The document summarizes how life on the homefront in the United States was impacted during World War 2. Key points include rationing of certain goods like food and gasoline to support the war effort. Women entered the workforce in large numbers to replace men who joined the military. This helped reduce unemployment and boost the economy. The government also instituted the draft and called on minorities to contribute to the labor force. However, over 110,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast were forcibly relocated to internment camps due to misplaced fears of disloyalty, despite only a small number being interned in Hawaii.

1. On the
Homefront: The
U.S. in WWII

2. Rationing
• Rationing resulted from the
government’s need to support the
military
• Factories began producing war
materials instead of consumer
goods
• Certain types of food became
difficult to get (meat, sugar, coffee,
gasoline, and shoes)
• The government regulated the
amount of food items each family
could purchase
• OPA (Office of Price
Administration) oversaw the
rationing

3. Female Employment
• All available citizens were encouraged to work
in some way to support the war
• 250,000 women served in auxiliary branches of
the armed services (nurses and clerical
workers)
• Women entered jobs that had not been open
to them before, especially factory work in
manufacturing industries
• Out of 18 million defense workers, 6 million
were women
• Women earned 40 percent less than men doing
the same jobs
• Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) helped
the military during the war (nurses, ambulance
drivers, radio operators, electricians)

4. End of the Great Depression
• Brought about by government spending on weapons,
airplanes, ships, and other equipment
• The war increased production and created jobs in the
United States
• Much of the government’s spending on war goods was
deficit spending
• Unemployment dropped from 17.2% in 1939 to 9.9% in
1941 to 4.7% in 1942
• Increased consumer spending helped the economy-
Americans spent money on entertainment (movies and
books)
• Desire for news helped the publishing and radio industries
grow

5. Labor
• The selective service system instituted a
draft that provided the nation with 10
million additional soldiers
• Defense contractors called for more
workers to keep up with the demand for
more war materials
• 6 million women would answer the call
(Rosie the Riveter) and more than 2 million
minorities would help the war effort
• A. Phillip Randolph (African-American
labor leader- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters) organized a march on Washington
that forced President Roosevelt to issue an
executive order stopping discrimination in
defense industries

6. Minorities Serving
• African-Americans, Mexican-
Americans, and Japanese Americans:
defended their nation by joining the
military or working in defense
industries
• Many minorities encountered
discrimination and racism- CORE
(Congress of Racial Equality, sit-ins,
marched/protested, boycotted) and
JACL (Japanese American’s Citizens
League, sought compensation for
Japanese Americans forced into
internment camps)

7. Children at the Weill public school
in San Francisco pledge allegiance
to the American flag in April 1942,
prior to the internment of
Japanese Americans.
A Japanese American unfurled this banner the day
after the Pearl Harbor attack. This Dorothea Lange
photograph was taken in March 1942, just prior to the
man's internment.
Official notice of exclusion and
removal

8. Internment camps and further institutions of the War Relocation Authority in the western
United States.

9. Internment of Japanese Americans
• In the name of national security, many
Japanese-Americans were forced to
move to special detainment camps
starting in 1942 (many thought they
were spies even though no evidence
supported this conclusion)
• 1% of Hawaii’s Japanese-Americans
population (1,444) interned; 110,000
Japanese-Americans in California and
other Western states were sent to
camps
• 2/3 of those interned were Nisei, or
American born citizens. Many had been
drafted into the army and wanted to
fight against the Axis powers
Heart-Mountain Camp