$14.99 / Perfectbound
ISBN: 9781608441945
180 pages
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Preface

The United States of America was a happy place in 1947. World War II had been over for nearly two years, and life was getting back to its prewar routine. For the general population, things were good. The number of marriages was up, and couples were having babies. The war veterans were quickly being absorbed into the stateside economy. The people trusted their government, and national sentiment was high. Sci­ence and technology were progressing rapidly. There were develop­ments on every front, including medicine. People were healthier, and people were living longer. United States citizens seemed to be in con­trol of their own destiny. Everyone was chasing the American dream.

The war effort had yielded the atomic bomb, which had been suc­cessfully used against Japan and had put an early end to the war. German V-2 rocketry, captured from the Nazis, led to a capability and desire to explore space. Jet engine technology was developing to become the new commercial and military method of aircraft propulsion. Fusion energy, created from hydrogen, was being explored and promised to be usable as an even more powerful weapon than the A-bomb.

For the military, however, a tranquil existence was not in the cards. The military-industrial complex was done with one war and working on another. The Cold War and its related arms race were gearing up, and so was military intelligence. It was a time of spy versus spy and coun­try versus country. Technological secrets were being stolen and sold everywhere on a daily basis. There was a race among countries to see which would be first to develop the H-bomb and which could build the largest nuclear arsenal. The governments of the militarily powerful countries were paranoid. The world was a skittish place. The super­powers were emerging, and their strength was not based on just eco­nomics but also on nuclear weapons capability.

In the United States, the voting public had confidence in its military leaders. After all, the military-industrial complex had been victorious over the Axis powers. Citizens expressed their confidence by electing military men to Congress and, ultimately, to the presidency. If the Pen­tagon said it was so, then, by God, it was so. People flew the Stars and Stripes and were truly proud to be Americans.

The military leaders and their government cronies felt Cold War pressure, but the common citizen felt secure. America had the atomic bomb. America had the best technology in the world. It had the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and it had the best airplanes and best trained pilots to deliver it, anywhere in the world.

Postwar labor was plentiful. The inner cities were growing, fueled by big business and a rallying economy. Steel mills were producing and exporting at record rates, since steel was no longer needed for the war effort. The coal mining industry employed tens of thou­sands, making energy abundant. Rural America was showing signs of growth, too. Farmers were having their heyday, growing crops with record yields. Housing construction was booming, and white picket fences were sprouting up everywhere.

Education became an American priority. High schools were turning out more graduates, who were assured of good-paying jobs, and college enrollments were skyrocketing. Great emphasis was put on students studying engineering and the sciences. Medicine and law were also popular disciplines of study. Parents boasted about their sons and daughters becoming engineers, doctors, and lawyers.

Life was good in America. The war was over, and America was on the road to wealth and prosperity. America was becoming a super­power.