1940s Careers
Remember all those really cool World War II movies? This is the part those movies didn’t show you. Due to our vast amount of people available, our determination to continue on, and our influential propaganda; everyday life was improved by the war, as well as rights for women and blacks. Careers were changed as well, the war gave people new jobs and fixed inflation. The ‘Dust Bowl’ had just crippled the Midwest and a lot of people had no easy way of earning money, but the U.S. entering WWII changed it all.
Poverty swept the nation in the 1930s, and the 40s wasn’t so different when it began. We were weak and the Great Depression had been tearing the U.S. to pieces. Yet, we couldn’t quite figure out how to repair the damage;
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from depression, steel and food production was vital to keeping soldiers safe and healthy. While men were on the front lines fighting, women were then allowed to handle jobs normally restricted to men. Tanks and planes needed to be manufactured, and people needed food to eat. So, people began to ration what they had and sometimes people had to plant gardens to combat what the depression had done. People began to plant ‘Victory Gardens’ and increasing food production, and factories were producing weapons, ammunition, and vehicles to help soldiers on the battlefield. The federal government took control of the factories and regulated what they made and the workers’ …show more content…
Some of these films were created specifically towards german fascism, such as ‘Confessions of a Nazi Spy’ and ‘The Great Dictator’, (A Cultural History of the United States: The 1940s). Other movies, such as ‘Sergeant York’, showed that even a pacifist can become our greatest hero, (A Cultural History of the United States: The 1940s). Other form of influence were large billboards displaying Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeve, getting ready for war. These billboards were designed to bring in younger men into military enlistment stations, so they could enlist to fight in the war. Women had influential posters as well, displaying a women doing jobs that men normally do; these posters were showing women shouldn’t standby and watch the country burn, but help with the war