U.S. Homefront (1941- 1945) Booby TrapsSpies. Converting American industry to wartime production. Mandatory: rationing programs, recycling campaigns,

U.S. Homefront

(1941-1945)

Booby Traps Spies

• Converting American industry to wartime production.

• Mandatory: rationing programs, recycling campaigns, government control of media and all wartime industries.

Mobilization

Government Control of the Economy(1942 – 1945)

Agencies and Laws What the Regulation Did

Office of Price Administration (OPA)

Froze prices, wages, rents, rationed foods

Department of Treasury

Issued war bonds for the war effort and to fight inflation

Revenue Act of 1942

Raised personal income tax rate to 88%Added lower and middle income Americans to tax rolls

War Bond Drives•As in WW I the federal government raised money by selling war bonds using Hollywood celebrities.

•Eight war bond drives that raised $150 billion

War Bond Drives

SUPERHEROES TO THE RESCUE

Office of Price Administration

(OPA)

“Mandatory rationing”

Ration books Carpooling

Victory Gardens

Office of Price Administration

Propaganda Campaign

As in WW I, a propaganda campaign portrayed our enemies in negative terms if German and racist terms if Japanese

“V” for VICTORY Hollywood’s Contribution

The Office of War Information controlled news about the war.

• Hollywood mobilization• Training films • All movies, radio, and

popular music supported a cheerful, patriotic view of the war.

SNAFU

SAFTEY FIRST

•Warnings to our troops about sexually transmitted diseases to cut down on men being inactive at the front lines.

Mandatory Rationing

•All Americans received a ration book.•Coupons inside allowed you to get sugar,

salt, meat, car tires, gasoline, etc.

Victory GardensVictory Gardens

Carpooling

War Production Board (WPB)

• Convert from peacetime to wartime production.

• Nationwide recycling campaigns:

1. Scrap metal2. Cooking oil3. Tin cans4. Rags5. Paper

Minorities During WW IIROSIE THE RIVETER

• 6,000,000 women in war industries

• Earned 60% as much as men

• Jobs- welders, riveters, metal fabrication

• Like during World War I, women worked at traditional male jobs

WOMEN IN THE

MILITARY

• Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)In 1942, the auxiliary status was dropped and female soldiers received full benefits and salary equal to male soldiers.

Other Minorities During WW II

• Minorities forced into segregated units.

• One million African-American joined

• 300,000 Mexican-Americans

• 33,000 Japanese Americans (Nisei fought mainly in Italy/Europe)

• 25,000 Native Americans (Navajo wind talkers in Pacific Theater)

FDR issued Executive Order 9066 (executive orders are issued by a president for issues that Congress has not or will not deal with)

• The War Relocation Authority interned 100,000 Japanese Americans.

• 10 relocation camps were set up in 6 western states and in Arkansas.

• These were minimum security prisons for Isei and Nisei Japanese Americans.

Japanese InternmentJapanese Internment

Internment is the incarceration of a group of people deemed a threat by the federal government in time of war.

The Supreme Court ruled in Korematsu v. U.S. (June, 1944) and several other cases that the relocation camps were a military necessity.

Scientists Mobilize

• Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) – scientists pioneering

technological advances• Manhattan Project

– secret program to create the atomic weapon•J. Robert Oppenheimer

I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. J. Robert Oppenheimer

The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country. J. Robert Oppenheimer

When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb. J. Robert Oppenheimer

New Technology from World War II

Technology Military Use Peacetime Use

Semiconductors Navigation Transistors, radios, electronics

Computers Code breaking Software programs, video games

Freeze-dried food Soldier’s rations TV dinners, space shuttle rations

Synthetic materials Parachutes, tires, weapons parts

Telephones, pacemakers, automobile fenders

Radar Tracking and Surveillance

Weather tracking, air traffic control

THE GI BILL

• 10 million soldiers coming home after WWII.– Want jobs back

and want to start a family.

– GI Bill of Rights ‘44 •Offered tuition for education, and low interest loans for homes.