1940s Decade

The 1940s has many historic things happening to the U.S. during this decade. Some of
the major things happened with the U.S. entering into WWII, Japan bombing of Pearl Harbor,
and the allies invading France on D-day. Or the minor things happening like Cheerios being
invented or the first Captain America comic book being published or the beginnings of Las Vegas
being built its first big hotel. This will be a summary from 1940 to 1949.
In 1941 many things happened. The jeep being invented was a big thing for American
military because we needed strong but light weight 4x4 vehicle for the army for WWII. It took
three big car companies to invent the jeep and make it to the army needs for war it needed to be 4
wheel drive and light enough to be picked up by four men when in trouble. The army contacted
135 companies and only two responded and the army gave those two companies 49 days to have
a prototype jeep built. But they did it and now we have the jeep we which is still used today. The
most major thing that happened is when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the
main reason the U.S. entered WWI. December 7, 1941 the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii started
at 7:55 a.m. when Japanese fighter planes launch a surprise attack on U.S., destroying the U.S.
ships docked at the base. This attack, which took the greatest amount of U.S. naval life in history
with 1,177 sailor and marines perishing in the attack, as well as the loss or damage to twenty-one
naval ships, led to the entry of American troops into WWII. One day later, the U.S. declared war
on Japan, officially entering WWII. On December 11, 1941 the U.S. declared war on Germany
and Italy, responding to their declaration of war against America. In March 1941 Marvel Comics
released Captain America who is a fictional superhero created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack
Kirby. Captain America was designed as a patriotic supersoldier who often fought the Axis
powers of WWII and was most popular character during the wartime period. Also in 1941

General Mills came out with the Cheerios cereal except that it was called CheeriOats. The name
was changed to Cheerios in 1945.
In 1944 is the year when a big turning point occurred during WWII and happened at
Normandy beach in France. June 6, 1944 the Normandy Invasion, D-Day occurred when one
hundred and fifty-five thousand Allied troops, including American forces and those of eleven
other Allied nations (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom) land in France. Allied
soldiers stormed the beaches of France to begin the WWII invasion of Europe that would lead to
the freeing of Paris. Operation Overlord gained footing quickly, pushing through the Atlantic
Wall in the largest both on land and in water military operation in history.
In April 12, 1945 President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies suddenly and Vice President Harry
S. Truman has to take over the presidency and role as commander in chief of WWII. All of the
U.S. was devastated with his death. FDR brought America out of its depression and brought
back jobs in America and got America through most of WWII until his death. The atomic bomb
was also tested in 1945 in a desert in the state of New Mexico. The code name the Manhattan
project was to build an atomic bombed to destroy Japan to get them to surrender the war. The test
worked and so we made two bombs one for Hiroshima and the other for Nagasaki we dropped
both of them leading to the surrender of Japan and the end of WWII.
Las Vegas in the 1940s was famous for the establishment of The Strip in a town which
"combined Wild West frontier friendliness with glamor and excitement". In 1940, the population
was 8,400 but within five years, it more than doubled its size. The Las Vegas Valley had a
population of 13,937 in 1940, increasing to 35,000 in just two years. The post-war era was one

of great growth for Las Vegas's tourism industry as all war period restrictions were lifted and
tourist traffic grew.
One of the last things that happened in the 1940s the first non-stop flight around the
world. The Lucky Lady II is a United States Air Force Boeing B-50 Super fortress that became
the first airplane to circle the world nonstop when it made the journey in 1949. It was refueled
four times in flight. The aircraft started its round-the-world trip with a crew of 14 under the
command of Capt. James Gallagher at 12:21 PM on February 26, 1949, from Carswell Air Force
Base near Fort Worth, Texas, heading east over the Atlantic Ocean. On March 2, 1949 Captain
James Gallagher lands the B-50 Lucky Lady II in Texas after completing the first around-theworld non-stop airplane flight.
The world was at war as the 1940 decade began, all within the limitations of a great
depression that was affecting the lives of all Americans, but when Pearl Harbor was attacked, the
U.S. could no longer be on the sidelines. Through the courage and dedication of the soldiers who
fought in the European or South Pacific areas, they spent much of 1940s decade in a battle for a
way of life that the country and western powers had spent two centuries building. By the end of
the 1940 decade, that war would be won and continued building and improving the U.S was the
first priority again.