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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September 2, 1940 Life Magazine Dionne's Communion
Starting at: $19.95
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September 9, 1940 Life Magazine Carol Bruce
Starting at: $19.95
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September 10, 1940 Look Magazine Wendell L Wilkie and Franklin D Roosevelt
Starting at: $15.95
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September 16, 1940 Life Magazine Flight Across America
Starting at: $19.95
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September 23, 1940 Life Magazine Child in hospital
Starting at: $19.95
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September 24, 1940 Look Magazine Charlie Chaplan as Hitler in the movie “The Dictator.”
Starting at: $15.95
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September 30, 1940 Life Magazine Wendell Wilkie
Starting at: $19.95
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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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September 7, 1942 Life Magazine War gliders
Starting at: $19.95
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September 8, 1942 Look Magazine Apprentice Seaman
Starting at: $15.95
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September 14, 1942 Life Magazine OPA Chief Leon Henderson
Starting at: $19.95
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September 21, 1942 Life Magazine Iran's Queen Fawzia
Starting at: $19.95
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September 22, 1942 Look Magazine Sheila Johnson from the Conover Agency
Starting at: $15.95
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September 26, 1942 Saturday Evening Post WAC Admires Hat
Starting at: $18.95
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September 28, 1942 Life Magazine Admiral Leahy
Starting at: $19.95
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September 6, 1943 Life Magazine American Soldiers
Starting at: $19.95
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September 7, 1943 Look Magazine War worker reading The Real Mother Goose in a nursery school
Starting at: $15.95
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September 13, 1943 Life Magazine Two women in Leotards
Starting at: $19.95
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September 18, 1943 Saturday Evening Post Cowboy on Palomino
Starting at: $18.95
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September 20, 1943 Life Magazine Cambridge don Charles Seltman
Starting at: $19.95
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September 21, 1943 Look Magazine Franklin Roosevelt
Starting at: $15.95
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September 27, 1943 Life Magazine Woman Harvester
Starting at: $19.95
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September 2, 1944 Saturday Evening Post School Bus
Starting at: $18.95
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September 4, 1944 Life Magazine Secretary of State Hull
Starting at: $19.95
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September 5, 1944 Look Magazine Woman in the Coast Guard, Spar Eileen Van Dree
Starting at: $15.95
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September 11, 1944 Life Magazine Captured Nazis
Starting at: $29.95
Out of stock
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September 18, 1944 Life Magazine Governor Dewey
Starting at: $19.95
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September 25, 1944 Life Magazine American home front, woman
Starting at: $19.95
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September 30, 1944 Saturday Evening Post Moving day
Starting at: $18.95
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September 1, 1945 Saturday Evening Post Butch Weighs In
Starting at: $18.95
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September 3, 1945 Life Magazine House party girls
Starting at: $19.95
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September 4, 1945 Look Magazine Photograph of very cute child
Starting at: $15.95
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September 8, 1945 Saturday Evening Post Amber Waves of Grain
Starting at: $18.95
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September 10, 1945 Life Magazine Auto Worker
Starting at: $19.95
Out of stock