Economics

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World War II Americans at War (19411945)
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Mobilization

• How did Roosevelt mobilize the armed forces?
• In what ways did the government prepare the
  economy for war?
• How did the war affect daily life on the home
  front?

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Mobilizing the Armed Forces

• President Roosevelt realized that he had to
  strengthen the armed forces if the United States
  were to enter World War II on the side of the
  Allies.

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Sept. 1940first peacetime draft in US history.

• Congress authorized the first peacetime draft in
  the nations history. The Selective Training and
  Service Act required all males aged 21 to 36 to
  register for military service.

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Roosevelt gives 4 freedoms speech.

• Freedom of speech

• Freedom from fear

• Freedom from want

• Freedom of worship

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Why should we fight?

• defense spending raised from 2 billion to more
  than 10 billion in the course of a year.
• More than 16 million Americans served as
  soldiers, sailors, and aviators in the war. They
  called themselves GIs, an abbreviation of
  Government Issue.

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Women!

• About 350,000 American women volunteered for
  military service by the wars end. Military
  officials allowed them to work in almost all
  areas, except combat.

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What types of jobs did women hold during WWII?

• Steelworkers and welders
• Rosie the Riveter
• Better paying jobs than they were used to holding

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How were women workers affected by WWII?

• Extra money helped support their families
• Proud of contributing to the war effort
• Still faced obstacles
• Resented by some men
• Lack of child care
• Earned less than men for the same work

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Women workers - postWWII

• Expected to give up their jobs for returning
  soldiers
• Return to normalcy
• Housewives and mothers
• Womens mags
• Advice on homemaking, cooking, and child care

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Preparing the Economy for War

• FDR pushed industries to move to making war
  goods.
• Jan. 1942 govt set up War Production Board
• Convert from peacetime to wartime

From this.
to THIS!
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• Examples
• --Ford converts some factories to Air force
  factories.
• --In Wilmington Dravo starts building landing
  craft while PJ make Liberty Ships!

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Building Tanks at the chrysler plant

• As the production of consumer goods stopped,
  factories converted to war production.
• Ford Motor Company built B-24 bombers with the
  same assembly-line techniques used to manufacture
  cars.

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1. Each year US increased production goals,
   eventually doubling the production of Axis
   Powers.
2. Helps the workforceunemployment nearly
   disappears. so long Depression!

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Union membership increases from by over 1.5
million!
after the attack on Pearl Harbor, labor and
management agreed to refrain from strikes and
lockouts.
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Daily life on the homefront

• Nearly everyone had a relative or friend in the
  military

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War effort led to shortages on typical goodsex
metal, rubber

• Shortages led to rise in reading of books and
  magazines, movies, and sporting events.

• Look familiar?

Scrap Metal Drive Middletown, DE
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Fdr leads effort to advertise winning the war at
home

• Collection Drives metal, fat, cloth, food, etc

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Victory Gardens

• home vegetable garden planted to add to the home
  food supply and replace farm produce sent to feed
  the soldiers.
• By 1943, victory gardens produced about one third
  of the countrys fresh vegetables.

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Daily Life on the Home Front

• Wartime jobs gave many people their first extra
  cash since the Depression. Still, shortages and
  rationing limited the goods that people could buy.

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• The supply of food also fell short of demand.
• The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was
  established to control inflation by limiting
  prices and rents.
• The OPA also oversaw rationing, or the fair
  distribution of scarce items, during the war.

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Ration card
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Ration stamps
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How To Pay for it all?
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• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vKiRfFGIBb9c

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• The government understood the need to maintain
  morale. It encouraged citizens to participate in
  the war effort. The Office of War Information
  worked with the media to create posters and ads
  that stirred patriotism.

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• WWII brought job opportunities to many
  minorities, although discrimination against
  Japanese Americans increased.

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Effects of WWII African Americans

• Migration from South to North
• New job opportunities
• Same discrimination and segregation
• not as blatant as in the South
• 1942 Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
• Founded to fight racial discrimination

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Effects of WWII Mexican Native Americans

• Mexican Americans
• New jobs in shipbuilding aircraft
• Govt encouraged Mexicans to come to the US
• Farm worker shortage
• Native Americans
• Moved to cities for war production jobs
• New experience

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Effects of WWII Japanese Americans

• Results of Pearl Harbor
• Japanese Americans viewed with fear and hostility
• Seen as possible spies
• Internment camps
• Govt goal was to remove Japanese Americans from
  the West Coast
• 110,000 people
• 1988 US govt officially apologized
• Executive Order 9066

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