Transcript Section 2- The Home Front - Waverly

Exploring American History
Unit VIII- Boom Times and
Challenges
Chapter 26 – Section 2
The Homefront
The Home Front
The Big Idea
American involvement in World War II helped the U.S.
economy and changed the lives of many Americans.
Main Ideas
• Businesses, soldiers, and citizens worked to prepare the
United States for war.
• The war brought new opportunities for many women and
minorities.
• Japanese Americans faced internment during the war.
Main Idea 1:
Businesses, soldiers, and citizens worked to
prepare for war.
Businesses
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Factories ran 24 hours a day.
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Agricultural production increased.
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Effort of mobilizing for war brought end to the Great Depression
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Soldiers
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Government
Civilians
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was nation’s first
peacetime draft.
More than 16 million Americans served during war.
War Production Board created by government to oversee
conversion of factories to war production
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Increased taxes
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Sold war bonds
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Collected scrap metal to be used in war factories
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Learned to use less in order to supply overseas troops
New Roles for Federal
Government
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The Office of Price Administration placed limits on the
prices businesses could charge for products and materials.
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The War Production Board made sure the military got the
products and resources it needed.
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The WPB placed limits on clothing manufacturers.
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The WPB placed restrictions on clothing. For examples,
jackets were only allowed to be a certain length.
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Government spending during the war rose sharply. Most
of the money went to the armed forces.
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The government increased income tax rates to help pay for
the war. Millions paid income taxes for the very first time.
Office of Price Administration
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The functions of the OPA(established to prevent
wartime inflation)
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stabilize prices (price
controls) and rents after the
outbreak of World War II.
place ceilings on all prices
except agricultural
commodities
ration scarce supplies of other
items, including tires,
automobiles, shoes, nylon,
sugar, gasoline, fuel oil,
coffee, meats and processed
foods. At the peak, almost
90% of retail food prices
were frozen.
It could also authorize
subsidies for production of
some of those commodities.
War Production Board
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To ensure that the
armed forces and war
industries received the
resources for their evergrowing needs.
Decided which
companies would
convert from peacetime
to wartime production
and allocated raw
materials to key
industries.
Organized nationwide
drives to collect scrap
iron, tin cans, paper,
rags, and cooking fat for
recycling into war
goods.
Sacrifice and Struggle for
Americans at Home
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Conserving
Food
and other
Goods
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Investing
in
Victory
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Paying the
Personal
Price
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Americans planted victory gardens.
The United States began rationing food items such as
coffee, butter, sugar, and meat.
Metal, glass, rubber, and gasoline were scarce goods.
Americans held scrap drives to collect waste materials
that might be used in the war effort.
Americans bought millions of dollars worth of war
bonds.
Over half of the population did their civic duty and
bought war bonds.
Families dealt with the absence of loved ones by
displaying a flag with a blue star.
Americans read news accounts of the war with great
interest (Ernie Pyle – newspaper journalist).
Victory
Gardens
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Victory gardens, also called
war gardens or food gardens
for defense, were vegetable,
fruit and herb gardens planted
at private residences in the
United States, Canada, and
United Kingdom during World
War I and World War II to
reduce the pressure on the
public food supply brought on
by the war effort.
In addition to indirectly
aiding the war effort these
gardens were also considered
a civil "morale booster" — in
that gardeners could feel
empowered by their
contribution of labor and
rewarded by the produce
grown.
Scrap Drives
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Recent historical studies indicate that the scrap
drives were more important as morale boosters
than in providing essential products for the war
effort.
But, the general public did get caught up in the
patriotic enthusiasm -- some saved tin foil from
gum wrappers, making a tin foil ball until it
reached a size large enough to be accepted by the
collection site.
Scrap paper was more easily collected and was
used to package armaments.
Grease was saved and recycled to make
ammunition.
Salvaged kitchen fat was used to produce
glycerin, an ingredient in drugs and explosives.
Although the rubber recycling industry did
produce a fair amount of material throughout the
war, the rubber scrap drive didn't significantly
boost its output. The real solution to the rubber
shortage was development of synthetic rubber
and conservation.
Gas rationing was primarily meant to save tires,
not gas.
Recycling of steel and iron unquestionably
helped. One campaign netted five million tons of
steel in just three weeks, and scrap-metal drives
continued for most of the war. But could go too
far.
Financing the War (01:34)
War Bonds
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War Bonds provided a crucial source of
revenue for the war effort. By sponsoring
public stunts such as celebrity auctions,
the federal government used War Bonds
to sell the war to the American public
instead of relying on American
involvement in the war to sell bonds.
U.S. government to market Series E
bonds as "war bonds", "war loans",
"victory bonds", and by other names
meant to appeal to a sense of
patriotism.
By the time war-bond sales ended in
1946, 85 million Americans had purchased
more than $185 billion worth of the
securities, often through automatic
deductions from their paychecks
Taxes
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Beginning in 1940, the government extended
the income tax to virtually all Americans and
began collecting the tax via the now-familiar
method of continuous withholdings from
paychecks (rather than lump-sum payments
after the fact). The number of Americans
required to pay federal taxes rose from 4 million
in 1939 to 43 million in 1945.
All told, taxes provided about $136.8 billion of
the war's total cost of $304 billion
Cinema Stars Aid America's War Bond Drive (01:22)
Service Star Banner
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Display of the Service Star
Banner first came about
during World War I. During
WWI and WWII most flags
were hand made by mothers
across the nation. One of the
most famous flags was that of
the five Sullivan brothers who
all perished on the U.S.S.
Juneau.
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Each blue star on the flag
represents a service
member in active duty. A
gold star is displayed if a
service member is killed in
action or dies in service. If
several stars are displayed in
one family the gold star takes
the honor of being placed at
the top.
Preparing for War
 Recall-
What law required men
to register for the draft?
 Predict – How might limiting the
use of rubber help in the war
effort?
Main Idea 2:
The war brought new opportunities for
many women and minorities.
Women in Workforce
• New opportunities when
war broke out
• Because so many men were
sent to war, the government
urged women to fill their
places in the workplace.
• Women worked in
factories at jobs
traditionally held only by
men.
Women in Military
• About 300,000 women
served in the armed
forces in non-combat
positions.
• Women’s Auxiliary Army
Corps
• Women’s Airforce
Service
• Army and navy nurses
served in combat areas.
Women and WWII- 3:56
African Americans in World War
II
Civilians
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African American labor leader A. Philip Randolph fought for fair
treatment of African Americans in workplace.
Roosevelt issued an order prohibiting racial discrimination in
the government and companies producing war goods.
Military
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About 1 million African Americans served in World War II, mostly
in segregated units.
The Tuskegee Airmen were African American pilots.
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Led by Benjamin O. Davis, who later became the first African
American general in the U.S. Air Force
Flew thousands of successful combat missions
Mexican Americans in World War II
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About 300,000 served in the military
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Many found wartime jobs on West Coast and in Midwest.
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Government brought in farm workers from Mexico, called
braceros.
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To make up for shortage of farm workers
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About 200,000 Mexicans worked in this program.
Mexican American youth culture grew.
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Blended different music styles and clothing styles
Some wore zoot suits– fancy, loose-fitting outfits with
oversized hats.
Many faced discrimination.
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June 1943– in Los Angeles zoot-suit riots, sailors attacked
Mexican Americans wearing zoot suits.
Zoot Suit Riots - 1943
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A zoot suit was a popular outfit with
young African American and Mexican
American men in the 1940s. Most zoot
suits sported extra-wide shoulders, kneelength coats, and cuffed baggy pants,
sometimes topped with a porkpie hat.
After a fight broke out in central Los
Angeles between a group of zoot-suited
teenagers and sailors on leave, some
sailors began roaming the streets seeking
revenge. What started out as a brawl
quickly turned into an invasion, as gangs
of servicemen took over sections of the
city, beating any Mexican American men
and boys they could find.
The mobs stopped traffic, searched
streetcars, and even pulled their victims
out of movie theaters. After five days of
bloodshed
Wartime Opportunities
 Recall-
Why did factories need
more workers?
 Contrast – What is the
difference between the
opportunities created for women
and minorities in the two world
wars?
Wartime Opportunities
 Recall-
What unfair treatment
did Randolph protest?
 Rate – Do you think Roosevelt’s
order went far enough in
prohibiting racial discrimination?
Wartime Opportunities
 Explain-
What were the
advantages promise workers in
the bracero program?
 Draw Conclusions – In what
ways did people of Mexican
heritage contribute to the war
effort?
Main Idea 3:
Japanese Americans faced internment
during the war.
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After Pearl Harbor, some Americans began to look at
Japanese Americans with fear and suspicion.
Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.
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Allowed government to begin process of internment, or forced
relocation and imprisonment, of Japanese Americans
115,000 Japanese Americans evacuated from homes and held
in isolated internment camps.
Government initially banned Japanese Americans from
serving in military.
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Policy reversed in 1943.
33,000 U.S.-born citizens of Japanese descent, or Nisei, served
in World War II.
Japanese American Internment
Executive Order 9066
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After Pearl Harbor, military officials
began to investigate the Japanese
American community for signs of
spying or other illegal activity.
It was recommended that all people
of Japanese background be removed
from the West Coast.
Order 9066 established military
zones and could force people to leave
these zones.
Japanese Americans in California,
Washington, Oregon, and Arizona
were forced into internment camps.
Many lost their homes and businesses.
Japanese American Loyalty
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While interned, Japanese Americans
were forced to answer questions about
their loyalty to the United States.
German and Italian Americans also
faced restrictions.
Many young people from the camps
joined the armed forces to prove their
loyalty.
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Not all Japanese Americans accepted
their internment peacefully.
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Some mounted legal challenges such
as Korematsu v. United States.
Nisei: Japanese-Americans During Wartime (01:05)
Executive Order 9066: Japanese Internment Camps (03:46)
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
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The Supreme Court tried to find the right balance between
the rights of Japanese Americans and wartime needs.
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Fred Korematsu refused the executive order that relocated
110,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps.
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Korematsu was born in Oakland, California, and was an
American citizen.
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He was arrested and then appealed his case to the Supreme
Court.
The Supreme Court ruled against Korematsu stating that
the relocation order was justified as a temporary wartime
measure.
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He continued to work for civil rights and had his conviction
overturned in 1983.
Japanese American Internment
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Recall- What did Japanese Americans
lose when they were interned?
Explain – Why was losing everything and
starting over especially difficult in the
early 1940’s?
Evaluate – What do you think about the
service of the all-Nisei combat team?