1. Get Ready. Compare & contrast the factors that drove the U. S
Get Ready! Compare & contrast the factors that drove the U.S. to war in 1917 & 1941
World War World War 2

2. April 2, 2013
Objective 29 – Timeline – Be sure to review notes on my webpage
Objective 30 – Notes
Map Activity
Begin Reading 26 – The Cold War

3. Objective 30 - How did the U. S
Objective 30 - How did the U.S. mobilize civilians at home to help win World War 2 & what impact did this have on American society?
Lesson Plan for Monday, February 23, 2009: Warm-up Q, Homefront Notes

4. Mobilizing an “Arsenal of Democracy”

5. The Home Front WW2 impacted all aspects of American life:
FDR hoped the U.S. would be the great “arsenal of democracy”
The boost of wartime industry ended the Great Depression
The war altered the lives of women, African-Americans, Native-Americans Japanese-Americans (Nisei), & Mexican-Americans

6. Mobilization
The Office of War Information directed press, print, radio, & film propaganda
The power to create new gov’t agencies
to censor the press
The Office of War Mobilization coordinated the draft, consumer prices, & the labor force
To win wars in Asia & Europe & meet civilian demands, the U.S. gov’t grew to its largest size ever:
The War Powers Act gave the president unprecedented power
New bureaucracies were formed to direct the economy, create propaganda, sell war bonds, & prevent enemy subversion
to limit civil liberties & seize personal property
The Office of Strategic Services gathered enemy intelligence & conducted espionage
The U.S. gov’t spent $250 million per day from 1941 to 1945
This is 2x as much as all previous gov’t spending combined

7. Mobilization: The Demand for War Equipment & Soldiers

8. Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy a Bond: It Will Lead to VICTORY!
War bonds helped raise $187 billion to support the war effort

9. War Rations

10. Victory Gardens: Grow Your Own

11. Propaganda: Fighting the Enemy on the Battlefield & on the Home Front

12. Fear Propaganda

13. Jimmy Stewart goes off to war
Hollywood Pitches In
James stewart goes to war
Jimmy Stewart goes off to war

14. U.S. made 2x more goods than Germany & 5x more than Japan
The Wartime Economy
U.S. made 2x more goods than Germany & 5x more than Japan
The most decisive factor for Allied victory was America’s ability to outproduce both Germany & Japan
Heavy industry was converted to war & was directed by the War Production Board (WPB)
15 million U.S. soldiers fought but 60 million workers & farmers supplied them with supplies

15. Ford’s Willow Run Factory
Ford made one B-24 bomber every hour

16. Henry Kaiser’s West Coast Shipyards
The Allies won the Battle of the Atlantic, in part, because the USA produced ships faster than German u-boats could sink them
Kaiser standardized battleship building & reduced the time it took to make a battleship from 355 days to 14 days

17. Regional Changes
The war effort transformed the Western & Southern U.S.:
California became the major center for industry to support the war effort in the Pacific
60 of the 100 new military bases were built in the South
Southern textile factories & industrial jobs helped end sharecropping & tenant farming
9 million defense workers moved to new factories & shipyards in South & West

18. Women The war presented new economic opportunities for women:
Dramatic rise in employment (14 million to 19 million by 1945)
Most new female workers were married, many middle-aged
Entered “exclusively male” fields
Temporarily redefined “woman’s sphere” from “just at home”

19. “Rosie, the Riveter”

20. S..t..r..e..t..c..h That Food!

21. Join the Women’s Army Corps (WACs)
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES)
Women’s Army Air Corps Pilots

22. Families
The uncertainties of war & economic affluence of the 1940s led to a dramatic rise in marriage
The influx of women into the workforce led to a new demand for daycare centers
Public health improved as more families had access to doctors, dentists, & prescription drugs

23. Banned discrimination in defense industries & gov’t
African-Americans
1 million blacks served in U.S. military but few saw combat
Discrimination in the workforce led A. Philip Randolph to pressure FDR to create a Fair Employment Practices Committee
Continued black migration into the North & West made race relations a national issue
Banned discrimination in defense industries & gov’t

24. Segregated units…again
Tuskegee Airmen

25. Double V: Victory at Home & Abroad
A. Philip Randolph threatened a “March on Washington” to protest war-time discrimination
Other groups, like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), staged sit-ins in restaurants in major cities to protest discrimination

26. Mexican-Americans Mexican-Americans:
Served in quasi-segregated military units, often in the most hazardous branches
Mexican-American workers found jobs in SW agriculture & west coast industry
Faced discrimination, especially during the Zoot Suit Riots

27. “Zoot Suit” Riot in Los Angeles

28. Japanese who were not American citizens living in the U.S.
Japanese-Americans
Due to Pearl Harbor, many in the U.S. feared Japanese-Americans were helping prepare for a Japanese invasion in the West
Civil liberties were restricted:
Nisei had their assets frozen
Used racial stereotypes (“Japs”)
In 1942, FDR ordered 112,000 Japanese-Americans moved to internment camps
Japanese who were not American citizens living in the U.S.

29. Japanese- American Internment Camps
Families were given one week to close their businesses & homes
The all Japanese-American 442nd Division fought in Europe & received over 1,000 citations for bravery
442 Combat—when your division is in trouble “Call in the Japs” (to save your butt)

30. Win-the-War Politics
In 1944, FDR used the war to strengthen his leadership:
“Mr. New Deal” had shifted to “Mr. Win the War”
Opponent Thomas Dewey made communism & FDR’s health the focus of the election
FDR switched VPs from liberal Henry Wallace to moderate Harry Truman to gain appeal