1. World War II: Americans at War
(1941–1945)

2. Mobilization How did Roosevelt mobilize the armed forces?
In what ways did the government prepare the economy for war?
How did the war affect daily life on the home front?

3. Mobilizing the Armed Forces
President Roosevelt realized that he had to strengthen the armed forces if the United States were to enter World War II on the side of the Allies.

4. Sept. 1940—first peacetime draft in US history.
Congress authorized the first peacetime draft in the nation’s history. The Selective Training and Service Act required all males aged 21 to 36 to register for military service.

5. Roosevelt gives “4 freedoms” speech.
Freedom of speech
Freedom from fear
Freedom from want
Freedom of worship

6. defense spending raised from $2 billion to more than $10 billion in the course of a year.
More than 16 million Americans served as soldiers, sailors, and aviators in the war. They called themselves GIs, an abbreviation of “Government Issue.”
Why should we fight?

8. Women!
About 350,000 American women volunteered for military service by the war’s end. Military officials allowed them to work in almost all areas, except combat.

10. What types of jobs did women hold during WWII?
Steelworkers and welders
“Rosie the Riveter”
Better paying jobs than they were used to holding

11. How were women workers affected by WWII?
Extra money helped support their families
Proud of contributing to the war effort
Still faced obstacles
Resented by some men
Lack of child care
Earned less than men for the same work

12. Women workers - postWWII
Expected to give up their jobs for returning soldiers
Return to “normalcy”
Housewives and mothers
Womens’ mags
Advice on homemaking, cooking, and child care

13. Preparing the Economy for War
FDR pushed industries to move to making war goods.
Jan gov’t set up War Production Board
Convert from peacetime to wartime
From this….
…to THIS!

14. Examples:
--Ford converts some factories to Air force factories.
--In Wilmington – Dravo starts building landing craft while P&J make Liberty Ships!

15. Building Tanks at the chrysler plant
As the production of consumer goods stopped, factories converted to war production.
Ford Motor Company built B-24 bombers with the same assembly-line techniques used to manufacture cars.

16. Each year US increased production goals, eventually doubling the production of Axis Powers.
Helps the workforce— unemployment nearly disappears. – so long Depression!

17. Union membership increases from by over 1.5 million!
after the attack on Pearl Harbor, labor and management agreed to refrain from strikes and lockouts.

18. Daily life on the homefront
Nearly everyone had a relative or friend in the military

19. War effort led to shortages on typical goods—ex metal, rubber
Shortages led to rise in reading of books and magazines, movies, and sporting events.
Look familiar?
Scrap Metal Drive – Middletown, DE

20. Fdr leads effort to advertise winning the war at home
Collection Drives— metal, fat, cloth, food, etc

21. Victory Gardens
home vegetable garden planted to add to the home food supply and replace farm produce sent to feed the soldiers.
By 1943, victory gardens produced about one third of the country’s fresh vegetables.

22. Daily Life on the Home Front
Wartime jobs gave many people their first extra cash since the Depression. Still, shortages and rationing limited the goods that people could buy.

23. The supply of food also fell short of demand.
The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established to control inflation by limiting prices and rents.
The OPA also oversaw rationing, or the fair distribution of scarce items, during the war.

24. Ration card

25. Ration stamps

29. How To Pay for it all?

31. The government understood the need to maintain morale
The government understood the need to maintain morale. It encouraged citizens to participate in the war effort. The Office of War Information worked with the media to create posters and ads that stirred patriotism.

32. WWII brought job opportunities to many minorities, although discrimination against Japanese Americans increased.

33. Effects of WWII – African Americans
Migration from South to North
New job opportunities
Same discrimination and segregation
not as blatant as in the South
1942 – Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Founded to fight racial discrimination

34. Effects of WWII – Mexican & Native Americans
Mexican Americans
New jobs in shipbuilding & aircraft
Govt encouraged Mexicans to come to the US
Farm worker shortage
Native Americans
Moved to cities for war production jobs
New experience

35. Effects of WWII – Japanese Americans
Results of Pearl Harbor
Japanese Americans viewed with fear and hostility
Seen as possible spies
Internment camps
Govt goal was to remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast
110,000 people
1988 – US govt officially apologized
Executive Order 9066