Hello everyone, today is the day I bring you one of the longest and arguably most fascinating WW2 effects yet, California. Having lived next to California for 8 years now, and visited there at least 30 times (I'm going there again this Friday), I've had the unique opportunity of seeing what's happened in the state the last decade. Today I hope to share with you how California came to be the economic powerhouse it is today, all because of a massive conflict oceans away. California Pre-WW2 California before WW2 was a completely different place, demographically, economically, and politically. California came to be with the discovery of Gold in the territory in the late 1840's, causing a massive migration of Hundreds of Thousands of People to the area and in 1850, California was admitted to the Union, the first state west of Texas to be admitted. After the Civil War, Thousands more left for California, to find Gold, land, and for some an escape from discrimination and intolerance. California even in those days was seen as a pillar of success and hope, a place of tolerance and acceptance, something's few other places in the country could offer at that time. In the 1920's, after the first World War, California saw another massive influx of people due to a rather strange reason, Hollywood. Hollywood, the birthplace of American Cinema and stardom. The introduction of this new art brought many other aspiring actors, directors, and dreamers to the state, and for the fist time since the Gold Rush, California was the center of American attention once again. Despite the success of Hollywood, and the development of cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, San Bernadino, San Jose, Anaheim, and Fresno, California was mostly a rural and agricultural state. 80% of California's economic income came from Agriculture in the 30's and early 40's. California's amazing weather, and perfect geological conditions allowed for many types of foods and crops to be planted, and it wouldn't be long before California was given the nickname, "America's breadbasket". California was the 3rd largest Wheat producer in 1940, the 5th largest dairy producer, and 1st in Almond and Grape production across the nation. Despite the state's early successes, the Great Depression came along , and gave the state it's biggest challenge yet. California however was one of the few states in the U.S that actually had a sizable population increase during the depression, growing by more than 1.5 million people from 1930 to 1940. People fled to California for it's seemingly never ending supply of jobs and opportunities, as a result, California's cities grew, and with them so did the Industrial complex. By 1940, California's industrial output was greater than that of Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Nebraska combined. California suffered about 9% unemployment in 1940, and even though the Great Depression still had a negative impact on California's people and economy, California fared better than just about any other state at that time, and California was also a pillar of Hope to the rest of the nation because of the influence Hollywood and movies stars had on average everyday people trying to find happiness, in a rather unhappy time. California would soon undergo one of the most dramatic and short lived transformations in U.S history because of distant war's in Europe and Asia. California WW2 If I were to tell you everything that to California in WW2, this thread would be easily 5 pages long, so I'm going to give you the shortened version. When war finally broke out in 1941, fear was widespread in the state. more than half a million illegal aliens populated the state, and many people believed some of them were spies for the Axis powers of Japan, Germany, and Italy. As a result, California was one of the most enthusiastic states when it came to deporting those of Japanese descent, and German families who hadn't been in the country for a generation. 70,000 Japanese Americans were subsequently brought to internment camps across the country, and only about 10,000 of the victims returned to California. Despite the eagerness to get rid of aliens and potential threats, California allowed more Mexican immigrants into the state than ever before, with about 250,000 moving to California for work. By 1942, California's population had grown from 6.9 million in 1940, to 7.6 million. California already housed dozens of government and military installations before the war, but dozens more would be built during the war. California housed a total of 54 Military bases and installations in 1945, the most of any state in the U.S. California also has the unique distinction of being one of only 3 states in the U.S that had Army, Army Air Force, Marines, and Navy installations all in the same state. More than 6 million servicemen and women would go through California at some point during the war. California's Natural resources of Oil and Coal were shipped out in the millions of tons. California was the 3rd largest Stateside oil producer for the U.S during the war, and the 6th largest Coal producer. California's biggest role would come in the Agricultural and Industrial sectors, and WW2 would start rolling a stone that has yet to stop. California was one of the largest Agricultural providers during the war, and fed up to a third of the U.S, it's population of almost 8 million, parts of Canada, troops in Asia and the Pacific, troops in Europe, Africa and Italy, civilians across Europe, and even Soviet Soldiers. As impressive as California's Agricultural output was, the real game changer was the industrial complex. In this moment, California became not just the dominant state in the U.S but, actually outproduced many countries. California went on to produce more war materials and products during the war than, 24 other U.S state's COMBINED!! A feat that remains to this day, unmatched. The war at times seemed pretty close to home for California, in February of 1942, a day after a Japanese Submarine shelled a Santa Barbara Oil installation, A false alarm turned into a full blown panic in L.A, when it was thought that a Japanese bombardment of the city was underway, from late at night in February 24th till the early hours of the 25th, Anti-Aircraft fire and searchlights lit up the sky, causing widespread panic and fear that a Japanese invasion was happening in California. This was all caused by a weather balloon and "war nerves", but unfortunately, stray rounds and shells claimed the lives of 5 Californian's, It became known as the battle of Los Angeles. California also provided 900,000 volunteers and draftees during the war, that was more than the populations of Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming, and Delaware combined. With this many soldiers however, the cost in lives was predictably higher, 17,022 Californians were killed during the war, the 4th highest death toll in the U.S.
California Post WW2 California came out of WW2 one of the most drastically changed and powerful states in the Union. California's strength no longer came from Gold, or Hollywood, it came from it's Agricultural and Industrial capacity, along with it's hardworking and ever growing population, not to mention it's thousands of miles of land as well. California's production didn't slow down one bit after the war, and neither did the influx of people. California has been the U.S leader in annual GDP since 1946, and the population has grown by over 30 million people since the war ended 70 years ago. California has also become the home of theme parks such as Disneyland, Universal studios, Six flags, and Sea World, bringing millions of people to the state, and millions of dollars in revenue.While California still maintains it's economic success, the state since the 70's has taken on other serious issues. With so many mega cities, and an ever growing industrial capacity, California is the most polluted state in the U.S and has the 3rd most unhealthy air quality in the world, the other two places are in China........Since the 70's, California's crime rate has gone through the roof, and out of America's top 5 most dangerous cities, 3 are in California (L.A, San Francisco, and San Bernadino). Despite it's economic success, California is America's most expensive state to live in, and has one of the highest taxation rates as a result. Unemployment and homelessness is one of the highest in the nation, and the state's politicians have brought controversial and increased problems to the state. Along with these great attributes, for the first time in California's extensive history, more people are moving out of the state, than there are moving in. The future in California doesn't look bright, and most of the U.S views California as one of the most dysfunctional and embarrassing parts of the nations identity. California however is still a massive part of the Nations economy, so as long as that is doing well, there's something to be happy about when it comes to California.
