A5ACVA The United States From the 1930s lecture 2

The United States at War: The Home Front during World War II

Part One. Entering the War, Mobilizing the Nation

1/ Mobilizing Troops
--At first neutrality of the war: in spite of the Lend Lease Act in March 1941 allocating $7
billion to Britain to help toward its war effort.
--After the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, the US fully entered the
war and quickly shifted to a war economy.
--American men were inducted into military service through the Selective Service Agency
established by President Roosevelt in September 1940.
--Propaganda about US involvement was conducted through the Office of War Information
(OWI) created in June 1942, which produced films, posters, and radio broadcasts, assisted by
advertising agencies.
2/ Conversion to a War Economy
--The government convinced the industry to change to a war economy (to make weapons,
tanks, ammunition, and so forth). The federal government provided incentives for firms that
produced for the war. This switch often benefitted larger well-established firms.
--The government controlled food distribution and prices through the National Defense
Advisory Committee in May 1940, which included the Office of Price Administration
(OPA) as of May 1941.
3/ A Mobilized Nation of Workers and Families
--Thanks to the conversion to a war economy, many jobs were created and the work force
expanded tremendously; by 1943 the unemployment rate had decreased to 1.3 % (compared
to about 25% during the Great Depression); unions grew and wages increased, thus creating
unparalleled prosperity. Consumption of nondurable goods increased. More Americans were
able to buy a house.
--Cities expanded: 6 million Americans left farm areas to join the military and for better
paying jobs in urban areas.

Part Two. A Transformed Nation: Women and Ethno-Racial Minorities

1/ American Women
--Due to the lack of jobs in the 1930s (Great Depression), American women had been
encouraged to retreat to the home. At the beginning of the war, many women still worked in
factories and in service jobs, but as a whole they were now encouraged to replace the men
who were fighting in Europe and the Pacific in large numbers (image number 1). Middle-
class women especially were targeted by propaganda and asked to work in factories. There
was a 57% increase in the number of women in the labor force.
--400,000 women joined the military, mostly in service jobs as clerical workers and nurses for
example.
--Propaganda and advertising mostly convinced women that their major role was to take care
of their home and family while their husband and father were away (see image number 2).
Image number 1: 1943 par P.G. Harris. Bureau of Employment Security

Image number 2: Poster by A. Parker, Office of War Information, 1943

2/ African Americans
--When the war started, African Americans still faced segregation (strictly enforced in the
South), discrimination, and harassment.
--75% of African Americans worked in poorly-paid service jobs or as farm workers. 75% also
still lived in the rural South. Their migration to American cities in the North and West
increased during the war. Thanks to new job opportunities in the defense industry their
unemployment rate decreased even though they were still often employed in lower position
and still barred from joining some unions.
--Black soldiers also had to endure discrimination in the Armed Forces.
--African Americans reacted to persisting discrimination with the short-lived “Double V”
campaign launched by the Black newspaper Pittsburgh Courier in February 1942; it was
meant to encourage the nation to fight fascism abroad and discrimination and segregation at
home. Blacks also planned a major march on Washington in 1941(image number 3) but the
march was cancelled when President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which
established the first Fair Employment Practices Committee (on June 25).

Image number 3: The March on Washington Movement 1941

(source: www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/march-washington-movement-1941...)

3/ Other Ethno-Racial Minorities

--Japanese Americans fared less well than African Americans. After the attack by Japanese
planes on Pearl Harbor, suspicion developed towards Americans of Japanese origin. The
government finally decided to evacuate all West Coast Japanese, citizens and noncitizens
alike, from their homes through Executive Order 9066 signed by the president in February
1942. The War Relocation Authority (WRA) forcibly moved 110,000 people (out of
127,000) to relocation camps.
--Latinos faced discrimination even if the war provided them with better job opportunities in
cities, which led to a growing rate of urbanization for Puerto Ricans and Mexicans.
--Due to labor shortages in agriculture, the US government signed an agreement with the
Mexican government in 1942 to import several hundred thousand farmhands from Mexico
through what has been known as the bracero program.
--From the 1920s, American Jews had had to withstand discriminatory practices (in hiring
and school enrolment). They created programs and aid societies to help European Jews but
their effort were limited due to anti-Semitism, including in the government, and to restrictions
on immigration still in effect at the time (National Origins Act of 1924).