1. Mobilization
Section 18.1

2. Mobilizing the Armed Forces
FDR realizes (before U.S. entry) that we must strengthen the armed forces
Selective Service Act (1940): required all males aged to register for military service
Increased Defense spending from $2 billion to $10 billion
“Four Freedoms speech”: prepared Americans for the possibility of war and what we should be fighting for

3. Freedom of Speech
Freedom to Worship

4. Freedom from want
Freedom from fear

5. Who is the army?
GI: “Government Issue” – +16 million serve in military
300,000 Mexican Americans
25,000 Native Americans (“Code Talkers”)
1 million African Americans – most had “supporting roles”
End of the war (1944) AA’s are placed in combat positions
Tuskegee Airmen – 1st African American flying unit

6. Tuskegee Airmen

7. U.S. Economy
FDR had to coordinate the businesses to meet Allied demands
War Production Board (WPB): directed the conversion of peacetime industries to wartime industries
Office of War Mobilization: served as a “super agency”; coordinated all production of wartime resources

8. Examples
Ford made B-24 Liberator bombers (used assembly line to mass produce)
Henry Kaiser used mass production techniques in shipbuilding – cut time down from 200 days to 40 days – “Liberty Ships”

9. How do you motivate a business to change?
“Cost-Plus” system (military contract): Military paid development and production costs and added a percentage of costs as profit for the manufacturer
Pride and patriotism also motivated many businesses

10. Production By the end of 1945: 300,000 airplanes 80,000 landing craft
100,000 tanks and armored cars
5,600 merchant ships
6 million rifles, carbines and machine guns
41 billion rounds of ammunition

11. Financing the War U.S. gov’t. vowed to spend whatever was necessary
Federal spending increased from $8.9 billion/yr. (1939) to $95.2 billion/yr. (1945)
Overall, , gov’t. spent $321 billion – 10x as much as WWI

12. How do you pay for a costly war?
41% of the war paid by higher taxes
Borrowed money from banks, private investors, and war bonds ($186 billion)
Deficit spending help pull U.S. out of depression
Also, boosted national debt from $43 billion to $259 billion

13. Daily Life on the Home Front
Nearly everyone had a relative/ friend in the war
Population grew by 7.5 million (nearly double the rate of the 1930’s)
Baby Boomers

14. Shortages & Controls
Shortages and rationing limited the goods that people could buy
Metal from zippers could make guns
Rubber from bike tires made army truck tires
Nylon stockings could make parachutes

15. Food Shortages Food was needed for the military
Also, enemy occupied territories cut off shipping to the U.S. (ex. Sugar, fruit, coffee…)
Office of Price Controls (OPC): controlled inflation by limiting price and rents

16. Rationing Rationing: a fair distribution of scarce items
OPA assigned point values to items such as sugar, coffee, meat, butter, canned fruit, and shoes
Issued ration books of coupons – once you used up the points, you couldn’t receive anymore

18. Ration Coupons

19. Pop Culture
What do you spend your money on since you can’t buy “scarce” items?
Books and magazines
Recordings of popular songs
Go to a baseball game
Go to the movies
60% of the population (growth of movie stars)

21. Enlisting Public Support
FDR creates the Office of War Information to boost public morale
Created posters and ads that stirred patriotic feelings
Victory gardens: home vegetable garden planted to add to the home food supply – instead of buying farm produce that went to the military
Recycled scrap metal, paper, etc.