Transcript United States Home Front During WWII

United States Home Front
During WWII
War and the Economy
• Churchill on US industry, “Once the fire is
lighted under it there is no limit to the
power it can generate”
• VIDEO QUESTION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW
9axwQ1z5U&NR=1 (4:30-9:50)
• Describe American attitudes at the
beginning of the war and the growth of
the military:
• Describe how Americans were
informed about the war during its early
stages:
Return of prosperity
• Great Depression has basically ended by
the middle of 1941
• Federal budget rises from $9 billion in
1939 to $100 billion in 1945
• The average family’s income nearly
doubles and nearly 19 million new jobs
– War created a shortage of consumer goods,
so many save the money
Boom in the West
• Large increase in federal funding,
especially in California
• Massive increase in infrastructure to then
expand as manufacturing base
– Would be fastest-growing region after the war
• Nation on the Move
– Sunbelt-South and West US led the way in
manufacturing and urbanization as people migrated to
these regions of country during WWII
– Government issues $1.2 billion to construct public
housing, schools and community centers needed for
urbanization centers
• Describe the shifts that
occurred as a result of
the war:
Labor Relations during the War
• Labor shortage due to 15
million people drawn into the
military
– Workforce increases by 20%
• Large increase in union
membership during the war
• Major restrictions placed on
unions and workers
– Set 15% limit on wartime wages
– “no strike pledge” during wartime
• in return, government
automatically enrolled workers into
certain unions
• still nearly 15,000 strikers against,
but most unauthorized by unions
– passage of the Smith-Connally
Act and growth in union
resentment
Efforts to stabilize the war boom
• Major economic fear had switched to
inflation vs. the deflation fear of the Great
Depression
– Congress passes Anti-Inflation Act allowing
freezing prices, wages, salaries, and rents
– Office of Price Administration addresses these
concerns
• Inflation much better controlled than during WWI
• Grudging support of rationing and development of
black-market and overcharging
• Massive federal government spending
– National debt moves from $49 billion in 1941
to $259 billion in 1945
• Government borrowed about $100 billion through
war bonds
• Radically increased income taxes in Revenue Act
of 1942
– Created withholding system of payroll deductions
• Describe how the United
States attempted to
maintain stability with the
labor supply and
economy during the war:
• VIDEO QUESTION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW
9axwQ1z5U&NR=1 (9:50-11:25)
• Describe the role of industry in
World War II:
Mobilization of production
• War Production Board
– Created in 1942 and headed by former Sears
Roebuck head, Donald Nelson
– Intended to be a “superagency”, but less
powerful than WWI’s War Industries Board
– Struggles to control military purchases and
help small businesses compete for contracts
– Most of power eventually transferred to Office
of War Mobilization in the White House
Increased production
• Signed cost-plus contracts: government agree to
pay cost of making product plus guaranteed
percentage of the costs as profit (more a
company produced, more money it made)
• Consumer industries converted to make war
time products (automobile industries made
tanks, jeeps, airplanes, rifles, cooking pots, etc.)
• American workers were twice as productive as
German and five times more than Japanese
• Turned the tide to favor the Allies during war
• Describe how the
United States was able
to boost production
during World War II:
• VIDEO QUESTION
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW9ax
wQ1z5U&NR=1 (14:30-end
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5SCb
snFEcg&NR=1 (beginning-3:15)
• Describe the activities done on the
home front to support the war effort:
• Describe the use of newsreels and
propaganda to support the war effort:
VIDEO QUESTION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
A5SCbsnFEcg&NR=1 (6:45-14:55)
•Describe the impact of the war on
social life:
•Describe the impact of the war on
the lives of young boys:
• Describe the letters home by
soldiers and impact of casualties on
the home front:
Wartime Life and Culture
• Great deal of anxiety due to large number of
family members overseas
• Large increase in consumer income led to
increases in entertainment spending
– Movies, books, and magazines often attempted to
glorify the war effort
– Escapist entertainments such as resorts, casinos,
dance halls (age of swing)
• Focus on the war being for future prosperity
• Large changeover for universities
– Loss of many students, transitions to officer training,
large amounts of federal spending
Rationing becomes a
constant part of life
•
•
•
•
•
Each month household
received packet of
coupons (blue-processed
food, red-meats)
Men wore “victory suits”
to save fabric (no vest, no
cuffs, short jacket, narrow
lapel)
Women painted seams on
legs to resemble
stockings because silk
needed for parachutes
Victory gardens-plant
gardens to produce more
food for war effort
Scrap drives-bring
unwanted items in
exchange for ration
coupons
Lives of American
soldiers
• Training facilities short in
supplies due to influx
• Clothing bore label “GI” for
“Government Issue”
• Basic training eight weeks, then
to battle, many later recalled
how untrained they were
• Romanticizing of the homefront
(dreams of home, pin-ups)
• USO (United Service
Organizations) formed for
maintaining morale of troops
• Describe how Americans adapted their
lives during World War II:
• Describe how the non-fighting
experiences of soldiers during World
War II:
• VIDEO QUESTION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=RW9axwQ1z5U&NR=1 (11:2014:30)
• Describe the role of women on the
home front in World War II:
Roles of Women
during the War
• Large increase in female
employment during the war
(up 60%, now 1/3 of paid
workforce)
– Employers tried to
restructure work through
mechanization and
retraining
– “Rosie the Riveter”
symbolizes the 2.5 million
working industrial woman
during the war
– 4 million enter clerical jobs,
many as “government
girls” in Washington, DC
– Allowed to serve in May
1942 (WACs – Army,
WAVEs – Navy), mainly
clerical work
• Lack of child care helped cause “latchkey
children” or “eight hour orphans”
– Increase in juvenile crime, prostitution, and
STDs during the war
• Beginnings of the baby boom
– War dramatically lowered average age of
marriage and birth
– Younger marriages often struggled and large
increase in divorce rate
• Describe how World War II
impacted women and their
role in the war:
Changes for African Americans
during the War
• Employment issues
– A. Philip Randolph (head of Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters) attempts to organize march on
Washington to push for integration of defense
contract work
– FDR issues Executive Order 8802 and signs Fair
Employment Act in 1941
• Attempts to prevent discrimination in defense industries and
government
• Fair Employment Practices Commission oversees
• Second Great Migration
– Created even larger movement of African Americans,
but some racial tensions
• Foundation of CORE
(Congress of Racial Equality)
– Pushed for mass popular
resistance to discrimination
– Victory with restaurant in
Washington, DC and actions
help set stage for Civil Rights
movement of the 1950s
• Military service
– Military still segregated, but
some degree of integration
– 700,000 African Americans join
military for “Double V”
campaign
• victory over Hitler’s racism, victory
over racism at home
• Describe how World War II
impacted African-Americans
and their role in the war:
Changes for Mexican Americans
during the War
• Large numbers of Mexicans move to
Western cities for war production, then
whole nation
– Braceros – contract laborers allowed to work
for certain periods
– Large rehiring of farmworkers, first major
hirings for factory jobs
– 300,000 Mexicans enter the military
Racial Tensions
and the Zoot Suit
• Large numbers of Mexican
teenagers joined street
gangs in LA
• Teenagers adopted zootsuit style
– Longer/baggier clothing,
watch chains, ducktail
haircuts, broad-brimmed
hats
• Zoot suit riots
– Four day riots in LA in
June 1943
– attacks by white sailors
against MexicanAmerican communities,
attacking and destroying
zoot suits and ducktail
haircuts worn by Hispanic
teens
• Mexicans arrested and
zoot suit style was
banned
• Describe how World War II
impacted Mexican-Americans
and their role in the war:
Changes for Native Americans
during the War
• Military Service
– About 25,000 served in the
military
– “code-talkers” – used in Pacific
theater to conduct military
communications
• Changes in government and
reservation policy
– Government subsidies greatly
reduced
– Over 70,000 leave reservations
to work in war plants
– Pressure returns for assimilation
and potential elimination of
reservations
• Describe how World War II
impacted Native Americans
and their role in the war:
Changes for Chinese Americans
during the War
• Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act, but only
allows tiny amount (more relations with
China)
• Some decrease in animosity due to
government propaganda efforts
• Conspicuous efforts by Chinese
communities to assist war effort
• 22% of Chinese-Americans join military or
were drafted (highest for any ethnic group)
• Describe how World War II
impacted Chinese-Americans
and their role in the war:
• VIDEO QUESTION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5S
CbsnFEcg&NR=1 (3:00-6:45)
• Describe the way the Japanese were
depicted and how the Japanese
(including those that were citizens)
were treated within the United States:
• Massive
discrimination
Changes for Japanese compared to Italians
Americans during the War or Germans in the
United States
– Only about 127,000
Japanese in the
United States, mainly
in California
– 2/3 naturalized or
native born citizens,
1/3 first generation
immigrants
– Large scale racism,
fear of Japanese
sabotage and
complicity
Japanese-American internment
• Japanese
nationals/American
citizens relocated
from coast due to
fears of sabotage
• Relocation camps
similar to prisons
and focused on
assimilation
– Some people hired
out as agricultural
laborers
– Some allowed to
work in industrial
centers or attend
colleges (not in the
West)
• Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) – determined
relocation was constitutionally permissible
– most detainees released in 1944 and returned
to West in 1945
– many discover property and businesses
completely lost
– reparations awarded by Congress to survivors
in 1988
• Describe how World War II
impacted Japanese-Americans
and their role in the war:
• VIDEO QUESTION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj4
rDmYOZjc (3:00-7:30)
• Describe the Election of 1944:
• Describe the reaction to the death of
FDR and ascension to the presidency
by Harry Truman:
Politics during the War
• Departure from the New Deal
– Switchover from “Dr. New Deal” to “Dr. Winthe-War” by FDR
– End of massive unemployment allowed
reduction or elimination of many New Deal
programs (CCC and WPA)
– Republicans make large gains in both houses
of Congress in 1942
Election of 1944
• FDR accepts reduction of New Deal
programs and tries to adjust for losses
to Republicans in 1942
– FDR democratic candidate running for reelection and selects Harry S. Truman (MO
Senator) to run as VP – more moderate
and known for committee to investigate
waste and corruption in war production
• Republicans attempt to run against
FDR to build upon resentment of
World War II domestic policy
– Thomas Dewey (NY governor) republican
candidate
• FDR wins (EC: 432-99) and only president to be
elected to fourth term in office
• FDR will die on April 12, 1945
– Harry Truman to finish war with Germany and Japan
and resolve the post-war peace
•Describe the
political events on
the home front
during World War
II:
U.S.
Propaganda
During WWII
ANTI-AMERICAN PROPGANDA
BASED ON RACISM IN USA
• Cartoon from the
Nazi SS, appearing
in the Netherlands
(1943)
• Anti-American
propaganda from the
Nazi Germany. Text
at the bottom of the
cartoon translates to
“The USA wants to
save European
culture from decline".
• Anti-American
Japanese
Propaganda from
Japan (1940s)
• Japanese poster
depicting black
American soldiers.
The text says that
although the black
man is a great racer,
a great fighter and a
good man, to the
white man they are
nothing but cannon
fodder. They are
sent to the front
while "Whitey" stays
behind where he
won't get hurt.
World War II Propaganda Activity
• What were the major themes portrayed in
World War II propaganda?
• How were the behaviors that Americans
expected to be changed?
•
Behaviors expected to do
•
Behaviors expected to avoid
• How did propaganda portray people/leaders
from different countries fighting in the war?
• What were some of the methods used by
propaganda to appeal or convey a message
to the audience?