

These houses were perfect for young families-they had informal "family rooms," open floor plans and backyards-and so suburban developments earned nicknames like "Fertility Valley" and "The Rabbit Hutch." By 1960, suburban baby boomers and their parents comprised one-third of the population of the United States.

The Baby Boom & The "Feminine Mystique"

The suburban baby boom had a particularly confining effect on women. Advice books and magazine articles ("Don't Be Afraid to Marry Young," "Cooking To Me Is Poetry," "Femininity Begins At Home") urged women to leave the workforce and embrace their roles as wives and mothers. The idea that a woman's most important job was to bear and rear children was hardly a new one, but it took on a new significance in the postwar era. First, it placed the baby boomers squarely at the center of the suburban universe. Second, it generated a great deal of dissatisfaction among women who yearned for a more fulfilling life. (In her 1963 book "The Feminine Mystique," women's-rights advocate Betty Friedan argued that the suburbs were "burying women alive.") This dissatisfaction, in turn, contributed to the rebirth of the feminist movement in the 1960s.

The Boomer Market

Consumer goods played an important role in middle-class life during the postwar era. Adults participated eagerly in the consumer economy, using new-fangled credit cards and charge accounts to buy things like televisions, hi-fi systems and new cars. But manufacturers and marketers had their eyes on another group of shoppers as well: the millions of relatively affluent boomer children, many of whom could be persuaded to participate in all kinds of consumer crazes. Baby boomers bought mouse-ear hats to wear while they watched "The Mickey Mouse Club" and coonskin caps to wear while they watched Walt Disney's TV specials about Davy Crockett. They bought rock and roll records, danced along with "American Bandstand" and swooned over Elvis Presley. They collected hula hoops, Frisbees and Barbie dolls. A 1958 story in Life magazine declared that "kids" were a "built-in recession cure." ("4,000,000 a Year Make Millions in Business," the article's headline read.)

The Boomer Counterculture

As they grew older, some baby boomers began to resist this consumerist suburban ethos. They began to fight instead for social, economic and political equality and justice for many disadvantaged groups: African-Americans, young people, women, gays and lesbians, American Indians and Hispanics, for example. Student activists took over college campuses, organized massive demonstrations against the war in Vietnam and occupied parks and other public places. Young people also participated in the wave of uprisings that shook American cities from Newark to Los Angeles in the 1960s.

Other baby boomers "dropped out" of political life altogether. These "hippies" grew their hair long, experimented with drugs, and-thanks to the newly-accessible birth-control pill-practiced "free love." Some even moved to communes, as far away from Levittown as they could get.

Baby Boomers Today

As baby boomers age, the population of seniors in the United States increases. By 2030, about one in five Americans will be older than 65, and some experts believe that the aging of the population will place a strain on social welfare systems.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Baby Boomers - Year Range, Definition & Facts | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Watch a brief video on the hugely influential Baby Boomers - the generation of Americans born during the post-World W...

# data[].attributes.body
Board games, radio shows, and trips to the cinema were popular ways for families to relax together in the 1940s.