1940’s Jackie Robinson™ broke the Major League Baseball color barrier in 1947 when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. Voted Rookie of the Year that season, he earned the National League’s Most Valuable Player award in 1949. Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections. Penicillin, derived from mold as shown on reverse, saved the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers during World War II. Postwar streptomycin has been highly effective in combating tuberculosis. More than 16 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War II, and more than 405,000 lost their lives. U.S. intervention proved decisive in the Allied victories in Europe and in the Pacific. Commercial television formally began on July 1, 1941, and by the end of 1949 more than three million American homes had sets. Many early programs, including dramas, variety shows, news shows, and comedies, were adapted from popular radio programs. When millions of men joined the armed forces, millions of women took over factory jobs and made up more than one-third of the civilian workforce. Millions of women also served as volunteers. The 33rd President, Harry S. Truman guided the nation through the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. A sign, which reportedly sat on his desk in his office at the White House, read: "The BUCK STOPS here!" Concerned with function and simple shapes, the International Style employed materials such as glass, steel, and concrete. Its long-lasting influence is visible in the United Nations Secretariat and countless other office and apartment buildings. Big band music, popular on recordings and radio and in ballrooms and concert halls, distracted Americans during World War II. Led by Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and others, the bands usually had 14 to 18 musicians. Released in 1941, Orson Welles’ "Citizen Kane" was hailed for its artistic and technical innovations. The psychological study of a newspaper tycoon, it has consistently been considered one of the best movies in the history of film. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill, helped approximately 2.25 million war veterans attend college. Millions of other GIs received job training; home, business, and farm loans; and unemployment benefits. Tennessee Williams’ powerful play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway December 3, 1947. It starred Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Jessica Tandy as Blanche DuBois. The play won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Abstract Expressionism was marked by a range of individual styles of modern painting and sculpture. Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956) created his most famous gestural abstractions by pouring paint onto canvas laid on his studio floor. Naval engineer Richard James watched a torsion spring bounce off a table, and the idea for a toy was born. The Slinky®, 80 feet of coiled wire that can "walk" down stairs, caused a sensation when first marketed in 1945, Bridging the eras of swing and rock’n’roll, the jitterbug was fast-paced dance performed to live music played by bands and to recorded music played on jukeboxes. It was popular with GIs, teenagers, and anyone else able to keep the beat. The detail from the November 2, 1946, cover of The Saturday Evening Post foretells this country’s baby boom. With the end of World War II, returning GIs married and started families, resulting in 75.9 million births from 1946 through 1964. |
