PREPAREDNESS AND WAR AT HOME 1940 45 economy fully mobilized during 1940 s economic and industrial build up unemployment in US still very high until September 1939 Germany invades Poland US gov t instituted a Preparedness Campaign prepare for war just in case Gov t expands nat l expense Payed off after Japan bombed PEARL HARBOR DECEMBER 7 1941 all sectors of US economy mobilized to help US war effort b c of demand spurred by war industry expanded employment becomes avail able and there was a shortage of workers problem not enough workers to meet demand of military buildup by 1943 unemployment was simply unheard of by end of war 24 million ppl correlated directly in defense forces labor shortage has variety of results 1 progressive and new deal era labor reforms fall by the wayside Gov t passed laws and regulations that we ignored then suspended with war institute longer working day wages cut 2 more and more women come into work force women had to fill jobs of men that went to military take up many office jobs and factory jobs ROSIE THE RIVETER represents women that took jobs in factories to replace men in war women end up making over a third of nations work force after war many women quit or were fired from jobs some continues to work it becomes much more acceptable for women to work after the war WW2 drove social change Trend of women in work force grows from then on 3 social change for AA during war many white men enlist in army so many AA men and women help fill demand illustrates that they can do same jobs as white men less racist attitudes with intermixing backgrounds of ppl working together breaks down social barriers shortage of workers causes wage increase initially problem b c gov t doesn t want to pay that much Result NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD charged with managing the nations la bor supply in order to make sure that production goes smoothly steps in and helps manage disputes b w laborers and companies designed to eliminate disputes ppl go ing on strike before they even get there tackles issue of rising wages institutes caps on what wages could be board limits wages in a number of industries other problem of war shortage of raw materials RATIONING of critical re sources such as food and gasoline ex gasoline ration cards GROWING OF VICTORY GARDENS if ppl grow food at home all commercially grown food can be shipped overseas to help in people fighting in war gov t takes steps towards moving US to a gov t planned economy can t trust the market gov t needs to get on board w american manufacturers WAR PRODUCTION BOARD goal was to centralize organize and help guilt in dustrial production regulate allocation of materials Ex rubber production goes to tires for jeeps for war Ford needs to stop producing cars and start producing tanks Type writer factories not produce machine guns entire american economy being re geared for war things you could no longer buy after 1941 cars would have to wait til after war WPB dictates how people dressed as well idea conserve cloth metal menswear no longer had vests elbow patches cuffs on pants women s skirts got shorter all this because material needed to be utilized for war Post war WPB disappears by 1946 how do we pay for a war this big income tax lending money to allies over seas bonds and schemes income tax 1942 after pearl harbor Roosevelt proposed 100 top marginal tax rate didn t pass but taxes did go up successfully raised revenues for gov t still not enough another scheme sale of WAR BOND regular treasury bonds marketed towards americans who wanted to support war played on patriotism americans put large por tions of savings in war bonds also dramatically increases fed l debt gov t owes peo ple money PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN get americans to accept all of the sacrifices they had to make during the war want them to be happy that they re in the factory making their own food and all the other thing they have to sacrifice media and many busi nesses on board with this at this time all hollywood scripts had to be approved by gov t to make sure they re not trying to put out any message against propaganda campaign POSTERS play on fears of civilians to promote war effort ideal war to promote war effort b c posters are cheap WHEN YOU RIDE ALONE YOU RIDE WITH HILTER poster refers to saving gasoline JIMMY STEWART served in military stared in Mr Smith Goes to Washington enlisted and made a career out of military experience during war Hollywood put out movies and other products focused on promoting patriotism WW2 not just military campaign it dominating american society and created last ing marks w social change woman and AA s get better jobs changes american soci ety after war 4 8 13 MOVIE COLD WAR WINSTON CHURCHILL Prime minister during the war speech puts up wall b w free and totalitarian b w liberal democratic nations and the communist soviet move ment there was a huge growing divide towards end of war 1943 soviets union is trying to consolidate their power along the Boltic sea Stalin wants to secure Poland under Influence of USSR poland op portunity to create buffer b w poland and eastern soviet union following that comes debate of whats going to happen to Germany Eastern and central europe turned into prison basically CONTAINMENT POLICY do not go invade and try to destroy communism but rather contain the influence wherever we see stalin and soviet union trying to expand stop it there 2 9 13 MCCARTHYISM AND ANTI COMMUNISM IN THE 1950 s Cold war greatly influenced american society Fear of communism and Soviet union became a widespread concern shown in films books politics fear of communism and paranoia during late 40 s and 1950 s Red Scare from 1917 1920 s targeted hatred at eastern and southern europeans THE 2ND RED SCARE people paranoid cold war w communist soviet union w leader Stalin unlike 1st red scare they focus their energy on a much wider group of people can t tell who a communist is so threat is greater if you certain books newspapers supported certain organizations people would suspect you were a communist HOUSE UN AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE an investigative committee of US house of Representatives job investigate individuals and groups who were sus pected of working to infiltrate and undermine american society and government fo cused on german americans switched focus towards communists 1st big investigation WPA look at criticisms in old notes HUAAC ppl claimed that WPA theatre project dominated by communists investi gation overshadowed
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