World War II at Home

Military Mobilization 16 million men and women served Selective Service

Men aged 18 – 65 must register @ 72,000 “conscientious objectors” @ 5,500 jailed for refusing to enlist

Women Over 250,000 served (medical, flying equipment, decoding) WAC’s (Women’s Army Corp), WAVES (Women Appointed for

Voluntary Emergency Service), WAF’s (Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron)

African Americans Over 1 million served in segregated units

Other minorities enlisted Native Americans = Navajo “code talkers” Japanese Americans = Nisei soldiers

Economic Mobilization Office for War Mobilization (OWM)

Created to supervise agencies for war production War Production Board (WPB)

Regulated the use of raw materials ½ of factory production went to war materials

“Rosie the Riveter” Over 5 million women entered the work force Propaganda films to encourage more “Rosies” Wages increased (still less than 2/3rds that of men),

family income swelled Pressure to leave the workforce after the war is over

Demographic shift to the “Sunbelt” Population shift to the Southwest and South

Economic Mobilization (cont.) Attempts to control inflation

War Labor Board – created to keep wages to go with standard of living increases

Office of Price Administration (OPA) Froze prices @ March, 1942 levels Rationing: everything from cars and tires to meat,

coffee, and sugar Taxes

Taxes pay for most of the war 1939 – 4 million paid taxes, 1945 – 50 million

National Debt 1941 = $49 billion; 1945 = $259 billion New Deal + WWII = “warfare welfare” state

Smith-Connolly Antistrike Act (1943) Gov’t could seize plants or mines if idled by a strike

(1943 United Mine Workers strike)

African Americans & WWII Massive migration to

industrial areas Detroit Race Riot (June,

1943) & 47 other cities affected by racial violence

NAACP grows from 50,000 members to 500,000 members during the war

A. Philip Randolph African-Americans excluded from war-

related industries (well paying) 3 demands for FDR

Equal access to defense jobs Desegregation of the armed forces Desegregation in federal agencies

Proposed March on Washington (1941) Fair Employment Practices Committee

(FEPC) FDR issues Executive Order 8802 in

June, 1941 Gov’t agencies ended segregation Randolph = “father of the Civil Rights

movement”

Mexican Americans & WWII Bracero Program

Need for increased farm production led to short-term work permits for Mexican workers

Zoot Suit Riots (L.A. – 1943) Young Mexican-Americans often attacked

in L.A. U.S. sailors attacked “zooters” while on

leave Radio reports blamed the “zooters”, but

real issue was racism and need for more housing

Interment of Japanese Americans Executive Order 9066 (2/19/1942)

FDR proclaims the West Coast as a “war theater”

110,000 people of Japanese ancestry interned 1/3 Issei – foreign born, 2/3 Nisei –

American born Interment Camps

10 camps in 7 states headed by General john DeWitt

48 hours to get rid of all belongings (most lost @ 95%)

Camps were in desolate areas and conditions were harsh

Japanese Relocation Considered but didn’t relocate

German or Italians Korematsu v. U.S. – Supreme

Court upholds internment but could be free once loyalty established

Labor & business wanted Japanese removed

No act of sabotage ever discovered

17,000 Nisei soldiers fought Camps close in March, 1946 1990 – Congress pays $20,000 to

each internee ($1.25 billion total)