President Franklin Delano Roosevelt envisioned the world living in peace and prosperity. The country had endured a depression and Roosevelt set the "New Deal" in place to alleviate the hard times but in 1941, America entered into war with the Axis powers. The military was expanded, enlisting women as well as men, factories were retooled to produce wartime products such as guns and munitions, and rationing was started. Government controls on food, rent, and clothing were put in place. There was a sense of focus and resolve throughout the country. On December 7, 1941 America was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Thus began our fight. Germany controlled most of Europe. Along with our allies, England and France, America defeated the Germans and Italians in Africa. The Russians defeated the Nazi army in Stalingrad and forced them back into Germany. America used bases in England to win back England and also free France at Normandy. Finally Russia and the Allies joined forces to defeat Hitler in 1945. On August 6, 1945, America dropped the A-bomb on the city of Hiroshima and three days later on Nagasaki. On August 14, 1945, Japan formally surrendered and the war was over. The United Nations was formed to encouraged world peace. America was ecstatic.
As our service men and women returned from war, families were growing. We quickly realized that housing was needed for these families. Money saved from wartime jobs allowed people to move to "the suburbs". Women were encouraged to become domestic again. The federal government subsided housing with low interest loans. New industries and new products were being developed. Cars allowed for a new sense of freedom. The middle class was exploding. The suburbs were a safe environment to raise a family and, at first, there was a sense of security and pride. Soon women felt left behind. Women were supposed to "doll up" for their men when they came home from work. The image of women was of the family nurturer, one who stays home and happily raises her family. Sex was not to be spoken of and women were branded if they became pregnant out of wedlock. Kinsey exposed much about the sexual habits of America. Women became frustrated and finally went back to work. Salaries began going up, kids had disposable income so they became targets of advertising, and music and dance exposed an undercurrent of rebellion.
As all this was happening the cold war with Russia went into full swing. The fear of losing this war led our country to develop the H-bomb and the expectation for positive use of nuclear power was immense. Fear led to our race to the moon. This fear also led to the Age of McCarthyism where paranoia and anxiety over radical take over of the government shackled the nation. Jobs were lost and lives were ruined at the hint that you were a member of the Communist party. This obsession fizzled out as we began collaboration which Russia in the area of science and technology.
Finally there was the fight for civil rights among the blacks in our nation. Plessy established the concept of "Separate but Equal". It was just not good enough. After decades of silently enduring second-class citizenship, blacks in the late 1940s and early 1950s began to challenge the injustices they faced on a daily basis. The earliest school segregation cases demanded that the Supreme Court re-examine the "separate but equal" and the murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till had a tremendous impact on blacks in both the North and the South. Although segregation in public facilities other than schools was rarely questioned during this time period, blacks were slowly gaining the resolve to finally stand up to Jim Crow. Rosa Parks and
Brown v the Board of Education
were the turning points in the slow rise to equality for all people.