Conclusion

It is clear that World War II had a major impact on Oklahoma, but it is important to note also that Oklahoma had a major impact on the war. The war ended the Great Depression. It created thousands of new jobs in the state. It afforded pilot training to young men across the state and created defense industry jobs for both men and women. The war brought a naval base to landlocked Norman. It introduced prisoner-of war-camps to numerous locations around the state. Code talkers from Oklahoma used their Indigenous languages to create codes that enemy forces could not break. Oklahoma factory workers manufactured a majority of the C-47 cargo planes used during the war. Oklahoma farmers increased crop production to meet the needs of a hungry nation. Oklahoma production of oil and gas proved vital to the war effort.

The end of World War II marked a major turning point in the history of the United States as well as the history of Oklahoma. Now there was a new kind of war: the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union, which lasted for the next several decades. A period of great economic prosperity lay ahead for Americans in the decades following the end of the war. But the country—and Oklahoma—also stood on the cusp of great social challenges. For the end of the war also marked the start of the modern Civil Rights Movement. In the next chapter we will explore how Oklahomans came to terms with racial inequality and charted a new course toward greater, if not complete, acceptance.