California Transformed
AUGUST 6 & 9, 1945 U.S. Drops Atomic Bombs on Japan; War Ends in Asia
1942 Economy Booms as Defense Spending Climbs from $6 to $22 Billion
1943 San Diego Designated as
Repair Station for the Pacific Fleet Throughout the twentieth century there was a lively competition among California cities for maritime facilities, with San Diego among the most effective competitors. As Roger Lotchim argued in Fortress California , 1910–1961, “The most important reason for the placement of what became the [Navy’s] main home base in San Diego was that the city [strongly encouraged] the nation-state to put it there.” The outcome was remarkable because San Diego had less strategic significance than other major Pacific ports. 1941–1944 Three Million Americans Migrate to California California’s population grew by almost three million during the war, more than any other state. After the war the West and “Sun Belt” proved enormously attractive to returning veterans. The population of California reached 10.5 million in 1950, a 53% expansion in just one decade. In both the Bay area and southern California people flocked to the suburbs as developers snapped up cheap farmland and strove to take advantage of a critical housing shortage. One of the most popular songs of 1944 was Bing Crosby’s “Just Call the San Fernando Valley My Home.”
MAY 8, 1945 War Ends in Europe
Despite the New Deal’s many programs, full recovery from the Depression had not yet been achieved by end of the 1930s. In California personal income stood at the same level in 1939 as it had in 1930, while per capita income was below that figure. By the time the U.S. entered the war in 1941, however, new military expenditures had stimulated a vast economic expansion. California benefited more than any other state during World War II, securing half of the $70 billion the federal government spent in the West and ten percent of all federally authorized funding nation-wide.
APRIL–JUNE 1945 United Nations Charter Drafted in San Francisco
JUNE 1944 GI Bill of Rights Enacted
NOVEMBER 1943 Of 2.1 Million Workers in Aircraft Industry, 36% are Women
AUGUST 1942 Mexican Farm Worker (Bracero) Program Initiated
1941–1944 Three Million Americans Migrate to California
As southern California’s agricultural production expanded during World War II, the main problem it confronted was a shortage of labor. This difficulty was exacerbated by the removal and detention of the state’s Japanese-Americans and the fact that more than 700,000 Californians entered military service. In response, the federal government arranged to import thousands of farm workers from Mexico beginning in 1942. The Bracero Program was terminated after the war but was reinstituted between 1951 and 1964, playing a major role in harvesting California’s crops in the postwar period. NOVEMBER 1942 Kaiser Sets Record for Liberty Ship Construction, Richmond, CA In the decade prior to 1940, the United States launched only 23 merchant ships. In the five years after 1940, prodded by the menace of German U-Boats, America’s shipyards built 4,600 ships. San Francisco Bay area shipbuilders (especially Henry J. Kaiser in Richmond and Warren Bechtel in Sausalito) produced 45% of all cargo and 20% of all warship tonnage built in the entire country. At its peak, the Kaiser shipyard could assemble a prefabricated “liberty ship” in about four days. SEE FIGURE 40
1943 San Diego Designated as Repair Stationfor the Pacific fleet
NOVEMBER 1942 Kaiser Sets Record for Liberty Ship Construction, Richmond, CA
AUGUST 1942 Mexican Farm Worker (Bracero) Program Initiated
1942 Economy Booms as Defense Spending Climbs from $6 to $22 Billion
Figure 40. The Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California could build and launch a prefabricated cargo ship in about four days. Image courtesy of Library of Congress.
CALIFORNIA TRANSFORMED
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