Saturday, March 26, 2011

Being born, and growing up in the 1940's

I was born on September 18, 1940 in the very small town of Cass, West Virginia. I reminisce a lot about how the good old United States has changed in all the decades I have lived through. I thought it might be fun to do some research as just how much it has changed in the decades I have lived through.




Hopefully the people in my age bracket will enjoy their own memories of those times. As for you younger folks some of the statistics from those times will blow you away.



I will start with the 1940's:



Boom! Boom! Bang!. Can you hear that? That's the sound of weapons in World War 11, it was not the happiest decade, it was actually full of killing and blood. Yet is had some interesting sports, games, and famous people. Suddenly there were headlines saying " Japs declare war. Attack U.S. " After the war the " Baby Boom " era began. If you don't know what ' Baby Boom " is I will explain. After the war the survivors came home. There were many marriages and they started to have many babies. People born in this era were called " Baby Boomers "



When I went to school our information for reports was to go to the library take down the encyclopedias, do the research and write the report. Well I am here to tell you it is much easier to find information today then it was back then. You just click on ' Google " they have done all the work for you so you just take the information you need and want and you are on your way.



World War 11 facts:

Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, 16,354 WW2 casualties ( killed, wounded or diseased )



President Roosevelt requested $ 1.8 billion dollars for national defense and $1.2 billion for producing 50,000 planes a year then requests $ 1.2 billion more.



1941- Government persuades women to take jobs during World War 11. Almost 7 million women responded, 2 million as industrial " Rosie the Riveters' and 400,000 joining the military. They were called Wac's, women's army corp.



In 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black to play Major League Baseball. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and was born on January 31, 1919 in Cario, Georgia.

In 1935 Leo Seltzer decided to fins another way to make a living. He gathered a bunch of roller skaters and convinced they would get paid big money to have people skate around and hit people and make them crash. This would be caller Roller Derby. It would remain a popular sport into the 1940's. Boxing was another big sport.



Inventions:

The Frisbee was invented in 1948 by Walter Morris, it was made of plastic. During World War 11 people had to find ways to have fun. When kids discovered that metal pie pans flew well tossing them became popular. The metal pans hurt their hands and Mr. Morris decided to make them out of plastic. They called them flying saucers. More than 20 million Frisbees have been sold in the last 50 years, more than baseballs, footballs, and basketballs combined.



Inventions:

The first computer ENIAC was invented in 1946, wonder how many of you knew that?



Headlines:

In the 1940's many of the important headlines were based on World War 11, there were hundreds of boys on the streets selling newspapers.



And now for the facts from this decade that will blow the minds of some of you younger ones.



Population 132,122,000

Unemployed in 1940 8,120,000

National debt $ 43 billion

Average salary $1,299 Teachers salary $1,441

Minimum wage was 43 cents per hour

only 55% of U. S. homes have indoor plumbing

Antarctica is discovered to be a continent

Life expectancy, are you ready for this? 68.2 years female, 60.8 years male.

Auto deaths 34,500

Supreme Court decides blacks have the right to vote

Cold way begins.

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