Transcript Mobilizing the Home Front Rosie The Riveter

Mobilizing the Home Front
Rosie The Riveter
Home Front
• In what way have those of us not in the
current US wars been affected?
• In what way have we contributed to the
current wars?
-Gold Star Mothers
How did FDR build national morale after
Pearl Harbor? What did he say Americans
were fighting for?
Four Freedoms
• Freedom of speech, expression,
worship, from want, from fear
• Government created Office of
Civilian Defense (OCD)
• Citizen encouraged to give“an
hour a day for the USA”
• Echoing Wilson’s reason’s for
WWI
– “To make the world safe for
democracy.”
• Any contemporary comparisons?
What were some of the ways the average
American could voluntarily contribute to the
war effort?
• OCD allowed numerous voluntary
jobs
• Air raid wardens- enforced
blackouts
• Spotters- scanned sky for bombers
• Victory Gardens- home (anywhere)
gardens that helped save food for
soldiers
• Produced 40% of all vegetables
• Scrap Drives- collected metal,
rubber, aluminum, etc.
What role did the media play in war effort?
• Government created Office of War
Information to keep citizens informed
• Encouraged newspapers, radio
stations, movies industry to help keep
Americans informed and moral high
• Hollywood rushed to make movies
(John Wayne)
• Portrayed Americans as heroes,
“Japs” as evil, Germans as barbarians
• Little Orphan Annie encouraged
readers to collect scrap metal
• Superman promoted war bonds, the
Red Cross
What role did the War Production Board
play in the war effort?
Where would this program fall on the
economic spectrum?
How was the American economy affected
by the war?
• It boomed
• GNP ($ value of all goods and
services produced in 1 year)
– From 90.5 billion(1939) to 211.9
billion (1945)
• Created 17 million more jobs
• Crop prices doubled
• Cost of living rose 15% by
1942
What role did the National War Labor Board play
in the war effort and where would this agency fall
on the political spectrum?
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Controlled wages and monitored inflation
Allowed wages to rise 15% (COLA)
April ’43 = ordered “Hold the line”
A wage freeze
Office of Price Administration set ceiling
on all prices
• Where is the government on the political
spectrum?
• Rationing-Spotlight
How did the US government pay for the war?
• Spent $321 billion (1941-45
• 2xs spending from previous 150
years
• Taxes =40%
– Revenue Act (1942) required almost
everyone to pay income taxes
– Withheld $ from weekly payroll
• Borrowed the rest
• War Bonds-certificates that
promised principal and interests (10
years)
• Used actresses, comic books, etc. to
encourage the public to buy
• Americans saved $129 billion by
1945
Describe labor relations during the war.
• Large unions=no strike pledge
• National War Labor Board
• Arbitrated disputes between
management and labor
• Seized uncooperative plants
• United Mine Workers went on
strike in 1943 over wages
• FDR nationalized the mines
• Miners got raise and returned
to work
Who was Rosie the Riveter and is she an
accurate portrayal of how women were
viewed during the War?
• Symbolic label of working
women in traditionally male
jobs during WWII
• Worked as welders, riveters,
mechanics
• 6 million women worked
• Paid 60% less than men
• Released from job when war
ended