1. Wartime America
Ch 21.1

2. Building the Military
Prior to America’s involvement in WW2 Roosevelt began expanding the military
Roosevelt expanded the army to 227,000 soldiers after Germany attacked Poland
By September of 1940 (following the fall of France), Congress approved the first Peacetime Draft in American History

3. Building the Military
More than 60,000 men enlisted in the month after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Segregated Military:
African Americans were organized into their own units, but white officers usually commanded them
Although they were capable of fighting in combat, they were often assigned to construction and supply units

4. African Americans and the War
Double V Campaign:
The African American Newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courtier, urged readers to support the war to win a double victory, one over Hitler’s racism abroad and one over racism at home
African Americans in Combat:
Roosevelt ordered the armed services to recruit African Americans and put them into combat
Tuskegee Airmen, were a squadron of African Americans in the Air Force
They protected bombers in flight, and flew over 200 missions during the war

5. Tuskegee Airmen https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=5jlp2P9iO2I
v=RSWEO-ratKM

6. Women Joined the Armed Forces
Congress passed the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942, which allowed women in the military for the first time
The army allowed women to enlist for the first time but barred them from combat
Many women took administrative and clerical jobs
Another 68,000 women served as nurses
300 women served as Women Airforce Service Pilots and flew more than 12,000 flights to deliver planes to the war effort

7. American Wartime Economy
Winston Churchill compared the American economy to a gigantic boiler, “once the fire is lighted under it there is no limit to the power it can generate”

8. Converting the Economy:
War production increased rapidly after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Built thousands of warplanes and a “Two Ocean Navy”
Roosevelt believed that giving industry incentives to produce goods quickly was the best way to rapidly mobilize the economy
Cost Plus Contracts – the government agreed to pay companies the cost to make a product plus a guaranteed percentage as profit (created by the National Defense Advisory Committee)
Under the Cost Plus System, the more a company produced (fast) the more money it made.
Convinced many companies to start producing war materials

9. American Industry gets the Job Done
Tanks Replace Cars:
Automobile Industry was well suited to mass-produce military goods/weapons
Began making trucks, jeeps and tanks
Henry Ford created a factory just to create the B-24 Liberator Bombers
Automobile Industry made 1/3 of all wartime military equipment

10. American Industry gets the Job Done
Building Liberty Ships:
German Submarines were sinking American cargo ships at alarming rates
Henry Kaiser began mass production of ships for the US Navy
He developed a method where the parts were constructed elsewhere but were brought to the shipyard and the ship was constructed there
Emphasized speed and results

11. War Production Board (WPB)
Created by President Roosevelt to deal with the growing controversies between business leaders, government agencies and the military
It had the authority to direct priorities and production goals

12. Willow Run Factory Detroit
Chrysler