Mobilizing
for War
6BF, 14A, 19A, 21AC, 21D, 22C
I. The Military
A. The Soldiers
• Selective Service & Training Act
–Men 18-45
–Peacetime draft
• Army and Navy (Marines and
Coast Guard)
• “GI”=government issued
• Segregated military
• One out of ten Americans served
•16 million served
•Three theaters of
operation: Pacific,
European, and American
What is inaccurate about this photo? Why might the
photographer want to show the military in this way?
B. Citizen Soldiers
-had civilian careers, but put
career/job on hold to win the war
1. African-Americans in
the Armed Forces
Dorie Miller
a. Double V Campaign
“The Army Jim Crows us…Employers and labor unions shut
us out. Lynchings continue. We are disenfranchised…and spat
upon. What more could Hitler do to us than that?”
“There are many things in this war I do not like…yet I believe
in the war…We know that whatever the mad logic of [Hitler’s]
New Order there is no hope for us under it. The ethnic theories
of the Hitler ‘master folk’ admit of no chance of
freedom…This is a war to keep [people] free. The struggle to
broaden and lengthen the road of freedom-our own private and
important war to enlarge freedom here in America- will come
later…I believe in this war because I believe in America. I
believe in what America professes to stand for…”
a. Double V Campaign Cont.
• Victory over racism at home and
abroad
b. FDR ordered changes
• Military directed to
recruit minorities
• Ordered that
African-American
soldiers be allowed
to train for and
engage in combat
• Executive Order
8802
Gen. Benjamin O. Davis
c. Tuskegee
Airmen
2. Hispanic Americans
•Included
5,000
Puerto
Ricans
•141st
Infantry
from TX
3. Asian-Americans
• Included sons of
interned Japanese
Americans
• 100th Battalion was
the most highly
decorated unit in
WWII (Jp-Am)
4. Native Americans
• 400 Navajo served as Code
Talkers for the Marines
• Coded communication when
invading islands
4. Native Americans cont.
“wol-la-chee” ant
“be-la-sana” apple
“tse-nill” axe
All stand for letter A
“tsah” (needle) wol-la-chee (ant) ah-keh-diglini (victor) tsah-ah-dzoh (yucca)."
5. Anglo-Americans
• Majority of military—almost
15 million served
6. Women in the Armed
Forces
•Women
replaced men in
non-combat
positions so the
men could fight
•WACs
•WAVES
•SPARS
• Women’s Air Service Pilots
(WASPs) flew supply planes
• 64,000 served as nurses in
the army and navy
Sweetwater, TX
C. News from the
theater of war
• Letters were censored for
security purposes
• Telegrams delivered official
news—MIA, POW, WIA, or KIA
• Blue/gold star Mothers
II. The Homefront
A. Wartime Production
• Advisory boards managed the
economy
–Controlled the use of raw
materials
–Ordered quantities of needed
war materials
–Oversaw conversion of factories
to wartime production
1. Automakers were the
most productive
Ford Motor Company
2. Shipyards made ships and
other naval innovations
Liberty ships
3. Industrial work for
minorities & women
a. For AfricanAmericans
b. Contributed to
the Great
Migration
c. …some racial
tension resulted
d. To fill
vacancies of
men, factories
hired women
e. Welders,
riveters, etc…
“Rosie the Riveter”
All-American Girls
Professional Baseball
League
Rockford
Peaches
4. Sun Belt develops
industries….
5. Bracero Program
• Allowed for
Mexicans to
legally work on
farms in the U.S.
B. Civilian Sacrifice
1. Rationing
• Goods needed for the
armed forces or wartime
production
• Rubber, gasoline, fuel, oil,
sugar, butter, and meat
• People used ration coupons
to obtain their supply
2. Victory Gardens
C. Troops Morale--USO
D. GI Bill
• Help for soldiers when they
become veterans
• Generous loans
–Starting a business
–Buying a home
–Attending college
E. Homeland Controversy
• Zoot Suit Riots
• Protest by A. Philip Randolph;
purpose- hiring of Af-Ams on
RRs
• Result? Executive 8802
outlawed discrimination in
hiring of defense industries
based on race, creed, color, or
national origin
Sailors with wooden clubs during the
1943 "zoot suit" riots in Los Angeles
f. National Security
•Hysteria spread that Japanese
Americans might commit acts of
sabotage
•People of Japanese ancestry were
ordered to one of ten internment
camps away from West Coast areas
•Supreme Court eventually ordered
that Japanese Americans be
released…
Japanese Internment Camps
Did WWII end the
Great Depression?
What were 3 possible outcomes of the G. I.
Bill on the economy following the war?
Notes
A.
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The Soldiers
Selective Service
-passed Sept. 20th 1940 .passed by Congress the 14th …FDR signed 2 days later 20th
-first peacetime conscription (general term for involuntary labor) in U.S. History
-Required men 21-30 register w/ local draft board
-W/ entrance into WWII, all men 18-45 were made liable for military service
Army & Navy
-No air force at the time
- last branch of the U.S. military to be formed …September 18, 1947
GI
-Government Issued
-come to mean soldier in army
-1st flood of draftees overwhelmed the army’s training facilities.
-recruits lived in tents, carried sticks representing guns
Segregated Military
-At start of war, military was completely segregated
-White recruits did not train alongside African Americans
1/10 Americans served
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Navy had to develop along the Atlantic Coast, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean the means, forces, controls, and techniques to
protect ships delivering fuel and other critical materials and supplies to the eastern seaboard of the United States.
B. Citizen Soldiers
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-Steven Ambrose coined the term…show Band of Brothers
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-b/c catastrophic has happened have to leave and help
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-Hitler never believed our boys could do it..said democracy made men week
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-but is these citizen soldiers took care of things in the war
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-Hitler under-estimated the boys
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Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany to Citizen Soldiers is a nonfiction book about World War II written byStephen E. Ambrose and published in 1998. It deals with Allied soldiers moving in from
the Normandy beaches, and through Europe (between June 7, and May 7, 1945)
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African-Americans in the Armed Forces
-A.A.s had separate barracks, latrines, mess halls, & recreational facilities
-once trained A.A.s organized in own military units but..
-White officers were in command of them
-A.A.s kept out of combat & assigned them to construction & supply units
Dorie Miller
-Doris Miller, known as "Dorie" to shipmates and friends, was born in Waco, Texas, on 12 October 1919
-famous for firing a 50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun for 15 minutes during the attack until he ran out of ammo. (Ordinarily
this is not unusual - except that Dorie was the Ships Cook!)
-He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions beyond the call of duty.
-He was killed on 24 November 1943 in the line of duty while serving in action on board the USS Liscome Bay in the Pacific
-a single torpedo from Japanese submarine I-175 struck the escort carrier near the stern. The aircraft bomb magazine detonated a few
moments later, sinking the warship within minutes.
Double V Campaign
1st Quote from a student at a black college
2nd quote: African American writer Saunders Redding
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Double V Campaign Cont.
-African American leaders combined patriotism with protest
-1941, National Urban League set 2 goals for its members
-to promote effective participation of A.A.’s in all phases of the war effort
- to formulate plans for building the kind of U.S. in which they would like to live after the war
-The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading A.A. newspaper embraced these ideas & launched the “Double V Campaign”
-wanted A.A.s to join the war effort to achieve a victory over Hitler’s racism abroad & racism at home
-If the U.S. wanted to portray itself as a defender of democracy then they may be willing to end discrimination in their own country.
-FDR knew A.A. voters played important role in his election
b. FDR ordered changes
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-Under pressure from A.A. leaders FDR ordered the army airforce, navy & marines to begin recruiting A.A.s
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-put them in combat positions
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-did not end all segregation but military did integrate the military bases in 1943
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-Truman fully integrated the military fully in 1948
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8802
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- prohibiting government contractors from engaging in employment discrimination based on race, color or national origin.
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This order is the first presidential action ever taken to prevent employment discrimination by private employers holding government
contracts. The Executive Order applies to all defense contractors, but contains no enforcement authority. President Roosevelt signs the
Executive Order primarily to ensure that there are no strikes or demonstrations disrupting the manufacture of military supplies as the
country prepares for War.
c. Tuskegee Airmen
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-First group of A.A. pilots to fly during
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-Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) in Tuskegee Alabama.
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-On March 29, 2007, about 350 Tuskegee Airmen and their widows were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal[
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-awarded to an individual who performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of the United
States
2. Hispanic Americans
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-Hispanic Americans in World War II fought in every major battle in the European Theatre, from North Africa to the Battle of the Bulge,
and in the Pacific Theater of Operations, from Bataan to Okinawa.
According to the National World War II Museum, between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic Americans served
The exact number is unknown as, at the time, Hispanics were integrated into the general white population census count.
Separate statistics were kept for African-Americans and Asian-Americans
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141st
Most highly decorated??
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Felix Longoria
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-In 1948 the remains of Private Felix Longoria of Three Rivers, Texas, were recovered from the Philippines, where he had been killed on a
volunteer mission during the last days of World War II.
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-His body was shipped home for burial in the Three Rivers cemetery, where the "Mexican" section was separated by barbed wire.
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-The director of the funeral home would not allow the use of the chapel because "the whites would not like it."
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-telegrams and were sent to Texas congressmen.
Senator Lyndon B. Johnsonqv responded immediately with support and an offer to arrange the burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
-The funeral took place on February 16, 1949, at the Arlington National Cemetery; with the Longoria family were Senator Johnson and a
personal representative of the president of the United States.
3. Asian-Americans
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Despite being subjected to prejudice and discrimination, a large number volunteered for service in the U.S. Army.
These Soldiers served with great honor in the Europe and North Africa campaigns
The 100th Infantry Battalion activated on 12 June 1942, composed of more than 1,400 American-born Japanese
called "Nisei" (NEE-say), or second generation.
The War Department had removed them from Hawaii out of fear of renewed Japanese attacks.
After training at Camp McCoy, Wisc., and Camp Shelby, Mississippi, the battalion deployed to the Mediterranean in August 1943.
4. Native Americans]
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the Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945.
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-idea to use Navajo for secure communications came from Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few non-Navajos who
spoke their language fluently.
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-Johnston, reared on the Navajo reservation, was a World War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to
decipher it.
He also knew that Native American languages--notably Choctaw--had been used in World War I to encode messages.
Long unrecognized because of the continued value of their language as a security classified code, the Navajo code talkers of World War II were honored
for their contributions to defense on Sept. 17, 1992, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
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4. Native Americans cont.
when a Navajo code talker received a message, what he heard was a string of seemingly unrelated Navajo words. The code talker first had to translate
each Navajo word into its English equivalent.
-Then he used only the first letter of the English equivalent in spelling an English word.
-Thus, the Navajo words "wol-la-chee" (ant), "be-la-sana" (apple) and "tse-nill" (axe) all stood for the letter "a."
-One way to say the word "Navy" in Navajo code would be "tsah (needle) wol-la-chee (ant) ah-keh-di- glini (victor) tsah-ah-dzoh (yucca)." (yucca is a
plant)
6. Women in the Armed Forces
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As in wwi women joined the armed forces
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-army enlisted women for the first time but barred from combat
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-posters read “release a man for combat”
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-assigned to clerical positions which left a man available for combat
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WAC
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-Women’s Army Corps
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-1st woman unit
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WAVES
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-were a World War II-era division of the U.S. Navy that consisted entirely of women.
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-The name of this group is an acronym for "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" (as well as an allusion to ocean waves);
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-Eleanor Roosevelt helped
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SPARS
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-United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve created 23 November 1942
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-name is a contraction of the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus and its English translation Always Ready.
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-also refers to a spar in nautical usage -- spar is also know as a round pole of wood or metal used on a sailing ship.
C. News from the theater of war
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Missing in Action
Prisoner of War
Wounded in Action
Killed in Action
Blue Gold Star Mothers:
-Mothers received flag with a blue star for each son had in war
-if son was killed in action sew over the blue star with gold and became a gold star mother
A.
Wartime Production
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-govt. had begun to mobilize before entry into the war.
-when Germany swept France in May 1940, FDR declared a national emergency & announced a plan to build 50,000 warplanes a year
- shocked by the success of the German Blitzkrieg…many were willing to build up defenses
=Used to: ask companies to bid for the contact but too slow in wartime
-so govt. agreed to pay a company whatever it cost to make a product plus a guaranteed percentage of the costs as profit
-called cost-plus contracts
-some companies could not afford to convert machinery for war production
-Congress gave authority to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
-set up during the Depression but now given authority to help cover the cost of converting to
war production.
-By summer of 1942 nearly all major industries & around 200,000 companies had converted to war production
-many business leader got frustrated with war production
-Govt. agencies would argue about supplies, & whose orders had higher priority
-FDR created War Production Board
-authority to set priorities & production goals & control distribution of raw materials & supplies
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Automakers were the most productive
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-automobile industry suited to the mass production of military equipment
-automobile factories produced: trucks, jeeps, & tanks
Critical during modern warfare b/c the country that could move troops & supplies most quickly usually won the battle
- also built artillery, rifles, helmets, pontoon bridges, cooking pots, etc.
-Henry Ford launched the most ambitious project…assembly line for enormous B-24 bombers aka the Liberator
-automobile industry produced nearly 1/3 of military equipment manufactured for the war
2. Shipyards made ships and other naval innovations
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-Henry Kaiser’s shipyard built many ships but best known for Liberty ships
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-Liberty ship –basic cargo ship
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-welded instead of riveted
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-welded ships were cheap, easy to build & hard to sink.
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-when a riveted ship hit…rivets cam loose, causing the ship to fall apart & sink
A welded ship’s hull was fused into one sold piece of steel.
A torpedo might blow a hole through it but could usually get back to port to repair then return to service.
3. Industrial work for minorities & women
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WWI finally put an end to the Depression
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-mobilizing the economy created almost 19 million jobs
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-nearly double the average families income
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-Defense factories wanted to hire white men but too many were enlisted
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-forced to recruit women & minorities
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-Opened up to hire women but still resisted A.A.
A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (union for A.A. railroad workers)
• -informed FDR he would organize a march on Washington to secure jobs in national defense and integrated jobs in military
• -FDR responded, with executive order 8802-no discrimination in employment of workers in defense industries or gvt. Due to race
• Great Migration
- A lot of migration in WWI
- Slowed during Depression
- Resumed with WWII with factory jobs
- Sometimes met with suspicion and intolerance
- Hot day in Detroit June 20 1940
- Nearly 100,000 crowded into a park on the Detroit River
- Fights erupted b/w A.A. and white teen girls
- Triggered others…full scale riot
- 25 A.A. and 9 whites killed
- A.A. leaders remained committed to their Double V campaign
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-it was women in factories that captured public imagination.
The great symbol of the campaign to hire women was “rosie the riveter”
-Broadened horizons for women
-women understood they could work
-broke stereotypes…women would stay home..during depression marries
women expected to let men take jobs to care for families, etc.
4. Sun Belt develops industries….
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Wartime economy created a lot of jobs but not necessarily located where you lived
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-growth of southern California and the expansion of cities in the Deep South created a new industrial region
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-sunbelt
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-1st time since the Industrial Revolution began in the U.S. the South and West led the way in manufacturing and urbanization
5. Bracero Program
• Mexicans
- govt. Introduced Bracero Program in 1942
- Over 200,000 Mexicans came to the U.S. to help harvest fruit & Vegetables in the Southwest
- Bracero program cont. to 1964
- Workers received portion of pay rest given to Mexican Govt. to hold when they returned. The govt. never gave it to them. There was a lawsuit
B. Civilian Sacrifice
1. Rationing
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-every month each household would pick up a book of ration coupons.
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-Blue coupons called blue points controlled processed foods
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-Red coupons, or red points controlled meats, fats, and oils
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To save gas & rubber, gas was rationed
-speed limit set at 35 miles per hour
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Fats from foods used to make nitroglycerin for bombs
2. Victory Gardens
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Americans planted gardens to produce more for the war effort
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-school yards, back yards etc. became victory gardens
C. Troops Morale—USO
United Service organizations
D. GI Bill
Aka Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
E. Homeland Controversy
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Zoot Suit Riots
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-Southern California, racial tensions became entangled w/ juvenile delinquency
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-crimes committed by young ppl rose dramatically
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-in Los Angeles, racism against Mexican Americans and the fear of juvenile crime became linked b/c of Zoot Suits
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-zoot suits had baggy pleated pants and an overstuffed, knee-length jacket with wide lapels.
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-accessories included wide-brimmed hats & a long key chain
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-usually wore hair long gathered into a ducktail
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-angered many people b/c should be saving fabric for the war
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-many men wore a “victory suit” w/ not vest or cuffs, short jackets and narrow lapels.
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-so by comparison the Zoot suit seemed un-patriotic
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-The zoot suit was adopted by mexican teenagers
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-June 1943 rumors that zoot suiters had attacked several sailors, 2,500 soldiers and sailors stormed into Mexican American neighborhoods
in LA.
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-They attacked Mexican Teens, cut their hair and tore off their zoot suits.
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-Police did not intervene
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-instead LA banned zoot suits
f. National Security
Mobs attacked Japanese American businesses & homes
Banks would not cash their checks
Grocers refused to sell them food
Japanese Internment Camps
in 1988, the U.S. Congress passed legislation which awarded formal payments of $20,000 each to the surviving internees