Maryland Main Street, 1945

When World War II ended in 1945, millions of American
G.I.' s neaded home to reclaim old jobs or look for new work. One of
the 200,000 Maryland veterans wno returned to re-energize the war-
weary state and nation was a 52-year-old U .S. Marine lieutenant
(and future Comptroller of Maryland) named Louis L. Goldstein,

Education was a key goal for many vets. Student enrollment at
the University of Maryland at College Park nearly doubled within a
year after war s end, planting the seeds for Maryland § future harvest
of skilled labor. Some graduates joined the growing ranks of nearly

25,000 certified public accountants employed in America ty the mid-

Forties.

Thanks to war-related research and technology, Maryland
(business and industry prospered in the postwar years. The federal
government tapped Maryland to kelp complete one of the biggest
postwar projects - mothballing the surface combat fleet. Companies
like Bendix and Westinghouse expanded their horizons by transform-
ing wartime devices, sucn as two-way radios, into desirable consumer

items.

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