14.3 Life on the Home Front

I. Women & Minorities Gain Ground

A. Women worked in defense plants1. Rosie the Riveter

I. Women & Minorities Gain Ground…

B. Factories resisted hiring African Americans1. A. Philip Randolph organized a march on Washington for jobs2. FDR issued Executive Order 8802, which ended discrimination in defense industries & the govt.

Executive Order 8802 declared “there should be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”

I. Women & Minorities Gain Ground…

C. Through the Bracero Program, the govt. hired Mexicans to work on the farms in the Southwest

Bracero is a Spanish word meaning “worker.” More than 200,000 Mexicans came to the U.S to work on farms during WWII. The program continued until 1964.

II. A Nation on the MoveA. People migrated to find war jobs

1. Greatest short-term migration in U.S. history2. A new industrial region in the SW formed and was called the Sunbelt

More than 20%

Population Decrease

.1%-4.9%

II. A Nation on the Move…

B. Rapid growth of communities with defense plants became known as boomtowns1. Housing was scarce & services were overburdened

“Sidewalks are crowded. Gutters are stacked with litter that drifts back and forth in the brisk spring wind…. Cues (lines) wait outside of movies and lunchrooms. The trailer army has filled all the open lots with its regular ranks. In cluttered backyards people camp out in tents and chicken houses and shelter tacked together out of packing cases.”

- John Dos Passos, State of the Nation, 1944

II. A Nation on the Move…

2. Led to racial violence

Detroit, 1943: Rioting resulted in 34 dead, 700 injured, & $2 million worth of property destroyed

II. A Nation on the Move…

C. In CA, racial tensions became entangled with juvenile delinquency1. Mexican-American teens wore zoot suits2. In order to save fabric for the war, most men wore “victory suits”3. Rioting, known as the Zoot Suit Riots, began when soldiers & sailors attacked Mexican American neighborhoods

A zoot suit was a long jacket with heavily padded shoulders & pleated trousers tapered at the cuffs.

III. Daily Life in WartimeA. To stabilize wages & prices, FDR created the Office of Price

Administration1. Kept inflation under control2. Began a system of rationing to make sure products were available for military use

*Red stamps = meat, cheese, dairy products, etc.

*Blue stamps = vegetables, canned fruits, etc.

Rationing helped to reduce the demand for items such as gasoline.

To learn how to use rationing stamps, these school children set up a booth with charts & products to figure out how to buy needed goods during the war.

RATIONING

III. Daily Life in Wartime…

B. Volunteers planted victory gardens & organized scrap drives

"Well, it was just very difficult to transport fruit and vegetables and everything. Most of it that was raised in California, or wherever they were raised, was going to the troops. So we had to raise our own and bring it into the local grocery store. And, so, another part of the government effort was – they called them Victory Gardens. In the cities, and even in the country, they wanted everybody to have their own garden, to raise their own produce and maybe have enough that somebody that didn't have access to a garden had produce and things, because it wasn't available in the stores... "It was a great morale thing. And for young people like me, it was, you know, I could do my part. I was a part of the effort."

Scrap Drives

Everyday commodities were vital to the war effort, and drives were organized to recycle such things as rubber, tin, waste kitchen fats paper, lumber, and steel.

III. Daily Life in Wartime…

C. To pay for the war, the govt. raised taxes and sold war bonds

For the first time, the government started collecting taxes through monthly payroll deductions.

The public school children of the South-Central District of Chicago purchased $263,148. 83 in war bonds and

stamps...a huge check representing enough money for 125 jeeps, two pursuit planes and a motorcycle.

III. Daily Life in Wartime…D. To keep Americans informed, the govt. created the Office of

War Information1. Encouraged the media & entertainment industry to promote the war

Paper Advertisement

Air Raid Warden

III. Daily Life in Wartime…