The soulful tunes of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were beloved household hits, and though the Television had yet to come into use, radio was still extremely popular. Consumers enjoyed now-classic films such as "Citizen Kane-, Alfred Hitchcock's suspenseful thrillers kept moviegoers at the edge of their seats, and Humphrey Bogart, with enormous successes in films like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, was the "American Idol- of the decade. Hollywood had become a viable power of communication "one that certain members of the government had begun to fear. .
It was the beginning of another "red scare- in the nation: fears of communism, which had been on the rise ever since the stock market crash that set off the Great Depression, sparked accusations that artists, writers, actors and learned people were communists. Hundreds were "blacklisted- and lost their jobs, even if the accusations were groundless, and congress formally accused Hollywood of "meddling practices- and essentially demanded that they stop using the medium of cinema to express their beliefs "a fundamental purpose of art. Yet all this was put to a stop, for a time, as the nation was hurled headlong into the war.
It happened without warning, catching our military completely off guard. "December 7, 1941: A day that will live in infamy,"" went President Roosevelt's address to the nation following the terrible attack on Pearl Harbor. .
The surprise assault by Japanese warplanes destroyed dozens of ships, loaded with crew "all in all, over a thousand servicemen died that day. America could no longer turn a blind eye to the events in Europe and around the globe "we had to fight back. And fight back we did. All previous internal conflict practically ceased, turning all attention, power, and will towards the war effort. Hundreds of thousands of troops were shipped off to aid the war in both the European and Pacific fronts.