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Chapter 25: WWII Americans at Home

Chapter 25: WWII Americans 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.

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Chapter 25: WWII Americans at Home

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  1. Chapter 25: WWIIAmericans at Home Section 1: Mobilization

  2. 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

  3. The GI War • More than 16 million served as soldiers, sailors, & aviators • Called GI’s- government issued

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. Women in the Military • 350,000 volunteered • All areas except combat • Clerks, typists, airfield control tower operators, mechanics, photographers, & drivers

  7. Preparing the Economy for War • Allied production of goods were way down

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. 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%

  16. 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

  17. Daily Life on the Home Front • 30 million moved during the war • Birthrate up- population grew by 7.5 million from 1940-1945

  18. 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

  19. 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

  20. Problems • Company would cut back of goods that weren’t profitable, thus creating shortages • People found ways to get around the limits

  21. 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

  22. Popular Culture • People bought & read more books & magazines • Went to baseball games • 60% went to the movies every week

  23. 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

  24. Victory Gardens- add to home food supply • By 1943- produced 1/3 of our vegetables

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