America in WWII

Lecture

America in WWII

GOAL: Transform American economy into an

"ARESENAL OF DEMOCRACY"

GOAL: Transform American economy into an

"ARESENAL OF DEMOCRACY"

BUILDING THE WAR MACHINE

1. Lend-Lease Act already began US shift toward War Economy & War Production Board (WPB) stopped production of “non-essential items” (ex. passenger cars) & shifted to war production
2. Similar to WWI: rationing and victory gardens → The Office of Price Administration (OPA) issued ration books with “points” to each person which had to be turned in along with money to purchase goods made with restricted/”essential” items.
3. War Labor Board (WLB) imposed ceilings on wage increases → unions called for strikes → Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943) allowed government to take over striking industries.Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to monitor compliance with his executive order that forbade discrimination in defense industries → increased African American employment in war industries
4. "Victory Tax" of 1942 sharply raised income tax rates and allowed taxes to be withheld directly from paychecks. Liberty Bonds were sold to finance the war from personal savings, tapping into patriotic fervor

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

• Women filled factory jobs (ex. Rosie the Riveter)

• Nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform: volunteering for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES), the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS), and the Army & Navy Nurses Corps

• At the war’s end, women were forced out by men returning home

• Women veterans were often denied access to benefit programs for veterans like the G.I. Bill.

A WAR ECONOMY

All civilian auto production was halted by February 1942. Any Fords built after that date were sent away to government warehouses or turned over to the military. Despite Henry Ford's anti-war (& anti-Semitic) views, his company contributed significantly to the war effort. By the end of the war, Ford had built over 85,000 complete aircraft, over 55,000 airplane engines, thousands of engine superchargers and generators, and over 4000 military gliders.

NATIONAL DEBT

the US funded its World War II effort largely by raising taxes and tapping into Americans' personal savings. During the War, Americans purchased approximately $186 billion worth of war bonds, accounting for nearly three quarters of total federal spending from 1941-1945

JAPANESE INTERNMENT

• High levels of anti-Japanese sentiment after Pearl Harbor increased by US government propaganda
• Atrocities like Bataan Death March of US POWs added to hatred of Japanese
• Japanese Internment - 10,000 Japanese-Americans on the Pacific Coast forced into camps → authorized by Executive Order 9066
• Economic and racial motives underlie claim of “military necessity.
• The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the internment camps in Korematsu v. US (1944)
• CONNECTION: citizens’ rights infringed upon during wartime & upheld by the SCOTUS like during WWI when Schenck v. US upheld the constitutionality of Espionage & Sedition Acts

After Executive Order 9066, Japanese families removed from the West Coast “exclusion area” were sent to assembly centers, then to more permanent War Relocation Authority camps. The map highlights how incarceration was widespread across the interior West and Midwest, reflecting the scale of this civil liberties violation.

The hypocrisy was clear as America was fighting against the Nazis in Europe but depicting Japanese in similar ways to how the Nazis depicted Jews

MEXICAN AMERICANS IN WWII

• Bracero Program brought in Mexican migrants to fill shortages of farm labor caused by draft
• Continued for 20 years after WWII, becoming a fixed feature of the agricultural economy in many western states

• Zoot Suit Riots - (1943) young “zoot-suit”–wearing Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles were viciously attacked by white sailors
• Order was restored when the Mexican ambassador made an emotional plea, pointing out that such outbreaks made America no better than the Nazis

EXPANDING THE GOVERNMENT

• The Federal government became much more involved in individual citizens' lives during WWII

• Millions worked for Uncle Sam in the armed forces & millions more worked for him in the defense industries

• Employers and unions were monitored by the FEPC and the WLB

• Workers in defense industries’ personal needs were cared for by government-sponsored housing projects, day-care facilities, and health plans.

PROPAGANDA

Iranian Propoganda

Still used today

Iran has been using a propoganda outlet against the American Government and to troll American Leaders for the since the start of the war.