1940-1949

1940

1940's New York Skyline

By the 1940's Chestnut Blight has claimed over 3.5 billion American Chestnut trees.

Railroads experience the highest ridership in American history, as soldiers are being sent to fight overseas during World War II. However, automobile transportation causes ridership to fall off after the war ends.

Book: "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Film: "The Grapes of Wrath" 1940: British troops evacuate Dunkirk

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (376 sound recordings)

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (24 interviews)

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (18 religious songs)

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (32 dance pieces)

Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (25 children's songs)

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (6 blues songs)

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942 (33 work songs)

Bob Wills Breakdown 2:35 date?

I Aint Got Nobody - Mills Brothers undated

Globe scene from The Great Dictator - Oct 15, 1940

Everything is Jumpin' - Artie Shaw 1940 date?

Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw year?

Kid pitches to babe ruth? date?

The Dream - Matisse

Three Horses - Xu Beihong

Akai Suiren 紅い睡蓮 (李香蘭) a Mandarin song 2:22

三年(San Nien - Three Years) - Sung by Li Xiang Lan (李香兰)

Stone Age Cave Paintings Found in France

Sister Rosetta Tharpe performing at Café Society in New
York City's Greenwich Village, Dec. 11, 1940.

1941

July 10, 1941 Jelly roll Morton dies.

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

Manhattan Project Begins

Film: "Citizen Kane"

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov first used the word "robotics" to describe robotic technology and predicted the rise of a powerful robot industry.

In 1941 the American Humanist Association was organized. Noted members of The AHA include Isaac Asimov, who was the president before his death, and writer Kurt Vonnegut, who followed as honorary president.

"The Maltese Falcon" starring Humphrey Bogart and lauren Bacall?

Amadee Ardoin dies at the Pineville State Hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana on November 4, 1941, of a common disease untreatable at that time.

1942

1942, Enrico Fermi demonstrated the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in a uranium pile on a tennis court at the University of Chicago.

The Battle of Midway

Feb 19, 1942 Executive Order No. 9066 Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas. This gave General DeWitt authority to order the mass evacuation of Issei and Nisei from the West Coast and other military areas. This order affected about 120,000 citizens and non-citizens of Japanese origin. The stated purpose of removing this entire ethnic group was for “protection against espionage and against sabotage.” Congress made it a crime to refuse to leave a military area when ordered to do so.

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) is established in June 1942 with a mandate to collect and analyze strategic information required by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to conduct special operations not assigned to other agencies.

Nov 5, 1942 George M. Cohen dies.

Film: "Casablanca"

White Christmas by Irving Berlin

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree - Andrew Sisters 3:00

Don't Fence Me In - Andrew Sisters 1:45 date?

40's "Nudie" film 2:42

Ants in her Plants (40's "nudie") 4:47

Jingle Jangle Jingle - Gene Autrey 2:46

Close Shave - John Kirby 2:23

The Supreme Court hears Korematsu v. United States On December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court decided, 6–3, to uphold the conviction of Korematsu. The majority ruled only on his refusal to leave a prohibited military area and did not consider the constitutionality of the relocation camps.The Court sided with the government and held that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Korematsu's rights. Justice Black argued that compulsory exclusion, though constitutionally suspect, is justified during circumstances of "emergency and peril."

When the Supreme Court made its Korematsu decision, the justices also decided another case that resulted in finally closing down the prison camps. The Supreme Court ruled that President Roosevelt’s executive order and the enforcement law passed by Congress only authorized the removal of the Issei and Nisei from military areas, not their imprisonment. The court never squarely decided whether the government could have legally issued orders and passed laws to establish a prison camp system. [Ex parte Endo,323 U.S. 283 (1944)

T-shirt Introduced

1943

The Toolache Wallaby declared extinct.

Invention: Scuba gear

7 January Nikola Tesla dies.

On April 19 Dr. Hofmann takes the first acid trip by intentionally ingesting his newly invented LSD25.

Robert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943), often credited simply as R. Crumb, is an American artist and illustrator recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.

Grave of Katyn Forest Massacre Found

Chime Bells 2:37

1944

Ballpoint Pens Go On Sale

D-Day landing at Normandy

Today is Election Day, Bob Wills

Sons of the Pioneers

Cool Water

Gene Autry

Wild and Wooly West - Gene Autry with the Sons of the Pioneers

Nobody's Darlin' But Mine - Gene Autry

Woody Guthrie

Tom Joad (scenes from Grapes of Wrath)

So long it's been good to know you

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - Andrew Sisters

Lone Star Rag - Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys 1:42

1945

Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt meet in Yalta 1:59

FDR Dies

First Computer Built

Germans Surrender

Hitler Commits Suicide

Microwave Oven Invented

Slinky Toy Hits Shelves

United Nations Founded

U.S. Drops Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Invention: ENIAC, the electronic computer

July 16 First Atomic Test

Hiroshima -August 6

Nagasaki -August 9

3 Songs - Leadbelly sings "In the Pines, ?

Goodnight, Irene - Ledbelly

Woody Guthrie with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee field recording 2:42

Woody Guthrie - 1945 field recording

The Glider - Artie Shaw 2:59

1946

Bikinis Introduced

The Common Book of Baby and Child Care by Dr. Spock

Juan Perón Becomes President of Argentina

Nuremberg Trials

Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" Speech

The Iceman Cometh - Eugene O'Neill (text not accessible in USA)

Brotherhood of Man 1/2 sponsored by UAW-CIO

Brotherhood of Man 2/2

Goodbye Liza Jane - Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys 1:40

1947

Dr. Bronner, after having escaped the Nazis and come to America, was arrested and committed to a mental hospital in Elgin, Illinois from which he escaped after shock treatments.

Dr. Bronner started his business making products by hand in his home. The product labels were crowded with statements of Bronner's philosophy, which he called "All-One-God-Faith" and the "Moral ABCs". The labels became famous for their idiosyncratic style, including hyphens to join long strings of words and the liberal use of exclamation marks.

On April 10, Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American in the major leagues.

The Marshall Plan

Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier

Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered

Jewish Refugees Aboard the Exodus Turned Back by British

Marshall Plan

Polaroid Cameras Invented

Play: "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams

Katherine Hepburn's speech against HUAC

The Blues are Brewin'- Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong 2:09

Do You Know What It Means - Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong

Farewell to Storyville - Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong 4:56

1948

LSD was introduced into the United States in 1948

Berlin Airlift

"Big Bang" Theory Formulated

"Dewey Defeats Truman" in the Paper

Gandhi Assassinated

Policy of Apartheid Begun

State of Israel Founded

December 10, 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN General Assembly Resolution 217A)

In 1948 Columbia introduced the 33 1/3 rpm LP records, followed soon after by the 45 rpm records from RCA Victor.

first recordings?

Painting: "Christina's World" by Andrew Wyeth

Large Red Interior - Matisse

1949

In 1949, Jackie Robinson led the National League in batting and stolen bases and was voted the league's Most Valuable Player.

China Becomes Communist

First Non-Stop Flight Around the World

George Orwell Publishes Nineteen Eighty-Four

NATO Established

Soviet Union Has Atomic Bomb

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Wildwood Flower - Carter Family

Fleur De Fougere - Ladislaw Starewicz 1/3 8:43

Fleur De Fougere - Ladislaw Starewicz 2/3 6:40

Fleur De Fougere - Ladislaw Starewicz 3/3 7:19