Walkable Timeline

The Walkable Timeline prototype will introduce you to 31 of the most significant events of the 1940s, a pivotal decade in United States and world history. Ultimately, this feature will be expanded to include visual exhibits, military artifacts, and interactive experiences such as music and film. In future years, the Timeline will be extended in two directions on the runway, addressing the historical periods that preceded and followed the 1940s.

Focus on the Forties: An Age of Global War (a brief synopsis)

By Keith L. Nelson and Spencer C. Olin, Professors Emeriti of History, UC Irvine

The 1940s were dominated by two major conflicts: World War II and the Cold War. The events you will encounter on the Walkable Timeline relate to the coming of those wars, the conduct of those wars, and the impact of those wars on the United States and California.

It was in December 1941 that the United States entered World War II, joining the “Allies” (led by Britain and the Soviet Union) in a bloody and extended struggle against the “Axis” powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan). A “total” war, the conflict required the complete mobilization of combatants’ economic, social, and intellectual resources. In the United States military production rose from 2% of national output in 1939 to 40% in 1944. Such a massive and rapid transformation of a “peacetime” economy into a fully-mobilized “wartime” economy resulted in profound and lasting industrial, political, and cultural changes, many of which are noted in the Walkable Timeline.

California grew faster than any other state during World War II and made many significant contributions to the overall war effort. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego became funnels through which troops and supplies for the war in the Pacific theater were continuously conveyed. Of special interest for visitors to the Orange County Great Park are the contributions to the war effort made by personnel stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, now “home” to the Walkable Timeline.