1. The Home Front
Chapter 26
Section 2

2. Supporting the War EffortChapter 26
What social changes did the war bring about?
The war effort brought about social change at home.
War Production Board (WPB) –coordinated the production of military equipment. 60% of all allied material.

3. Supporting the War Effort
The war ended the Great Depression.
Gross National Product (GNP) – the total value of all the goods and services produced by a nation during a year.
GNP – $90.5 billion.
1945 – GNP rose to $212 billion.

4. Supporting the War
Some goods became scarce; gasoline, sugar, tires, shoes, and meat.
Auto makers did not produce cars between
Rationing – giving families a fixed amount of a certain item.
Raise income taxes and sold war bonds (loans that the government promised to repay with interest.)

5. Opportunities and Tensions for Minorities
New jobs opportunities for minorities.
Most jobs on the West Coast or in the North.
Inflamed racial tension. (1943- race riot in Detroit).
A. Philip Randolph, African American labor leader, threatened march on Washington.
Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 outlawing discrimination in defense industries.

6. Minorities 40,000 Native Americans worked in war industries.
Braceros – Mexican workers; 120,000 worked on farms.
Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles after American servicemen attacked Mexican Americans.

7. Minorities. Segregated units in the armed services.
Tuskegee Airmen, African-American Pilots and crew members; served with honor in North Africa and Europe.
Women in demand for work; 30%or work force.
Rosie the Riveter – famous image of a strong woman hard at work at an arms factory; symbol for women workers.
300,000 women in Women’s Army Corps(WAC)

8. The Internment of Japanese-Americans.
What happened to Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor?
FDR signed an executive order for Japanese to move to internment camps.
2/3 Nisei – Japanese Americans born in the U.S.
Korematsu – defied order and took to the Supreme Court based on unconstitutional because of race. Court ruled it constitutional.