Transcript Chapter 17 Section 1 Notes U.S. Mobilizes for War

Chapter 17 Section 1 Notes
U.S. Mobilizes for War

After Pearl Harbor
– Japan thought U.S. would
back away from conflict
– U.S. did just the opposite
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
Got ticked off
Wanted revenge
Expansion of the Military
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5 million men volunteer for service within 1st 6 months
– Not enough to fight “2 wars”
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In Pacific (Japan)
In Atlantic (Germany/Italy)
Selective Service expands the draft
– 18 – 45 year olds
– 10 million more soldiers
– All races and ethnicities included
 Discrimination and segregation exist
 No women
Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
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
Formed by Gen. George Marshall
Around 350,000 served
– All volunteers
– Non-combat positions only

Nurses, radio operators, etc…
Minority Contributions to the Military

1 million African Americans
– No combat until 1943
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300,000 Mexican Americans
50,000 Asian Americans
– Chinese and Japanese
– served as spies, interpreters

25,000 Native Americans
Industrial Wartime Production

Most industries converted to help the war effort
– Auto industry most affected
 No cars made for civilian use
– from February 1942 until after
war ends in September 1945.
– Made tanks, jeeps, planes, boats, etc…
Willow Run bomber plant in Ypsilanti, MI
Jeep production
Shipyards added & expanded
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Henry Kaiser led construction of 7 new ones in California
East Coast shipyards modernized (WWI)
– Constructed huge ships in record time

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At 1st, 1 built every 4 days (1942)
1 per day by 1945
Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in NY
Work force in the U.S. during the war
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At 1st, U.S. govt. and businesses were worried there wouldn’t be
enough workers due to the draft
– They were wrong
18 million in factories at the high point (1944)
– 6 million were women
 did traditionally male jobs (hard manual labor)
– were paid around half of what males made

2 million were minorities
– Between WWI & WWII, not allowed to work in many
factory jobs due to discrimination
– A. Phillip Randolph

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Most well respected black labor leader
Organized a march on the Capitol of around 100,000 that was
supposed to occur July 1941
– FDR met with him and got march stopped
– FDR ordered war industries to end race discrimination
Scientific discoveries during the war

Office of Scientific Research and Development
– Improved radar and sonar
– Developed pesticides (DDT) to
fight insects and lice
– Developed penicillin
– Began to develop atomic bomb
 Took around 3 years to complete
 Manhattan Project (more in Section 3)
Supply and Demand within the U.S.
during the war

most production geared towards war
=
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less production for consumers in U.S.
=
higher prices for products (inflation)
3 ways U.S. Gov. tries to keep inflation low

Office of Price Administration (OPA)
– Created to “freeze” prices
– Set up a system of rationing products

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everyone got an = amount.
Black Market still existed
Raised income taxes
– Reduced demand on consumer products

Encouraged people to buy bonds

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War
Production
Board
(WPB)
determined what kind of products each company would make
determined what raw materials would go to each industry
led recycling drives around the country