Partial

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In Washington the Capitol dome was bright against the night sky; in New York the Statue of Liberty glowed with blue-green radiance after dark. Broadway was aglitter, and across the U.S. a thousand other Broadways came to life. The blackout, dimout, and brownout were only memories after V-E day. So were the midnight curfew, the ban on horse and dog racing (see SPORT), and the military restrictions on Bast Coast beaches.

More important, Washington also started the ball rolling toward partial reconversion. From grey, owlish Fred Moore Vinson, Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion, came a broad plan for easing back to civilian-goods production—without interfering with supplies for the war against Japan. But the "partial" in the reconversion plan told its own story: the U.S. still had a war to win, the U.S. economy would still be largely controlled, U.S. citizens would still feel many a wartime shortage.