the american home front december 7, 1941 - 1945. battle of the atlantic first and second happy time:...
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The American Home FrontDecember 7, 1941 - 1945
Battle of the Atlantic
• First and Second Happy Time:• Axis submarines attack US
merchant shipping• Germany:“The American
Shooting Season”• American defense:
weak/disorganized• Germany inflicted massive
damage with little risk• Allied Losses:36,200 sailors,
36,00 seamen, 3,500 merchant vessels, 175 warships
Enlistment and Patriotism• Pre-attack: America
not prepared for an all out war • 300,000 men.
• Pearl Harbor• Government is
overwhelmed by the number that enlist.
0
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
Pre-Attack After
U.S. Military
ALL AMERICANS FOUGHT• Broke down cultural
barriers• Despite discrimination at
home, minority populations contributed to the war effort:
• 1,000,000 African Americans
• 300,000 Mexican-Americans
• 33,000 Japanese Americans• 25,000 Native Americans• 13,000 Chinese Americans
These “Golden 13” Great Lakes officers scored the highest marks ever on the
Officers exam in 1944
Women in the War Effort
• Took over many jobs for servicemen, most notably in heavy industry
• Some joined the military• Altered family life, brought
several drawbacks• Service Opportunity:
• “Women’s Army Corps”• “Women Accepted
for Voluntary Emergency Service”• “Women’s Airforce Service Pilots”
A poster urging women to take manufacturing jobs to
help the war effort
Office of War Information (1942)
• Coordinated release of war news
• Promoted patriotism• Tried to recruit women
into factory work• Propaganda program
abroad• The Voice of America
Patch worn by Office or War Information personnel
Government propagandists sometimes used fear and racial slurs in order to convey their message
Wartime Propaganda Posters
Financing the War• U.S. spent more than $321
billion (more than $3 trillion today)
• National debt skyrocketed• More Americans required to
pay income taxes• War-bond sales raised
needed revenue• $185 billion + sold• businesses, banks, and
civilians• High interest rates
Posters such as these sought to convince Americans that they should help the war effort and stop the enemy by buying war bonds
War Bonds: Posters
Office of Price Administration• Purpose: limit wartime
inflation• ceiling prices for goods
• Rationed scarce goods and consumer staples
• Rationing stopped at end of war
• Dissolved in 1947
Contributions
• Rationing• sugar, coffee, shoes, meats, and
cereals• war bonds: borrowed money
from its own people to help with the war• Help Allies while the U.S.
prepared• Farms were producing as
much food as possible. • food went to British and
Russian soldiers and citizens.
Victory Gardens
A government poster promoting Victory Gardens
• Government urged citizens to grow fruits and vegetables
• Eased food shortages caused by rationing
• Nearly 20 million started gardens
• More than nine million tons of produces
Each family received ration books (left) and stamps (above) for
determining its monthly allotment.
Rationing: Books and Stamps
COLLECTION DRIVES
Shift in Production
• Peace time production to war time production
• GM, Ford, and Chrysler went from creating cars to tanks.
• Boeing from regular airplanes to bombers and fighter jets.
• Gun makers like Colt, from hunting rifles to machine guns, flamethrowers, war rifles.
War Production• U.S. producing
weapons faster than anticipated
• In 1 month:• up to 4,000 tanks • 4,500 planes.
• Ship production also increased • protected our coasts
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Before After
Ship and Submarine Production
Ships andSubs
War Production Board• Purpose: Ensure military had
resources • Directed industrial output• Prohibited nonessential business
activities• Allocated raw materiel
• Scrap drives • Collection of waste and scrap goods
for war use• Materiel included iron, aluminum,
paper• Waste cooking fats for making
glycerin
A “War Educational Bulletin” produced
by the War Production Board
The government used posters and publicity pictures of celebrities such as Rita Hayworth (right) to encourage citizens to recycle scrap items.
Scrap Drives: Posters
Labor in the US: An Unintended Benefit
• By1944• 18 million workers were laboring
in war industries (3x the # in 1941)
• More than 6 million were women• Only 3 million worked prior• Pre-War: Mainly housewives• During War: 1/3 in defense
industry• Lost jobs after the war ended
• Nearly 2 million were minorities0
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Before After
Women
The War’s Economic Impact• Nominal GDP more than doubled• Wages and salaries nearly tripled• Federal civilian employment more
than tripled• Female employment up by a third• Labor union membership grew by
over 50 percent• National debt ballooned by over 600
percent
Geographic Shifts in the Economy• South saw great
prosperity • Millions of jobs in textiles,
chemicals, and aluminum• Southern shipyards and
aircraft plants grew• West became economic
powerhouse• California especially
benefited from federal expenditures
An Army sentry guards new B-17 F (Flying Fortress)
bombers at the airfield of Boeing's Seattle plant