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World War II at Home

World War II at Home. Military Mobilization. 16 million men and women served Selective Service Men aged 18 – 65 must register @ 72,000 “conscientious objectors” @ 5,500 jailed for refusing to enlist Women Over 250,000 served (medical, flying equipment, decoding)

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World War II at Home

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  1. World War II at Home

  2. Military Mobilization • 16 million men and women served • Selective Service • Men aged 18 – 65 must register • @ 72,000 “conscientious objectors” • @ 5,500 jailed for refusing to enlist • Women • Over 250,000 served (medical, flying equipment, decoding) • WAC’s (Women’s Army Corp), WAVES (Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service), WAF’s (Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) • African Americans • Over 1 million served in segregated units • Other minorities enlisted • Native Americans = Navajo “code talkers” • Japanese Americans = Nisei soldiers

  3. Economic Mobilization • Office for War Mobilization (OWM) • Created to supervise agencies for war production • War Production Board (WPB) • Regulated the use of raw materials • ½ of factory production went to war materials • “Rosie the Riveter” • Over 5 million women entered the work force • Propaganda films to encourage more “Rosies” • Wages increased (still less than 2/3rds that of men), family income swelled • Pressure to leave the workforce after the war is over • Demographic shift to the “Sunbelt” • Population shift to the Southwest and South

  4. Economic Mobilization (cont.) • Attempts to control inflation • War Labor Board – created to keep wages to go with standard of living increases • Office of Price Administration (OPA) • Froze prices @ March, 1942 levels • Rationing: everything from cars and tires to meat, coffee, and sugar • Taxes • Taxes pay for most of the war • 1939 – 4 million paid taxes, 1945 – 50 million • National Debt • 1941 = $49 billion; 1945 = $259 billion • New Deal + WWII = “warfare welfare” state • Smith-Connolly Antistrike Act (1943) • Gov’t could seize plants or mines if idled by a strike (1943 United Mine Workers strike)

  5. African Americans & WWII • Massive migration to industrial areas • Detroit Race Riot (June, 1943) & 47 other cities affected by racial violence • NAACP grows from 50,000 members to 500,000 members during the war

  6. A. Philip Randolph • African-Americans excluded from war-related industries (well paying) • 3 demands for FDR • Equal access to defense jobs • Desegregation of the armed forces • Desegregation in federal agencies • Proposed March on Washington (1941) • Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) • FDR issues Executive Order 8802 in June, 1941 • Gov’t agencies ended segregation • Randolph = “father of the Civil Rights movement”

  7. Mexican Americans & WWII • Bracero Program • Need for increased farm production led to short-term work permits for Mexican workers • Zoot Suit Riots (L.A. – 1943) • Young Mexican-Americans often attacked in L.A. • U.S. sailors attacked “zooters” while on leave • Radio reports blamed the “zooters”, but real issue was racism and need for more housing

  8. Interment of Japanese Americans • Executive Order 9066 (2/19/1942) • FDR proclaims the West Coast as a “war theater” • 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry interned • 1/3 Issei – foreign born, 2/3 Nisei – American born • Interment Camps • 10 camps in 7 states headed by General john DeWitt • 48 hours to get rid of all belongings (most lost @ 95%) • Camps were in desolate areas and conditions were harsh

  9. Japanese Relocation • Considered but didn’t relocate German or Italians • Korematsu v. U.S. – Supreme Court upholds internment but could be free once loyalty established • Labor & business wanted Japanese removed • No act of sabotage ever discovered • 17,000 Nisei soldiers fought • Camps close in March, 1946 • 1990 – Congress pays $20,000 to each internee ($1.25 billion total)

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