MOBILIZING FOR WAR

Going to War Young Americans were eager to go to

war 5 million volunteers not enough;

Selective Service provided another 10 million soldiers

Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps- women volunteers allowed to serve in non-combat positions Nurses, ambulance drivers, radio

operators, electricians, pilots

Labor Contribution Factories switch to producing war

materials Tanks, boats, planes

Women filled jobs left by men Minorities faced strong prejudice

A. Philip Randolph- organized march on Washington to protest discrimination

Double V Campaign- Victory over Fascism Abroad & Discrimination at Home

Federal Government Takes Control Office of Price Administration- fought inflation

by freezing prices on most goods Inflation remained below 30% for most of war

War Production Board- decided which companies would convert from peacetime to wartime production & allocated raw materials to key industries

Rationing- establishing fixed allotments of goods deemed essential for the military Ration books for goods such as shoes, meat, coffee,

gasoline Most Americans accepted rationing as their personal

contribution to the war effort

Discrimination

African American “Great Migration” out of the south into the north and west Leads to racial violence in cities

“Zoot Suit Riots”- violence against Mexican Americans Mobs openly attacked Mexican

Americans

Japanese-American Internment US citizens feared that Japanese living

in US would attack prejudice against Japanese Americans

Internment=confinement; FDR signed an order requiring the removal of all people of Japanese ancestry into internment or “relocation” camps

110,000 Japanese Americans were sent to these camps Most were American-born

Japanese-American Internment Abandoned their homes, businesses,

and all of their belongings Korematsu v. United States- Supreme

Court decided that the government’s policy of evacuating Japanese Americans to camps was justified on the basis of “military necessity”

1988- US promised $20,000 to every Japanese American sent to an internment camp