Mobilizing for Defense Ch 17-1

The War Effort After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japan Times boasted that the United States, now reduced to a third-rate power, was trembling in her shoes. But if Americans were trembling it was with rage, not fear. Uniting under the battle cry remember Pearl Harbor! they set out to prove Japan wrong.

Expanding the Military WAAC or WAC- Under the Womans Auxiliary Army Corps women volunteers would serve in noncombat positions. WACs worked as nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians, and pilots.

Discrimination Because they were being segregated, African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans questioned whether it was their was to fight. An African American newspaper published Just carve on my tombstone, Here lies a black man killed fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man.

Despite discrimination in the military, more than 300,000 Mexican Americans joined the armed forces. Many minorities were limited to noncombat roles. 33,000 Japanese Americans served and many volunteered as spies and interpreters.

Production 1942 ended the year for automobile production as many factories retooled to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars. Some call this a 1943 Cadillac. It had two Cadillac V-8 engines. Inside the tank there was a plaque that proudly displayed a that this was a product of Cadillac.

Labors Contribution Many industries believed that women lacked the stamina for factory work and would not hire them. Once women proved that they were capable of welding and riveting they began to hire them and pay them 40% less then men doing the same job.

Many people refuse to hire African Americans as mechanics and aircraft workers. A. Phillip Randolph called all African Americans to Washington D.C. and march for their right to work and fight for our country. FDR asked him not to march on Washington. Randolph did not back down. FDR then made an executive order to provide the full and equitable participation of all workers in defense industries, without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin.

WPB The War Production Board (WPB)- organized nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper bags, and cooking fat for recycling into war goods. Rationing- Households received ration books to be used for buying scarce items such as meat, shoes, sugar and gasoline. Many people walked or rode their bikes to work to do their part in the war effort. Some people cheated and purchased rationed items on the black market.