1 Mobilization Section 18.1. 2 Mobilizing the Armed Forces FDR realizes (before U.S. entry) that we must strengthen the armed forces –Selective Service.

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Mobilization Mobilization

Section 18.1Section 18.1

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Mobilizing the Armed Forces

• FDR realizes (before U.S. entry) that we must strengthen the armed forces– Selective Service Act (1940): required all

males aged 21-36 to register for military service

– Increased Defense spending from $2 billion to $10 billion

– “Four Freedoms speech”: prepared Americans for the possibility of war and what we should be fighting for

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Freedom of Speech Freedom to Worship

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Freedom from want

Freedom from fear

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Who is the army?• GI: “Government Issue” – +16 million

serve in military– 300,000 Mexican Americans

– 25,000 Native Americans (“Code Talkers”)

– 1 million African Americans – most had “supporting roles”• End of the war (1944) AA’s are placed in

combat positions• Tuskegee Airmen – 1st African American

flying unit

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Tuskegee Airmen

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U.S. Economy

• FDR had to coordinate the businesses to meet Allied demands– War Production Board (WPB):

directed the conversion of peacetime industries to wartime industries

– Office of War Mobilization: served as a “super agency”; coordinated all production of wartime resources

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Examples

• Ford made B-24 Liberator bombers (used assembly line to mass produce)

• Henry Kaiser used mass production techniques in shipbuilding – cut time down from 200 days to 40 days – “Liberty Ships”

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How do you motivate a business to change?

• “Cost-Plus” system (military contract): Military paid development and production costs and added a percentage of costs as profit for the manufacturer

• Pride and patriotism also motivated many businesses

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Production

• By the end of 1945:– 300,000 airplanes– 80,000 landing craft– 100,000 tanks and armored cars– 5,600 merchant ships– 6 million rifles, carbines and machine

guns– 41 billion rounds of ammunition

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Financing the War

• U.S. gov’t. vowed to spend whatever was necessary

• Federal spending increased from $8.9 billion/yr. (1939) to $95.2 billion/yr. (1945)

• Overall, 1941-1945, gov’t. spent $321 billion – 10x as much as WWI

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How do you pay for a costly war?

• 41% of the war paid by higher taxes

• Borrowed money from banks, private investors, and war bonds ($186 billion)

• Deficit spending help pull U.S. out of depression– Also, boosted national debt from $43

billion to $259 billion

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Daily Life on the Home Front

• Nearly everyone had a relative/ friend in the war

• Population grew by 7.5 million (nearly double the rate of the 1930’s)– Baby Boomers

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Shortages & Controls

• Shortages and rationing limited the goods that people could buy– Metal from zippers could make guns

– Rubber from bike tires made army truck tires

– Nylon stockings could make parachutes

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Food Shortages

• Food was needed for the military

• Also, enemy occupied territories cut off shipping to the U.S. (ex. Sugar, fruit, coffee…)

• Office of Price Controls (OPC): controlled inflation by limiting price and rents

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Rationing

• Rationing: a fair distribution of scarce items– OPA assigned point values to items

such as sugar, coffee, meat, butter, canned fruit, and shoes

– Issued ration books of coupons – once you used up the points, you couldn’t receive anymore

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Ration Coupons

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Pop Culture

• What do you spend your money on since you can’t buy “scarce” items?– Books and magazines

– Recordings of popular songs

– Go to a baseball game

– Go to the movies • 60% of the population (growth of movie

stars)

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Enlisting Public Support

• FDR creates the Office of War Information to boost public morale– Created posters and ads that stirred

patriotic feelings• Victory gardens: home vegetable garden

planted to add to the home food supply – instead of buying farm produce that went to the military

• Recycled scrap metal, paper, etc.

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