Transcript Slide 1
A. Military Mobilization Enlistment in the Military • Draft Reinstated • This time they were screened • Became known as “GIs” • 13 million men served Women in the Service • • WAC & WAVES formed as auxiliary units Jobs: – – – – Medical Aid Pilots Cryptography Administrative Duties Minorities in the Service African Americans • 1 million served in segregated noncombat units • Faced Discrimination • Tuskegee Airmen – 332nd Fighter Group Minorities in the Service Native Americans • Over 25,000 served • Served as “Code Talkers” • Most famous were the Navajo Navajo Code Talkers B. Economic Mobilization Office for War Mobilization (OWM) • In charge of coordinating all of the new war agencies War Production Board • Regulated the production and allocation of materials and fuel • It rationed such things as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubber, and plastics Office of War Information • “Informed” people about the war • Used the press, radio, and film industry Financing the War • $250 million per day to fight • Beginning of National Debt • 1941 - $49 billion → 1945 - $259 billion 2/5 was pay as we go, 3/5 was borrowed • Ways that the war was financed: – Taxes: 1941 – 4 million tax returns filed 1945 – 50 million tax returns filed – War Bonds: Over $185.7 billion sold because of effective propaganda campaign Effect on the Economy • Factories operated around the clock for 7 days a week, but are producing less consumer goods than are demanded • Shift to defense spending which would continue until the end of the Cold War • Created a shift in the population to the “Sunbelt” region (CA & some areas of the South) Women & Rosie the Riveter • Over 5 million women went to work • Rosie propaganda encouraged women to work • Industrial jobs were just a variation of domestic tasks • Still earned less than men • Forced back into homes after war Other New Workers • Bracero Program (1942): brought 200,000 Mexicans into the U.S for short-term employment Bracero Workers War Labor Board • Sought to maintain relations between workers and management • Union membership increased to 30% of industrial workers • 1943 United Mine Workers Strike prompted more government action John L. Lewis Smith-Connolly Antistrike Act (1943) • Gave the President the authority to end strikes • Gov’t could take control of mines or penalize the strikers C. Controlling Inflation The Inflation Problem ↑ employment = ↑$ ↑$ + ↓Consumer goods = INFLATION Office of Price Administration (OPA) • Created to deal with inflation • Froze prices and rent • Rationed scarce supplies Types of Rationing • Certificate: Apply for permission to buy a product • If approved you got a certificate • Coupon: Families were issued coupon books to buy more common items • No coupon, no buying Volunteerism & Recycling • Americans voluntarily gave up some goods to help the war effort • Recycling began to conserve resources • Anti-Inflation measures were successful – WWI inflation was 170% – WWII inflation was 29% D. Discrimination in America African-Americans: Double V Campaign • Allied victory abroad & civil rights victory at home • Led by A. Phillip Randolph • March on Washington Movement 1941 Executive Order 8802 • Established the Fair Employment Practices Committee • Ended discrimination in the defense industry • 1st federal law to promote equal opportunities Race Riots • Tensions in cities • Violence plagued 47 cities • Detroit 1942: worst race riot Mexican-Americans and the Zoot Suit Riots (1943) • Young MexicanAmericans wore clothing called “Zoot Suits” • June 1943 violence erupted between the sailors and Zoot Suiters E. Japanese Internment American View of Japanese-Americans 1942 Executive Order 9066 • Japanese on the West Coast seen as potential spies • February 19, 1942 FDR orders all JapaneseAmericans (Issei & Niesi) to “relocation camps” • Over 110,000 Japanese-Americans rounded up Santa Anita Assembly Center The Camps • 10 Locations in 7 states Korematsu v. the United States (1944) • Supreme Court decision that upheld the internment of the Japanese as constitutional Greatest Civil Rights Violation • $105 million of farmland lost • $500 million in yearly income lost • Unknown amounts of personal property • No act of sabotage ever proven against the internees Reparations and Apology • 1988 – Reagan finally apologizes • 1990 – Congress authorizes $20,000 to each surviving internee