Check out the first link below to get a feel for what
family life was like during the war (click on simulation). There were so many big social
changes -women went to work outside the home, which had never happened before, and lead
to a major revolution in who works in the American family; people were encouraged to pay
off debt and save, particularly by buying war bonds. Many things were rationed, leading
to shorter skirts (to save fabric), recipe development and "Victory gardens" to stretch
scarce food and work around shortages of meat, butter, and sugar, and overall creativity
to make things last.
Music, books, and movies tended toward
either a light-hearted tone or patriotic. A big push of government was to encourage
people to keep secrets, so as not to betray any information about troop placement or
movements to the enemy. Letters from soldiers were heavily censored, and workers
employed in defense industries were scrutinized. The US even incarcerated people of
Japanese decent just to make sure they weren't spies. This drive for secrecy led to
paranoia which was a factor in the "Cold War" that occurreed for the two decades after
WWII.
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