25.4 The Impact of the War

Lesson Objective: to understand the social and economic changes in the United States after the conclusion of the Second World War

Essential Question: What were the domestic effects of WWII?

Key Terms

• GI Bill of Rights• James Farmer• Congress of Racial Quality (CORE)• Japanese American Citizens League

Economic Opportunity• Economic Gains

• Defense spending lowered unemployment – 1.2% in 1944• 70% increase in average weekly pay• Many were able to save and invest much of what they earned• Farming boomed – opposite of the depression

• Good weather and high demand• Women were employed in record numbers – over 6 million

• With so many men fighting women worked in fields traditionally for men• “Rosie the riveter” • Most lost their jobs after the war

• Population Shifts• People moved for war related work • Some towns and cities nearly doubled in population• Cities with large defense industries grew rapidly (DC, San Fran,

Seattle)• African Americans moved out of the South to Northern and Western

cities • Created a housing shortage in many places

Social Adjustments• Family life was interrupted by men at war and women working• Children would be left alone for much of the day• Families have to readjust to each other after return from war

• Marriage Boom and Bust• Deployment pushed many couples to marry- before the man went to war• Many were shotgun weddings with couple barely knowing ach other• Dear John letters• In 1945 U.S. 31/100 marriages ended in divorce

• What wider effect might this have had?• GI Bill of Rights • Provided education and job training for vets • 7.8 million soldiers participated after the war about 50% of all soldiers• Provided home/ farm/ business loans to returning veterans

• Meant to ease veterans back into Civilian Life

African American Experience During WWII • In the Military:• Served in segregated units• Exposed northern blacks to Jim Crow segregation in the South • Not necessarily relegated to menial tasks

• Civil Rights groups pushed for black units to serve in combat• Buffaloes / Tuskegee Airmen• These units were some of the most celebrated and decorated units of the war

• How does serving in combat help push civil rights?

• At Home• Many moved out of the South to Northern cities • Many got better jobs working skilled labor• Segregation everywhere was still a problem• James Farmer started CORE in 1942 to fight against segregation in Northern cities

• Stages first sit-ins in Chicago• Increased racial tensions- Race Riot in Detroit in 1943 killed 34

92nd Infantry “Buffaloes” firing a mortar in Italy

Mexican Americans during WWII

• Served in segregated units• Awarded 17 Medals of Honor

• “Zoot-Suit” Riots• 11 U.S. sailors were allegedly beaten

by a group of Mexican-American Men wearing “zoot-suits”• For two days if anyone wearing the

suit was caught in public mobs would rip the suit off and beat whomever was wearing it• City’s response was to outlaw “zoot-

suits”

Japanese Internment • After Pearl Harbor Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps• Only way out was to join military

• 442nd infantry regiment- most decorated unit of the war

• Korematsu v. United States 1944- Supreme Court ruled internment was justified • Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) eventually lobbied enough support in

Congress for a reparations bill • Reparations bill passed Congress in 1988!

Primary Source Activity“Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities…”FDR- Executive order 9066

“…It is said that we are dealing here with the case of imprisonment of a citizen in a concentration camp solely because of his ancestry, without evidence or inquiry concerning his loyalty and good disposition towards the United States. Our task would be simple, our duty clear, were this a case involving the imprisonment of a loyal citizen in a concentration camp because of racial prejudice. Regardless of the true nature of the assembly and relocation centers — and we deem it unjustifiable to call them concentration camps with all the ugly connotations that term implies — we are dealing specifically with nothing but an exclusion order. To cast this case into outlines of racial prejudice, without reference to the real military dangers which were presented, merely confuses the issue. Korematsu was not excluded from the Military Area because of hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire, because the properly constituted military authorities feared an invasion of our West Coast and felt constrained to take proper security measures, because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily, and finally, because Congress, reposing its confidence in this time of war in our military leaders — as inevitably it must — determined that they should have the power to do just this.” Majority opinion- Koramatsu vs. The United States 1944

The Following Instructions Must Be Observed:1. A responsible member of each family, preferably the head of the family, or the person in whose name most of the property is held, and each individual living alone, will report to the Civil Control Station to receive further instructions. This must be done between 8:00 A. M. and 5:00 P. M. on Monday, May 4, 1942, or between 8:00 A. M. and 5:00 P. M. on Tuesday, May 5, 1942.2. Evacuees must carry with them on departure for the Assembly Center, the following property:(a) Bedding and linens (no mattress) for each member of the family;(b) Toilet articles for each member of the family;(c) Extra clothing for each member of the family;(d) Sufficient knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls and cups for each member of the family;(e) Essential personal effects for each member of the family.All items carried will be securely packaged, tied and plainly marked with the name of the owner and numbered in accordance with instructions obtained at the Civil Control Station. The size and number of packages is limited to that which can be carried by the individual or family group.3. No pets of any kind will be permitted.4. No personal items and no household goods will be shipped to the Assembly Center.5. The United States Government through its agencies will provide for the storage, at the sole risk of the owner, of the more substantial household items, such as iceboxes, washing machines, pianos and other heavy furniture. Cooking utensils and other small items will be accepted for storage if crated, packed and plainly marked with the name and address of the owner. Only one name and address will be used by a given family.6. Each family, and individual living alone will be furnished transportation to the Assembly Center or will be authorized to travel by private automobile in a supervised group. All instructions pertaining to the movement will be obtained at the Civil Control Station.

Poston, Arizona

November 16, 1942

Dear Miss Breed,

Guess who? Yup it's ole unreliable again, none other than yours truly, Tetsuzo. Gosh the wind's been blowing all night and all morning. Kinda threatening to blow the roofs down. Dust is all over the place. Gives everything a coating of fine dust. The food has been all right except for quantity...The medical situation here is pitiful. For that matter in all three camps. The main and the only hospital is at Camp I 15 miles away. Here in Camp III there is one young doctor with not too much experience and one student doctor working in an emergency clinic. They are supposed to take care of approximately 5000 people!!!! and they (the Big shots) wonder why we squawk about inadequate medical attention.No I haven't hiked to the river yet. I'd better do it soon cause there is going to be a fence around this camp!!!!!! 5 strands of barbed wire!!!!!!!!!! They say it's to keep the people out. . . . It's also to keep out cattle. Where in the cattle countries do they use 5 strands of barbed wire??

If they don't watch out there's going to be trouble. What do they think we are, fools?? At Santa Anita at the time of the riot the armored cars parked outside of the main gates, pointed the heavy machine guns inside and then the army had the gall to tell us that the purpose of that was to keep the white folks from coming in to mob the Japs. Same thing with the guards on the watch towers. They had their machineguns pointed at us to protect us from the outsiders, hah, hah, hah, [I'm] laughing yet.

Letter from: Tetsuzo Hiraski

Group During the War After the War

Women

Returning Soldiers

African Americans

Mexican Americans

Japanese Americans

Quiz 25.4

1. What region of the United States lost the most population during WWII?

2. What city did the Zoot Suit Riots take place in?

3. What allowed veterans returning from the war to get a free education?

4. What does CORE stand for?

5. Which president finally signed a Bill giving Japanese Americans reparations for

their WWII internment?