Essay On The 1940s And The 1980s

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." ~ Winston Churchill. The second world war and the cold war reintroduced the themes of war and at the same time, progress in the United States of America. In the 1940s and the 1980s, a number of major global, political and historical events greatly influenced lifestyle and fashion at the time and established the United States of America as a superpower of the world. In order to understand what in 1940s and 1980s made the United States economically, socially and culturally important, it is necessary to consider its relationship with the rest of the world, both its resourcefulness and its scandals, its long-standing consumerism and

World War II radically altered the

Young, white females with a secondary school education, the traditional population of nursing students, was exactly the same group heavily recruited by war-related industries. The Cadet Nurse Corps created by the 1943 Bolton Act, a program that ran through to 1948, provided funding and financial support for nursing students with much larger federal funds for both students and hospitals than had previously been allocated. The objective of the Cadet Nurse Corps was increasing the number of students within nursing education programs to maintain nursing services to hospitalized patients. During the war, the use of some types of nurse assistive personnel, such as ward maids, nurse aides, and orderlies increased dramatically (University of Pennsylvania). It is clear why nurses and other medical professionals were important during the war. Though not thoroughly credited, medical workers were an important part of World War II. The Iran-Contra affair however, did not seem to show themes of truth or altruism displayed by war nurses. In November 1986, an underground newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon reported that members of the Reagan administration, established by members of the White House’s National Security Council, covertly traded weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of American

During World War II, manufacturers put more effort into supplying the wartime needs of Europe, creating shortages of raw materials at home. Automobile manufacturers gradually converted their factories to build military vehicles and clothing manufacturers made uniforms for the military (Vergun). Due to these shortages, clothes became tighter and more versatile to use less fabric. Rural dwellers including millions of women, ethnic minorities, and teenagers moved to the cities to work in factories. After the war, clothes became more luxurious as fabrics used were now heavy and expensive. Men wore suits with white shirts and slim ties and relaxed in comfortable slacks, sweaters, and sportswear. For women, Christian Dior’s “New Look” brought full skirts and soft, feminine curves to fashion (Berman). Although women stayed in the workforce, home, family, and traditional values were still emphasized. Church attendance, financial contributions and church building increased sharply when the fighting ended (Brymer). Comedies, gangster movies, and musicals and radios were wildly popular, offering many kinds of programs, from sermons to soap operas (Library of Congress). The baby boomers born after World