Transcript Unit V - 16.1 Homefront Powerpoint

We are leaning to:
 Explain how American civilians support
the war effort on the home front
 Explain how the role of the U.S.
government grew as it mobilized the
home front for war
 Explain how WWII effected the U.S.
economy and pulled America out of the
Great Depression
We are looking for:
 1a. Americans supported the war effort in the following
ways: purchasing liberty bonds, planting victory gardens,
recycled materials, Hollywood Propaganda, conserving
resources, business and labor cooperation
 2a. The U.S. government established the Office of War
Information, the Office of Civilian Defense, the War
Production Board, National War Labor Board, and the
Office of Price Information, and the Federal Income tax
increased.
 3a. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased as well as the
federal deficit
 3b. The cost of living rose dramatically
 3c. Unemployment was reduced significantly as factories
and businesses increased production for the war.

How did the surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor change the view of Americans
towards war?

Unification of the country – seek revenge
for 12.7.1941

Attack ended the tension between
Isolationists and interventionists

Four Freedoms = 1. Freedom of Speech
and Expression, 2. Freedom of Worship, 3.
Freedom from Want, 4. Freedom from
Fear

a. OCD – Office of Civilian Defense – created to raise
the country’s morale.
- “Contribute an hour a day for the U.S.A.”
- Asked people to volunteer to protect the country – 1.
Volunteer air-raid wardens – enforced blackouts, while
spotters scanned the sky. What is a blackout? Why
enforce?
- Victory Gardens – people should plant their own
gardens because the farmers were providing food for
the army. Eventually, victory gardens produced 40% of
vegetables grown during the war.
- Collecting materials for the war effort = scrap –
newspapers, metals, aluminum, cans, box springs – used
these scraps to create armaments (weapons)

Office of War Information – kept Americans informed
about the war – coordinate war information from
various news sources.

Newspapers, radio stations, movie industry – work to
inform Americans about the war

Comics – Little Orphan Annie, Superman, G.I. Joe

Advertising – Use Less – why? Now manufacturing for
war – cannot make same number of goods as before

Propaganda
By 1941, only 15% of businesses were
producing for war. Now the nation needed
to convert to war production
 War Production Board (WPB) = convert
industries from civilian to military production
– switch from making clothes, cars, toys, to
making uniforms, bombs, tanks, aircraft.
Build new plants to increase production.
 America became so efficient at producing
war armaments, that in 1944 the US had a
surplus of war crafts


Gross National Product (GNP) – the dollar value
of all goods and services produced annually
- $90.5 Billion in 1939 to $211.9 Billion in 1945
- War created 17 million new jobs

- Farmers – crop prices doubled between 1940
and 1945

- People make more money, people buy more
goods – consumer goods low in supply, high in
demand, price increases
- Concern – inflation – general rise in wages
and prices
National War Labor Board (NWLB) – job
was to control wages and monitor inflation.
 Office of Price Administration (OPA) – fix
maximum prices – set ceiling prices on
goods
 Consumer Price Index (CPI) - measures
changes in the price level of consumer
goods and services purchased by
households in a given year. Change in
price of goods and services in a given year.

OPA used rationing to keep prices down –
distribute limited goods fairly
 Rationing reduced demand because ration
coupons were needed to buy goods –
meat, butter
- Local rationing boards – set up a families
rationing coupons – received coupons
based on the number of people in the
household and their needs
- Government controlled demand and
prices through rationing coupons
- People now had money, couldn’t buy
goods – why?


cost 10x more than WWI

Before the war, Americans did not pay federal
income tax – Revenue Act – passed in 1942 –
increased corporate taxes, Americans had to pay
income tax.

Modern tax structure = created in 1942 – government
controlled taxes through monthly payroll deductions

Government Bonds – US government borrowed
money – citizens would buy government bonds –
loan the government money, over time bond would
gain interest – people cash in their bonds – get $ +
interest

During war time, workers could not strike
for higher wages or better working
conditions

15 Million Americans left work to serve in the armed forces – their
jobs were filled by the remaining adults and adolescents

Wartime labor wiped out unemployment of the Depression
years

1940-1945 – 6 million women joined the workforce – woman
began working in manufacturing plants – airplanes, shipbuilding
– still faced discrimination by their male counterparts

Women received 60% less pay than men, and little job security

Most employment jobs for women were temporary = why?
When men returned home from the war, women lost their jobs,
or left the workforce