America Society After World War II: The Outstanding Changes: Post World War 2 American Culture

In the summer of 1945, as World War II drew to a close, the U.S. economy was poised on the edge of an uncertain future. Since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's call in late 1940 for the United States to serve as the "arsenal of democracy," American industry had stepped up to meet the challenge. U.S. factories built to mass-produce automobiles had retooled to churn out airplanes, engines, guns, and other supplies at unprecedented rates. At the peak of its war effort, in late 1943 and early 1944, the United States was manufacturing almost as many munitions as all of its allies and enemies combined.

Sunday morning, 2 September 1945, beneath the implacable face of Fuji-san, representatives of the 124th Emperor of Japan stood stoically beneath the massive 16" naval rifles of the battleship Missouri awaiting their turn to sign the Instrument of Surrender marking the end of the most destructive war in human history.