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!