Transcript Mobilizing for World War II

Mobilizing for World War II
America Goes to War
(again)
Mobilizing the Economy
 The War Production Board
 Offered fixed, generous profits for
war contracts
 Helped finance conversion to war
production and new factories,
shipyards, etc.
 $175,000,000,000 in war contracts
 $800,000,000 in research
 Industrial production increased 96%
Mobilizing the Economy
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Office of Price Administration
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Estb. summer, 1941
Control inflation by fixing prices and
rationing scarce commodities
Limited meat, sugar, butter, silk, nylon,
coffee, auto tires
Gasoline rationing : May, 1942
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$
A, B, and C ration cards were issued to
motorists, depending on need;
“A” cards received only 4 gallons per week
(32,500 drivers were arrested by 1945 for using
fake cards).
Mobilizing the Economy
 National War Labor Board
 Like in WWI
 Mediate or arbitrate labor disputes
 4 labor leaders, 4 business leaders,
4 private citizens
 Could ask for takeover
 United Mine Workers went on strike
and soldiers took over mines;
 head of Macy’s refused to accept
union workers and was carried out
by arresting soldiers.
 4,000,000 new union members by
1945
Mobilizing the Economy
 Production figures
 225% increase in arms production
in 1941 alone
 Dec. 1942: out-producing
Germany, Italy and Japan
COMBINED
 300,000 planes
 88,000 tanks
 3000 merchant ships
 $50,000,000,000 of Lend-Lease Aid
Mobilizing the “Message”
Propaganda and Censorship
Mobilizing the “Message”
Office of War Information: June 1942
Controlled release of war news
Banned release of photos of dead U.S.
Design and content of gov’t posters
Radio series, “This is Our Enemy”, “Uncle
Sam”; started “Voice of America”
267 newsreels
Japanese Internment
Mobilizing the “Message”
 Issued guidelines to Hollywood:
 Will this picture help win the war?
 What war information problem does it
seek to clarify, dramatize, or interpret?
 If it is an "escape" picture, will it harm
the war effort by creating a false
picture of America, her allies, or the
world we live in?
 Does it merely use the war as the basis
for a profitable picture, contributing
nothing of real significance to the war
effort and possibly lessening the effect
of other pictures of more importance?
Mobilizing the “Message”
Guidelines to Hollywood:
Does it contribute something new to our
understanding of the world conflict and the
various forces involved, or has the subject
already been adequately covered?
When the picture reaches its maximum
circulation on the screen, will it reflect
conditions as they are and fill a need current at
that time, or will it be out-dated?
Does the picture tell the truth or will the young
people of today have reason to say they were
misled by propaganda?
Promoting Women in the Workforce
• And the dangers…
Targeting Production…
and the Enemy
As always, a racial
angle…
Life Magazine’s “how to”
Scare Tactics
Production and Conservation
The Ultimate: Persuasion by Guilt