1940s War and a Troublesome Peace

THE EFFORT TO WIN WORLD WAR II--and the peace that followed--dominated the 1940s. Even before Pearl Harbor, the defense push brought new life to production but also new rules for doing business.

As early as 1943, there were covers on what to do when the war effort ended, and then on the shape of the postwar world: a new monetary system, the division of Germany, the founding of the U.N., and what the Marshall Plan meant to executives.

On the home front, 1947 brought a series of reports on the new American market, region by region—markets that fueled an unprecedented postwar boom. P.S.: Like most other seers, BusinessWeek was wrong about the 1948 election. The Oct. 23 issue had Dewey "all but installed" as President.