You know, I like Christmas time. I enjoy the decorations, the pretty, colorful lights, the evergreen, the holly, the mistletoe. It makes me feel good. I even like the cartoons: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the other corny holiday TV specials. The presents, the excitement, the talk of peace on earth and good will towards men…how can it not give you a warm feeling?
Christmas can lead some people, unable to feel the good cheer, down the road to depression. Yet, somehow, the Christmas spirit, to me anyway, always seems to shine through. And it does so even in difficult times such as these, late in 2008, as our soldiers continue to face danger in Iraq, the threat of terrorism hangs heavy over the world, and we face serious economic difficulties.
My enjoyment of Christmas naturally led me, as an historian, to ponder its history. How did we celebrate the holidays in previous decades? I especially became curious about the celebration of Christmas in wartime—both because today we face tough times, though different ones from the past, and because I frequently teach about wars—the Civil War, World Wars I and II. So I decided to investigate what was it like in America to celebrate Christmas, the holiday so associated with peace on earth, during perhaps the most total war this country has ever seen—World War II.
I did some research. And one aspect of Christmas in wartime that quickly becomes clear is this: everything was connected to the war, was part of it, was seen through its prism.
Take holiday advertising during the war. If you examine ads in America’s favorite magazines back then, Christmas and World War II could not be separated. Companies urged consumers to buy expensive Parker ball-point pen sets to give to soldiers at the front, a present “for your favorite patriot.” Or, buy it for yourself—“it brings a new ease to writing those morale-building letters between home and the front.” An ad for Elgin watches similarly featured an illustration of U.S. marines, sweating in the sun on a Pacific island front, taking a break from fighting the Japanese and happily opening a gift box containing an expensive watch from home.
Railroad trains were the most common form of long-distance transportation for Americans during the war. Countless memoirs detail the jammed train stations, and the difficulty of finding tickets or available seats. Many rode the Southern Railway System, and so during the war, at Christmas, the company grimly reminded Americans what it was about—as well as why its trains were so crowded. “The church, to the enemies of America, is a monstrosity to be destroyed,” ran one solemn advertisement. “They would padlock its doors and send our children goose-stepping in search of new gods. They would substitute pagan rites for the simple, sustaining beauty of our commemoration of the birth of Christ. So today, America is at war—a war we’re going to win…That is the solemn pledge of Americans on the war front…To its fulfillment we have allocated all of our transportation services and facilities, gratefully putting war transportation needs ahead of every other transportation need.”
Salesmen writing their pitches knew how hard wartime was on people; how Americans missed their loved ones serving in the military overseas, how they worried about them, how they yearned for them to be home, and how this made holiday feelings more intense. Christmas this year means “more than ever”, said a promotion for Whitman’s Chocolates in 1943. It was a time when “fondly-remembered things mean more,” and hence what could be better than a gift of candy to a serviceman? But Whitman also hastened to add that, if those at home couldn’t necessarily find their favorite chocolates in stores, it was because so many were going to our boys at the front. Indeed, companies touted just how much they were doing for former employees now in the military. Kroger trumpeted how their employees in the service each got a free fruitcake at Christmas.
We'll continue this trip down memory lane, remembering the joy of Christmas from seasons past, even when times were tough, in the coming days.
