Mobilizing WWII: Impact on American Society

1. April 2, 2013 • Objective 29 – Timeline – Be sure to review notes on my webpage • Objective 30 – Notes • Map Activity • Begin Reading 26 – The Cold War

2. Objective 30 - How did the U.S. mobilize civilians at home to help win World War 2 & what impact did this have on American society?

3. Mobilizing an “Arsenal of Democracy”

4. The Home Front • WW2 impacted all aspects of American life: • FDR hoped the U.S. would be the great “arsenal of democracy” • The boost of wartime industry ended the Great Depression • The war altered the lives of women, African-Americans, Native-Americans Japanese-Americans (Nisei), & Mexican-Americans

5. Mobilization The Office of War Information directed press, print, radio, & film propaganda The power to create new gov’t agencies to censor the press The Office of War Mobilization coordinated the draft, consumer prices, & the labor force to limit civil liberties & seize personal property • To win wars in Asia & Europe & meet civilian demands, the U.S. gov’t grew to its largest size ever: • The War Powers Act gave the president unprecedented power • New bureaucracies were formed to direct the economy, create propaganda, sell war bonds, & prevent enemy subversion The Office of Strategic Services gathered enemy intelligence & conducted espionage The U.S. gov’t spent $250 million per day from 1941 to 1945 This is 2x as much as all previous gov’t spending combined

6. Mobilization: The Demand for War Equipment & Soldiers

7. Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy a Bond:It Will Lead to VICTORY! War bonds helped raise $187 billion to support the war effort

8. War Rations

9. Victory Gardens: Grow Your Own

10. Propaganda: Fighting the Enemy on the Battlefield & on the Home Front

11. Fear Propaganda

12. Hollywood Pitches In Jimmy Stewart goes off to war

13. The Wartime Economy U.S. made 2x more goods than Germany & 5x more than Japan • The most decisive factor for Allied victory was America’s ability to outproducebothGermany&Japan • Heavy industry was converted to war & was directed by the War Production Board (WPB) • 15 million U.S. soldiers fought but 60 million workers & farmers supplied them with supplies

14. Ford made one B-24 bomber every hour Ford’s Willow Run Factory

15. Henry Kaiser’s West Coast Shipyards The Allies won the Battle of the Atlantic, in part, because the USA produced ships faster than German u-boats could sink them Kaiser standardized battleship building & reduced the time it took to make a battleship from 355 days to 14 days

16. Regional Changes • The war effort transformed the Western & Southern U.S.: • California became the major center for industry to support the war effort in the Pacific • 60 of the 100 new military bases were built in the South • Southern textile factories & industrial jobs helped end sharecropping & tenant farming 9 million defense workers moved to new factories & shipyards in South & West

17. Women • The war presented new economic opportunities for women: • Dramatic rise in employment (14 million to 19 million by 1945) • Most new female workers were married, many middle-aged • Entered “exclusively male” fields • Temporarily redefined “woman’s sphere” from “just at home”

18. “Rosie, the Riveter”

19. S..t..r..e..t..c..h That Food!

20. Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) Women’s Army Air Corps Pilots Join the Women’s Army Corps (WACs)

21. Families • The uncertainties of war & economic affluence of the 1940s led to a dramatic rise in marriage • The influx of women into the workforce led to a new demand for daycare centers • Public health improved as more families had access to doctors, dentists, & prescription drugs

22. African-Americans Banned discrimination in defense industries & gov’t • 1 million blacks served in U.S. military but few saw combat • Discrimination in the workforce led A. Philip Randolph to pressure FDR to create a Fair Employment Practices Committee • Continued black migration into the North & West made race relations a national issue

23. Segregated units…again Tuskegee Airmen

24. Double V: Victory at Home & Abroad A. Philip Randolph threatened a “March on Washington” to protest war-time discrimination Other groups, like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), staged sit-ins in restaurants in major cities to protest discrimination

25. Mexican-Americans • Mexican-Americans: • Served in quasi-segregated military units, often in the most hazardous branches • Mexican-American workers found jobs in SW agriculture & west coast industry • Faced discrimination, especially during the Zoot Suit Riots

26. “Zoot Suit” Riot in Los Angeles

27. Japanese-Americans • Due to Pearl Harbor, many in the U.S. feared Japanese-Americans were helping prepare for a Japanese invasion in the West • Civil liberties were restricted: • Niseihad their assets frozen • Used racial stereotypes (“Japs”) • In 1942, FDR ordered 112,000 Japanese-Americans moved to internment camps Japanese who were not American citizens living in the U.S.

28. Japanese- American Internment Camps Families were given one week to close their businesses & homes The all Japanese-American 442nd Division fought in Europe & received over 1,000 citations for bravery

29. Win-the-War Politics • In 1944, FDR used the war to strengthen his leadership: • “Mr. New Deal” had shifted to “Mr. Win the War” • Opponent Thomas Dewey made communism & FDR’s health the focus of the election • FDR switched VPs from liberal Henry Wallace to moderate Harry Truman to gain appeal