The year is 1944. Driven out of North Africa and pushed back on the Italian and Russian fronts, the Germans continue to fight with some success, determined at the least to keep their homeland safe from invasion. Allied air power, deployed in the months prior to D-Day, has set the stage for the invasion at Normandy.
Meanwhile, not all activity on the home front is war related. There, achievements resulting from the "war machine" are accompanied by advances in happier fields of endeavor, and life goes on.
The ban is lifted from the pesticide DDT and four U.S. manufacturers produce 350,000 pounds a month, all for the United States Army.
Harvard University, with the assistance of IBM, produces the first general-purpose computer with a fifty-foot panel of knobs, wire, counters, gears, and switches and over 500 miles of wires.
Twelve-year-old Elizabeth Taylor stars in the hit film, "National Velvet."
Seventy-two years old, Orville Wright test pilots the new fifty-seven passenger Lockheed Constellation.
Major Jimmy Stewart is an 8th Air Force Squadron Commander and pilot leader on eleven missions over Germany.
Betty Grable is the year's biggest box office draw.
The entire Bible is recorded for the first time by Manhattan's American Foundation for the Blind. Playing time: 84.5 hours.
Penicillin is finally manufactured in sufficient quantities to be issued to civilians.
The GI Bill of Rights is approved by Congress.
Judy Garland stars in "Meet Me In St. Louis."
Franklin Roosevelt adopts a new name for the war, suggested by a citizen of Murfreesboro, Tennessee: "The Tyrant's War."
Kodacolor is introduced by Eastman Kodak.
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy is honored with a medal for extreme heroic conduct in combat with the Japanese.
The St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series, defeating the St. Louis Browns, four games to two.
Tennessee Williams writes "The Glass Menagerie."
The cost of living in the United States rises almost thirty percent.
Popular songs include: "Don't Fence Me In," "Rum and Coca-Cola," "Swinging on a Star," "Sentimental Journey," and "Accentuate the Positive."
