Transcript Ch 20, Sec 3: Life on the Home Front

Ch 20, Sec 3: Life on the Home
Front
Positive Effects of the War
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Ended the Great Depression
19 million jobs created
Doubled family income
Women and minorities
got jobs
Women in the Defense Plants
• Went into factories for the first time
• Single and married women got jobs
• Rosie the Riveter
– Poster child for female workers
– Started as a song about a worker
who’s boyfriend was a Marine in
the war
• 2.5 million workers in factories
• 4 million workers in clerical jobs
African Americans Demand War Work
• Factories only hired women
• A. Philip Randolph organized 510,000 African Americans to
march on Washington
• Pres. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 8802 which
made it illegal to not hire
someone based on race, creed,
color, or national origins
Bracero Program
• Shortage of farmers during the war
• FDR allowed 200,000 Mexicans to come to the
U.S. for work in the SW
• Farmers and built/fixed railroads
• 1942-1964
Where to go for jobs?
• Midwest-factories and assembly plants
• Northeast-shipyards
• South and West-”Sunbelt” for farming and a
rise in industrialization
• 15 million people moved for work
Housing Crisis
• Not enough houses/apartments for new
workers
• Fed. Gov’t gave $1.2 billion to cities to build
housing, schools, and community centers
– 2 million people lived in these homes
• City development explosion
Racial Violence
• Detroit 1943-African American and white girls
got into a fight which led to a city-wide riot
• Zoot Suit Riots-Mexican American boys were
targeted due to their suits in California
– Considered unpatriotic b/c of the amount of cloth
in their suits when compared to the “victory suits”
– Blamed for an attack
on sailors
Anti-Japanese Feelings
• Their houses/businesses were attacked
• Could not get food, supplies, or money
• Newspapers printed stories about Japanese spies
in the U.S.
• Led to a call for their removal on the West Coast
Japanese American
Relocation
• Executive Order 9066
• Made West Coast a
military zone
• Allowed anyone to be removed and placed
into 10 internment camps
• Korematsu v. the U.S.
– Fred Korematsu sued for his freedom and lost in
the Supreme Court due to the relocation being a
military urgency and not based on race.
Japanese Americans in the War
• 1945-Japanese Americans were released
• 442nd Regimental Combat Team-all Japanese
battalion
• JACL-Japanese American Citizens League-helped
Japanese Americans get their property back after
the war
• 1988-Pres. Reagan
apologized/gave
survivors $20,000 each
Problems at Home During the War
• Rise in prices of everyday goods
• Short on supplies
• How to pay for supplies was an issue
Office of Price Administration and
Office of Economic Stabilization
• OES-regulated wages and the price of farm
products
• OPA-regulated all other prices
• Kept inflation from taking off
War Labor Board
• Tried to prevent strikes
• Unions promised not to strike
• WLB acted as a middleman to prevent strikes
in 17,000 disputes and 12 million workers
Rationing Started
• Limited the availability of
products so the military
could get them
• Ex: Sugar, meat, gas, rubber
• Speed limits set to 35 mph to save on gas
• Ration books were handed out to families
– Red coupons-buy meat, fats, and oils
– Blue coupons-buy processed foods
– Other coupons-buy coffee, sugar, and gas
Victory Gardens and Scrap Drives
• Victory Gardens planted all
over cities and in backyards
• Scrap Drives were set up in
large cities
• Collected metals, rubber, and
anything broken that could be
used for war materials
• Oils and fats collected to use
in explosives and were given
extra stamps
Paying for the War
• $300 billion spent on the war
• Raised taxes-covered 45% of the
war costs
• War bonds:
– E-Bond-$18.75 each and could be
turned in 10 yrs later for $25
– $50 billion were sold to individuals
– $100 billion sold to banks, insurance
companies, and individual factories