America’s Changing

Workforce During

Peace and War

(1914 – 1945)

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI

President Woodrow Wilson and

Congress agreed that the

government should not control

the Wartime Economy

Instead, they wanted to establish

a cooperative relationship

between businesses and the

government

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI The War Industries Board was

formed in 1917 to coordinate

production of War Materials

Wall Street Businessman

Bernard Baruch was selected

to be the Chairman

The War Industries Board:

Regulated what manufacturers produced for the war

Controlled the flow of raw materials for war production

Ordered construction of new factories as needed

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI The National War

Labor Board was

formed in 1918 to

reduce and prevent

labor disputes

William Howard Taft

supervised the board

The National War Labor Board:

Coordinated wage increases and an 8 hour workday

Recognized the rights of unions & collective bargaining

Obtained promises to avoid disruption of war production

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI The enlistment of 2.8

billion men into the Army

and Navy left a shortage

in America’s workforce

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI The labor shortage would provide great opportunities for

both Women and Minorities to gain employment in the

war’s various industries

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI Approximately 8 Million Women filled a variety of wartime

jobs in both industry & support jobs during World War One

YWCA

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI

Recruiting Red Cross

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI About 200 Thousand Mexican laborers crossed the border to

work on farms, ranches, and industrial jobs in the Southwest

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI The slow but steady movement of African-Americans from the

Agricultural South to the Industrial North became known as:

The “Great Migration”

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI

What were the key influences on the “Great Migration”?

Hopes for a new start on life

Get away from the South’s Jim Crow Laws

Greater opportunities for a better education

Increased need for laborers to support the war effort

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI Why did the “Great Migration” occur?

Hopes for a new start on life

• Many African-Americans

in the south were poor

sharecroppers or tenant

farmers

• Most struggled just to

provide their families with

the basic necessities of

life

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI Why did the “Great Migration” occur?

Get away from Jim Crow Laws

• Economic Oppression through

Debt Peonage

• Social Oppression through Racial

Segregation

• Political Oppression through Voting

Restrictions (Disenfrachised)

• Personal Oppression by Southern

Whites (KKK, Lynchings, Violence)

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI Why did the “Great Migration” occur?

Greater Opportunities for Education

• Historical Black Colleges in the

South had limited finances and

facilities

• Integrated Colleges in the North

offered better educational

opportunities for some Blacks

• Southern segregation laws

forbid Blacks from attending

White schools

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI Why did the “Great Migration” occur?

Increased need for Industrial Labor

• Economic prosperity increased in

the north starting in the early 1900’s

• Decline in immigrant labor occurred

due to the rise of Nativism

• Northern companies could not find

enough men to fill open positions

because of the war

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWI

Advertisement in the Chicago Defender (1917)

America’s Changing

Workforce during the

Post-War Depression

How did the Post-War period change employment for Women and Minorities?

Women returned to domestic duties at home

African-Americans experienced prejudice

Mexicans were subjected to repatriation

America’s Changing

Workforce Economic stress and Racial Prejudice

caused problems in the North

• Soldier returning home from the war

resented African-American workers

who took over their civilian jobs

• Many White families opposed Black

families living in the same community

• Rising tensions in many cities often

resulted in violence

St. Louis Race Riot (1917) Dispute over White Pay vs African-American Scabs

St. Louis Race Riot (1917) Dispute over Pay Differences and Inter-Racial Communities

“Red Summer” of 1919 Approximately 25 Race Riots broke out across the U.S.

Chicago

Omaha

Tulsa

Knoxville

America’s Changing

Workforce Economic Depression resulted in the Repatriation of about 1 Million Mexicans

What key influences motivated the Mexican Repatriation?

High unemployment of White Americans

Cost of relief & welfare for Mexicans

Racial prejudice over the “Mexican Problem”

Support from the Mexican Government

America’s Changing

Workforce Economic Depression resulted in the Repatriation of about 1 Million Mexicans

Cheap Mexican laborers exacerbated America’s unemployment

Too many Mexicans on welfare strained the already weak economy

Repatriation was more cost effective

America’s Changing

Workforce Economic Depression resulted in the Repatriation of about 1 Million Mexicans

Deportation of Mexicans provided a cost-savings

• Cost of welfare relief during the

Depression cost $347,468

• One Trainload from Los Angeles

cost the U.S. only $77,249

• Estimate savings = $270,000

America’s Changing

Workforce Economic Depression resulted in the Repatriation of about 1 Million Mexicans

Deportation of Mexicans was supported by rising prejudice in America

• Fueled by suspicion of

Mexicans prior to WWI

• Increased by suspicion

of Mexicans during WWI

• Blamed by Pres. Hoover

for failing U.S. Economy

America’s Changing

Workforce Economic Depression resulted in the Repatriation of about 1 Million Mexicans

Deportation of Mexicans from the U.S. was

supported by Mexico

• Guaranteed transportation

from border to home state

• Offered land and other

benefits to Repatriates

• Arranged settlement colonies

in Southern Mexico

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII Executive Order #9347 created

the Office of War Mobilization

Created to coordinate the

various agencies responsible

for wartime production

Smith-Connally Act (1943)

Passed to prevent Strikes in

major industries that could

hinder Wartime Production

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII

Creating A Production Miracle!

Americans converted their

various pre-war industries

into a war industry

The nation’s factories

began to produce tanks,

planes, boats, trucks,

weapons, and bombs

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII

Creating A Production Miracle!

• 1942: All Civilian Car and aircraft production stopped

due to nation’s military needs of World War Two

• During the next 3 years every automobile and aircraft

company converted its factories to build war machines

• The introduction of mass production by Henry Ford

and his former competitors increased the production

of planes and tanks from 1 per day to 1 per hour

American tank production, 1937–1944

1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944

150 99 18 365 4,021 26,608 37,198 20,357

Many other industries also converted to war-related

supplies

“M4 Sherman”

Chrysler Plant

“M3 Grant/Lee” Chrysler Plant

“M26 Pershing”

GMC Plant

Many other industries also converted to war-related

supplies

SBD “Dauntless” Dive Bomber Built for the Navy & Marine

at the Douglas Plant in California

B-24 “Liberator” Built for Army Air Corps

by Ford Corporation

Type of

airplane Total

Army Air

Corps

Navy &

Marines Other U.S.

Great

Britain

Soviet

Union

Other

nations

Grand

total 295,959 158,880 73,711 3,714 38,811 14,717 6,126

Combat

aircraft 200,443 99,487 56,695 8 27,152 13,929 3,172

Very

heavy

bombers

3,740 3,740 - - - - -

Heavy

bombers 31,685 27,867 1,683 - 2,135 - -

Medium

bombers 21,461 11,835 4,693 8 3,247 1,010 638

Light

bombers 39,986 7,779 20,703 - 8,003 3,021 480

Fighters 99,465 47,050 27,163 - 13,417 9,868 1,967

Reconnais

sance 4,106 1,216 2,453 - 350 30 57

Support

aircraft 95,516 59,939 17,016 3,706 11,659 788 2,954

Transports 23,900 15,769 2,702 267 3,789 703 670

Trainers 58,085 34,469 13,859 3 7,640 85 2,029

Communic

ations 13,531 9,155 455 3,436 230 - 255

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII FDR’s “Arsenal for Defense”

“The Nation expects our defense

industries to continue operation without

interruption by strikes or lock-outs.

It expects and insists that management

and workers will reconcile their

differences by voluntary or legal means,

to continue to produce the supplies that

are so sorely needed.

We must be the great arsenal of

democracy. For us this is an emergency

as serious as war itself.”

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII Once again the labor shortage would provide great

opportunities for both Women and Minorities to gain

employment in the war’s

various industries

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII By 1940, Only 15.5% of all married women were working, so

the Office of War Information launched a recruiting campaign

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII The number of working women rose to 35% of the civilian

workforce with over 19.4 Million women by 1944

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII “An American homemaker

with strength and ability to

run a house and raise a

family . . . . . has the strength

and ability to take her place

in a vital War Industry.”

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII

"Do the Job He Left Behind"

was a campaign slogan that

emphasized women’s patriotism

for the war effort.

Norman Rockwell portrayed Rosie as a

monumental figure clad in overalls and

a work-shirt with the sleeves rolled up

to reveal her powerful, muscular arms

Rosie the Riveter

All the day long, Whether rain or shine,

She's a part of the assembly line.

She's making history, Working for victory, Rosie the Riveter.

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII

• Although many employers were pleased to have female

workers, most women earned far less than the male workers

• Many women were eager to prove their usefulness to the War

• Many found the work interesting, challenging, and profitable

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII Wartime production didn’t only impact the nation’s industries

What was the focus of the Bracero Program?

A program designed to address the wartime labor

shortages in U.S. agricultural production

It promoted the recruitment of skilled Mexican

Nationals to work farms and ranches in America

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII Initially the Bracero Program

provided for employment on

farms and ranches in Texas

Contracts ranged from a few

weeks to 18 months

Makeshift camps ranged

in size from just a few

braceros to a thousand

Over time, braceros were

sent to CA, OR, WA, & AR

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII Braceros were required to be

processed through inspection

stations along the border

Braceros who

were accepted

were issued

special ID cards

The Bracero Program provided

both economic opportunities

for workers and unexpected

hardships for Mexican families

Mobilizing America’s

Workforce for WWII More than 200,000 braceros

came into the U.S. to help

the war effort during WWII

Many suffered terrible work

conditions and low wages

However, for many,

life as a bracero was

better than life back

home in Mexico

The U.S. extended the

program until 1964

"When the U.S. needed it most, we came to serve the United States. When

the U.S. needed it most, I was here…” - José Ramírez Delgado, ex-bracero

"Well, the term bracero . . . it is a word of distinction, for me it is a word

of great pride. I would like that word to go down in history."

- Juan Loza, ex-bracero

"Over here your life changed because you earned more money,

you could buy more things that you wanted, buy clothes, eat

better. For me it was a positive experience. Maybe some would

say not.“ - Audómaro G. Zepeda, ex-bracero

"There was a lot of poverty in Mexico...I was money-poor, food-

poor, but rich in health.“ - Ignacio Gomez, ex-bracero

"Well, on the one hand it was beneficial, and on the other hand, the

family suffered just as much as you did.“

- Pedro del Real Pérez, ex-bracero

"I thought we were going to see a different world. Well, sometimes

it was even worse than my farm.“

- Santurnino González Díaz, ex-bracero

"Yeah, in the fields they would sing. . . . Thirty, forty, or fifty . . .

. No, life was hard, very hard, and beautiful."

-Ismael Díaz de León, ex-bracero