1940's
Life Magazines from the 1940's
By the end of the 1930s, America was still in the throes of the Great Depression and the rest of the world was going to war. By the end of the 1940s, nothing would be the same. Flipping through the pages of LIFE Magazines from 1940 to 1949 is like watching the world change before your eyes. Sections like “LIFE on the Newsfronts of the World” chronicled the weekly development of the war in Europe, and Life Magazine editors devoted ever greater numbers of pages to events leading up to America’s entrance into World War II. For years, Americans read of the conflict in the pages of LIFE Magazine as outsiders. Then came December 7, 1941 – “a date which will live in infamy.”
Beginning with the first issue of LIFE Magazine after the Pearl Harbor attack, you can see a shift in American culture. Cover photos, with few exceptions, feature strapping soldiers, American flags, or beautiful women. Even the advertisements went to war, with handsome men in uniform selling soap and encouraging the purchase of war bonds by the dozen. War-time issues of LIFE Magazine offer a unique look into domestic life in America during WWII. Instead of 24-hour news coverage, families read about battles well after they happened. A moment-by-moment, first-hand account of The Battle of the Bulge, complete with diagrams, is chronicled in the January 8th issue from 1945. Lighter moments, like the soldiers’ improvised “Spaghetti Bowl” football game and parade held in snowy northern Italy, are left out of most history books, but from the pages of LIFE Magazine they offer you a special look into life for soldiers in the 40s. From The beaches at Normandy to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, LIFE Magazine is a treasure trove of information and photographs for WWII enthusiasts.
War might have been the main event, but life as usual didn’t cease to exist for Americans. Movie reviews of classics like National Velvet and Citizen Kane; profiles of stars like Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck and Judy Garland; and biographies of baseball legends all give a peek into how Americans at home kept morale high. Walt Disney makes a surprising number of visits to LIFE’s pages during the forties, both for full-length features like Dumbo and for his series of war-themed short films. In the years after the war, LIFE Magazine and America settled in for a new time of prosperity, peace, and growth during the 1950s.
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June 9, 1941 Life Magazine The Windsors
Starting at: $19.95
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June 16, 1941 Life Magazine British Seaman drinking Soda
Starting at: $19.95
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June 23, 1941 Life Magazine Fishing in Ozarks
Starting at: $19.95
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June 30, 1941 Life Magazine Madame Chiang Kai-shek
Starting at: $19.95
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July 7, 1941 Life Magazine General Patton in tank
Starting at: $23.95
Out of stock
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July 14, 1941 Life Magazine Sand sailing
Starting at: $19.95
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July 21, 1941 Life Magazine Singapore's defender
Starting at: $19.95
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July 28, 1941 Life Magazine The circus
Starting at: $19.95
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August 4, 1941 Life Magazine British at war
Starting at: $19.95
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August 11, 1941 Life Magazine Rita Hayworth
Starting at: $26.95
Out of stock
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July 12, 1941 Look Magazine World’s Biggest Bomber
Starting at: $15.95
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August 18, 1941 Life Magazine Wartime in Bermuda
Starting at: $19.95
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August 25, 1941 Life Magazine Fred Astaire and son
Starting at: $19.95
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August 26, 1941 Look Magazine Two women in swimming suits
Starting at: $15.95
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September 1, 1941 Life Magazine Ted Williams, baseball
Starting at: $44.95
Out of stock
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September 8, 1941 Life Magazine Campus pigtails
Starting at: $19.95
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September 15, 1941 Life Magazine Lord Mountbatten
Starting at: $19.95
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September 20, 1941 Saturday Evening Post Sky Full of White Parachutes
Starting at: $18.95
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September 22, 1941 Life Magazine Brazilian dancer Eros Volusia
Starting at: $19.95
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September 23, 1941 Look Magazine Charles W. Stark
Starting at: $15.95
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September 29, 1941 Life Magazine Radio Quiz Kid Gerald Darrow
Starting at: $19.95
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October 6, 1941 Life Magazine Farmer's daughter
Starting at: $19.95
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October 13, 1941 Life Magazine Turner and Gable
Starting at: $29.95
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October 20, 1941 Life Magazine Pan Am Clipper
Starting at: $21.95
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October 21, 1941 Look Magazine Woman and man at a university game
Starting at: $15.95
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October 27, 1941 Life Magazine Air raid test
Starting at: $19.95
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November 3, 1941 Life Magazine West Point Cadet
Starting at: $19.95
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November 4, 1941 Look Magazine Ginger Rogers wading in a stream
Starting at: $15.95
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November 10, 1941 Life Magazine Gene Tierney
Starting at: $19.95
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November 17, 1941 Life Magazine Univ. of Texas football
Starting at: $19.95
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November 24, 1941 Life Magazine Wartime knitting
Starting at: $19.95
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December 1, 1941 Life Magazine U.S. Air Force
Starting at: $29.95
Out of stock
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December 8, 1941 Life Magazine General MacArthur
Starting at: $37.95
Out of stock
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December 15, 1941 Life Magazine Broadway's Junior Miss. Pearl Harbr
Starting at: $29.95
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December 22, 1941 Life Magazine U.S. goes to war, American Flag
Starting at: $34.95
Out of stock
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December 29, 1941 Life Magazine Aerial gunner
Starting at: $29.95
Out of stock
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January 5, 1942 Life Magazine Nursing shortage
Starting at: $19.95
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January 10, 1942 Saturday Evening Post Statue of Liberty
Starting at: $18.95
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January 12, 1942 Life Magazine Coastal defense
Starting at: $19.95
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January 13, 1942 Look Magazine Gunner in airplane
Starting at: $15.95