World War II

1. World War II America Mobilizes for War

2. America Mobilizes for War • Converting the Economy – The industrial output of the US during the war astounded the rest of the world – American workers were twice as productive as Germans and five times more than Japanese. • American war production turned the tide in favor of the Allies. • The US was able to expand its war production so rapidly after Pearl Harbor because the government had already begun to mobilize the economy before it entered the war – when the German blitzkrieg swept into France in May 1940, FDR declared a national emergency & announced a plan to build 50,000 warplanes a year.

6. Cost-Plus Contracts • FDR & advisors believed the best way to rapidly mobilize the economy was to give industry an incentive to move quickly • Instead of letting companies bid for contracts (too slow)– the government signed cost-plus contracts– the government agreed to pay the company whatever it cost to make a product plus a guaranteed percentage of the costs as profit • Under this plan, the more a company produced and the faster it did the work, the more money it would make

7. Tanks replace cars • The automobile industry produced nearly 1/3 of the military equipment manufactured during the war. • Automobile factories began to produce trucks, jeeps, and tanks – critical in modern warfare because the country that could move troops & supplies most quickly usually won the battle. • Automobile factories also built artillery, rifles, mines, helmets, pontoon bridges, cooking pots, and other pieces of military equipment.

17. Arsenal of Democracy

32. The Liberator • Henry Fordlaunched one of the most ambitious projects – created an assembly line for the enormous B-24 bomberknown as “the Liberator” – by the end of the war, the factory had built over 8,600 aircraft.

33. The Liberator

34. Building the Liberty Ships • Henry Kaisers shipyards built many ships, but they were best known for their production of Liberty ships – basic cargo ship used during the war.

35. Liberty ships were welded instead of riveted= cheaper, easier to build, and harder to sinkthan riveted ships • When a riveted ship was hit, the rivets came loose causing the ship to fall apart. • A welded ships hull was fused into one solid piece of steel – a torpedo might blow a hole in it, but the hull would not come apart – it could often get back to port for repairs & return to service

37. Building an Army • Within days of Germanys attack on Poland, FDR expanded the army to 227,000 soldiers. • After Frances surrender to Germany in 1940, Congress introduced the Selective Service and Training Act – the 1st peacetime draft in US history

38. Before the spring of 1940, college students, labor unions, isolationists, and most members of Congress had opposed a peacetime draft. • Opinions changed after Germany defeated France. • In September, Congress approved the draft by a wide margin.