America, the Home Front During WWII

Practice Questions 1. Which civil rights leader criticized another civil rights leader’s approach to gaining equality because he didn’t focus on political equality and founded the NAACP? Ida B. Wells Frederick Douglass Jane Addams W.E.B. DuBois 2. Which law prevented any business structure that restrained trade, thus breaking up monopolies like Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company? Lend-Lease Act Sherman Anti-Trust Act Hawley-Smoot Act Homestead Act

SUCCESS IN THE WAR REQUIRED THE TOTAL COMMITMENT OF THE NATION’S RESOURCES. ON THE HOME FRONT, PUBLIC EDUCATION AND THE MASS MEDIA PROMOTED NATIONALISM.

Economic Resources U.S. government and industry forged a close working relationship to allocate resources effectively.

Rationing Fixed amounts of goods to be consumed at home Used to maintain supply of essential products for war Included rubber, fuel, silk, and food People saw this as a way to help in the war effort!

Taxes and War Bonds Income taxes were increased drastically to pay for the war. War bonds (people donated money to the government) were sold. Americans took pride in buying bonds to assist the effort. Celebrities were used to help sell war bonds.

Business Retooled Business quickly converted from peacetime to war-time production. There was a high demand for production. Human resources needed to be managed as well. Factories like this one retooled from making cars to making tanks for the Allied armies. We needed to build tanks faster than they were destroyed.

Human Resources The American people were perhaps the greatest resource which allowed for Allied victory in World War 2.

Selective Service (The Draft) The selective service was used to draft the needed men. Any able-bodied man between 18 and 45 could be drafted! Women also joined the armed forces, typically in noncombat military roles.

How does this cartoon reflect American feelings toward segregation in the military and in general?

Women in America During WWII Women increasingly participated in the workforce. Women now did jobs previously reserved for men. “Rosie the Riveter” was the symbol of this movement!

African Americans in America During WWII Migrated to cities in search of jobs (another surge of the Great Migration) They were subjected to discrimination and segregation in the workforce. Campaigned for victory in war and equality at home. Franklin Roosevelt finally banned discrimination in all war factories.

“Listen, maestro… If you want to get real harmony, use the black keys as well as the white!”

` THE U.S. GOVERNMENT BECAME THE LARGEST CONSUMER OF AMERICAN BUSINESS, BRINGING AMERICA OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION!