ww2 homefront

1. Aim: How did Americans
change their lives to support the
war effort?

2. Selective Service Act of 1940
• All men aged
21–35 required
to register.
• Required men
picked for duty
to serve 12
months
FDR signs the Selective Service Act into law

3. War Bonds
• Used to help finance
the war
• More than $185
billion sold
• Bought by businesses,
banks, and civilians

4. Rationing
• During the Second World War, you
couldn't just buy as much sugar or
butter or meat as you wanted, nor
could you fill up your car with
gasoline whenever you liked. All these
things were rationed, which meant
you were only allowed to buy a small
amount (even if you could afford
more).
• The government introduced rationing
because certain things were in short
supply during the war, and rationing
was the only way to make sure
everyone got their fair share.

5. Victory Gardens
A government poster promoting
Victory Gardens
• Government urged citizens
to grow fruits and
vegetables
• Eased food shortages
caused by rationing

6. Office of War Information
• Established in 1942
• Coordinated release of
war news
• Promoted patriotism
• Tried to recruit women
into factory work
• Propaganda program
abroad
• Became the “Voice of
America”
Patch worn by Office or War
Information personnel

8. Government propagandists sometimes used fear and racial slurs in order to convey their message
Wartime Propaganda Posters

9. Support the War
“Don’t Let That Shadow
Touch Them”
Issued by the
Treasury Department
“United We Win”
Alexander Liberman
1943

10. Conservation
“Waste Helps the Enemy”
Vanderlaan
“When You Ride Alone
You Ride With Hitler!”
Weimer Pursell
1943

11. Enlisting Troops
“Man the Guns, Join the Navy”
McClelland Barclay
1942
“Want Action? Join the U.S.
Marine Corps!”
James Montgomery Flagg
1942

12. 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

13. • American Industry had to go
from 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.
Shift in Production

14. • In full war mode, the
U.S. was producing
weapons faster than
anybody around
thought that it would
or could.
• In one month, the U.S.
was able to produce
up to 4,000 tanks and
4,500 planes.0
5
10
15
20
25
Before After
Ship and Submarine Production
Ships and
Subs
Shift in Production

15. • GDP (gross domestic product) more than doubled
• Wages and salaries nearly tripled
• National debt increased by over 600 percent
The War’s Economic Impact

16. {WOMEN
Role of minorities

17. Women
•Americans and specially Women responded to
the war effort by replacing men in industrial
jobs.
Rivets

18. Rosie the Riveter
• The “ideal women
worker” – loyal,
efficient, patriotic,
pretty
• A huge icon for women
during World War II,
and in American
wartime propaganda
• Inspired women to get
involved in the wartime
effort

19. The Real ‘Rosie the Riveter’

20. • Over 6 million women
entered the work force
for the first time. Many
women also joined the
military to support the
troops.
• Women were not
allowed to fight in the
side by side with men.
• The most famous female
volunteer division was
part of the US Navy; the
WAVES. ("Women
Accepted for Volunteer
Emergency Service“)

21. {AFRICAN-
AMERICANS
Role of minorities

22. • President Franklin Roosevelt
signed an executive order to
ban discrimination in the
military and in government
jobs.
• 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
African Americans

23. • Many African Americans decided to win a double
victory: victory over the enemy abroad and victory
over discrimination at home. The most famous all-
black unit of pilots was the Tuskegee Airmen. They
were recognized and admired for destroying more
than 400 enemy aircraft.

24. The “Double V” Campaign
• African Americans felt it was
ironic to fight a racist regime in
Europe while experiencing
racism at home
• African Americans called for
“victory over our enemies at
home and victory over our
enemies on the battlefields
abroad”
The campaign’s logo

25. Dorie Miller
A poster featuring Miller
• A hero of the Pearl Harbor
attack
• Later received Navy Cross
• Killed later on during the
war

26. {JAPANESE-
AMERICANS
Role of minorities

27. • FDR adopted the Executive Order
9066, which granted the U.S. military
the power to set up internment
camps to hold Japanese Americans
until the war was over.
• Fred Korematsu, an American-born
citizen of Japanese descent refused to
leave his home. In 1944 his case
reached the Supreme Court. In the
case of Korematsu vs. the United
States, the Supreme Court declared
Korematsu guilty because in times of
war the nation’s security outweighs
the Constitution’s promise of equal
rights.
Japanese Americans

28. Japanese Internment
A map of relocation centers in the
western U.S.
• FDR’s Executive Order
removed more than
110,000 Issei (Japanese
residents) and Nisei
(American born
Japanese) from the West
Coast
• Most were citizens

29. Prejudice Against Nisei
This propaganda poster displays typical
American-held stereotypes of the Japanese
• Americans accused
Nisei (Japanese born
in the US) of helping
plan Pearl Harbor

30. {German & Italian
American
Role of minorities

31. Internment of Other
Groups
• German Americans and Italian Americans
were interned in Ellis Island
• More than 10,000 Germans and 3000
Italians interned
• Camps similar to those for Nisei

32. {NATIVE
AMERICANS
Role of minorities

33. Native Americans
• Used to transmit
messages in the Pacific
Theater
• Based on the Navajo
language
• The Navajo Code
Talkers created the
most successful code
in military history.
Code Talkers Henry Bake and
George Kirk send messages in the
Pacific Theater, 1943

34. {MEXICANs
Role of minorities

35. The Bracero Program
• During WWII, FDR initiated the
Bracero Program, a guest worker
program that sponsored some 4.5
million border crossings of guest
workers from Mexico. Today,
millions of Mexican Americans
trace their families' roots in the
US to their fathers' or
grandfathers' arrival as braceros.
• There were reported human rights
abuses and lawsuits for no pay
A bracero

36. “Zoot Suit Riots”
• Los Angeles, 1943
• Conflicts between sailors on
leave and young Mexican
Americans, identifiable by
their dress
• African Americans and
Filipinos wearing zoot suits
also targeted
• Military eventually placed
LA off-limits to servicemen
A zoot suit