Chapter 25: WWIIAmericans at Home

Section 1: Mobilization

Mobilizing the Armed Forces

• Sept 1940- Congress passed the Selective Training & Service Act- required all males 21-36 to register for military service–Boosted defense spending from 2 to

10 billion

The GI War

• More than 16 million served as soldiers, sailors, & aviators

–Called GI’s- government issued

Diversity in the Armed Forces

• 300,000 Mexican Americans• 25,000 Native Americans

–Navajos developed a secret code, based on their language•“Code talkers” provided important, secure communication links

• 1 million African Americans–First limited to supporting roles–Late 1942- given the opportunity to

fight–Fought in separate units

•Tuskegee Airmen- 1st African American flying unit in the US

–Late 1944- accepted into white combat units

Women in the Military

• 350,000 volunteered

–All areas except combat

•Clerks, typists, airfield control tower operators, mechanics, photographers, & drivers

Preparing the Economy for War

• Allied production of goods were way down

War Production

• Jan. 1942- government set up the War Productions Board (WPB) to set up industries to produce wartime goods

–Halted the production of many consumer goods

• Armed forces decided which company would receive contracts to manufacture military hardware

• May 1943- FDR appointed James Byrnes to head the Office of War Mobilization–Super agency in the centralization of

resources

• Liberty ships- large, sturdy merchant ships that carried supplies or troops

• Government established the “cost plus” system for military contracts to motivate businesses & guarantee profits

• Military paid development & production costs & added a percentage of costs as profits for the manufacturer

• 1944- the US production levels doubled all of the Axis nations

The Wartime Work Force

• Unemployment virtually vanished

–Earnings went up more than 50% between 1940-1945

• Union membership rose

–1940-41 increased by 1.5 million

• Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, labor & business representatives agreed to refrain from strikes & “lockouts” (employers keep employees out of the workplace to avoid meeting their demands) –Cost of living went up & strikes were

hard to avoid

• Most serious occurred in the coal industry

–United Mine Workers Union called four strikes in 1943

–Congress passed the Smith-Connally Act limiting future strike activity

Financing the War

• Spending increased from 8.9 billion in 1935 to 95.2 in 1945

–GNP more than doubled

–Between 1941 & 1945 government spent $321 billion on the war•Higher taxes paid for 41%

• Government borrowed the rest from banks, private investors, & the public–War bonds brought in $196 billion

• Deficit spending helped the US field a well equipped army & navy, bring prosperity to workers & pull the US out of the Depression–Boosted the national debt from 43 t0

259 billion

Daily Life on the Home Front

• 30 million moved during the war

–Birthrate up- population grew by 7.5 million from 1940-1945

Shortages & Controls

• People finally had extra money, but rationing led to few consumer goods

• Metal went to make guns, rubber to make army truck tires, nylon to make parachutes

• Food shortages–US got cut off from receiving sugar,

tropical fruits & coffee• April 1941 Office of Price

Administration (OPA) was established–Job was to control inflation by

limiting prices & rents

• Problems

–Company would cut back of goods that weren’t profitable, thus creating shortages

–People found ways to get around the limits

• Rationing–Goal was a fair distribution of scarce

items–1943 OPA assigned point values to

sugar, coffee, meat, butter, canned fruit, & shoes

–Issued ration coupons–Gas was strictly rationed on the basis of

needed

Popular Culture

• People bought & read more books & magazines

• Went to baseball games

• 60% went to the movies every week

Enlisting Public Support

• FDR established the Office of War Information (June 1942) to work with magazine publishers, ad agencies, & radio stations–Hired writers & artists to create

posters & ads that stirred American patriotic feelings

• Victory Gardens- add to home food supply

–By 1943- produced 1/3 of our vegetables