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World War II

Rosie the Riveter by J. Howard Miller, 1942; Uncle Sam by J. M Flagg, 1917

Commentary

Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam: Two Portraits, Two Methods of Persuasion

Kim Sajet, director of the Portrait Gallery, says that while Uncle Sam orders, Rosie inspires collective action

This Man Filmed Life Inside an Internment Camp

Dave Tatsuno was one of the 120,000 Japanese-Americans rounded up in the U.S. in 1942 and placed in an internment camp

AP file photo of musician Coco Schumann taken on August 16, 1997.

Coco Schumann, the Holocaust Survivor who Played Jazz at Auschwitz, Dies at 93

The Berlin native returned to the city after the war and became renowned for playing the electric guitar

Parade of volunteers for Waffen-SS Division “Galicia” in Buczacz, 1943

When Mass Murder Is an Intimate Affair

A new book reveals how neighbors turned on neighbors in an Eastern European border town

Artist J. Howard Miller produced this work-incentive poster for the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Though displayed only briefly in Westinghouse factories, the poster in later year has become one of the most famous icons of World War II.

Women Who Shaped History

The Unsung Inspiration Behind the “Real” Rosie the Riveter

Historians pay tribute to the legacy of Naomi Parker Fraley, who died Saturday at 96. In 2015, she was linked, circumstantially, to the We Can Do It poster

Page B of the February 26, 1942, Los Angeles Times, shows the coverage of the so-called Battle of Los Angeles and its aftermath.

History of Now

The Great Los Angeles Air Raid Terrified Citizens—Even Though No Bombs Were Dropped

The WWII “battle” was an example of what happens when the threat of attack feels all too real

Why Did the U.S. Sink Captured Japanese Subs After WWII?

WWII had come to a close, and the U.S. was the first to seize a new class of giant Japanese submarines. The next step was to analyze them quickly

Intense Footage of Kamikaze Attacks During WWII

U.S. marines faced a battle unlike any they had faced before: the Japanese intentionally crashed over 1,900 planes in suicide kamikaze dives on them

Major General Cates with War Correspondents Aboard Ship, Febraury 1945. Robert Sherrod is second from left.

The Reporter Who Helped Persuade FDR to Tell the Truth About War

After witnessing the bloody struggle with Japan, Robert Sherrod thought the public should face the ‘cruel’ facts

Hitler used shameless self-promotion and alternative facts to cast himself as a national hero.

Hitler Created a Fictional Persona To Recast Himself as Germany’s Savior

In 1923, Adolf Hitler wrote an embellished autobiography to convince Germans he was their natural leader

Women grieving over the coffins of those killed in the Kielce pogrom as they are transported to the burial site in the Jewish cemetery.

Kielce: The Post-Holocaust Pogrom That Poland Is Still Fighting Over

After World War II, Jewish refugees found they could never return to their native land—a sentiment that some echo today

In World War II America, Female Santas Took the Reins

Rosie the Riveter wasn’t the only woman who pitched in on the homefront

An artist's rendering of the CP-1 nuclear reactor.

How the First Man-Made Nuclear Reactor Reshaped Science and Society

In December 1942, Chicago Pile-1 ushered in an age of frightening possibility

The Ten Best History Books of 2017

From presidential biographies to a look at the long rise of fake news, these picks will surely interest history buffs

You may know the woman depicted here as Rosie the Riveter, but she wasn't originally called that.

The Riveting Story of an American Icon

Rosie has a surprising history

Aaron Elster's hologram answers questions from the audience.

An Exhibit in Illinois Allows Visitors to Talk with Holograms of 13 Holocaust Survivors

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Illinois, opened the new Survivor Stories Experience this fall

For the first time, human beings harnessed the power of atomic fission.

The Science Behind the First Nuclear Chain Reaction, Which Ushered in the Atomic Age 75 Years Ago

That fateful discovery helped give us nuclear power reactors and the atomic bomb

A "comfort women" monument is seen at St. Mary Square in San Francisco, the United States, on Sept. 22, 2017.

‘Comfort Women’ Statue Prompts Osaka to Cut Ties with San Francisco

The monument pays tribute to women who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels

Women shipfitters working on board the USS Nereus at the U.S. Navy Yard in Mare Island, circa 1943.

Women Who Shaped History

During World War II, Thousands of Women Chased Their Own California Dream

For some who moved west for work, this dream was temporary. For others, it lasted a lifetime

A CARE package intended for West Germany in 1948.

How WWII Created the Care Package

Technically, the innovation was originally trademarked

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