Transcript Daily Life During the War and the Allied Offensive

Daily Life During the War and the
Allied Offensive
21.3 and 21.4
Regulating Wages and Prices
• The war made wages and prices rise
– High demand for workers and resources
• FDR feared inflation would occur
• Office of Economic Stabilization (OCES)regulated wages and farm products
• Office of Price Administration (OPA)regulated all other prices
• War Labor Board (WLB)- mediated wage
disputes to prevent strikes
Rationing
• Limiting the purchasing of
goods and resources
• Common items: meat,
sugar, gasoline, rubber,
coffee, shoes
• Households given
monthly ration books
• Blue coupons- needed
them to buy processed
foods
• Red coupons- controlled
meats, fats, and oils
Other Civilian Contributions
• Victory Gardens– Citizens planted gardens to produce more food for the
war effort
– Public and private lands everywhere turned into
gardens
• Scrap Drives– The military needed certain raw materials; aluminum,
tin, steel, rubber, fats, oils, etc.
– People donated their household items that were
made of these materials
– These drives involved the citizens and boosted their
morale
Footing the Bill
• During the conflict, the
U.S. spent $300 billion
• Taxes were increased but
not to the extent FDR
wanted (only covered
45% of cost)
• War bonds
– Most common was the E
bond—purchased for
$18.75 and redeemed for
$25 in 10 years
– Individuals ($50 billion)
and financial institutions
($100 billion) bought them
The Allied Powers on the Offensive
• The Allies’ success in North Africa showed them an
invasion by sea was possible
• Casablanca Conference (1943)- Churchill and FDR
met in Casablanca, Morocco to discuss the next
phase of the war
• They decided on two things:
– Bomb Germany to destroy “the German military, industrial,
and economic system, and [undermine]…the morale of the
German people.”
– Attack the Italian island of Sicily (the “soft underbelly”)
Bombing Germany
• The U.S. and Great Britain bombed Germany before
the Casablanca Conference but increased the
amount after it
• January 1943-May 1945: British and U.S. air forces
dropped 53,000 tons of explosives on Germany every
month
• Effects:
– Caused severe oil shortage
– Wrecked railroad system
– Destroyed many German aircraft factories
Invading Sicily
• Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
commanded the attack
• Gen. George Patton (U.S.)
and Gen. Bernard
Montgomery (G.B.) headed
ground forces
• Invaded on July 10, 1943
and Germans evacuated
island by August 18
The Axis Response to Invasion
• King Victor Emmanuel of Italy deposed Mussolini and
began negotiating the country’s surrender
• Germans take control of northern Italy and return
Mussolini to power
• This the stage for brutal fighting between the Allies
and the Axis Powers at Cassino and Anzio
• In May 1944, the Germans finally retreated but
fighting in Italy continued
Tehran Conference
• Before invasion of France, FDR
and Stalin wanted to meet
• FDR, Stalin, and Churchill met in
Tehran, Iran in 1943
• Several agreements reached:
– Stalin would launch full-scale
offensive
– U.S. and U.S.S.R. would split
Germany after the war
– U.S.S.R. would help U.S. against
Japan once Germany defeated
– International peace-keeping
organization after the war
Next Week
• On Monday, we will discuss D-Day