Chapter 25: WWIIAmericans at Home
Section 1: Mobilization
Mobilizing the Armed Forces
• Sept 1940- Congress passed the Selective Training & Service Act- required all males 21-36 to register for military service–Boosted defense spending from 2 to
10 billion
The GI War
• More than 16 million served as soldiers, sailors, & aviators
–Called GI’s- government issued
Diversity in the Armed Forces
• 300,000 Mexican Americans• 25,000 Native Americans
–Navajos developed a secret code, based on their language•“Code talkers” provided important, secure communication links
• 1 million African Americans–First limited to supporting roles–Late 1942- given the opportunity to
fight–Fought in separate units
•Tuskegee Airmen- 1st African American flying unit in the US
–Late 1944- accepted into white combat units
Women in the Military
• 350,000 volunteered
–All areas except combat
•Clerks, typists, airfield control tower operators, mechanics, photographers, & drivers
Preparing the Economy for War
• Allied production of goods were way down
War Production
• Jan. 1942- government set up the War Productions Board (WPB) to set up industries to produce wartime goods
–Halted the production of many consumer goods
• Armed forces decided which company would receive contracts to manufacture military hardware
• May 1943- FDR appointed James Byrnes to head the Office of War Mobilization–Super agency in the centralization of
resources
• Liberty ships- large, sturdy merchant ships that carried supplies or troops
• Government established the “cost plus” system for military contracts to motivate businesses & guarantee profits
• Military paid development & production costs & added a percentage of costs as profits for the manufacturer
• 1944- the US production levels doubled all of the Axis nations
The Wartime Work Force
• Unemployment virtually vanished
–Earnings went up more than 50% between 1940-1945
• Union membership rose
–1940-41 increased by 1.5 million
• Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, labor & business representatives agreed to refrain from strikes & “lockouts” (employers keep employees out of the workplace to avoid meeting their demands) –Cost of living went up & strikes were
hard to avoid
• Most serious occurred in the coal industry
–United Mine Workers Union called four strikes in 1943
–Congress passed the Smith-Connally Act limiting future strike activity
Financing the War
• Spending increased from 8.9 billion in 1935 to 95.2 in 1945
–GNP more than doubled
–Between 1941 & 1945 government spent $321 billion on the war•Higher taxes paid for 41%
• Government borrowed the rest from banks, private investors, & the public–War bonds brought in $196 billion
• Deficit spending helped the US field a well equipped army & navy, bring prosperity to workers & pull the US out of the Depression–Boosted the national debt from 43 t0
259 billion
Daily Life on the Home Front
• 30 million moved during the war
–Birthrate up- population grew by 7.5 million from 1940-1945
Shortages & Controls
• People finally had extra money, but rationing led to few consumer goods
• Metal went to make guns, rubber to make army truck tires, nylon to make parachutes
• Food shortages–US got cut off from receiving sugar,
tropical fruits & coffee• April 1941 Office of Price
Administration (OPA) was established–Job was to control inflation by
limiting prices & rents
• Problems
–Company would cut back of goods that weren’t profitable, thus creating shortages
–People found ways to get around the limits
• Rationing–Goal was a fair distribution of scarce
items–1943 OPA assigned point values to
sugar, coffee, meat, butter, canned fruit, & shoes
–Issued ration coupons–Gas was strictly rationed on the basis of
needed
Popular Culture
• People bought & read more books & magazines
• Went to baseball games
• 60% went to the movies every week
Enlisting Public Support
• FDR established the Office of War Information (June 1942) to work with magazine publishers, ad agencies, & radio stations–Hired writers & artists to create
posters & ads that stirred American patriotic feelings
• Victory Gardens- add to home food supply
–By 1943- produced 1/3 of our vegetables