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A look at America in the 1940s - the decade that transforms the nation - using rare archive footage seen in colour for the first time

Ann an 1940, tha Ameireaga air a sgaradh a thaobh oidhirp a’ chogaidh. Air an 7mh den Dùbhlachd, 1941, tha a h-uile càil ag atharrachadh an uair a tha Iapan a’ toirt ionnsaidh air Pearl Harbour. Tha Roosevelt, san treas teirm aige, ag ainmeachadh gu bheil Ameireaga ann an cogadh.

Tha na mìltean de luchd-saor thoileach gan cuir fhèin air adhart airson dleastanas-airm agus tha airgead air a thogail tro railidhean maoineachadh cogaidh agus iomairtean anns a bheil daoine ainmeil an sàs. Tha amharasan gu bheil coimhearsnachdan Iapanach a’ fuireach ann an Ameireaga, agus aig a cheann thall chaidh 120, 000 a chruinneachadh agus a ghlasadh ann an campaichean.

Tha bàs Roosevelt, ro deireadh a’ chogaidh a’ ciallachadh gu bheil Truman gu bhith na cheann-suidhe. ’S e seo an deich bliadhna a tha a’ faicinn Ameireaga a’ stiùireadh an t-saoghail fosgailte. Tha tasglann air a shealltainn ann an dath airson a’ chiad uair a’ toirt dealbh dhuinn air an àm seo ann an dòigh nach fhacas a-riamh ron seo.

In 1940, America is divided on whether to join the war effort. On 7th December 1941 everything changes when Japan attacks Pearl Harbour. Roosevelt, freshly elected on his third term, announces that America is now at war. Thousands of volunteers sign up to the draft and money is raised through war bond rallies and celebrity-studded campaigns.

Suspicions of Japanese communities living in America spiral, leading to 120,000 being rounded up and imprisoned in camps. Roosevelt’s death, before the end of the war, passes the presidency to Truman. This is the decade that transforms America into the leader of the free world.

Rare archive, seen in colour for the first time, shows this transformative decade as you have never seen it before.

46 minutes

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