40s_facts

Facts and History from the 1940's

Population: 132,122,000
Unemployed in 1940: 8,120,000
National Debt: $43 Billion
Average Yearly Salary: $1,299
Teachers Yearly Salary: $1,441
Minimum Wage: $.43 per hour
55% of U.S. homes had indoor plumbing
Antarctica was discovered as a continent
Life expectancy: 68.2 female -- 60.8 male
Auto Deaths: 34,500
Supreme Court decided that blacks have the right to vote.
World War II made the U.S. and the USSR super powers.
Cold War began.
The first inexpensive paperback book appeared.
Penicillin was discovered in 1940.
Automobile production ceased in 1942 and rationing of food began in 1943.
Color TV was demonstrated for the first time in 1941.
Commercial Television was available to the public in 1947.
The Slinky was invented by a ship inspector in 1945.
At the end of the war, only 5,000 TV sets were in American homes. By 1951, 17 million had been sold.
Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese in 1941, thus starting World War II.
In 1944, over 30 million U.S. homes had 57 million radio sets.

Click the Links Below to go to some Sites I found on Pearl Harbor.