The American Home FrontDecember 7, 1941 - 1945

Battle of the Atlantic

• First and Second Happy Time:• Axis submarines attack US

merchant shipping• Germany:“The American

Shooting Season”• American defense:

weak/disorganized• Germany inflicted massive

damage with little risk• Allied Losses:36,200 sailors,

36,00 seamen, 3,500 merchant vessels, 175 warships

Enlistment and Patriotism• Pre-attack: America

not prepared for an all out war • 300,000 men.

• Pearl Harbor• Government is

overwhelmed by the number that enlist.

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2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

16,000,000

Pre-Attack After

U.S. Military

ALL AMERICANS FOUGHT• Broke down cultural

barriers• Despite discrimination at

home, minority populations contributed to the war effort:

• 1,000,000 African Americans

• 300,000 Mexican-Americans

• 33,000 Japanese Americans• 25,000 Native Americans• 13,000 Chinese Americans

These “Golden 13” Great Lakes officers scored the highest marks ever on the

Officers exam in 1944

Women in the War Effort

• Took over many jobs for servicemen, most notably in heavy industry

• Some joined the military• Altered family life, brought

several drawbacks• Service Opportunity:

• “Women’s Army Corps”• “Women Accepted

for Voluntary Emergency Service”• “Women’s Airforce Service Pilots”

A poster urging women to take manufacturing jobs to

help the war effort

Office of War Information (1942)

• Coordinated release of war news

• Promoted patriotism• Tried to recruit women

into factory work• Propaganda program

abroad• The Voice of America

Patch worn by Office or War Information personnel

Government propagandists sometimes used fear and racial slurs in order to convey their message

Wartime Propaganda Posters

Financing the War• U.S. spent more than $321

billion (more than $3 trillion today)

• National debt skyrocketed• More Americans required to

pay income taxes• War-bond sales raised

needed revenue• $185 billion + sold• businesses, banks, and

civilians• High interest rates

Posters such as these sought to convince Americans that they should help the war effort and stop the enemy by buying war bonds

War Bonds: Posters

Office of Price Administration• Purpose: limit wartime

inflation• ceiling prices for goods

• Rationed scarce goods and consumer staples

• Rationing stopped at end of war

• Dissolved in 1947

Contributions

• Rationing• sugar, coffee, shoes, meats, and

cereals• war bonds: borrowed money

from its own people to help with the war• Help Allies while the U.S.

prepared• Farms were producing as

much food as possible. • food went to British and

Russian soldiers and citizens.

Victory Gardens

A government poster promoting Victory Gardens

• Government urged citizens to grow fruits and vegetables

• Eased food shortages caused by rationing

• Nearly 20 million started gardens

• More than nine million tons of produces

Each family received ration books (left) and stamps (above) for

determining its monthly allotment.

Rationing: Books and Stamps

COLLECTION DRIVES

Shift in Production

• Peace time production to war time production

• GM, Ford, and Chrysler went from creating cars to tanks.

• Boeing from regular airplanes to bombers and fighter jets.

• Gun makers like Colt, from hunting rifles to machine guns, flamethrowers, war rifles.

War Production• U.S. producing

weapons faster than anticipated

• In 1 month:• up to 4,000 tanks • 4,500 planes.

• Ship production also increased • protected our coasts

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Before After

Ship and Submarine Production

Ships andSubs

War Production Board• Purpose: Ensure military had

resources • Directed industrial output• Prohibited nonessential business

activities• Allocated raw materiel

• Scrap drives • Collection of waste and scrap goods

for war use• Materiel included iron, aluminum,

paper• Waste cooking fats for making

glycerin

A “War Educational Bulletin” produced

by the War Production Board

The government used posters and publicity pictures of celebrities such as Rita Hayworth (right) to encourage citizens to recycle scrap items.

Scrap Drives: Posters

Labor in the US: An Unintended Benefit

• By1944• 18 million workers were laboring

in war industries (3x the # in 1941)

• More than 6 million were women• Only 3 million worked prior• Pre-War: Mainly housewives• During War: 1/3 in defense

industry• Lost jobs after the war ended

• Nearly 2 million were minorities0

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Before After

Women

The War’s Economic Impact• Nominal GDP more than doubled• Wages and salaries nearly tripled• Federal civilian employment more

than tripled• Female employment up by a third• Labor union membership grew by

over 50 percent• National debt ballooned by over 600

percent

Geographic Shifts in the Economy• South saw great

prosperity • Millions of jobs in textiles,

chemicals, and aluminum• Southern shipyards and

aircraft plants grew• West became economic

powerhouse• California especially

benefited from federal expenditures

An Army sentry guards new B-17 F (Flying Fortress)

bombers at the airfield of Boeing's Seattle plant