1941 was a watershed year. The end of the Great Depression. The beginning of World War II. It had profound effects on our family.

The Federal budget increased by an astounding 50 percent between 1940 and 1941. Virtually all of the increase was for military spending.

In 1941 unemployment would drop below 10 percent for the first time since 1930.

Unemployment Rate 1938-1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

In February 1941 fully one percent of the American labor force was at work building army training camps for 1.4 million new draftees. 

The End of the Great Depression – National Bureau of Economic Research

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