World War II at Home

1
Chapter 25

• World War II at Home

2
Section One The shift to wartime production

• US gets out of depression due to supplying goods
  to Allied forces.
• Economy devoted to making wartime goods.
• Office of Price Administration (OPA)
• Keep shortages from sending up prices and rent,
  thus causing inflation.
• War Production Board (WPB)
• Directs industries from making peace products to
  wartime goods.
• Office of War Mobilization (OWM)
• Run by James Byrnes, assistant President
• Centralizes wartime-manufacture agencies

3
Industries convert

• Shirt factories make mosquito nets
• Typewriter plants make machine guns
• Willow Run factory makes 340 planes/month in
  1943.
• Henry J. Kaiser introduces mass production
  techniques to ship building.
• Liberty ships large/sturdy metal ships that
  carried supplies or troops.
• Takes an average of 46 days to build one.

4
One of Kaisers Liberty Ships
5
The Great Arsenal of Democracy

• By the middle of 1945, the US had produced
• 300,000 airplanes
• 80,000 landing craft
• 100,000 tanks
• 5,600 merchant ships (2,600 Liberty Ships)
• 6 million rifles (carbines and machine guns)
• 41 billion rounds of ammunition

6
The Wartime Work Force

• Unemployment fell to 2 in 1943.
• Average weekly pay rose 27 in just 3 yrs.
• Union membership rose 10.5 million in 1941, to
  14.8 million in 1945.
• Thus, strikes doubled b/t 1942 and 1943.
• Wildcat strikes organized by workers themselves
  and not endorsed by unions.
• Worst in the coal mines.

7
Financing the War

• Federal spending increased from 9.4 billion in
  1939 to 95.2 billion in 1945.
• GNP doubled in that time.
• Cost to Fed Govt b/t 1941-5 was 321 billion
  (ten times as much as WWI).
• Got money from
• Higher taxes, banks, private investors, public
• 1942 US treasury introduces WAR BONDS
• Govt savings bonds that financed the war.
• Total brought in 156 billion.
• Deficit spending John Maynard Keyes
• Govt should spend borrowed money to get econ
  moving.
• Would create a huge national debt for later

8
Section 2 Daily Life on the Home Front

• Everyone was involved some way!
• Soldiers families, news on radio, new jobs, etc.
• Morale boosted big time!
• Income went up, increase in birth rate, people
  bought read books/magazines, etc.
• Robert de Graff, in 1939, developed a market for
  small-size paper-back books.
• Less expensive, more available, small easy to
  carry.
• 60 of Americans went to the movies once a week.
• Baseball still big and women played too!
• 1943 Phillip Wrigley founded the All-American
  Girls Softball League.
• Music and famous singers helped boost patriotism!

9
Shortages and Controls

• Many things were at a shortage
• Metal for zippers used for guns, rubber for
  girdles went to tires for army trucks, and nylons
  went to parachutes instead of stockings.
• Food shortages
• Sugar became scarce when our supplier, the
  Philippines, fell to Japan.
• Shipping lanes closed, making it hard to get
  tropical fruits or Brazilian coffee.
• The OPA took it upon themselves to ration!
• Coupon books for clothing, food, etc.
• People would trade one coupon for another.
• Bread coupon for a meat coupon.

10
Enlisting Public Support

• June 1942 Office of War Information
• Worked with magazine publishers, advertising
  agencies, and radio stations.
• Hired people to write patriotic ads/posters.
• Look at pages 724 and 725
• Victory Garden
• After Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Sec. Of
  Agriculture suggested people plant home gardens
  to make up for farm produce sent to the soldiers.
• People planted tomatoes, peas, radishes, etc.
• By 1943, victory gardens produced about 1/3 of
  the countries fresh veggies.

11
Enlisting Public Support

• Women knitted socks/scarves for the soldiers.
• Men too old, joined the Civilian Defense (tested
  air raid sirens).
• People recycled due to shortages.
• In VA, volunteers raised sunken ships for the
  metal.
• From the kitchen, people saved fat for powder to
  make bullets.
• Had contribution drives.

12
Section 3 Women and the War

• 1942 song talked about ROSIE the Riveter
• Young woman who worked in a defense plant while
  her boyfriend Charlie served in the marines.
• The Govt used this image to attract women to the
  work force.
• The image was young, white, and middle class.
• Patriotism was her main reason for helping out.

13
Changes for Working Women

• By 1940, about 15.5 of married women were
  working.
• The War changed things
• The jobs werent just teaching and nursing
• Manufacturing airplane plants, shipyards,
  steelworkers, welders, etc.
• Number of working women rose from 14.6 million in
  1941 to about 19.4 million in 1944.
• At one point, they made up 35 of the workforce.
• By the end of the war, half of all women workers
  were over age 35.

14
African American Women Workers

• When they applied for defense positions, they
  still faced discrimination and prejudice.
• During the war, they began to make the shift from
  working in domestic service to industry.

15
Problems for Working Women

• Still faced discrimination hostile reactions.
• Many managers were nervous about mixing sexes, so
  they set up strict rules.
• Cant date each other, etc.
• Working women had to leave their kids.
• They were encouraged to work, but also were
  encouraged to be good mothers and run a good
  home.
• They still werent paid as much as men were and
  they advanced slower in the work place.
• At the Willow Run plant (airplanes)women earned
  2,928/year compared with 3,363 for men.

16
After the War

• The Govt just assumed after the war that the
  women would return home
• Returning men wanted their jobs and their old
  lifestyle at home back.
• The Govt now encouraged women to return home and
  focus on cooking and child care.
• Which can be recognized in the 1950/60s.
• When the war was over, twice as many women as men
  lost their factory jobs.

17
Section 4 The Struggle for Justice at Home

• Unfortunately, everything wasnt hunky-dory!
• Discrimination African Americans
• Unemployment 1/5 potential workers, not
  working.
• Govt agencies honored employers white only
  requests.
• 1940s, two million Af. Amers moved to the North.
• Found new opportunities but hard to find good
  housing.
• Riots broke out in cities, some even lead to
  death.
• Segregation in military and at home.
• Double V campaign
• Launched by African American newspaper, The
  Pittsburgh Courier.
• The first V was for Allied Victory, and the
  second for winning an equality victory at home.
• Founding Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
• Using nonviolent techniques to end racism,
  sit-ins.

18
A. Philip Randolph

• Worked to overcome union discrimination to
  African Americans.
• Organized march on Washington, it was called
  off only when FDR signed an executive order.
• This opened jobs and training programs in defense
  plants to all Americans, regardless of race.
• Directed famous march on Washington in 1963,
  where MLK Jr. gave his famous speech.

19
Mexican Americans

• By 1944, about 17,000 jobs in defense industries
  were held by Mexican Americans.
• The Bracero Program (US needs ag. Help!)
• A 1942 agreement b/t US and Mexico provided for
  transportation, food, shelter, etc for thousands
  of braceros (workers).
• 1942-1947, 200,000 braceros worked on American
  farms.
• High Latin Population of Los Angeles and southern
  Cali.
• Zoot Suit Riots 1940s
• Long draped jacket, baggy pants with tight
  cuffs, slicked back hair worn by Mexican
  Americans.
• This look offended people and got many Zooters
  beat up b/c it looked Un-American.
• Turned to full on fighting and Zooters were
  blamed.

20
A Typical Zoot Suit

21
Japanese Americans

• In 1941, they had 127,000 in the USabout .01 of
  the population.
• Most lived in the west, where prejudice had
  always been strongthink gold rush.
• 2/3 were Nisei (born in US, from parents who had
  migrated).
• Frequently discriminated against.
• After Pearl Harbor there was talk about sabotage
  from the West Coast.
• Newspapers didnt help by running headlines like
  Jap Boat Flashes Message Ashore.
• Americans were left with the feeling that
  Japanese spies were everywhere!!!

22
Relocation Time

• As a result of fears and prejudice, the Gov't
  decided to remove all aliens from the West
  Coast.
• Feb. 19, 1942 FDR signed Executive Order 9006.
• Authorized the Secretary of War to establish
  military zones on the West Coast and remove any
  or all persons from those zones.
• They moved 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry
  to internment (confinement) camps in remote
  areas.
• It happened so quickly, many didnt have time to
  prepareso many lost their businesses, farms,
  homes, etc.

23
Internment Camps Picture It

• Internment camps were in desolate areas, with
  wooden barracks covered with tar paper.
• The rooms had cots, blankets, and a light bulb.
• People shared a toilet, bathing, and dining
  facilities.
• Barbed wire and armed guards surrounded the
  camps.

24
J U S T I F I E
D ?
25
Legal Challenges

• A few Japanese Americans challenged this in the
  courts.
• Four actually went to the Supreme Court which
  ruled, wartime relocation is constitutional.
• Early in 1945, they were allowed to leave the
  campslife was very different.
• 1988 Congress passed a law awarding each
  surviving Japanese American internee a tax free
  payment of 20,000.
• More than 40 years after, the US Govt formally
  apologized!

26
By the way.

• 17,000 Nisei soldiers served in the armed forces.
• About 1,200 volunteered from the internment
  camps.
• The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was made up of
  all Japanese Americans.
• They fought in France and Germany.
• They won more medals for bravery than any other
  unit in United States history.

27
Nisei Soldier