FAST FACTS!
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president of the United States for much of the 1940s, served the longest term of any US president at twelve years.
- After fourteen years of work, Mt. Rushmore was finished with the completion of Theodore Roosevelt's carving in 1941.
- In 1946, stores across America began selling Tupperware containers.
- Charles "Chuck" Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier on October 19, 1947 flying an experiment plane at an altitude of 45,000 feet.
- Captain America is introduced by Marvel Comics in March 1941.
- NASCAR holds its first ever stock car race in 1948 at Daytona Beach in Florida.
- The largest city in the US was, and remains today, New York City with a population of nearly 7.5 million people.
- World War II took place during the 1940s, becoming the deadliest conflict in human history with between 50 and 75 millions fatalities.
- The United States population at the beginning of the decade was found to be 132,164,569 people, little more than a third of what it is today.
- Following the turmoil of WWII, the United Nations was formed to foster international peace.