3 of 20

Selective Service Act (1940)

registered men (18-26) for the draft

10 million served in armed forces during war, including women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Chinese Americans, and homosexuals.
African Americans were forced to train in segregated camps and serve in segregated units (ended by Truman in 1948)

4 of 20

United We Win!

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_persuasion/powers_of_persuasion_home.html

5 of 20

Conversion to War Economy

Factories were converted for wartime supplies and munitions

Put people to work; killed the depression
Union membership swelled

Smith-Connally Labor Disputes Act

War Production Board – managed war industries

Office of War Mobilization (set production priorities and controlled raw materials)

Office of Price Administration
National War Labor Board

6 of 20

Waste Helps the Enemy

10 of 20

Citizen Contributions to War Effort

Citizens contributed to the war effort by

rationing consumer goods
recycling materials
purchasing war bonds
working in war industries.

11 of 20

Women and the War

12 of 20

“We Can Do It” – Women Defense Workers

Over 200,000 served in military (noncombat)
Number of women workers in the United States grew from 14 million to 19 million.
By war's end, women made up about 35 percent of the civilian labor force.
many women began working in jobs that had been previously closed to them.
“Rosie the Riveter”

13 of 20

Demands for Equality

African Americans demanded that defense industries be integrated
A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union, planned a 100,000 person march on Washington
Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, authorizing Committee on Fair Employment Practices to investigate and prevent racial discrimination in employment.
Double V Campaign, supported by NAACP, asserted African Americans’ demands for the rights and privileges enjoyed by all other Americans
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded

9/10 Blacks lived below poverty line; made 39% of whites’ wages

Wartime migration made the majority of African Americans city dwellers for first time in US history.

racism intensified in North – race riots

15 of 20

Demands for Equality (cont.)

Mexican Americans

Bracero program – allowed Mexican farm workers to enter U.S.
Zoot Suit riots – Race riots in LA (summer, 1943)

16 of 20

Japanese Internment

After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans encountered strong hostility, prejudice, and discrimination.
Over 100,000 Japanese Americans living on the West coast were rounded up and confined to internment camps located inland.
Executive Order 9066, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, allowed authorized military commanders to designate "military areas" at their discretion.

17 of 20

Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)

In a 6-3 decision, the Court sided with the government, ruling that the exclusion order was constitutional
But, in Ex parte Endo the Supreme Court ruled that the government was not permitted to continue detaining loyal citizens
In 1988, Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided redress of $20,000 for each surviving detainee.

18 of 20

The Manhattan Project

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

June 29, 1943

SECRET

My dear Dr. Oppenheimer:

I have recently reviewed with Dr. Bush the highly important and secret program of research, development and manufacture with which you are familiar. I was very glad to hear of the excellent work which is being done in a number of places in this country under the immediate supervision of General L.R. Groves and the general direction of the Committee of which Dr. Bush is Chairman. The successful solution of the problem is of the utmost importance to the national safety, and I am confident that the work will be completed in as short a time as possible as the result of the wholehearted cooperation of all concerned.

19 of 20

The End of World War II

Europe

D-Day – June 6^th, 1944

Operation Overlord, second front in Europe

Battle of the Bulge – December, 1944

Hitler’s counterattack

V-E Day – May 8, 1945

Pacific

Midway (June, 1942)

American victory over Japanese navy

Island Hopping
Atomic Bombs

Hiroshima (8/6/45)
Nagasaki (8/9/45)

Japan surrenders to Gen. MacArthur (9/2/45)

20 of 20