Transcript Daily Life on the Home Front

Daily Life on the Home Front
Angela Brown
Chapter 15 Section 2
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Learning Targets
• Describe some features of American
popular culture during WWII.
• Explain how shortages and controls affected
everyday civilian life.
• List some of the ways the government
enlisted public support.
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Wartime Popular Culture
• 1941 24% American families had incomes of less
than $1000 a year – less than 20% by 1945
• measure of optimism – birthrate doubled 1930s
rates 1940-1945 population grew by 7.5 million
• Americans were suddenly making more money
than they needed for necessities – couldn’t spend
it on cars, trucks, or home appliances due to war.
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Books and Movies
• Robert De Graff founded new Pocket Books
Company in 1939.
• Thought more Americans would read if
books were less expensive, more widely
available, and easy to carry.
• 34,000 of first books sold – Soldiers even
carried them into combat – after the war the
market for paperback’s continued
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Books and Movies
• 60% of U.S. population went to movies
every week
• Hollywood made movies for civilians and
soldiers (Frank Capra / Casablanca)
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http://www.uwec.edu/DC/AP/IFS/pastfilms/images/films/casablanca.jpg
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Baseball
• 4000 of 5700 major and minor league baseball
players were in military service.
• Americans still flocked to games – some placed
ads in newspapers to fill rosters
• Women had a chance to play ball professionally.
• 1943 Philip Wrigley founded All- American girls
softball league became All- American Girls’
Baseball in 1945.
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http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/leagueoftheirown/alotowncastbig.jpg
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http://blog.chosun.com/web_file/blog/200/25200/3/1944_Rockford_Peaches.jpg
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http://www.aagpbl.org/images/profiles/teams/43.jpg
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• Rockford Peaches (Illinois) and Southbend
Blue Sox (Indiana) had to attend charm
school and wear impractical skirted
uniforms.
• Games drew hundreds of fans.
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Popular Music
• As in WWI, many popular songs encouraged hope
and patriotism
• “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” –
based on story of Navy Chaplain took over antiaircraft gun at Pearl Harbor after the gunners had
been killed
• 1942 film, Holiday Inn, Bing Crosby sang Irving
Berlin’s “White Christmas” – became a
sentimental favorite for both soldiers and civilians
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http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/images/vc74.jpg
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/64/Dvd-cover-white-christmas.jpg/
180px-Dvd-cover-white-christmas.jpg
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Shortages and Controls
• Americans lived with shortages throughout
the war.
• Metal used in typewriters and zippers went
into guns.
• Rubber for girdles went into tires.
• Nylon made parachutes instead of
stockings.
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 Saved cloth – men’s suits no longer had vests,
patch pockets or trouser cuffs – women skirts were
shorter and narrower.
• Sugar scarce when Philippines fell to Japanese.
• Shipping lanes closed = no tropical fruit or
Brazilian Coffee
• Government used tough measures to head off
inflation.
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• Office of Price Administration (OPA) –
given authority to freeze rents and prices –
1941 began rationing = fair distribution of
scarce items
• 1943 OPA assigned points values to
sugar, coffee, meat, butter, canned fruit,
and shoes.
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http://www.oldchesterpa.com/ww2/images/gas_stamp_1.jpg
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“Is this trip necessary?”
• Consumers received ration books of
coupons worth a certain number of points
for categories of food and clothing
• Once used they had to wait for more
rationing books or trade coupons
• Gasoline rationed – 3 gallons a week signs
asked, “Is this trip necessary?”
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http://www.oldchesterpa.com/ww2/ration_cards.htm
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Enlisting Public Support
• Tried to create sense of patriotism and
participation in the war effort while convincing
citizens to accept rationing and conserve resources
• Office of War Information – 1942 to work with
magazine publishers, advertising agencies, and
radio stations – hired writers and artists to create
patriotic posters and ads.
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• Victory Gardens – Sec of Ag. suggested that
families plant home gardens to make up for the
farm produce sent to feed the soldiers.
• City/Suburbs planted tomatoes, peas, and radishes
in backyards, empty parking lots, and
playgrounds.
• 1943 Victory Gardens produced one third of
countries fresh vegetables.
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Propaganda
http://www.historicpelham.com/images/BlogImages/Poster1.jpg
http://www.interactivist.net/gardens/images/h_victorygarden.jpg
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http://homefront.mrdonn.org/rationbooks2.jpg
http://www.historicpelham.com/images/BlogImages/Poster2.jpg
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• People tested their readiness for possible bombing
raids through “blackouts”.
• Women knit scarves and socks or rolled bandages
for the red cross.
• Shortages produced efforts to recycle scrap
metal, paper, and other materials.
• People collected tin cans, pots and pans, razor
blades, old shovels, and old lipstick tubes.
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http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/spcollimages/av/lane/jpeg/LBCB039-104b.jpg
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http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/collections/wwii-posters/img/ww1647-25.jpg
• Virginia volunteers raised sunken ships from
Wyoming took apart an old steam engine to use
the parts.
• People saved kitchen fats because the glycerin
could be used to make powder for bullets or shells.
• Historians have questioned whether items
collected were used in war – collection drives kept
adults involved in war effort
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Exit Slip:
1. What prevented Americans from spending
the high wages they earned in wartime jobs?
2. What was the main goal of the Office of
War Information?
3. The goal of wartime rationing was…
4. Campaigns to collect scrap metal, kitchen
fats, and other materials were promoted
mainly to…
5. What effect did victory gardens have on the
home front?
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