More Perspective

The world in late 1939, early 1940, was not a complicated place in comparison to our time. Television had just been invented (one of the earliest broadcasts was Hitler opening the Olympic Games of 1936). Rockets were only the dreams of Flash Gordon comics and matinee movies. To see news of the world, rather than listen to it on the radio or read it in the newspaper, one had to go to the movie theater for the weekly cine-news reel. The tank was a nearly secret weapon that few outside the military had ever heard of, much less seen. The automobile was a luxury for nearly everyone in the U.S., even more so in lesser developed nations like Poland and Italy.
Half of adults were born in the late 1800s, having lived through the latter years of the Victorian Age, spent their rebellious youth during the Roaring 20s, and lost their wealth in the Great Depression. Chances are every family had a father or uncle who served in The Great War of 1914-1918, the war to end all wars. A few had lost a child to that war, and these were the oldest who maybe held political or economic power.
Very few had ever tried a hamburger, fast-food was not a coined term yet, and Mc'Donalds had just barely opened their first restaurant in 1940. Coca-cola was the largest soft-drink brand, and Pepsi was just barely on the rise after the Depression. Games were either a trip to the ballpark or a few rounds of Monopoly or a hand of cards. Most people lived in rural farm country, and suburbs were any area not inside a city rather than attached to one.
Airplanes were new technology, and cross-oceanic flights were mainly for the mail. The first air-passenger services were in the mid to late 30s mainly between Germany and South America, and those were by zeppelin balloons, taking several days to cross the Atlantic. Most travel to Europe and back was done by ship which took a week to go one way.
American politics did it's best to avoid the rest of the world's problems, much less try to police them. Britain and Japan still had an empire. Russian communism had barely started. Germany was riding a tide of world popularity after being one of the poorest nations after the Great War, to becoming the most affluent nation that the popular crowd wanted to visit or invest in.
"Gone With The Wind" had swept the Oscars for 1939. "Wizard Of Oz" had created a rising star and "Over The Rainbow" was one of the most popular songs. Frank Sinatra had just been discovered. People danced to real big bands. Record players had barely become portable. Audiotape didn't exist. Superhero action stories were of cowboys, spacemen like Flash Gordon, and Superman.
A jar of peanut butter cost 19 cents, a loaf of bread 8 cents. Kellogs Corn Flakes 25 cents for three boxes. A gallon of gas was 10 cents. Cost of an average house was $3800, and a years wage averaged $1700. If you could afford it, a new car cost $700.
Headlines of 1939:
-71 people die across Victoria in one of Australia's worst ever bush fires(identical to a headline this last year).
-Dictator Francisco Franco conquers Madrid, ending the Spanish Civil War.
-Albert Einstein writes President Franklin Roosevelt about developing the Atomic Bomb using Uranium. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
-La Guardia Airport Opens in New York.
-The independent republic of Czechoslovakia is dissolved (more German political subterfuge).
-Regular television broadcasts began in the United States.
-America amend the Neutrality Acts to allow sending military aid to countries in Europe.
-Continuing drought conditions in the North Eastern US cause mass crop failure and hardship.
-Following the Royal Commission recommending the formation of Arab and Jewish States, Palestinians revolt.
-Germany and Italy sign "The Pact Of Steel".
-Russia Invades Finland .
-Nazi Germany attacks Poland on September 1st , and France, Australia and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany. This is the start of World War II .