Just After WWII, These Beautiful Color Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the Late 1940s

   

With the war finally over, life in the United States began to return to normal. Soldiers began to come home and find peacetime jobs. Industry stopped producing war equipment and began to produce goods that made peacetime life pleasant. The American economy was stronger than ever.

Life of the U.S. from 1945 to 1949
 
American consumers were eager to spend their money, on everything from big-ticket items like homes, cars and furniture to appliances, clothing, shoes and everything else in between. U.S. factories answered their call, beginning with the automobile industry. New car sales quadrupled between 1945 and 1955, and by the end of the 1950s some 75 percent of American households owned at least one car.
 
These color slides from Ryan Khatam that show life of an American woman named Mary, her family and friends from 1945 to 1949. Mary is the woman in the hula outfit.
 
Hats, 1945

 

Barbecue breakfast, 1946
 
Barbecue breakfast, 1947

 

Barbecue breakfast, 1947

 

Barbecue breakfast, 1947
 
Barbecue breakfast, 1947

 

Barbecue breakfast, 1947
 
Chairs and laugh, 1947

 

Easter breakfast - group, 1947
 
Easter breakfast - hats, 1947

 

Easter breakfast - umbrella, 1947
 
Easter breakfast, 1947

 

Easter breakfast, 1947
 
Rush breakfast - talking, 1948

 

Rush breakfast - talking, 1948
 
Rush breakfast, 1948

 

Mary and Skipper, 1949
 
Skipper and Claudia, 1949

 

Family portrait, 1940s
 
Girls and tree, 1940s

 

Hula girl, 1940s
 
Hula girl, 1940s

 

La Posada Hotel, Winslow, Arizona, 1940s
 
Ladies sitting on the grass, 1940s

 

Ladies sitting on the grass, 1940s
 
Lady and fountain, 1940s

 

Old couple, 1940s
 
People laughing, 1940s

 

People laughing, 1940s

 

Portraits of three ladies, 1940s
 
Smiling, 1940s

 

Three happy girls, 1940s

 

Three happy girls, 1940s
 
Three happy girls, 1940s

 

Trail to Moro Rock, California, 1940s

 

Woman and house, 1940s
 
Woman in green, 1940s

 

Women and fountain, 1940s

 

Women standing on the grass, 1940s

 

Portraits of five ladies, 1940s