Life on t he Home Front

Life on the Home FrontRachael Leonard

Tiffany YoungKenneth Hondl

Women and Minorities Gain Ground

The war finally ended the great depression

Mobilizing the economy created almost 19 million new jobs and nearly doubled the average families income

families had to move to where the defensive factories were located

Housing conditions were terrible Workers worked 90 hours per week

Under pressure to produce, employers began to recruit women and minorities

2.5 million women worked in shipyards, aircraft factories, and other manufacturing plants

The success of women permanently changers American’s attitudes about women in the workplace

Although factories were hiring women they resisted hiring African Americans

A Philip Randolph- the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Randolph informed Roosevelt that he was arranging African Americans to march on Washington to secure jobs

Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25,1941which declared that there should be no discrimination in employment in defensive industries or government

Bracero Program- a program of Mexican farm workers

Bracero- a spanish word meaning workers

The government arranged for the Mexican farm workers to help with the harvest

A Nation on the Move To get to the jobs, 15 million Americans

moved during the war The growth of southern California and the

expansion of cities in the Deep South created a new industrial region- The Sunbelt

In 1942 Roosevelt created the National Housing Agency to coordinate (to bring into common action) all government housing

In southern California, racial tensions mixed with juvenile delinquency

Racism against Mexican Americans and the fear of juvenile crime became linked because of the “zoot suit”

Zoot suits- consisted of baggy, pleated pants, an overstuffed knee length jacket with wide lapels and sometimes a wide-brimmed hat

Victory suits- a suit with no vests, no cuffs, a short jacket, and narrow lapels

In June 1943, after hearing rumors that zoot-suiters had attacked several sailors, about 2,500 soldiers and sailors attacked Mexican American neighborhoods in Los Angles

After Pearl harbor many Americans turned their anger on Japanese American citizens

On February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed an order allowing the War Department to declare any part of the United states a military zone and to remove people from that zone

He must of felt justified (to prove or show to be just) when 4 days later a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of California and shelled an oil refinery

On December 8, 1941 Roosevelt proclaimed that unnaturalized people14 or older of German and Italian decent were designated as alien enimies

They were subject to government regulations such as travel restrictions, being forced to carry an identification card, and the seizure or personal property

Daily Life in Wartime The president worried about inflation,

to stabilize wages and prices he created the Office of Economic Stabilization (OES) which regulated wages and the price of farm products

He also created the Office of Price Administration (OPA) which regulated all other prices

The War Labor Board (WLB) worked to prevent strikes, by the end of the war they had helped settle more than 17,000 disputes

Rationing- limiting the purchase of many products to make sure enough were available for the war effort

A person from each household picked up a book of rationing coupons every month

The coupons consisted of red points, blue points, and miscellaneous coupons

Red points controlled meats, fats, and oils Blue points controlled processed foods Miscellaneous coupons controlled items

such as coffee, shoes, and sugar Victory Gardens- gardens planted to

produce more food for the effort Certain raw materials were so vital to

the war effort that the government organized scrap drives

To earn more ration coupons you could exchange bacon grease and meat drippings, this helped with the scrap drives

The federal government spent more than $300 billion during WW2

To raise money the government raised taxes, congress refused to raise taxes as high as Roosevelt wanted

As a result taxes collected only covered 45% of the wars cost

The government issued war bonds to make up the difference, individuals bought nearly $50 billion worth of war bonds, institutions bought the rest more than $100 billion worth

Hollywood Goes to War In 1942 Roosevelt created the Office of War

Information (OWI) The OWI’s mission was to improve the publics

understanding of the war Created guidelines for various forms of media The Donald Duck cartoon Der Fuehrer’s Face

was one of the media that followed these guidelines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LYD0Fzf1LU

Question 1

Workers worked an average of how many hours per week?

› 90 hours

Question 2

Executive Order 8802 declared what?

› There should be no discrimination in employment in defensive industries and government

Question 3

The ____________ was designed to coordinate all government housing.

› National Housing Agency

Question 4 On December 8, 1941, Roosevelt

proclaimed that unnaturalized people 14 or older of ______ and _______ decent were designated enemy aliens

› German, Italian

Question 5

______ ________ controlled processed foods› Blue points

Question 6

Certain raw materials were so vital to the war effort that the government organized ______ ______

› Scrap drives

Question 7

To earn more ration coupons you could exchange _______ ______ and ______ _________.

› Bacon grease/ meat drippings

Question 8

______ _________ controlled meats, fats, and oils.

› Red points

Question 9

Mobilizing the economy created almost ___________ new jobs.

› 19 million

Question 10

2.5 million ________ worked in shipyards, aircraft factories, and other manufacturing plants.

› women