Transcript AMH Chapter 14 Section 3

American History
Chapter 14 Section 3
Life on the Home Front
Women in the Workplace
• Before the war, most
Americans believed married
women should not work
outside the home.
• However, the labor shortage
during the war forced
factories to hire married
women. “Rosie the Riveter”
was the symbol of the
campaign to hire women.
• Images of Rosie appeared
on posters and in
newspaper ads.
Rosie’s Effect
• It is estimated that about
2.5 million women
worked in factories,
shipyards, and other
manufacturing plants
during World War II.
• Although most women
left the factories after the
war, their work
permanently changed
American attitudes about
women in the workplace.
African Americans at home
• Many factories did not
want to hire African
Americans.
• A. Philip Randolph was
the head of the
Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters—a
major union for African
American railroad
workers.
Executive Order 8802
• He told President Roosevelt
that he was going to
organize a march on
Washington.
• Roosevelt responded by
issuing Executive Order
8802 and it’s purpose was
to end discrimination in the
employment of workers in
the defense industry.
• He created the Fair
Employment Practices
Commission to enforce the
order.
Bracero Program
• To help farmers in the
Southwest overcome
the labor shortage, the
government started the
Bracero Program in
1942.
• It arranged for Mexican
farm workers to help in
the harvest.
Moving to the Sunbelt
• The wartime economy created
millions of new jobs.
• However, people who wanted
them did not always live near
the factories.
• Many workers moved to the
Sunbelt, a region including
southern California and the
Deep South.
• Many African Americans
moved north in the Great
Migration.
– They were often met with
suspicion and intolerance.
Zoot-Suits
• In California, zoot-suit
wearers—often
Mexican American
teenagers—faced
prejudice.
• The baggy zoot suit
used more material
than the victory suit.
• Some thought that
wearing it was
unpatriotic.
Zoot-Suit Riots
• In June of 1943, 2,500
soldiers and sailors
stormed Mexican
American
neighborhoods in Los
Angeles.
• They attacked Mexican
American teenagers.
– Police did not intervene.
Japanese Internment Camps
• After Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor, all people of Japanese
ancestry on the West Coast were
ordered to move to internment
camps.
• Many people demand (thought)
that all people of Japanese
ancestry needed to be removed
from the West Coast because
they felt Japanese Americans
would not remain loyal to the U.S.
during a war with Japan.
• In Korematsu v. the United States,
Fred Korematsu argued that his
civil rights had been violated.
Korematsu v. U.S.
• He took his case to the
Supreme Court, but he lost.
– U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
the relocation was
Constitutional because it was
based not on race but on
“military urgency”
• After the war, the Japanese
American Citizens League
(JACL) tried to help
Japanese Americans who
had lost property during the
relocation.
OPA & OES
• At home in the U.S., wages and
prices rose quickly during the war.
• To stabilize prices, President
Roosevelt created the Office of
Price Administration (OPA) and
the Office of Economic
Stabilization (OES).
• The OES regulated wages and the
prices of farm products.
• The demand for raw materials
and supplies created shortages.
• To keep products available for
military use, the government
begin rationing consumer goods?
Items that were rationed
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Spare rubber
Tin
Aluminum
Steel pots
Tires
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Tin cans
Car bumpers
Broken radiators
Rusting bicycles
Oils
Animal fat (bacon
grease and meat
drippings)
Conserving Resources
• Households received ration
coupons each month that
limited the amounts of
rationed goods they could
purchase.
• Americans also planted
victory gardens to produce
more food.
• The government ran scrap
drives to collect the spare
rubber, tin, aluminum, and
steel the military needed.
Funding the War
• The United States raised
taxes to help pay for the
war.
• Because most Americans
opposed a high tax
increase, the taxes raised
during World War II paid
for only 45 percent of the
war’s cost.
• People bought bonds
issued by the government
as a way to make up the
difference.
Government Bonds
• The government
promised to pay back the
money, plus interest, at a
later date.
• Individuals bought nearly
$50 billion worth of war
bonds.
• Banks, insurance
companies, and other
financial institutions
bought the rest—more
than $100 billion worth of
bonds.