1945 Trivia, History and Fun Facts

1945 Trivia, History, and Fun Facts

Quick Facts from 1945

  • World Changing Events: The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9.
    Horrors of the Nazi Holocaust and concentration camps were exposed.
  • Popular Songs include: There I’ve Said It Again by Vaughn Monroe and Pop Standards I’m Beginning To See The Light and Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive
  • The Movies to Watch include The Lost Weekend, Spellbound, They Were Expendable, State Fair, Back to Bataan, Anchors Aweigh, The Picture of Dorian Gray and And Then There Were None
  • The Most Famous Person in America was probably Bob Hope
  • US Life Expectancy: Males: 63.6 years, Females: 67.9 years
  • Price of 1 pound of Ritz Crackers in 1945: 21 cents
  • 1 ounce of gold value: $37.25
  • The 1945 Food and Nutrition Board Paper often quoted that “humans require roughly 2.5 liters (8 glasses) per day,” which is only 1/2 of the complete statement. The other half was, “We get most of the fluid we need from food and other beverages.”
  • The Conversation: The term ‘cold war’ was coined by George Orwell in an October 1945 essay about the atomic bomb.

Top Ten Baby Names of 1945

Mary, Linda, Barbara, Patricia, Carol, James, Robert, John, William, Richard

WW2 News

Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima off the coast of Okinawa. Extremely popular, especially with the average GI, whose life and death he reported on (American infantrymen braved enemy fire to recover Pyle’s body), Pyle had been at the London Blitz of 1941 and saw action in North Africa, Italy, France, and the Pacific. A monument exists to him to this day on Ie Shima, describing him simply as “a buddy.” Burgess Meredith portrayed him in the 1945 film The Story of GI Joe.

US Marines raised the flag on Iwo Jima on February 23rd. There are six Flag Raisers in the famous Iwo Jima photo—four in the front line and two in the back. The front four are (left to right) Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, and Harlon Block. The back two are Michael Strank (behind Sousley) and Rene Gagnon (behind Bradley). It is one of the most famous photographs of all time, taken by Joe Rosenthal.

August 14th was V-J Day (Victory over Japan day). Japan surrendered unconditionally to end WW II

August 22nd – The Vietnam conflict began as Ho Chi Minh led a successful coup. 

Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols

Gene Tierney, Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall, Lana Turner, Betty Grable

Entertainment History: The Oscars

The 17th Academy Awards occurred on March 15, 1945, at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Bob Hope was the host, making it his fifth time leading the ceremony. The film Going My Way was the star of the evening, snagging seven awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Leo McCarey, and Best Actor for Bing Crosby. The musical comedy-drama dominated despite stiff competition from Double Indemnity, which had seven nominations but didn’t win in any category. The ceremony was noteworthy for recognizing foreign films; Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City won a special award for its significance. The eligibility year for this ceremony stretched from January 1 to December 31, 1944. Did you know that Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role in Going My Way? He won in the supporting category, and this oddity led the Academy to change its rules to prevent such double nominations.

“The Quotes”

“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities”
– Aldous Huxley

“Who’s on First?”
– Bud Abbott, in ‘The Naughty Nineties’

“I’m Chiquita Banana, and I’ve come to say – bananas have to ripen in a certain way…”
– Chiquita Bananas

“An iron curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind.”
– Winston Churchill, to Harry S. Truman, regarding the Democracies and the Russian-controlled Communist bloc.

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year

Harry S. Truman

Miss America

Bess Myerson (New York, NY)

The Biggest Pop Artists of 1945 include

The Andrews Sisters, Les Brown and His Orchestra, Frankie Carle and His Orchestra, Perry Como, Xavier Cugat, and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, and His Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Helen Forrest, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Dick Haymes, Woody Herman, and His Orchestra, Betty Hutton, Harry James and His Orchestra, Louis Jordan, Sammy Kaye, Stan Kenton and His Orchestra, Gene Krupa and His Orchestra, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, Johnny Mercer, Freddy Martin, and His Orchestra, The Merry Macs, Vaughn Monroe, Pied Pipers, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Kate Smith, Charlie Spivak, and His Orchestra, Jo Stafford, Martha Tilton

The Terrible

On July 28th, a U.S. B-25 bomber accidentally hit the Empire State Building in New York. 14 people were killed.

US Politics

January 20, 1945 (Saturday): Fourth inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt
April 12, 1945 (Thursday) First inauguration of Harry S. Truman, in the Cabinet Room

WW2 News

Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima off the coast of Okinawa. Extremely popular, especially with the average GI, whose life and death he reported on (American infantrymen braved enemy fire to recover Pyle’s body), Pyle had been at the London Blitz of 1941 and saw action in North Africa, Italy, France, and the Pacific. A monument exists to him to this day on Ie Shima, describing him simply as “a buddy.” Burgess Meredith portrayed him in the 1945 film The Story of GI Joe.

US Marines raised the flag on Iwo Jima on February 23rd. There are six Flag Raisers in the famous Iwo Jima photo—four in the front line and two in the back. The front four are (left to right) Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, and Harlon Block. The back two are Michael Strank (behind Sousley) and Rene Gagnon (behind Bradley). It is one of the most famous photographs of all time, taken by Joe Rosenthal.

August 14th was V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day). Japan surrendered unconditionally to end WW II.

August 22nd – The Vietnam conflict began as Ho Chi Minh led a successful coup. The world keeps turning.

1945 Pop Culture Facts & History

Pepe LePew debuted in Warner Bros cartoon Odor-able Kitty on January 5th.

Slinky is from a Swedish word meaning ‘stealthy, sleek and sinuous.’ Each slinky has about 67 feet of steel and was first invented by Richard James while working for the military in his home. He dropped a spring and it ‘slinkied’ off a tabletop and some books. In 1960, he founded (James Industries) and became an evangelical missionary in Bolivia.

October 5th – Meet the Press premiered on the radio.

FDR founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938 to find a cure for polio and believed that if everyone gave only a dime, polio would be eradicated. Because of this motto, after he died in 1945, FDR’s face was put on the dime, and his organization was renamed “The March of Dimes.”

Since 1945,  all British tanks have come equipped with tea-making facilities.

Three Musketeers came in three pieces: one chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Hence the name. This changed in 1945 because WWII caused the strawberry and vanilla flavors to be too expensive.

In November, 1st issue of Ebony magazine was published by John H Johnson.

An airplane crashed into the Empire State Building, injuring elevator operator Betty Oliver. When rescuers attempted to lower her on an elevator, the cable snapped, plunging her 75 stories down. She survived the fall and still holds the record for the longest survived elevator fall.

The last president to have a net worth under a million dollars was Harry Truman.

Abbott and Costello’s film The Naughty Nineties was released, featuring the longest version of their “Who’s on First” routine.

Percy Spencer was working in a lab testing magnetrons, the high-powered vacuum tubes inside radars that produced microwaves, when he noticed a peanut butter candy bar in his pocket had begun to melt, the basic concept behind microwave ovens, which he later invented.

America minted 500,000 Purple Hearts in anticipation of invading Japan. About 120,000 remain for future Purple Heart recipients.

July 16th – The first (and secret) test detonation of an atomic bomb took place at Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico. Kodak accidentally discovered the U.S. was testing atomic bombs after customers complained of “foggy” film.

Before the first nuclear bomb detonation in July of 1945,  isotopes such as strontium-90 and cesium-137 simply did not exist in nature.” Pieces of art and bottles of wine created before then can be tested for cesium. If they contain traces of cesium, they would almost certainly be fake. Steel made after that date is not usable for much scientific research.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi is the only man on record to survive both nuclear bombs in Japan. He was in Hiroshima on business during the first bombing and returned home to Nagasaki with burns to his upper body. He died in 2010.

March 15, 1945 – Billboard published its 1st album chart (King Cole Trio was #1)

Frank Sinatra canceled a $10,000 (a lot of money in 1945) gig and traveled to Gary, Indiana, to convince white high school students striking against integration to return to school. Sinatra called it “the most shameful incident in the history of American education.”

The Number One Hits Of 1945

December 23 – February 9, 1945
Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters – Don’t Fence Me In

February 10, 1945 – Feb 16, 1945
Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Don’t Fence Me In (tie)
The Andrews Sisters – Rum and Coca-Cola (tie)

Feb 17, 1945 – April 6, 1946
The Andrews Sisters – Rum and Coca-Cola

April 7, 1945 – May 25, 1945
Les Brown and His Orchestra – My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time

May 26, 1945 – July 27, 1945
Les Brown and His Orchestra – Sentimental Journey

July 28, 1945 – September 14, 1945
Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers – On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

September 15, 1945 – November 16, 1945
Perry Como – Till the End of Time

November 17, 1945 – November 23, 1945
Perry Como – Till the End of Time (tie)
Sammy Kaye – Chickery Chick (tie)

November 24, 1945 – December 7, 1945
Harry James and His Orchestra – It’s Been a Long, Long Time

December 8, 1945 – December 14, 1945
Bing Crosby with The Les Paul Trio – It’s Been a Long, Long Time

December 15, 1945 – December 21, 1945
Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra – Chickery Chick

December 22, 1945 – December 28, 1945
Harry James and His Orchestra – It’s Been a Long, Long Time

December 29, 1945 – January 4, 1946
Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra – Chickery Chick

The Habit

Reading Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care was necessary for young parents.

Nobel Prize Winners

Physics – Wolfgang Pauli
Chemistry – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
Physiology or Medicine – Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain, Sir Howard Florey
Literature – Gabriela Mistral
Peace – Cordell Hull

Popular and Best-selling Books From 1945

A Lion Is in the Streets by Adria Locke Langley
A Street in Bronzeville by Gwendolyn Brooks
The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain
Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger
Cass Timberlane by Sinclair Lewis
Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
The Green Years by A.J. Cronin
Immortal Wife by Irving Stone
The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
Tootle by Gertrude Crampton
So Well Remembered by James Hilton
The White Tower by James Ramsey Ullman

1st Appearances & 1945’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts, Toys and Presents

Slinky

Best Film Oscar Winner

Going My Way (presented in 1945)

Sports

World Series Champions: Detroit Tigers
NFL Champions: Cleveland Rams
Stanley Cup Champs: Toronto Maple Leafs
U.S. Open Golf Not played due to WWII
U.S. Tennis: (Men/Ladies) Sgt. Frank Parker/Sarah Palfrey Cooke
Wimbledon (Men/Women): not held
NCAA Football Champions: Army
NCAA Basketball Champions: Oklahoma A&M
Kentucky Derby: Hoop Jr

More 1945 Facts & History Resources:

Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us)
Broadway Shows that Opened in 1945
1945 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com
Fact Monster
Forties Nostalgia
1940s, Infoplease.com World History
1945 in Movies (according to IMDB)
Retrowaste Vintage Culture
1940s Slang
Wikipedia 1945
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki