America

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Americas Home Front During World War II
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• America Mobilizes for War
• War Powers Act
• Gave FDR unprecedented power
• 15,000,000 men 350,000 women served

• B. Key Organizations
• War Production Board
• Office of War Mobilization
• Office of Censorship
• WAC WAVES (womens corps)

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• America Mobilizes for War
• C. War Production
• 97 rubber lost so 700 million spent on
  synthetic rubber plantsby 1944, 80 synthetic
  rubber
• Rationing Program
• U.S. produced more than Axis combined by 1945
• D. Expansion of Federal Government
• 1940 9 1945 46 (9 billion to 98 billion)
• Federal employees 1.1 million to 3.8 million
• 67 federal money went to top 100 largest firms
• Federal spending 1788-1941 170 billion
• 1942-1945 320 billion

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• American Mobilizes for War
• E. Union Issues
• Membership rose 50
• no-strike pledge generally followed
• Few exceptions known as Wildcat strikes
• F. Manhattan Project
• 120,000 secretly employed, led by J. Robert
  Oppenheimer (Now I am become death, the
  destroyer of worlds.)
• 2,000,000,000 spent on project
• Final test completed at Alamogordo, NM
• Felt as far as 100 miles away

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• America Mobilizes for War
• G. Propaganda Politics
• Hollywood focus (attendance increased 67)
• Office of Censorship (14,000 employed)
• Didnt release Pearl Harbor casualty records
  until 1943
• Released few pictures of dead soldiers (first in
  1943)

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• II. Change in American Society
• A. GI Bill of Rights
• Allowed approx. 2 million returning GIs to
  receive higher education
• Also paid living allowances helped to purchase
  homes
• Helped change U.S. from blue collar society to
  white collar

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• II. Change in American Society
• B. Social Mobility
• Pacific Coast Growth
• 50 of all plane ship production occurred in
  California
• 2 million relocated to California
• 6 million moved to cities

Another Great Migration to Detroit and No. So.
California
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• II. Change in American Society
• C. Women the Family
• 350,000 women served in the armed forces
• 6 million women went to work in war industries
  (75 were married)
• Only received 65 of male wages
• Rosie the Riveter became symbol of the woman
  worker

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• II. Change in American Society
• D. African Americans
• Randolphs March on Washington
• FDR issued Executive Order 8802
• Double V Campaign
• NAACP membership rises (1000)
• CORE established to
• challenge Jim Crow

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The Fight of the Century

• Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling
• 1936
• 1938 rematch

• 1936 Berling Olympics
• Jesse Owens

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• II. Change in American Society
• One million blacks served in WWII
• 761st Tank Battalion 99th Pursuit Squadron
• Integrated military training began in 1944
• B.B. King I used to sing gospel songs until I
  joined the army, then I sang the blues.
• Detroit race riot in 1943 saw 25 blacks, 9 whites
  killed and 2 million damage

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Detroit Race Riot, 1943 34 dead, 1800 arrested
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Two rumors circulated which exacerbated the
conflict. At a nightclub in Paradise Valley which
catered to the black population, a man who
identified himself as a police sergeant alerted
the patrons that "whites" had thrown a black
woman and her baby over the Belle Isle bridge.
The enraged patrons fled the club to retaliate.
They looted and destroyed white-owned stores and
indiscriminately attacked anyone with white skin.
Similarly, white mobs had been stirred up by a
rumor that a black man had raped and murdered a
white woman on the bridge. The white mob centered
around the downtown Roxy Theater which harbored a
number of black movie-goers. As the patrons
exited the theater, they found themselves
surrounded by gangs who attacked and beat them.
Detroit became known as Americas Arsenal of
Democracy because of its war production. Because
of FDRs executive order requiring equal rights
in hiring, Detroit became a center for African
American migration. Despite 200,000 African
Americans living in Detroit, the KKK as well as
local white leadership contained their living
area into a place known as Paradise Valley.
Racial tensions boiled over, as they had in
numerous other cities such as Los Angeles,
Mobile, Alabama and Beaumont, Texas.
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Arrests during 1943 Harlem riot
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The shifting social scene in the U.S. was not
without conflict
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• II. Change in American Society
• E. Native Americans
• 25,000 served in military
• Most famous were the Navajo Code-Talkers
• 75,000 worked in war industries

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• II. Change in American Society
• F. Mexican Americans
• Bracero Program
• 200,000 temporary workers came from Mexico
  (100,000 in CA)
• Large numbers returned illegally, while many
  never returned to Mexico

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• II. Change in American Society
• Zoot Suit Riots
• pachucos vs. sailors
• LA passed law making zoot suits illegal

• 350,000 served in military

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Mexican Americans stripped of zoot suits during
the riots, Life, 1943
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Sailor arrested during the riots, Los Angeles
Daily News, 1943
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Executive Order 9066
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Japanese American store owner posted this sign on
December 8, 1941
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• II. Change in American Society
• G. Japanese-Americans
• Executive Order 9066
• War Relocation Authority
• 112,000 held (67 were U.S. citizens)

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Japanese Americans interned 120,000 Japanese
Americans that fought for Japan in WWII 2,000
-7,000 442nd Combat Regiment was the most
decorated unit of WWII. It consisted mostly of
Japanese Americans. Loyalty Oaths requirement
to renounce allegiance to the emporor
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Map of Japanese-American Internment Camps
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Manzanar, CA
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Relocation Camp Max. Pop. Heart Mountain,
WY 10,767 Minidoka, ID 9,397 Topaz, UT
8,130 Rohwer, AR 8,475 Jerome, AR 8,497
Relocation Camp Max. Pop. Manzanar,
CA 10,046 Tule Lake, CA 18,789 Poston,
AZ 17,814 Gila River, AZ 13,348 Granada, CO
7,318
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United States Army manual How to tell the
Chinese from the Japanese
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Korematsu v. the United States (1944)
When viewed in its historical context, the
Governments position is part of a pattern
whereby the executive branch curtails civil
liberties much more than necessary during wartime
and seeks to insulate its actions from any
judicial scrutiny Only later errors are
acknowledged and apologies made. -Fred
Korematsu
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Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988
In 1988, the 62,000 surviving internees received
a 20,000 stipend and an apology from the United
States government.