Decades Project:

1940s
U.S. History
Period 2
Reed Miller & Jon Mcguire

Social Changes
Fashion
Games/Toys
Movies of the 40s

Fashion of the 40s

The Depression was ending and war was

looming in Europe, so fashion wasnt flashy.

Men and women alike wore clothing with little
variety. Natural fabrics were reserved for
military uniforms, so most cloths were handsewed at home or scrapped together.
Women:

Introduced
squared
shoulders
Narrow at the
hips
Skirts ended just
below the knees
Silk was
rationed so no
leggings

Men:

Tried to keep
traditional look,
but had to
sacrifice the
suit
Lost their vest,
pocket flaps,
and trouser
cuffs

Games/Toys of the 40s

Various toys and games from the 40s
Slinky:
Silly Putty:
Originally
invented as a
replacement for
rubber in the
war effort, but
the project
failed and
turned into a
children's toy

Bubbles:
Bubbles have
been around
forever, but it
wasnt until the
40s that
someone
decided to put
them in a bottle
with a wand.

Clue:
The classic mystery murder
game originally made to pass
long hours of time in air shelters
during the war.

Invented by a
mechanic who was
trying to find a spring
that could support
sensitive
instruments. Instead
he found the
mechanics of a
Slinky

Candy land:
The classic board game
we all played as kids.

Movies of the 40s

Some of the greatest movies ever came from

the 40s with titles like

Maltes
e
Falcon:
(1941)

Double
Indemnity:
(1944)

Citizen Kane:
(1941)

Casablanc
a:
(1942)

Its a
Wonderful
life:
(1946)

Important People
Franklin D Roosevelt
Glenn Miller
Jackie Robinson

Franklin D Roosevelt
Oversaw re-armament of the U.S. prior to its

involvement in WWII
His policies for wartime production brought
unemployment down to a quarter of pre-war
numbers
Issued Executive Order 9066, interning thousands
of Japanese-Americans
Served three terms, died two months into his
fourth

Glenn Miller
Was the best-selling musician for four years
Awarded three Grammy Awards after his death
Served in the United States Air Force for twenty

one years, writing and performing songs to boost

troops morale
Declared MIA in December of 1944 while flying to
Paris

Jackie Robinson
First African American to play in Major League

Baseball
Was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers to play as
first basemen
Because Robinson was such an inspiration for
breaking the color barrier in baseball, his actions
lead to other desegregations for African
Americans

Political Changes
Desegregation
Changes for women
NATO

Desegregation in the 40s

Racism in general was widely accepted before the

40s until millions of people were killed under

Adolf Hitlers command because of their race.
After that racism was sought as evil
One of the biggest changes in desegregation
during the 40s was in the military which was an
executive order by Harry S. Truman in 1948
Harry S.
Truman

Changes for Women

Men were off fighting in the war, so women took

over for most of the laborious jobs in the factories

When the men returned women were expected to
become a housewife again. Although many did
go back to taking care of the home some stayed
working in factories
Women were now depicted as hard workers aside
from home workers

NATO
Stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Its an intergovernmental military alliance based

on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on

April 4th, 1949
The organization states that all members agree to
mutual defense in response to an attack by any
external party

Science and
Technology
Atomic Bomb
Duct Tape
Penicillin

Atomic Bomb
Was developed over the course of three to four

years
Gave us the advantage over Japan in WWII
Paved the way to other fields of science involving
nuclear power and radiation
Vastly changed the concept of war

Duct Tape
Developed in 1943, it was originally used to repair

various forms of military equipment

Earned its name from often being used to repair
air ducts when it was first sold commercially
Soon became everybodys go-to material for quick
repairs, be it at home, on the battlefield, or even
in space!

Penicillin
Used as an antibiotic to fight bacterial

diseases
Although penicillin was not invented in the
40s it wasnt until this decade that it was
used
Penicillin was mass produced for soldiers in
Alexander Fleming
World War Two who were dealing with
discovered the
bacterial infections
antibiotic back in
1928.

Historical Events
Pearl Harbor
Holocaust
Cold War

Pearl Harbor
One December 7th, 1941 the naval base of Pearl

Harbor war bombed by the Japanese

This event drove the United States into World War
Two in order to help stop the Axis Powers
This naval base was extremely important in the
pacific theater against Japan

Holocaust
The genocide of approximately six million Jews

during World War Two under the Nazi Regime

Although America had many goals for their
campaign in World War Two for things like the
protection of Democracy and becoming a world
power, justice was achieved when the Nazi regime
was defeated and the Holocaust ended

Cold War
A state of military and political tension

between Soviet Russia and the United States

Historians are not quite sure when it began,
but speculate around 1947. The reason for the
indecisiveness is because no actual fighting
broke out between the two sides