Step Back Into...1945

FDR dies in office and Truman becomes president. The Second World War ends.

On Jan. 20, Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to a fourth term as President of the United States. Anne Frank dies in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, following an outbreak of typhus in the prison. She gains posthumous fame due to the publication of the diary that she had written while hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. Following the defeat of Germany in early 1945, the war officially ended in Europe on May 8 (V-E Day). On October 24, The United Nations is founded.

Average

Percy LeBaron Spencer invents the microwave oven by accident. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists invent the atomic bomb. It is called The Manhattan Project. The first influenza vaccine was approved for military use in the United States. Assembly of the world’s first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (ENIAC), is completed.

The average income was $2,400. Cost of a new home $4,600. The average cost of a new car $1,020. Gasoline was 15 cents per gallon. A jar of grape jelly was 20 cents. An 11-ounce box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes sold for 8 cents. Six 12-oz. bottles of Pepsi sold for 23 cents. A girl’s doll house sold for $3.19. The price of a firstclass stamp was 3 cents.

Firsts

U.S. events

United States Marines land on Iwo Jima and the famous flag-raising photo is taken on February 23. On August 6, the United States detonates an atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, the United States detonates an atomic bomb nicknamed “Fat Man” over the city of Nagasaki, Japan. In December, U.S. Navy Flight 19 disappears over the Bermuda triangle.

World News

On April 30, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, commit suicide. On May 1, German chancellor Joseph Goebbels and his wife commit suicide after killing their six children. Germany’s concentration camps are liberated. The Yalta Agreement is signed. Germany is divided between Allied occupation forces.

Entertainment

Popular films – Anchors Away, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Mildred Pierce, They Were Expendable, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, And Then There Were None, The Paleface, The Lost Weekend, Spellbound, and National Velvet. Pepe Le Pew made his debut in the Warner Brothers cartoon Odor-able Kitty.

Television

For the first time on radio, the show Your Lucky Hit Parade is broadcast in homes all over the country. It last for nearly 25 years. Popular TV shows – Queen for the Day, Thrills and Chills from Everywhere, The Voice of Firestone, The World in Your Home, Missus Goes A Shopping, and Television Quarterback.

Songs

Sentimental Journey; It’s a Been Long, Long Time; Rum and Coca-Cola; On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe; Till the End of Time; Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive; Don’t Fence Me In; Chickery Chick and My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time.

Publishing

George Orwell publishes his antiStalinist allegory Animal Farm. Arthur C. Clarke puts forward the idea of a communications satellite in a Wireless World magazine article. Popular books – Stuart Little, The Glass Menagerie, Cannery Row and The Pearl.

Sports

NFL Champions: Cleveland Rams, NCAA Football Champs: Army, World Series Champions: Detroit Tigers, Stanley Cup Champs: Toronto Maple Leafs, NCAA Basketball Champions: Oklahoma A&M, Kentucky Derby winner: Hoop Jr.

Politics

President – Franklin D. Roosevelt at the beginning of 1945. He dies in office on April 12 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Roosevelt is succeeded by his Vice President Harry S. Truman. On that fateful date in April, Truman became the 33rd U.S. President. The Vice Presidential office remained vacant until January 20, 1949.

Quotes:

“We must work to bind up the wounds of a suffering world – to build an abiding peace, a peace rooted in justice and in law.” – President Harry S. Truman, May 8, 1945 “You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.” – Marie “Slim” Browning (Lauren

Bacall) – To Have and Have Not “If we don’t fail sometimes, our successes won’t mean anything. You must have courage. Don’t give up.” – Sister Mary Benedict (Ingrid

Bergman) - The Bells of St. Mary’s

Sources: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ about-the-white-house/presidents/franklin-droosevelt/, https://www.historic-newspapers. co.uk/old-newspapers/1945-newspapers/, http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1945.html, https://www.infoplease.com/year/1945, http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq5.html, www.profootballhalloffame.com/nflchampions, www.afi.com/afis-100years-100-movie-quotes, https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/ articles/influenza

By Paula Green