Should the 1940s have an apostrophe?

The 1940s should not have an apostrophe when referring to the decade as a whole, as it is a plural noun that does not possess anything. It is simply a way to denote the years from 1940 to 1949. However, if you were to indicate a specific year within that decade, such as "the '40s," the apostrophe is used to denote the omission of the first two digits (19).