Advances in technology, including the use of radio and television for news and entertainment, forced Americans to think more about the country’s role in global affairs. The 1940s were a decade that transformed the lives of millions and set the tone for future social, political and economic reforms in the U.S.

After years of struggling through the Great Depression, the U.S. entered the 1940s a weary and wary nation. The country resisted joining the war in Europe, but when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt quickly mobilized the public's approval and committed the United States to war. World War II defined the decade and monopolized the nation's attention until the Japanese surrender in 1945.

Although the U.S. was fighting overseas in the name of freedom and democracy, at home, both African-Americans and Japanese-Americans suffered great civil rights injustices.

Thousands of African-Americans willingly joined the military to fight for freedom, yet at home, they continued to suffer from segregation and racism. The Pittsburgh Courier launched "The Double V Campaign." Under the theme of "Democracy: Victory at Home, Victory Abroad" the effort to rally African-Americans and raise awareness about civil rights issues was very successful. The campaign spread to all parts of the country.

In 1942, Roosevelt ordered the War Relocation Authority to relocate hundreds of thousands of Japanese-Americans to internment camps. The administration was afraid Japan would attempt to orchestrate an attack on the Pacific Coast using Japanese-American spies who lived in the U.S. Many of these individuals were, in fact, U.S. citizens. They were forced to close their stores, leave their jobs and give up their houses.

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Wire services, newspapers and broadcast organizations sent correspondents to Europe and Asia to report on international developments during World War II. Unlike previous wars, this war was broadcast daily to a listening audience back in the U.S.

The radio played an important role and helped to radically change how people received news and entertainment. The "Murrow's Boys" broadcasts from Europe brought the war closer to Americans back home in the states. CBS set a news standard that followed its journalists into television and lasted for decades. (See 1930s radio.)

The 1940s were the last decade in which radio was dominant. Television had become a viable technology in the late 1930s, but technical delays and then the war halted widespread introduction until the late 1940s. After the war, the broadcast networks poured large amounts of money into television. Television began a media revolution in the 1940s, transforming America, and opening the nation to whole new world of visual communication. (Read more on television in the 1950s.)

Comic books became successful in the 1940s because they provided cheap and exciting entertainment. Superheroes flourished during a time in which evil was all too real in the world. Captain Marvel, Captain America and Batman battled evil and fed the imagination of the youth. Comic books were also very popular in the military for two reasons: one, the soldiers of World War II were young; and two, comic books were easy to carry. (Read more about Superheroes in the 1930s.)

During WWII the government was actively involved in monitoring media and encouraged the media to send partriotic news messages. The Office of Censorship requested that news institutions adhere to a strict voluntary censorship code, and also began monitoring news that was both entering and leaving the country.

Although, The War Department directed most propaganda broadcasts at Germany and Japan, propaganda techniques were utilized to in the U.S. as well. Major motion picture producers cooperated to produce war films, and journalists in radio and television willingly submitted stories for approval.(Click here to see War Comes to America, information film no. 7 in the Why We Fight series.)