America Gets Ready For War!

America Gets Ready For War!

FDR and the US after Pearl Harbor: “Dr. New Deal Becomes Dr. Win the

War”

Pearl Harbor gives FDR new powers

War Powers Act (December, 1941) FDR is given complete

authority Supreme Court justice

James F. Byrnes chosen to head the Office of War Mobilization (OWM)

Hundreds of new agencies set up to control every part of American life

The military grows Only 1.6 million Americans

in the military before Pearl Harbor; 16 million men recruited after

350,000 women served in WACS, WAVES, SPARS

The Pentagon: the world’s largest building opens in 1942; 35,000 employees

Calling All Volunteers! Office of Civilian

Defense (OCD) “An hour a day for the

USA” Air raid wardens Victory Gardens:

produced 40% of all veggies

Scrap metal/rubber/newspaper collections

War and Industry

“If you are going to try to go to war in a capitalist country you have to let business make money out of the process or business won’t work.”

–Secretary of War Henry Stimson

War Production Board (WPB)Established in Jan. 1942

1. Allocate scarce materials to industry 2. Require companies to produce war supplies instead of

civilian goods3. Make war profitable for corporations

guaranteed profitstax write-offs

no prosecutions for anti-trust violationsExamples: Car factories make planes and tanks Merry-go-round factory makes guns Pinball-machine factory makes bullets

The miracle of production In 1941, only 15% of industrial production was for

military purposes; by June, 1942 over HALF! The U.S. makes more war supplies than all of the Axis

nations combined (Twice as much as Germany, five times as much as Japan)

Factories run 24 hrs/day, 7 days/wk. 300,000 military aircraft, 86,000 tanks, 2.6 million

machine guns, 6 million tons of bombs, 86,000 warships New technologies: synthetic rubber, faster processes

for building ships, etc.

The transformation of America FDR: “Something is happening that Adolf Hitler does not

understand… it is the miracle of production.” Stalin: “To American production, without which this war

would have been lost.” The largest 100 corporations received 70% of the

contracts; 500,000 small businesses closed Southwestern “Sunbelt” grows in population; “boomtowns” 60 new military bases in the South, the Manhattan Project

in Tennessee, etc.

The rise of the Sunbelt

More numbers… 17 million new jobs; overtime for everyone Gross national product (GNP) increases

from $90.5 billion in 1939 to $211.9 billion in 1945

Crop prices double between 1940 and 1945 Inflation: 15%+

Paying for the war

The U.S. spends $250 million a day on the war!Federal budget grows: $9 billion in 1940 (Defense spending: 9% of GNP) $98 billion in 1945 (Defense spending: 46% of GNP)

War bond sales: $40 billion sold to small investors, $80 billion to companies and the wealthy

Revenue Act of 1942: payroll deduction system created; top tax rate raised to 94% in 1944 (today, the highest is 35% if you make over $373,650)

Office of Price Administration (OPA)

Established in Apr.1942 Imposed price controls on products to stop

the massive inflation brought on by higher incomes and a lack of consumer goods

Rationing program: gas, coffee, sugar, butter, cheese, meat, etc.

Putting the people to work

War Manpower Commission (WMC) Directed the mobilization of workers

National War Labor Board (NWLB) Settled disputes between labor unions and corporations,

stopped strikes

Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) Halted discrimination in defense industries and government-

benefited African Americans and women (6 million new female workers)

Strong unions: wages of workers increase 50%; paid vacation time, health benefits, pensions, long workweeks, overtime pay