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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) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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
emergency authority to create new executive agencies, establish trade controls, initiate defense contracts, and censor information
Supreme Court justice James F. Byrnes chosen to head the Office of War Mobilization (OWM) and become his “assistant president” ->
The military grows Only 1.6 million
Americans in the military before Pearl Harbor; 16 million men recruited after
350,000 women served in WAC (Women’s Air Corps), WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service in the Navy)
Reorganizing for battle Joint Chiefs of Staff:
Army, Navy, Army Air Force
Pentagon opens in 1942 (world’s largest building)
Office of Strategic Services: intelligence activities in foreign countries
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
Prior to Pearl Harbor, only 15% of industrial output was for the military.
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 profits (cost-plus system)no prosecutions for anti-trust
violationsExamples: Car factories make planes and tanks
Merry-go-round factory makes gunsPinball-machine factory makes bullets
The miracle of production The U.S. makes twice as many war supplies than all of
the Axis nations combined 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 (6 months down to 2 weeks), etc. By June 1942, over HALF of everything produced in
America is for the war!
Science and technology “The wizard war” Synthetic rubber Office of Scientific Research and Development Sonar and radar Rockets Jets High-altitude bomb sights DDT and insecticides Penicillin mass production MASH units (Mobile Auxiliary Surgical Hospital) The Manhattan Project
The transformation of America “Something is happening that Adolf Hitler does
not understand… it is the miracle of production.” The largest 100 corporations received 70% of the
contracts; 500,000 small businesses closed 10% of all defense spending in California; the
southwest grows in population due to defense jobs
60 new military bases in the South, the Manhattan Project in Tennessee
The rise of the Sunbelt
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) $100 billion in 1945 (Defense spending: 46% of GNP)
War bond sales: $135 billion
Revenue Act of 1942: top tax rate raised to 90%; corporate taxes raised to 40%; by 1945 the federal government took in 20 times the taxes that it received in 1940; payroll deduction system introduced; 5% “Victory Tax” added on top of all incomes over $624.
Office of Price Administration (OPA) Established in Apr.1942; mainly to reduce
demand and limit inflation Imposed price controls on products to stop the
massive inflation brought on by higher incomes and a lack of consumer goods
Freezes on prices, rents, wages Rationing program: gas, coffee, sugar, butter,
cheese, meat, tires, etc. Victory gardens, recycling cooking grease,
scrap metal collection
Putting the people to work
War Manpower Commission (WMC) Directed the mobilization of workers to ensure adequate labor supply
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
Later, the Smith-Connally Act (1943) gives FDR the power to seize factories/mines if war production was threatened by strikes; 30 days notice before a strike
An hour a day for the USA! Office of Civilian Defense: civilian defense
in case of a direct attack on American soil; air raid drills, first aid instruction, fire prevention, etc.
Thought Control?
Office of Censorship All letters going overseas examined Worked with publishers and broadcasters to
suppress information No photos of American dead or wounded for first
two years until “necessary” Employed 14,000 people
Office of Facts and Figures: agency that monitored the patriotic content of newspapers
Propaganda Office of War Information (OWI) June 1942
Employed 4,000 artists, writers, and advertising experts
Created propaganda to inspire the American people to keep working and buy war bonds
Movies, songs, posters, cartoons, comics, newspapers, advertisements, radio shows all encouraged patriotism and a cheerful view of the war
Hollywood stars, musicians, and athletes Make sure you do the homework!
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