22 Whole Number 227
“Get me to the church on time”
By Richard D. Martorelli beginning of the decade. Adjusting for population
In the 1
st
Letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote “Love
growth, the rate of marriages per 1,000 people of all
hears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
ages increased from 10.7 in 1939 to 13.2 in 1943,
endures all things.” It is a wonderful thing to love
dipped to an average 11.3 until the end of the war,
someone, and be loved, like this, romantically, joy-
increased significantly in the immediate post war years
fully and passionately. I am so very lucky to experi-
of 1945-1947 peaking at 16.4 in 1946 and then by
ence this love with a very special woman (thank you,
1950 settled at 11.7, about 4% higher than at the be-
Joanne). Historically, when two people felt this way
ginning of the decade. The difference in the increase
,
it frequently led to a walk up (or is it down?) the wed-
in total marriages (20%) and marriages per 1,000
ding aisle. Add prosperity, uncertainty and danger, and
people (4%) is due to the total increase in population
survival of it all into the mix, and you have the feel-
of the US. It rose an average 3% from 1939 to 1945,
ing of the World War II (1940-1946) time period.
and then an average 8% a year from 1946 to 1950.
Table 2 groups the 1939-50 marriages in terms of
As seen in table 1, total US marriages increased major phases of the WWII period.
steadily from 1939 to 1942, held at the 1940 level
until the end of the war, increased significantly in the
There have been a number of articles written discuss-
immediate post war years of 1945-1947 and then by
ing the positive and negatives points of the increase
1950 settled at a level about 20% higher than at the
in US WWII-era wartime marriages. One of the ma-
jor reasons usually given for the increase in marriages
Copyright r
is as a reaction to uncertainty, to the loneliness or fear
eserved July 12, 2007
Table 1 reports the annual total US marriages and marriage rate per 1,000 population for the 1939-1950 period,
showing pre-ware increases and the postwar boom.
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