Many Americans today go home and turn on the television, but many don't take the time to think about the complexity of this great invention that unites us. Almost sixty years ago television barely existed and it was not thought that it could be used as a broad communicator as it is used in today's generation. Through its start, stop, and revival in the 1940s, television took off and expanded greatly in just a few decades and experienced major technological breakthroughs that allowed it a wide range of uses. Although the technologies existed in the 1940s, the great advancement and possibilities that television would have had not yet been explored. Just like radio, television was a process that was experimented with, worked on, and transformed into a sufficient idea. What was television for in the early 1940s? How was it used? How did it progress in the 1960s? What major advances have taken place between the two decades? These are questions that many people might think about, but never get the answer as to how we got the great television advancement we have today. In the early 1940s, television was something not many Americans had heard of. During this decade television had a fundamental objective: development. At this time World War II was coming to an end, with just a few months left until the end of 1945. During this time, the government only used television's limited resources in terms of research and development to communicate the war. “They wanted to be able to use the technology for many different things, such as guided missile systems that use an 'electronic eye' that transmits images to a remote location where an operator was stationed (television in the 1940s).” The most lasting impact the war had on television was the development of... middle of paper... many Americans had the chance to see something extraordinary happen before their eyes that would leave a great impact on America forever . Whether it's family sitcoms, westerns, soap operas, or even daily news, we as a people have been given one of the greatest forms of technological communication and entertainment of all time, television. Works Cited Allen, Steve. “The Year of Transition: 1959.” Encyclopedia Britannica online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 09 April 2014. "Kennedy-Nixon Debates." Kennedy-Nixon debates. Np, nd Web. 09 April 2014."Land of television." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. April 08, 2014."Rural America Watches TV in the 1940s." Rural America goes on TV in the 1940s. Np, nd Web. April 09, 2014."TV in the 1940s: The Development." TV in the 1940s: the development. Np, nd Web. 09 April. 2014.