America through the Decades

Throughout the history of the United States, there have been important decades that have impacted in different way in the life of American. There are some decades which have greatly changed the life of Americans in a positive way while other decades have had a negative impact in the life of America.

In many cases, there are important events that will take place in some years that will have a great impacted in the later life of a nation. One of the most important decades in the history of the United States was the decade between 1940 and 1950s.

This decade was defined the entry of the united states into the Second World War and   the consequent formation of the United Nations. Some historians have argued that this decade prepared the United States to play the superpower role that it has assumed in the world. The 1940-1950 decade had a great impacted in defining the American military power that propelled it to a superpower status in the world.

This paper will look into some of the most important event that happened in the history of the United States in the 1940-1950 decade. The paper will trace the eventual entry of the United States into the war after the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan and the consequent defeat of Japan and surrender of Germany.

The paper will also look into the role that the United States played in the eventual formation of the United Nations that has become an important world body in arbitration of conflicts.

1940-1950 decade

The 1940-1950 decade was one of the most trying decades in the 20th century. The decade came immediately after the American economy was recovering from the Great Depression after the New Deal had been reached which greatly changed the economic situation of the country.

In this decade the population of the United States stood at 132,122, 000 and at the beginning of the decade, the rate of unemployment stood at 8,120,000. Due to the effect of the Great depression and the cost of the First World War, the national debt stood at $43 billion.

Life expectancy stood at 68.2 for females and 60.8 for males.  This was also the decade which saw the Supreme Court make a ruling that blacks have a right to vote which marked the end of the oppressive Jim Crow laws. This decade also saw the end of the Second World War and the rise of the Soviet Union and the United states as the two superpowers in the world which also marked the beginning of the cold war.

To the United States, this decade was particular important since it marked the transformation of united states from international alienation to a major player in the global affairs and a major interventionist in global conflicts.  Let us look in the details of the events that shaped the decade. (Threeworldwars, 2008)

The 1940s were defined the event surrounding the World War II.  Since American entry into the first world, it had ended its decades of isolation from major global affairs. The First World War has taught America that the world was becoming more integrated and what happened to its world was also likely to happen to her.

The First World War had seen American wake up from her status which had bee outlined in the Monroe Document which upheld the principle of non interference in European affairs.  While the First World War was immediately followed by the Great Depression, the 1940s ushered in a new decade past the Great depression but new challenges of the Second World War was another challenge that the country had to go through (Lone star college, 1999).

The decade ushered in with the Japanese attack of the Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941. There had been rumors that Japan was planning to attack Pearl Harbor in reiteration for the United States imposition on the country.

However American forces did not expect the attack to happen and when it happened, it caught most of them by surprise.  The Japanese planes attacked naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii killing more than 2,300 American and destroying the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma capsized.   The attack also sank three more ships and 180 aircraft were destroyed. (Herbert, 2004)

This attack was a real surprise to the United States government ant it came at a time when the country was involved in a dilemma whether to go to the war or not. Church Hill had made several attempts to influence US President Franklin Roosevelt to join Britain into the war but there was resistance from the congress and the from the US public.

The country was busy in reconstructing its economy after the devastating Great Depression.  However the Pearl Harbor attack was the event that made it clear that American had to go to the way regardless of the neutrality status that many had been calling for.