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WWII Home Front

Learn about economic mobilization, minorities' service, Japanese internment, Rosie the Riveter, discrimination, and inflation during WWII in America. Discover the impact on society and the economy.

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WWII Home Front

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  1. WWII Home Front

  2. A. Military Mobilization

  3. Enlistment in the Military • Draft Reinstated • This time they were screened • Became known as “GIs” • 13 million men served

  4. Women in the Service • WAC & WAVES formed as auxiliary units • Jobs: • Medical Aid • Pilots • Cryptography • Administrative Duties

  5. Minorities in the ServiceAfrican Americans • 1 million served in segregated non-combat units • Faced Discrimination • Tuskegee Airmen • 332nd Fighter Group

  6. Minorities in the ServiceNative Americans • Over 25,000 served • Served as “Code Talkers” • Most famous were the Navajo Navajo Code Talkers

  7. B. Economic Mobilization

  8. Office for War Mobilization (OWM) • In charge of coordinating all of the new war agencies

  9. War Production Board • Regulated the production and allocation of materials and fuel • It rationed such things as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubber, and plastics

  10. Office of War Information • “Informed” people about the war • Used the press, radio, and film industry

  11. Financing the War • $250 million per day to fight • Beginning of National Debt • 1941 - $49 billion → 1945 - $259 billion

  12. 2/5 was pay as we go, 3/5 was borrowed

  13. Ways that the war was financed: • Taxes: 1941 – 4 million tax returns filed 1945 – 50 million tax returns filed • War Bonds: Over $185.7 billion sold because of effective propaganda campaign

  14. Effect on the Economy • Factories operated around the clock for 7 days a week, but are producing less consumer goods than are demanded • Shift to defense spending which would continue until the end of the Cold War • Created a shift in the population to the “Sunbelt” region (CA & some areas of the South)

  15. Women & Rosie the Riveter • Over 5 million women went to work • Rosie propaganda encouraged women to work • Industrial jobs were just a variation of domestic tasks • Still earned less than men • Forced back into homes after war

  16. Other New Workers • Bracero Program (1942): brought 200,000 Mexicans into the U.S for short-term employment Bracero Workers

  17. War Labor Board • Sought to maintain relations between workers and management • Union membership increased to 30% of industrial workers • 1943 United Mine Workers Strike prompted more government action John L. Lewis

  18. Smith-Connolly Antistrike Act (1943) • Gave the President the authority to end strikes • Gov’t could take control of mines or penalize the strikers

  19. C. Controlling Inflation

  20. The Inflation Problem ↑ employment = ↑$ ↑$ + ↓Consumer goods = INFLATION

  21. Office of Price Administration (OPA) • Created to deal with inflation • Froze prices and rent • Rationed scarce supplies

  22. Certificate: Apply for permission to buy a product If approved you got a certificate Coupon: Families were issued coupon books to buy more common items No coupon, no buying Types of Rationing

  23. Volunteerism & Recycling • Americans voluntarily gave up some goods to help the war effort • Recycling began to conserve resources

  24. Anti-Inflation measures were successful WWI inflation was 170% WWII inflation was 29%

  25. D. Discrimination in America

  26. African-Americans:Double V Campaign • Allied victory abroad & civil rights victory at home • Led by A. Phillip Randolph • March on Washington Movement 1941

  27. Executive Order 8802 • Established the Fair Employment Practices Committee • Ended discrimination in the defense industry • 1st federal law to promote equal opportunities

  28. Race Riots • Tensions in cities • Violence plagued 47 cities • Detroit 1942: worst race riot

  29. Mexican-Americans and the Zoot Suit Riots (1943) • Young Mexican-Americans wore clothing called “Zoot Suits” • June 1943 violence erupted between the sailors and Zoot Suiters

  30. E. Japanese Internment

  31. American View of Japanese-Americans 1942

  32. Executive Order 9066 • Japanese on the West Coast seen as potential spies • February 19, 1942 FDR orders all Japanese-Americans (Issei & Niesi) to “relocation camps” • Over 110,000 Japanese-Americans rounded up

  33. Santa Anita Assembly Center

  34. The Camps • 10 Locations in 7 states

  35. Korematsu v. the United States (1944) • Supreme Court decision that upheld the internment of the Japanese as constitutional

  36. Greatest Civil Rights Violation • $105 million of farmland lost • $500 million in yearly income lost • Unknown amounts of personal property • No act of sabotage ever proven against the internees

  37. Reparations and Apology • 1988 – Reagan finally apologizes • 1990 – Congress authorizes $20,000 to each surviving internee

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