All language subtitles for America in Color S01E03 The 1940s

Narrator: This is the story
of America...

Seen in color
for the first time.

The 1940s.

The battle lines are drawn.

In a world torn apart by war,
America remains uncommitted.

It's not our fight,
says Charles Lindbergh.

Charles Lindbergh: That we
cannot win this war for england

regardless of how much
assistance we send.

Narrator: But president
Franklin Roosevelt disagrees.

Franklin Roosevelt: We must be
the great arsenal of democracy.

Narrator: Japan's attack
on Pearl harbor

settles the argument.

Man: Respond by saying "i do."

Men: I do.
Clark gable: I do.

Narrator: But the war also
unleashes a dark undercurrent

of fear and prejudice.

And as a victorious America
assumes its new role

as a military
and economic juggernaut,

post-war discontent simmers
at home and abroad.

This is the story of the 1940s

as you've never seen it before.

John Kennedy: I want us
to recapture that.

New York, April 23, 1941.

At the Manhattan center,
hundreds attend a rally.

Tonight's speaker
is a famed aviator

and American hero,
Charles Lindbergh.

Lindbergh is a Nazi sympathizer

and avid opponent
of U.S. involvement

in the overseas conflict.

Lindbergh: France has now
been defeated,

and despite the propaganda
and confusion of recent months,

it is now obvious that england
is losing the war.

I believe...

Narrator:
The call is to abandon

America's friend and ally.

Lindbergh: And I have been
forced to the conclusion

that we cannot win
this war for england,

regardless of how much
assistance we send.

That is why the America first
committee has been formed.

Narrator: Lindbergh and the
national America first committee

rail against any involvement
in the war.

Hundreds of thousands
of citizens agree,

including future president
John f. Kennedy,

who sends a check for $100.

Since the war began in 1939,

Americans have seen and heard
about the devastation in Europe.

Reporter: Adolf Hitler's
all-out attack on Poland

makes the long-dreaded
European war a certainty,

narrator: But many are convinced
that stopping Adolf Hitler

is not worth the sacrifice
of American lives.

Man: This time America
should keep out,

and I know I will.

Woman: I haven't the slightest
idea of European affairs.

Man: I think we should
stay out of it entirely.

Man: And all our efforts
should be made

to keep out of the fight.

Man: Let Europe fight
her own battles.

They mean nothing to us.

Narrator: Some Americans
publicly admire the Nazis

and envision a fascist America.

In February 1939,
some 20,000 American Nazis

rally in Madison square garden.

But on the west coast, the war
in Europe seems very far away.

In San Francisco,
Japanese American Dave tatsuno

films everyday life
in his community.

And as the president

of the local Japanese American
citizens league,

Dave films
its national convention.

The league encourages
the American-born children

of Japanese immigrants,
or nisei,

to become politically active.

Dave and his wife Alice work
in the family haberdashery store

in the heart of japantown.

It's called nichi bei bussan--

or Japanese-American
department store.

But otherwise they lead
typical American lives,

like this family visit
to yosemite national park...

And Dave's latest purchase,
a new Ford coupe.

With Germany already at war

and growing Japanese aggression
in Asia,

they carry on,
enjoying their prosperity.

In June 1940,
France falls to the Nazis.

Britain, now desperate,
holds on.

President Roosevelt is convinced

that America must join
the effort to stop Hitler.

He begins the daunting task
of preparing his nation for war.

On September 2, 1940,

at Tennessee's great smoky
mountains national park,

he calls for a huge
military buildup.

Roosevelt:
We must prepare beforehand

for the simple reason
that preparing later

may and probably would be
too late.

I've asked this congress...

Narrator: As a first step,
Roosevelt urges

the Democratic majority
in congress

to enact a military draft...

The first peacetime draft
in U.S. history.

All men between ages 21 and 36
receive a number.

Man: ...To the United States
of America.

Respond by saying "i do."

Men: I do!

Narrator: All the numbers
are put in a glass vessel

and stirred.

Then a blindfolded
secretary of war Henry stimson

draws the first number.

Roosevelt: The first number
is serial number 158.

Narrator: It's held by 6,175 men
across the country.

The draft spurs protests.

And leading the resistance,
spokesperson Charles Lindbergh.

Lindbergh: Where is freedom
if four fifths of a nation

can be carried to war
against its will?

Narrator: But Roosevelt
challenges his critics.

He gambles that,
despite the draft,

he can win an unprecedented
third term as president.

Man: Franklin delano Roosevelt!

Narrator: No other president has
ever served longer than 8 years.

But there's nothing
in the constitution

that prohibits it.

In elwood, Indiana,

Roosevelt's opponent,
Wendell willkie,

accuses fdr of disrespecting
American history

before a crowd 150,000 people.

Wendell willkie: And I would
also like to debate the question

of the assumption
by this president,

in seeking a third term,

of a greater public confidence

than was accorded
to our presidential giants,

Washington, Jefferson,
Jackson, Lincoln,

Theodore Roosevelt,
and woodrow Wilson.

Narrator: But Roosevelt
believes that his experience

is vital to America's safety,

and that it trumps
the two-term tradition.

He runs under the slogan

"better a third termer
than a third rater."

In November 1940,
fdr carries 38 states

to willkie's 10
in a crushing victory.

He immediately escalates
military production.

America needs
to step up the pace

if britain is to stand a chance
against Hitler.

Roosevelt: The people of Europe
who are defending themselves

do not ask us
to do their fighting.

They ask us
for the implements of war,

the planes, the tanks,
the guns, and freighters

which will enable them to fight
for their Liberty

and our security.

We must be the great arsenal
of democracy.

Narrator: The boom
in military spending

finally puts an end
to the great depression.

Millions can now find jobs.

The Navy nearly doubles in size,

with 200 new ships
under construction.

In June 1941,
Ford opens Willow run,

an aircraft production facility
in bellville, Michigan,

that's a mile long.

At 3.5 million square feet
and employing 42,000 workers,

it is the largest factory
in the world.

It is designed to manufacture
the new b-24 liberator bomber.

In 1941, the U.S. builds
19,000 aircraft,

more than triple
the number made in 1940.

While several thousand
go the allies,

the vast majority is used
to re-equip the U.S. military.

There is little doubt
at this point

that America is
on the path to war.

On September 11, 1941,

Charles Lindbergh
attacks fdr directly.

Only the audio
of his speech survives.

Lindbergh:
The Roosevelt administration

is the third powerful group

which has been carrying
this country toward war.

If any of these groups--

the British, the Jewish,
or the administration--

stops agitating for war,

I believe there will be little
danger of our involvement.

Narrator:
But as American factories

build up to prepare for war,

workers rebel.

In June 1941, a strike
breaks out over low wages

at the north American
aviation plant in Los Angeles.

The plant produces some 20%
of U.S. military aircraft.

The strike turns violent

when the LAPD tries
to break through a picket line

manned by some 4,000 workers.

Fdr cannot afford delays.

On June 9th he orders the army
to seize the factory

and force it
to resume production.

Roosevelt braces the nation
for war.

It's coming far sooner
than he can imagine.

Thursday, November 27, 1941.
Thanksgiving.

The president is enjoying his
Turkey in warm Springs, Georgia,

as part of his "march of dimes"
polio charity event.

But fdr's anxious
about Japan's expansion

in Asia and the pacific.

Envoy saburo kurusu
arrives in Washington

to reassure the president.

Saburo kurusu: You all know
how difficult my mission is,

but I will do all I can
to make it a successful one

for the sake of two countries,
Japan and the United States.

Narrator: In Hawaii,
fox movietone cameraman al brick

spends his Thanksgiving
on special assignment

with the pacific fleet

in what is now its main base,
Pearl harbor.

For the past 9 months

he's been filming maneuvers
with the u.S.S. Arizona.

On December 7th,
al brick is up early, filming,

as 353 Japanese fighters and
bombers descend on Pearl harbor.

The Arizona's forward magazine--

filled with 100 tons
of gunpowder--

takes a direct hit.

1,177 men are killed.

Brick continues to film
from a small boat.

18 American ships
are sunk or run aground.

Sailors from the u.S.S. Oklahoma
stand on her upturned hull.

429 of her crew are dead.

The U.S. pacific fleet
is decimated.

Brick captures the scoop
of his career...

But the government
seizes his footage

and embargoes it for a year.

Officials fear its release
could harm national security.

The day after the attack,

Roosevelt addresses congress
and the nation.

Roosevelt: Yesterday,
December 7, 1941,

a date which will live
in infamy,

the United States of America

was suddenly
and deliberately attacked.

Narrator: 30 million homes
tune in to the news.

Roosevelt:
I ask that the congress declare

a state of war has existed

between the United States
and the Japanese empire.

Narrator: In San Francisco
Dave tatsuno films the headline

amidst growing fears
for the safety of his family.

The nation mobilizes.

This is now America's war.

Pearl harbor has put an end
to isolationism.

America first disbands.

Fdr denies Lindbergh's request

for a commission
in the air force.

And instead of waiting
to be drafted,

hundreds of thousands volunteer.

Dr. Daniel kavadas from Oklahoma

joins the medical corps
as a dentist.

His first posting is luzon,
the Philippines,

where he films
this rare footage.

He's part of America's response

to Japan's dominance
in the pacific.

The Japanese occupation
of Indonesia

has cut off American access
to rubber,

essential to the manufacture
of jeeps, trucks and planes.

So on the homefront,
Americans launch

a nationwide drive
for scrap materials.

Roosevelt calls
on his fellow citizens

to dig deep and donate.

Roosevelt: Of one thing
you can be sure--

we are going to see to it
that there's enough rubber

to build the planes
to bomb Tokyo and Berlin...

Enough rubber to win this war.

Narrator: The public responds

by hauling out
used car and bicycle tires...

Although some donors seem
bewildered by the process.

Walt Disney even donates Bambi,

but can't bring himself
to wield the hammer.

Raising money becomes
a patriotic duty.

War bonds infuse the government
with badly needed cash...

To be paid back later
with interest.

Rallies like this one
in Washington, D.C.,

are designed
to boost bond sales.

Film narrator: Yes, the parade
down Pennsylvania Avenue

is a pageant of patriotism.

Bing Crosby in a scout car...

Jimmy cagney...

And how that crowd lines up to
buy bonds from their favorites.

They buy knowing
that every dollar invested

helps send more planes, tanks
and ships to the united nations.

Narrator:
Film icon Carole lombard

visits Indiana
on January 15, 1942.

She raises $2 million
in one night.

Carole lombard: It is the duty
of each and all of us

to contribute every ounce
of energy and every dollar

that we can possibly spare

for the purchase
of defense bonds

which will carry us to victory.

Narrator: But the screen legend
never makes it home.

Her flight to Los Angeles
crashes into a mountain

30 miles from las Vegas.

The safety beacons
that direct night flights

were turned off in fear
of Japanese bombers.

Rescue teams film the aftermath.

Of the 22 on board,
there are no survivors.

The government declares lombard

the first female casualty
of the war.

Man: That you will serve...

Narrator: Her distraught husband
Clark gable enlists

in the U.S. army air force.

Man: ...And that you will
obey the orders

of the president
of the United States

and the orders of the officers
appointed over you,

according to law
and the articles of war,

so help you god?

Gable: I do.

Narrator: Gable joins the 351st
heavy bombardment group.

His primary job, to make films
for the military.

He narrates this film
that highlights the diversity

of the 200,000 men
being drafted every month.

Gable: Sergeant Philip j. Hulse,

top turret gunner
from Springfield, Missouri.

Sergeant Kenneth l. Huls,

ball turret gunner
from Perkins, Oklahoma.

Related? No.

They think they might have been

several generations ago
back in Germany.

Meet their pilot,
lieutenant Theodore argiropoulos

of Redding, California.

Arge's brother is
in the air corps, too;

their dad was born in Greece.

Sergeant Paul j. Posti,
ball turret gunner.

His dad came from Italy.

Here's sergeant Tim touchin,

tail gunner from Mariana lake,
new Mexico.

On the reservation
they named him ashkii--

that means "boy" in navajo.

Uncle Sam's boy, too.

Narrator: The message is clear--

no matter where
your family's from,

you are an American first.

Unless, of course, you are
an African American.

The one million blacks
in the military

are forced into separate units.

And if you're
a Japanese American,

your very freedom
may soon be at risk.

In San Francisco,
in the summer of 1942,

Japanese American Dave tatsuno,
his wife Alice,

their two boys and his father
prepare to leave home.

Despite their smiles
for the camera,

they are not going
of their own free will.

In February president Roosevelt
signed executive order 9066.

It allows Japanese Americans
to be forced from their homes

and sent to internment camps.

They're suspected
of disloyalty to America...

Seen as potential spies
and saboteurs.

Some 120,000 are rounded up.

Their homes are seized,
their businesses closed.

Allowed to take
little with them,

they have to sell their
possessions quickly and cheaply.

Government buses and trains

transport them
to internment camps.

In September 1942,
Dave and Alice arrive

just outside the town
of delta, Utah, at camp topaz,

690 miles from their home.

They will share topaz with
around 8,000 other internees.

It is one of ten
internment centers

scattered across
the western U.S.

And as far east as Arkansas.

Officially they can leave...

But with no homes,
unable to work

and children banned
from schools outside the camp,

they have no choice but to stay.

One-room barracks now house
families of up to 7 people.

Dave smuggles his movie camera
inside the camp

and records life
behind the fence.

He films the internees forced
to construct their own prison.

Outside, the nation is busy--

people giving all they've got
for the war effort.

Roosevelt's plan
is to outproduce the enemy,

and American industry
rises to the challenge.

In the first five months
of 1943,

America builds
more merchant ships

than Japan manages
during the entire war.

In the same year,
the U.S. builds 86,000 aircraft,

twice the combined output
of Germany and Japan.

In April Henry Ford's
Willow run factory

is building five b-24 liberators
every single day.

The plant runs 24/7.

Production never stops.

This unprecedented
industrial expansion

requires an army of new workers,

so families pick up and move
to where the jobs are...

To places like mobile, Alabama,
a hub of shipbuilding.

In 1943,
its population mushrooms

from 80,000 to over 200,000.

Homes are scarce.

Many workers end up living
in vast trailer parks and tents.

The war effort breaks down
social barriers.

African Americans
are reluctantly accepted

on assembly lines.

Older men who've retired are
encouraged to return to work.

Women join them.

When it first opened,
Willow run employed 28 women.

By 1943 there are over 15,000.

Across the country

6 million women are working
for the first time.

They are the face
of the war effort,

forever epitomized
by this poster

by Pittsburgh artist
j. Howard Miller.

She later becomes known
as Rosie the riveter.

Celebrities endorse the new
image of a working woman.

Hollywood actress
Veronica lake's long hair

covering one eye

is a wildly popular style,

but dangerous
on the production line.

She takes one for the team and
promotes a sensible new look.

Announcer:
Miss lake has now decided

to put glamour
in its proper wartime place

and face the world
with both eyes in the clear.

Narrator: But turning out
the tanks, guns and planes

won't be enough to end this war.

In April 1943,

physicist Hugh bradner arrives
in los Alamos, new Mexico.

He and 5,000 others will work

on the top-secret
Manhattan project.

Leading it is the brilliant
physicist Robert Oppenheimer.

He has handpicked some
of the world's greatest minds

to gather in the desert.

They're in a desperate race

to build a weapon
of unprecedented power--

an atomic bomb--
before the Nazis do.

The project is so secret

that numbers replace names
on driver's licenses.

Guard towers with armed patrols
protect the camp.

The bomb is codenamed Trinity,

but will later be remembered as
the deadliest weapon in history.

But the army allows one
exception to the tight security.

Hugh bradner is allowed
to shoot home movies.

This is the only footage ever
shot of life inside los Alamos.

He captures work in the labs

but is forbidden to film
specific details

of the bomb's development,

including his own work
on the trigger mechanism.

Instead bradner focuses
on the close-knit community.

With only Sundays off,

Saturday nights
are party nights.

Bradner marries Marjorie hall,

who works at the base
as a secretary.

They spend the first two years
of their lives together

working on the world's
biggest secret.

For a wartime couple,
this is rare--

most end up separated
for long periods of time.

Hundreds of miles away,
in camp topaz, Utah,

Alice tatsuno is pregnant and
celebrating her 31st birthday.

The tatsunos have been
incarcerated for two years,

and have no idea when--or if--
they'll be released.

The Nazis are being pushed back
across Europe,

but the war against the Japanese
still hangs in the balance.

November 1944.

President Roosevelt, now 62,
resoundingly wins a fourth term.

On January 20, 1945,
friends and family gather

in the Washington snow
for his inauguration.

Disabled veterans
are among the 7,000 guests

invited to the white house
to celebrate.

But Roosevelt is
in increasingly poor health.

Roosevelt: ...Do solemnly swear
that I will faithfully execute

the office of president
of the United States

and will, to the best
of my ability,

preserve, protect and defend

the constitution
of the United States.

Harlan stone: So help you god.

Roosevelt: So help me god.

Narrator: Three months later
he succumbs to a stroke.

His body is carried from Georgia

back to Washington, D.C.,
for the funeral.

He will never see the victory
he fought so hard to achieve.

In may, just weeks
after fdr's death,

Nazi Germany collapses.

The new president,
Harry s. Truman,

vows to crush Japan.

Harry Truman: Our demand
has been, and it remains,

unconditional surrender.

Narrator: Truman will soon face
the biggest decision ever made

by a U.S. president,

as Japan vows
to fight to the death.

July 16, 1945. New Mexico.

Years of top-secret work
are about to be put to the test.

Physicist Hugh bradner
films scientists

on their way to the very first
test of their deadly creation:

The atom bomb.

The explosive core--
made from plutonium--

arrives in a Ford sedan.

An army camera films the core
being inserted.

Finally, the bomb,
codenamed Trinity,

is winched up a hundred feet
ready for the drop.

Some five miles away,
Robert Oppenheimer,

leader of the Manhattan project,
nervously waits.

He even bets a colleague
ten dollars that it won't work.

5:30 A.M.

The moment of truth.

Physicist Joe mckibben
detonates Trinity.

In an instant, humanity enters
the nuclear age.

Truman orders two atomic bombs
to be dropped on Japan

on August 6th and 9th.

The devastation
stuns the world...

And brings an end
to world war two.

On September 2, 1945,

general Douglas MacArthur boards
the battleship u.S.S. Missouri.

Douglas MacArthur: I now invite
the representatives

of the emperor of Japan
and the Japanese government

and the Japanese
imperial general headquarters

to sign the instrument
of surrender

at the places indicated.

Narrator: Foreign minister
mamoru shigemitsu signs,

marking the total defeat
of Japan.

MacArthur:
Let us pray that peace

be now restored to the world

and that god
will preserve it always.

Narrator:
Americans everywhere go wild.

Scenes like these
in north platte, Nebraska,

are repeated
all over the country.

In just four years, America
has shed its isolationist skin

and emerged
a global military superpower.

In October 1945,
in Utah, camp topaz closes.

Other internment camps
soon follow.

120,000 Japanese Americans

return to their homes
across the country.

Dave tatsuno films the family's
return to San Francisco,

where he reopens their store on
the corner of post and Buchanan.

After three years
behind barbed wire,

they are eager to live
in freedom.

12 million American troops
become civilians again,

ready to work
and start families.

The g.I. Bill of rights,
passed in 1944,

provides veterans
with physical rehabilitation,

low-cost mortgages
and subsidized education.

America enters a new era.

The veterans
see a bright future,

focused on the family.

After the war,
the birth rate surges,

creating a generation
that would come to be known

as the baby boomers.

But the economy, fueled by war,

now faces a tough transition.

In 1946 military spending
falls by half,

from $900 billion
to $450 billion.

Factories switch over
from military

to peacetime production.

Many people are laid off,

flooding a marketplace already
swollen with ex-soldiers.

During the war, American workers
pledge not to strike.

But now, squeezed by low wages
and high prices,

labor is ready to flex
its muscles once again.

In may 1946,
250,000 railway workers strike,

paralyzing transportation
across the country.

In a speech to congress,

president Truman threatens
to bring in the military.

Truman: As I stated last night,

unless the railroads are manned
by returning strikers,

I shall immediately undertake
to run them

by the army
of the United States.

Narrator:
Truman is passed a note.

Truman:
Word has just been received

that the rail strike
has been settled

on terms proposed
by the president.

Narrator: Truman's strategy
works on the railways.

But the crisis deepens as other
unions take to the picket lines.

In the biggest wave
of strikes ever seen,

5 million workers,

from movie crews
to coal miners, walk out.

Members of congress demand
that something be done

to curb the unions' ability
to disrupt the economy.

In 1947, congress passes
the taft-hartley act,

which puts limits
on when unions can strike.

Truman vetoes the bill,
but congress overrides him.

American unions
will never be the same.

The strike ends, but it's
a political defeat for Truman,

and this battle
will not be his last.

He will soon be tested

by a fiery conflict
over civil rights.

April 5, 1947.

The mayflower hotel, Washington.

President Truman has
an upbeat message to deliver.

Truman: I am happy to be able
to say tonight

that for the present
fiscal year, 1947,

we shall balance the budget
and we shall have a surplus.

Narrator: America has recovered
from its post-war slump.

People are earning more
and willing to spend more.

And with an end
to gas rationing,

highways are buzzing with cars.

Americans are on the move.

In Nevada's mojave desert,

the small town of las Vegas
is dreaming big.

It boasts a population
of just 20,000,

and it's a long drive from L.A.

But it has irresistible draws,

like speedy weddings
and divorces...

And above all,
legalized gambling.

Las Vegas becomes
a top vacation destination

for a burgeoning middle class.

The last frontier and El rancho

are the first resorts
to line the now-famous strip.

But it's the flamingo
that comes to define las Vegas

as a mecca
for forbidden pleasures.

Mob boss bugsy Siegel opens it
on December 26, 1946.

It's the city's first
modern hotel and casino.

The 105-room,
$6 million property

is inspired
by Hollywood glamour,

and it's marketed
as a luxury resort

for the rich and famous.

At first, the flamingo flops,

and a $300,000 loss
leads the mob

to order a hit on bugsy Siegel.

But the flamingo
soon sets the tone

for the glittering Vegas
we know today.

In 1948 America is beginning
to react to a new threat:

Communism.

The Marshall plan is helping
rebuild western Europe

with over $12 billion in aid.

While in the east,

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
is tightening his grip.

An expanding military
is one weapon;

propaganda is another.

The Soviets chastise America for
its poor treatment of blacks.

Truman confronts
the problem head-on,

vowing to dismantle
the Jim crow laws

that enforce discrimination.

He becomes the first president
to address

the national association for the
advancement of colored people.

Truman: There is no justifiable
reason for discrimination

because of ancestry or religion
or race or color.

Narrator: But the Democratic
president's courageous stand

exacts a price.

Southern democrats determined
to preserve segregation

quit the party.

The president's popularity
plummets.

To keep his job, he must find
a way to win the 1948 election.

In June the republican party
nominates Truman's opponent,

Thomas e. Dewey,

in the first ever
televised convention.

Dewey, a popular
New York governor,

is confident of victory.

Truman dives into a campaign
that few believe he can win.

In the closing weeks,
American movie houses

feature the candidates'
campaign films.

Dewey's is slick

with high production values.

Film narrator:
Though it was in New York

that Dewey rose to fame,

he is the product of
a small town in the middle west.

In the same neighborhood
where tom grew up

his mother lives today,

and like all mothers is proud
of her son and his achievements.

Woman: You certainly must be
proud of tom.

Mother: Well, yes,
i think all of owosso

is happy over his success,

and I do know that he will
always have the best interests

of our country at heart.

Narrator: Truman's effort

is the complete opposite,

a patchwork of newsreel clips
of his achievements in office.

Film narrator:
April the 25th, 1945,

Harry s. Truman took
the momentous oath of office.

Earlier Mr. Truman succeeded

in pushing through a veterans
low-cost housing bill.

Narrator: But its effect
is powerful.

He looks like a leader,

a confident president who signs
treaties and make decisions.

Film narrator: No president
in American history

has ever been faced with
the tremendous foreign problems

that confront Harry Truman.

Narrator: On election day,
November 2, 1948,

Truman travels to his hometown
of independence, Missouri,

to cast his vote.

Man: There it goes.

Narrator: The final tally shocks
everyone except Truman.

He wins more than 2 million
more votes than Dewey

and carries 28 states.

But the Chicago tribune
decides to go to press

before voting polls close.

Its headline gives Truman
the last laugh.

In his state of the union
address on January 5, 1949,

Truman announces
a sweeping program

he calls the fair deal...

To deliver
the American dream for all.

Inspired by fdr's new deal,
it's an ambitious vision

of government helping people
to lead better lives.

Slums are torn down,

to be replaced
by public housing projects.

Government planners
envision a future

of regenerated modern cities.

Whole new neighborhoods
are designed

to deliver the benefits
of modern living

to even the neediest families.

Film narrator: Where a man and
his family with a small income

can live with comfort
and dignity,

where there are playgrounds

and space for the kids
to stretch their growing limbs

right outside the front door.

Where shops and stores
are a planned part

of the city within the city.

Narrator: Christmas, 1948.

Army dentist Dr. Daniel kavadas
films his family at home

on percival road,
in Columbia, south Carolina.

The abundance of presents
beneath the tree,

a hallmark
of American affluence.

During the 1940s, the nation
experienced an economic boom

that ushered in a golden age.

It has won the greatest war
in history

and transformed itself
into a global superpower.

The 1940s are considered by many

to be the decade that defined
the American century.