Time Travel to the 1940s With This Quiz

Statesman David Ben-Gurion delivered Israel’s declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, and went on to serve as the nation’s first prime minister and defense minister from 1948 to 1953. He returned to both roles from 1955 until 1963, and is now revered in Israel as the “father of the nation.”

Mount Rushmore, the monolithic monument in South Dakota’s Black Hills, was completed on October 31, 1941, after 14 years of carving. From left to right, the monument features the heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The landmark also contains a hidden, unfinished vault intended to serve as a hall of records.

The Dutch began colonizing parts of Indonesia in the early 17th century, and in 1945, the island nation declared its independence from the Netherlands. (Indonesia had been occupied by Japan during World War II, and declared independence shortly before the Japanese surrender.) It took four more years of brutal fighting and negotiations before the Dutch colonizers agreed to transfer sovereignty in 1949.

Author George Orwell published his best-known novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” on June 8, 1949, four years after the publication of his allegorical novel “Animal Farm.” The dystopian story features an omnipresent and always-watching leader known as “Big Brother,” who represents an oppressive, totalitarian government. The book was Orwell’s final novel, yet his first taste of critical success during his lifetime.

Film noir burst onto the American film scene in the 1940s with such titles as "The Maltese Falcon," "The Blue Dahlia," "Double Indemnity," and "Sunset Boulevard." The genre, whose name comes from the French word for "dark," is known for its hard-boiled detective movies with cold characters and a brooding style, and its distinct low-light aesthetic. The films of the '40s are sometimes said to reflect the tough times and cynicism many Americans experienced coming out of World War II.

As part of an effort to prevent future world wars from breaking out, the League of Nations was rebooted as the United Nations and its first General Assembly meeting took place in 1946. Representatives from 51 nations met at Westminster Central Hall in London to begin organizing the institution. On January 24, the General Assembly adopted its first resolution, which called for the peaceful use of atomic energy.

"Meet the Press" premiered on November 6, 1947, and is still on the air today, which makes it the longest-running American TV show in history. Its first episode was hosted by series creator Martha Rountree and the show's first guest was FDR's postmaster general, James Farley. Today, Chuck Todd moderates the hour-long series, which has aired more than 3,600 episodes.

After years of rivalry, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League agreed to merge in 1949 to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). The new league was made up of 17 teams, but support dwindled and by the 1954 season, only eight teams remained. That year, the league updated the rules of the game to make it more exciting which resulted in basketball's rise in popularity.

In 1943, engineer Richard James was trying to create springs that could keep sensitive ship equipment steady, when he bumped into a shelf and knocked some samples down. To his amazement, they "walked" off the shelf instead of falling. James took the sample to his wife, Betty, and together they worked to turn his creation into the next big novelty toy, the Slinky.

After two years of service in World War II, Jackie Robinson entered the Negro American League for a season and then played for a Canadian minor league team before being called up to the Big Show in '47. He made his MLB debut on April 15, 1947, as the starting first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his career, he was named the National League MVP, played in six All-Star games, and won a World Series.

On October 14, 1947, test pilot Chuck Yeager got in his experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane with the ambition to travel faster than the speed of sound. The plane was lifted to 25,000 feet by a B-29 plane, and when released, sped past 662 miles per hour, producing a sonic boom as the sound barrier broke for the first time in human history.

ENIAC, or the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was the first programmable general-purpose digital computer. Built in the U.S. during World War II, ENIAC was first used to compute values for artillery range tables but could be reprogrammed for a variety of simple uses. The massive machine filled a 50x30-foot room and had more than 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, and 6,000 switches.

Taken in 1942, this photo shows Naomi Parker working as a metal presser in a Michigan plant. Wearing a polka-dot bandana and a factory uniform, Parker's look is believed to have inspired Rosie the Riveter. The character, who was created by J. Howard Miller, became a feminist symbol for working women during the war, and her catchphrase "We can do it!" helped galvanize the war effort at home.

Following the devastation of World War II, Europe needed financial help, and U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall oversaw the plan to provide it. His namesake plan was organized as a four-year program to reconstruct cities, industries, and infrastructure, and halt the spread of communism in Europe.

“Casablanca” premiered in New York City on November 26, 1942, before opening across the U.S. in January 1943. The film — which stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman — earned eight Academy Award nominations, of which it took home three (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay).

In December 1947, businessman and race car driver Bill France Sr. held a meeting to discuss the future of stock car racing. Two months later, NASCAR held its inaugural race at Daytona Beach, a competition that Red Byron won in a Ford. In 1949, the first NASCAR Strictly Stock race (now known as the NASCAR Cup Series) was held in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Percy Spencer was a scientist who worked on radar technology for a company called Raytheon during World War II. One day, Spencer noticed the energy from the radio waves had melted the candy bar in his pocket. Raytheon capitalized on the discovery and created the first microwave oven — the RadarRange — in 1947.

Officially titled “Sinews of Peace,” Winston Churchill’s impassioned 1946 speech is best known today for using the term “Iron Curtain” to describe the perceived threat of communism that swept over Europe. Though Churchill is often credited with coining the term “Iron Curtain,” it was previously used in a published 1920 travelogue about venturing through Bolshevik Russia.

Throughout the 1940s, some 640,050 American baby girls — or about 1 in every 25 girls born that decade — were given the name Mary. After Mary, the most popular girls' names were Linda, Barbara, Patricia, and Carol. For boys, the top five names were James, Robert, John, William, and Richard.

Harry S. Truman was elected as Franklin Roosevelt's Vice President in 1945. Just a few weeks later, Roosevelt suddenly passed away and Truman assumed the presidency. During his brief stint as VP, Truman received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the growing difficulties with Soviet Russia. When he took over the Oval Office, Truman suddenly became privy to this crucial information and used it to help end the war.

On August 14, 1945, it was announced to the world that Japan had surrendered to the Allies unconditionally, effectively ending World War II. Since then, that date has been known as V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, although the term has also been used to refer to September 2, 1945, when the Japanese formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri.