1. Chapter 23 Section 4 World War II Erupts Mr. Riddlebarger
Mobilizing For War
Chapter 23
Section 4
World War II Erupts
Mr. Riddlebarger

2. Mobilizing the Armed Forces
Most of isolationist feelings are wiped away after attack on Pearl Harbor
United States now needs to mobilize, or bring our forces to readiness
Huge increase in military spending is largely responsible for ending Great Depression.
George C. Marshall will lead mobilization efforts.

3. Finding Soldiers
The draft was reinstated before our entry into the war (1940) and expanded after Pearl Harbor.
Millions also volunteer
Eventually 16 million will serve

4. Women and the Armed Forces
Though not permitted in combat, women serve vital roles for military
Serve in clerical roles, as test pilots, electricians, and many other jobs
WAC, Women’s Army Corp. become full-fledged members of army
150,000 women serve

5. Mobilizing Industry & Science
Troops need proper equipment and nation responds.
Factories are converted to the production of war supplies.
Government spends tens of billions of dollars on war supplies in months after Pearl Harbor.
New government agencies will regulate factory production, prices & use of nation’s raw materials.

6. Rosie the Riveter With men leaving for war, women help fill jobs.
Number of women working outside home grows dramatically
Do “mans” jobs
Working women of war came to be represented by symbolic figure of “Rosie the Riveter”.

7. Labor in World War II Government spending helped end Depression.
Created millions of new jobs.
President given power over vital industries to prevent strikes.

8. Mobilizing Science War planners knew importance of technology.
Manhattan Project- most significant scientific program of World War 2
Top secret program to build atomic bomb
Led by J. Robert Oppenheimer
Research motivated by concern the Germans are already working on weapon
The outcome will shape world history for the coming decades.

9. African-Americans in military
Hundreds of thousands serve
New barriers broken
1st enlistments in US Marines
1st commissioned officers in US Navy
Discrimination still faced
Serve in segregated units
No Medal of Honor recipients.

10. Job Discrimination

11. African-Americans in the Workforce
War creates enormous demand for factory workers
Provides new opportunities for women as well as African-Americans
Often forced to take lowest paying jobs
Under threat of strike, FDR issues order to outlaw discrimination in government & defense jobs.

13. Zoot Suit Riots
An eyewitness to the attacks, journalist Carey McWilliams, described the scene as follows:
Marching through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, a mob of several thousand soldiers, sailors, and civilians, proceeded to beat up every zoot suiter they could find. Pushing its way into the important motion picture theaters, the mob ordered the management to turn on the house lights and then ran up and down the aisles dragging Mexicans out of their seats. Streetcars were halted while Mexicans, and some Filipinos and Negroes, were jerked from their seats, pushed into the streets and beaten with a sadistic frenzy
Carey McWilliams. North From Mexico. Quoted in Richard Griswold del Castillo. The Los Angeles "Zoot Suit Riots" Revisited: Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Summer, 2000), pp

14. Challenges for Hispanic- Americans
US & Mexican governments establish Bracero Program allowing Mexican workers to come temporarily
Needed for labor shortages on farms
Tensions is LA
Zoot Suit Riots (1943)
High rate of service and accomplishment in military