Mobilizing for War

Mobilizing for War
 NOTES:
1. Describe 3 or more ways that ordinary
Americans contributed to the war effort.
2. How did the government pay for the war effort?
3. What effect did shortages have on the
economy?
4. Write a journal entry (1-2 paragraphs) detailing
daily life from the point of view of an American
on the home front in the early 1940s.

Mobilization
 Define these terms
 Selective Training & Service Act
 GI
 Office of War Mobilization
 Victory Garden
 Make a list of ways that the U.S.
mobilized for WWII

Setting the Scene
 As early as 1940, FDR was preparing
citizens for war
 He said that Axis nations such as Germany
posed a “direct threat to the security of the
US”
 “We must be the great arsenal of
democracy
 He asked businesses to support Britain’s
defense efforts or face the possibility of war
being waged on US soil

Setting the Scene
 FDR knew that the outcome of the war
in Europe depended on the US’s ability
to produce the following:
 Planes, tanks, guns, uniforms, and other war
materials for the Allies

Mobilizing the Armed
Forces
 FDR knew that building up the military
was key
 Defense spending went from $2 billion
to $10 billion in less than year
 September of 1940, Congress passed
the Selective Training and Service Act
 Required all males aged 21 to 36 to register
for military service
 A limited number of men would be selected
from this pool to serve a year in the army

Four Freedoms
 FDR gave this speech, outlining the
following freedoms that US troops would
be fighting for:
 Freedom of speech and expression
 Freedom of every person to worship God in
his own way
 Freedom from want (need)
 Freedom from fear
 This speech was given January 6, 1941

The GI War
 16 million Americans served
 GI= “Government Issue”
 Far from home
 “What I’d give for a piece of blueberry
pie”

Diversity and Gender in Military
 300,000 Mexican Americans served in
WWII
 25,000 Native Americans
 400 Navajo radio operators=“code talkers”
 500,000 African Americans
 Until 1942, African Americans were limited in
their role
 As casualties increased, they were now
called into more active roles
 Mostly segregated units

Women
 350,000 American women volunteered
for military service
 Officials used women in all areas except
combat
 Clerks, typists, airfield control tower
operators, mechanics, photographers,
drivers, and ferrying planes around the
country

Preparing the Economy for War
 US entered war when production levels
of the other Allies had dropped sharply
 British and Soviet production was
affected by German bombing
 Japanese attacks in Pacific threatened
to shut off rubber, oil, and tin supplies
 FDR pushed industries to move quickly
into the production of war equipment

War Production
 January, 1942: gov’t set up the War
Production Board
 Directed the conversion of peacetime industries
into industries that produced war goods
 Halted production of civilian goods such as cars,
lawn mowers, and many other products
○ Ford Motor Company built B-24 bombers instead
of cars, for example
 Armed forces decided which companies would
receive contracts to manufacture military
hardware

Office of War Mobilization
 Served as a super-agency in the
centralization of resources
 Led by James Byrnes: he was often
called the “assistant president” due to
his decision-making powers
 Some said Byrnes ran the country while
FDR ran the war

Business Incentives
 Government established “cost-plus”
system for military contracts with
businesses
 Military paid development and
production costs
 Also added a percentage of costs as
profit for the manufacturer

Production Levels
 By 1945, the US had produced:
 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
 WOW! That’s a lot of production!
 “There’s a war on you know!”

Wartime Work Force
 Massive unemployment levels dropped due
to need to produce!
 Wages greatly increased as well (50%)
 Union membership rose again: 1.5 million
workers joined unions in 1941
 14.8 million total workers in unions
 Workers and employers agreed to no
strikes during war
 But as cost of living went up, strikes were
more common due to wages not matching
the COL

How does the US pay for the
War?
 US Gov’t vowed to “spend
whatever was necessary” to
sustain the war effort
 Federal spending went from
$8.9 billion in 1939 to $95.2
billion in 1945
 GNP more than doubled in that
time
 Overall spending of federal
gov’t between 1941-1945 was
about $321 billion
 This was 10X as much as was
spent for WWI

How does the US pay for the
War?
 Higher taxes paid for 41% of war costs
 US Gov’t borrowed the rest of the
money from banks, private investors,
and general public
 The US Treasury issued bonds to help
finance war, which brought in $186
billion
 National debt went from $43 billion in
1940 to $259 billion in 1945

Daily life on the Home Front
 30 million moved during war
 Population grew by 7.5 million, high birth
rate, start of the “Baby Boom”
 Better spirits w/ end of Depression

Daily life on the Home Front
 Rationing of goods were put in place
 Other items were just not available
 Metal, nylon, rubber
 Food supply was short of the demand
 Supplies of sugar, tropical fruits, and
coffee were cut off due to enemy
occupation of foreign countries

Office of Price
Administration
 Set up in April 1941
 It’s job was to control inflation by limiting
prices and rents
 Overall, the OPA was successful for the
most part: cost of living rose, but not as
bad as in WWI
 Also oversaw rationing of goods such as:
 Meat, butter, sugar, coffee, canned fruit, shoes,
gas
 Consumers had coupon books with points to
use

Mobilizing for War

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (9)

Similar to Mobilizing for War

Similar to Mobilizing for War (20)

More from kbeacom

More from kbeacom (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Mobilizing for War