When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States was already producing large quantities of guns and other weapons. Automobile production was halted, and car manufacturers converted their factories to produce airplanes, cannons, and other military vehicles.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Roosevelt ordered U.S. defense industries to produce 60,000 fighter planes, 45,000 tanks, and 20,000 anti-aircraft guns within a year. A month later, he established a special committee to oversee military production. He also set up a team to recruit workers for defense industries and created a new office that brought together the nation’s top scientists and engineers to design new weapons to meet wartime needs. Federal spending increased from $6 billion in 1940 to $89 billion in 1944, a fifteenfold rise in just five years.

Roosevelt imposed limits on wages; income above $200,000 was taxed at a maximum rate of 94%. He also urged Americans to lend money to the federal government, and the public responded enthusiastically, purchasing nearly $100 billion in war bonds.

The federal government controlled prices and supply, rationing products such as meat and fuel. These measures received widespread public support.

Postwar Prosperity

From 1950 to 1960, the number of children aged 5 to 14 increased by over ten million. The generation born after the war became known as the “baby boom” generation, with about 78 million births between 1946 and 1964. Many families moved into newly built suburban homes. Developers purchased land from farmers, cleared it, built houses, and sold them to young couples using bank loans.

Many Americans also replaced their old cars with new ones. For years, popular singer Dinah Shore encouraged Americans to be confident about the future, driving Chevrolet cars along highways and exploring the country.

Another major postwar change was life expectancy. Americans born in the early 20th century could expect to live only about 47 years, but by the 1950s, most people lived past 60. Improvements in living conditions and medical care significantly extended Americans’ lifespans.