1. Mobilization for WWII

3. America First?
Four days after attack on Pearl Harbor, America First Committee holds emergency meeting
Vote to dissolve organization
“The time for military action is here.”

4. Selective Training and Service Act
In 1940, FDR institutes the first peacetime conscription
After Pearl Harbor
Expanded
Between , over 10 million inducted

5. Critical Thinking
What messages do you think the US government needed to convey to the people in order to successfully conduct the war effort?

6. Propaganda Multiple messages Remind public of the enemy
Encourage enlistment
Keep production high
Stay united
Conserve
Support the war financially

10. Economic Mobilization
Depression actually becomes a positive for US
Why?
WWII mobilization effectively ends Depression

11. Wartime Production
Administration fears conflict between military and civilian production
“Arsenal of Democracy”
Government relies on big companies to produce for war
Cost-plus contracting
Wage and price controls instituted
Union membership preserved

15. War Measures National War Labor Board, 1942 War Production Board, 1942
Could impose binding solutions in labor disputes
War Production Board, 1942
David Nelson (Executive from Sears)
Regulated production and allocation of materials and fuel
Rationing
Prevent waste and conserve resources for war effort

19. Financing the War FDR wants to increase taxes to support war
Taxpayers go from 4 million to 40 million
Congress balks at further tax increases
War is financed through War Bonds and borrowing

21. “Loose Lips Sink Ships”
Millions of volunteers drafted for the war effort
Access to sensitive information
Government warned against carelessly dropping details in conversation
You never know who might be an Axis spy

24. Women are Called Upon
Mass mobilization requires participation of all citizens
Women have unprecedented opportunities in military and in industry
Social change resulted from huge female participation in the labor force
Would eventually give birth to Women’s Rights movement in 1960s

25. Women in the Service Each military branch has women corps
Support positions
WACs (Army)
WAVES (Navy)
WASP (Air Force)
Army Nurse Corps
Over 250,000 women served
Over 400 killed

26. “Rosie the Riveter” Propaganda encouraged women to enter work force
By end of war, over 18 million women employed
1/3rd of work force
3 million worked in war plants

29. Closing Thoughts
Contrast the mobilization for World War II with our mobilization for our current wars. What is similar and what is different?