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The United States home front during World War II covers the developments within the United States, 1940-1945, to support its efforts during World War II. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

Contents

Taxes and controls

Federal tax policy was highly contentious during the war, with a liberal Roosevelt battling a conservative Congress. The Conservative coalition, in the United States of America, was an unofficial Congressional coalition in American politics bringing together the conservative Everyone agreed on the need for high taxes to pay for the war. Roosevelt tried to impose a 100% tax on incomes over $25,000 (which failed to pass), while Congress enlarged the base downward. By 1944 nearly every employed person was paying federal income taxes (compared to 10% in 1940).

Many controls were put on the economy. The most important were price controls, imposed on most products and monitored by the OPA. Wages were also controlled. In addition, the military imposed priorities that largely shaped industrial production. [1][2]

Labor

The unemployment problem ended in the United States with the beginning of World War II, when stepped up wartime production created millions of new jobs and the draft pulled young men out. [3]

Women also joined the workforce to replace men who had joined the forces, though in fewer numbers. Roosevelt stated that the efforts of civilians at home to support the war through personal sacrifice was as critical to winning the war as the efforts of the soldiers themselves. "Rosie the Riveter" became the symbol of women laboring in manufacturing. Rosie the Riveter is a Cultural icon of the United States, representing the six million women who entered the Workforce for the first time during The war effort brought about significant changes in the role of women in society as a whole. At the end of the war, many of the munitions factories closed. Other women were replaced by returning veterans. However most women who wanted to continue working did so.

Labor shortages were felt in agriculture, even though most farmers were given an occupational exemption and few were drafted. Large numbers volunteered or moved to cities for factory jobs. At the same time many agricultural commodities were more needed for the military and for the civilian populations of Allies. In some areas schools were temporarily closed at harvest time to enable students to work. Several hundred thousand enemys prisoners of war were used as farm laborers.

Labor unions

Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Co., Chattanooga, Tenn. June 1942.
Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Co. , Chattanooga, Tenn. June 1942.

The war mobilization changed the relationship of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) with both employers and the national government; much less is known about the rival American Federation of Labor (AFL) during the war. The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L The American Federation of Labor (AFL was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States [4]

Nearly all the unions that belonged to the CIO were fully supportive of both the war effort and of the Roosevelt administration. However the Mine Workers, who had taken an isolationist stand in the years leading up to the war and had opposed Roosevelt's reelection in 1940, left the CIO in 1942. The CIO, in particular the United Auto Workers (UAW), supported a wartime no-strike pledge that aimed to eliminate not only major strikes for new contracts, but also the innumerable small strikes called by shop stewards and local union leadership to protest particular grievances. Template talkInfobox Union for usage -->The United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America International Union Steward (aka Shop Steward) is the title of an Official position within the organizational hierarchy of a labor union.

That pledge did not, however, actually eliminate all wartime strikes; in fact there were nearly as many strikes in 1944 as there had been in 1937. But those strikes tended to be far shorter and far less tumultuous than the earlier ones, usually involving small groups of workers over working conditions and other local concerns.

The CIO did not, on the other hand, strike over wages during the war. In return for labor's no-strike pledge, the government offered arbitration to determine the wages and other terms of new contracts. Arbitration, a form of Alternative dispute resolution (ADR is a legal technique for the resolution of Disputes outside the Courts wherein the Those procedures produced modest wage increases during the first few years of the war but not enough to keep up with inflation, particularly when combined with the slowness of the arbitration machinery.

Even though the complaints from union members about the no-strike pledge became louder and more bitter, the CIO did not abandon it. The Mine Workers, by contrast, who did not belong to either the AFL or the CIO for much of the war, engaged in a successful twelve-day strike in 1943.

But the CIO unions on the whole grew stronger during the war. The government put pressure on employers to recognize unions to avoid the sort of turbulent struggles over union recognition of the 1930s, while unions were generally able to obtain maintenance of membership clauses, a form of union security, through arbitration and negotiation. Union security is the enactment of various policies in an employer-union agreement to ensure the union's continued survival Workers also won benefits, such as vacation pay, that had been available only to a few in the past while wage gaps between higher skilled and less skilled workers narrowed.

The experience of bargaining on a national basis, while restraining local unions from striking, also tended to accelerate the trend toward bureaucracy within the larger CIO unions. Some, such as the Steelworkers, had always been centralized organizations in which authority for major decisions resided at the top. The UAW, by contrast, had always been a more grassroots organization, but it also started to try to rein in its maverick local leadership during these years.

The CIO also had to confront deep racial divides in its own membership, particularly in the UAW plants in Detroit where white workers sometimes struck to protest the promotion of black workers to production jobs, but also in shipyards in Alabama, mass transit in Philadelphia, and steel plants in Baltimore. The CIO leadership, particularly those in further left unions such as the Packinghouse Workers, the UAW, the NMU and the Transport Workers, undertook serious efforts to suppress hate strikes, to educate their membership and to support the Roosevelt Administration's tentative efforts to remedy racial discrimination in war industries through the Fair Employment Practices Commission. Those unions contrasted their relatively bold attack on the problem with the timidity and racism of the AFL.

The CIO unions were progressive in dealing with gender discrimination in wartime industry, which now employed many more women workers in nontraditional jobs. Sexism is the belief or attitude that one Gender or Sex is inferior to or less valuable than the other and can also refer to a Hatred or distrust towards Unions that had represented large numbers of women workers before the war, such as the UE and the Food and Tobacco Workers, had fairly good records of fighting discrimination against women. Most union leaders saw women as temporary wartime replacements for the men in the armed forces. It was important that the wages of these women be kept high so that the veterans would get high wages.

Civilian support for war effort

The Civil Air Patrol was established, which enrolled civilian spotters in reconnaissance. The Civil Air Patrol ( CAP) is the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF Towers were built in coastal and border towns, and spotters were trained to recognize enemy aircraft. Blackouts were practiced in every city, even those far from the coast. A blackout in time of War, or apprehended war refers to the practice of collectively minimizing external Light, including upward-directed All lighting had to be extinguished to avoid helping the enemy in targeting at night. The main purpose was to remind people that there was a war on and to provide activities that would engage the civil spirit of millions of people not otherwise involved in the war effort. In large part, this effort was successful, sometimes almost to a fault, such as the Plains states where many dedicated aircraft spotters took up their posts night after night watching the skies in an area of the country that no enemy aircraft of that time could possibly hope to reach. [5] The United Service Organizations, or USO, was founded in 1941 in response to a request from President Franklin D. "USO" redirects here for other uses see USO (disambiguation The United Service Organizations Inc Roosevelt to provide morale and recreation services to uniformed military personnel. This request led six civilian agencies—the Salvation Army, Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, National Catholic Community Service, National Travelers Aid Association and the National Jewish Welfare Board—to unite in support of the troops. The Salvation Army is a Christian charity and church that is internally organised like a military service. The Young Men's Christian Association (" YMCA " or " the Y " was founded on June 6, 1844 in London England by a young man The National Catholic Community Service (NCCS was formed in 1940 and ceased operations in 1980 The Travelers Aid movement began in St Louis, Missouri, under the leadership of Mayor Bryan Mullanphy. The National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB was formed on April 9, 1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany. The United Service Organizations, or USO, was incorporated in New York on February 4, 1941. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Events 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Draft

In 1940 Congress passed the first peace-time draft legislation, which was led by Grenville Clark. The Draft redirects here For other uses see Draft. Conscription in the United States has been employed several times usually during Grenville Clark was the writer of the book World Peace Through World Law. It was renewed (by one vote) in summer 1941. It involved questions as who should control the draft, the size of the army, and the need for deferments. The system worked through local draft boards comprising community leaders who were given quotas and then decided how to fill them. There was very little draft resistance. [6]

The nation went from a surplus manpower pool with high unemployment and relief in 1940 to a severe manpower shortage by 1943. Industry realized that the Army urgently desired production of essential war materials and foodstuffs more than soldiers. (Large numbers of soldiers were not used until the invasion of Europe in summer 1944. ) In 1940-43 the Army often transferred soldiers to civilian status in the Enlisted Reserve Corps in order to increase production. Those transferred would return to work in essential industry, although they could be called back to active duty if the Army needed them. Others were discharged if their civilian work was deemed absolutely essential. There were instances of mass releases of men to increase production in various industries.

Burning issues included the drafting of fathers, which was avoided as much as possible. The drafting of 18-year olds was desired by the military but vetoed by public opinion. Supposedly, Blacks and Asians were drafted at the same rate as Whites. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian The experience of World War I regarding men needed by industry was particularly unsatisfactory—too many skilled mechanics and engineers became privates. Farmers demanded and were generally given occupational deferments (many volunteered anyway, but those who stayed at home lost postwar veteran's benefits. )

Population movements

There was large-scale migration to industrial centers, especially on the West Coast. The " West Coast " " Western Seaboard " or " Pacific Seaboard " are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the Western United States Millions of wives followed their husbands to military camps. Many new military training bases were established or enlarged, especially in the South. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive Large numbers of African Americans left the cotton fields and headed for the cities. Housing was increasingly difficult to find in industrial centers; commuting by car was limited by gasoline rationing. People car pooled or took public transportation, which was seriously overcrowded. Trains were heavily booked, so people limited vacation and long-distance travel. Also, people had to recycle many things such as tin cans, glass, metal, and steel.

Rationing

See main article: Rationing during World War II

At the beginning of World War II, a rationing system was begun in the United States. Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services Tires were the first item to be rationed in January 1942 because supplies of natural rubber were interrupted. Soon afterward, passenger automobiles, typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, coffee, stoves, shoes, meat, lard, shortening and oils, cheese, butter, margarine, processed foods (canned, bottled and frozen), dried fruits, canned milk, firewood and coal, jams, jellies and fruit butter, were rationed by November 1943.

To get a classification and a book of rationing stamps, one had to appear before a local rationing board. Each person in a household received a ration book, including babys and small children. When purchasing fuel, a driver had to present a gas card along with a ration book and cash. Ration stamps were valid only for a set period to forestall hoarding.

Role of women

Woman aircraft worker checking assemblies. California, 1942.
Woman aircraft worker checking assemblies. California, 1942.
Woman working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber. Tennessee, 1943.
Woman working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Tennessee, 1943.

Women took on an active role in World War II. [7]

Employment

Women took on many paid jobs in temporary new munitions factories and in old factories that had been converted from civilian products like automobiles. This was the "Rosie the Riveter" phenomenon. Rosie the Riveter is a Cultural icon of the United States, representing the six million women who entered the Workforce for the first time during

They also filled many traditionally female jobs that were created by the war boom—as waitresses, for example. And they broke into jobs that had almost always been held by men—such as bank teller or shoe salesperson. Nearly one million women worked as so called "government girls," taking jobs in the federal government, mainly in Washington, DC, that had previously been held by men or were newly created to deal with the war effort.

In general when they replaced men they came with fewer skills. Industry retooled its machine jobs so that unskilled workers could handle them. (This opened many jobs for men who had been unemployed in the 1930s). Some unions tried to maintain the same pay scale as men had because they expected men to resume their jobs after the war. At the Oak Ridge plant separating U-235 for the Manhattan Project, it was noted that the girl "hill-billy" operators employed by Tennessee Eastman outperformed the scientists first used on the calutrons. The Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility located in Oak Ridge Tennessee The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb Eastman Chemical Company is a United States based Chemical company, engaged in the manufacture and sale of chemicals plastics and fibers A Calutron was a Mass spectrometer used for separating the isotopes of Uranium developed by Ernest O

Volunteer activities

Women staffed millions of jobs in community service roles, such as USO and Red Cross while the men were at war.

Women Airforce Service Pilots

The Women Airforce Service Pilots, also known as WASP, and the predecessor groups the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) (official from September 10, 1942) were each a pioneering organization of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces during gender-sensitive days of World War II that eventually would number in the thousands of female pilots, each freeing up a male pilot for combat service and duties. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The WFTD and WAFS were combined on August 5, 1943 to create the para-military WASP organization.

Baby boom

Marriage and motherhood came back as prosperity empowered couples who had postponed marriage. The birth rate started shooting up in 1941, paused in 1944-45 as 12 million men were in uniform, then continued to soar until reaching a peak in the late 1950s. This was the "Baby Boom. A baby boom is any period of greatly increased birth rate during a certain period and usually within certain geographical bounds and when the birth rate exceeds 2% of the population "

In a New Deal-like move, the federal government set up the "EMIC" program that provided free prenatal and natal care for the wives of servicemen below the rank of sergeant. The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D

Housing shortages, especially in the munitions centers, forced millions of couples to live with parents or in makeshift facilities. Little housing had been built in the Depression years, so the shortages grew steadily worse until about 1948, when a massive housing boom finally caught up with demand. (After 1944 much of the new housing was supported by the GI bill. The GI Bill (officially titled Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 PL346 58 Statutes at Large 284 provided for college or vocational education for returning )

Federal law made it difficult to divorce absent servicemen, so the number of divorces peaked when they returned in 1946. In long-range terms, the divorce rates changed little. [8]

Housewives

The traditional role of housewife became easier because there was so much spending money available, and harder because of rationing, shortages, cutbacks in automobile and bus service, and migration from farms and towns to munitions centers. Those housewives who worked found the dual role difficult to handle.

The worst psychological pressure came when sons, husbands, brothers and fiances were drafted and sent to faraway training camps, preparing for a war in which nobody knew how many would be killed. Millions of wives tried to relocate near their husbands' training camps. [9]

Role of minorities

FEPC

The FEPC was a federal executive order requiring companies with government contracts not to discriminate on the basis of race or religion. It assisted African Americans in obtaining jobs in industry. Under pressure from A. Philip Randolph's growing March on Washington Movement, on June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) by signing Executive Order 8802. Asa Philip Randolph ( April 15 1889 &ndash May 16 1979) was a prominent twentieth century African-American civil rights leader Events 524 - Battle of Vézeronce, the Franks defeat the Burgundians Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. executive order in the United States is a Directive issued by the President, the head of the executive branch of the federal government It said "there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin". In 1943 Roosevelt greatly strengthened FEPC with a new executive order, #9346. It required that all government contracts have a non-discrimination clause. FEPC was the most significant breakthrough ever for Blacks and women on the job front. During the war the federal government operated airfield, shipyards, supply centers, ammunition plants and other facilities that employed millions. FEPC rules applied and guaranteed equality of employment rights. Of course, these facilities shut down when the war ended. In the private sector the FEPC was generally successful in enforcing non-discrimination in the North, it did not attempt to challenge segregation in the South, and in the border region its intervention led to hate strikes by angry white workers. [10]

African American: Double V campaign

The African American community in the United States resolved on a Double V Campaign: Victory over fascism abroad, and victory over discrimination at home. Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Large numbers migrated from poor Southern farms to munitions centers. Racial tensions were high in overcrowded cities like Chicago; Detroit and Harlem experienced race riots in 1943. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African American cultural and business center Race Riot is a 1929 animated Short subject, featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The derogitive name jig was coined during this time. [11]

Internment of Japanese Americans

Main article: Japanese American internment

In 1942 the War Department demanded that all enemy nationals be removed from war zones on the West Coast. Japanese American internment refers to the forcible relocation and Internment of approximately 110000 Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans to housing The question became how to evacuate the estimated 120,000 people of Japanese citizenship living in California. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Roosevelt looked at the secret evidence available to him:[12] the Japanese in the Philippines had collaborated with the Japanese invasion troops; most of the adult Japanese in California had been strong supporters of Japan in the war against China. There was evidence of espionage compiled by code-breakers that decrypted messages to Japan from agents in North America and Hawaii before and after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Cryptanalysis (from the Greek kryptós, "hidden" and analýein, "to loosen" or "to untie" is the study of methods for The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise Military strike conducted by These MAGIC cables were kept secret from all but those with the highest clearance, such as Roosevelt. In World War II, Magic was the United States Codename for intelligence derived from the Cryptanalysis of PURPLE, a Japanese foreign On February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which set up designated military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded. Events 197 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. United States Executive Order 9066 was a presidential executive order issued during World War II by U " The most controversial part of the order included American born children and youth who had dual U. S. and Japanese citizenship. In February 1943, when activating the 442nd Regimental Combat Team—a unit composed mostly of American-born American citizens of Japanese descent living in Hawaii—Roosevelt said, "No loyal citizen of the United States should be denied the democratic right to exercise the responsibilities of his citizenship, regardless of his ancestry. The 442nd Infantry, formerly the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, was an Asian American unit composed of mostly Japanese The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of the mind and heart; Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry. " In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of the executive order in the Korematsu v. United States case. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Korematsu v United States, 323 US 214 (1944 was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order The executive order remained in force until December when Roosevelt released the Japanese internees, except for those who announced their intention to return to Japan.

Italy was an official enemy, and citizens of Italy were also forced away from "strategic" coastal areas in California. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Altogether, 58,000 Italians were forced to relocate. They relocated on their own and were not put in camps. Known spokesmen for Mussolini were arrested and held in prison. The restrictions were dropped in October 1942, and Italy switched sides in 1943 and became an American ally. In the east, however, the large Italian populations of the northeast, especially in munitions-producing centers such as Bridgeport and New Haven faced no restrictions and contributed just as much to the war effort as other Americans.

Wartime politics

Roosevelt easily won the bitterly contested 1940 election, but the Conservative coalition maintained a tight grip on Congress. The United States presidential election of 1940 was fought in the shadow of World War II as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses Wendell Willkie, the defeated GOP candidate in 1940, became a roving ambassador for Roosevelt. Wendell Lewis Willkie ( February 18 1892 &ndash October 8 1944) was a corporate lawyer in the United States and the Republican After a series of squabbles with Vice President Henry A. Wallace, Roosevelt stripped him of his administrative responsibilities and dropped him from the 1944 ticket, choosing instead Senator Harry S. Truman. Henry Agard Wallace (October 7 1888 &ndash November 18 1965 was the thirty-third Vice President of the United States (1941&ndash45 the eleventh Secretary of Truman was best known for investigating waste, fraud and inefficiency in civilian programs. [13] In very light turnout in 1942 the Republicans made major gains. In the 1944 election, Roosevelt defeated Tom Dewey in a relatively close race that attracted little attention. The United States presidential election of 1944 took place while the United States was preoccupied with fighting World War II. Thomas Edmund Dewey ( March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was the Governor of New York (1943-1955 and the unsuccessful Republican

Propaganda and culture

Rural school children in front of homefront posters. San Augustine County, Texas. 1943.
Rural school children in front of homefront posters. San Augustine County, Texas. 1943.

The media cooperated with the federal government in presenting the official view of the war. All movie scripts had to be pre-approved, but there was no direct censorship of radio, newspapers or magazines. [14] World War II posters helped to mobilize a nation. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present, the poster was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen. Government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images linking the military front with the home front—calling upon every American to boost production at work and at home. Deriving their appearance from the fine and commercial arts, posters conveyed more than simple slogans. Posters expressed the needs and goals of the people who created them. By definition, wartime posters are naturally propagandistic, but most posters were merely patriotically so. Some, however, resorted to extreme racial and ethnic caricatures of the enemy, sometimes as hopelessly bumbling cartoon characters, sometimes as evil, half-human creatures. Both the National Archives and Northwestern University have extensive collections of World War II posters accessible online that contain many examples of posters of the era in regard to the use of propaganda, both subtle and patriotic, and blatantly anti-German and Japanese. The United States National Archives and Records Administration ( NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government charged

One of the most noteworthy areas of civilian involvement during the war was in the area of recycling. Many everyday commodities were vital to the war effort, and drives were organized to recycle such things as rubber, tin, waste kitchen fats (the predominant raw material of explosives and many pharmaceuticals) paper, lumber, steel and many others. Popular phrases promoted by the government at the time were "Get into the scrap!" and "Get some cash for your trash" (a nominal sum was paid to the donor for many kinds of scrap items) and Thomas "Fats" Waller even wrote and recorded a song with the latter title. Fats Waller (born Thomas Wright Waller on May 21, 1904 &mdash December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist Such commodities as rubber and tin remained highly important as recycled materials until the end of the war, while others, such as steel, were critically needed at first, but in lesser quantities as damaged war materiel were returned from overseas for scrapping, lessening the need for civilian scrap metal drives. Materiel (from the French "matériel" for equipment or hardware related to the word Material) is a term used in English to refer to the Once again, war propaganda played a prominent role in many of these drives.

A strong area of American culture even then was a fascination with celebrities, and many stars of Hollywood and radio gave service above and beyond the call in the donation of their time for everything from being Civilian Defense marshalls to making personal appearances at War Bond drives. War bonds are a type of Savings bond used by combatant nations to help fund a war effort and as a Monetary policy for controlling Inflation from an Bonds were the money that financed the war, and Bond drives where celebrities appeared were always very successful. Several stars were responsible for personal appearance tours that netted multiple millions of dollars in bond pledges—an astonishing amount in 1943. The public paid roughly 2/3 of the face value of a war bond, and received the full face value back after a set number of years. While this may have represented a rather unspectacular interest rate, the government has never defaulted on payment of any mature bond. People were challenged to put "at least 10% of every paycheck into Bonds". Compliance was very high, with entire factories of workers earning a special "Minuteman" flag to fly over their plant if all workers belonged to the "Ten Percent Club". There were seven major War Loan drives, all of which exceeded their goals. An added advantage was that citizens who were putting their money into War Bonds were not putting it into the home front wartime economy. There was a job for anyone who wanted one during the war, most of them well-paid. Personal income was at an all-time high, and more dollars were chasing fewer goods to purchase. This was a recipe for economic disaster that was largely avoided because Americans—cajoled daily by their government to do so—were also saving money at an all-time high rate, mostly in War Bonds but also in private savings accounts and insurance policies.

Hollywood studios also went all-out for the war effort, as studios allowed their major stars (such as Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart) to enlist, and also created propaganda films to remind American moviegoers of their heritage. Clark Gable (February 1 &ndashNovember 16) was an iconic American Actor nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday James Maitland Stewart (20 May 1908 – 2 July 1997 popularly known as Jimmy Stewart, was an American Film and stage Actor Many of the finest films of the era are about the war, such as Casablanca, The Best Years of Our Lives, Mrs. Miniver, and Going My Way, while others, such as Yankee Doodle Dandy, focused on patriotism. Casablanca ( is an American Romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Mrs Miniver is a 1942 Drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson in the title role Going My Way, a 1944 Academy Award winning film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby. Yankee Doodle Dandy ( is a biographical film about George M Cohan, the actor-singer-dancer-playwright-songwriter-producer-theatre owner-director-choreographer Walt Disney's studio was one that helped the war effort, as almost every cartoon produced by Disney in this period dealt with the war effort. Walter Elias Disney (December 5 1901 – December 15 1966 was a multiple Academy Award -winning American Film producer, director, Screenwriter Each Disney cartoon began with a headshot of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, or Goofy, and during this time each wore an Army or Navy cap. Mickey Mouse is a comic animal Cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. Donald Duck is a cartoon character from The Walt Disney Company. Goofy is an Animated cartoon character from Walt Disney 's Mickey Mouse universe. Der Fuehrer's Face, starring Donald living a nightmare in "Nutziland", was one of the most popular and famous cartoons of the period. Der Fuehrer's Face is a 1943 Animated cartoon by the Walt Disney Studios, starring Donald Duck. The song from the cartoon - "Der Fuuerer's face" by Spike Jones & the City Slickers - also became very popular for its contempt of Nazi society:

Ven der Fuehrer says, "Ve iss der master race,"
Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer's face!
Not to luff der Fuehrer iss a great disgrace,
So Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer's face!
Ven Herr Goebbels says, "Ve own der world und space,"
Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goebbels' face!
Ven Herr Goering says, "Dey'll never bomb dis place,"
Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goering's face!

Also, Disney's famous Three Little Pigs song "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf" became a rallying cry for civilians during the war. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The master race ( German: die Herrenrasse) is a concept in Nazi Ideology, which holds that the Germanic and Nordic Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Koistinen
  2. ^ Vatter
  3. ^ Miller and Cornford
  4. ^ Lichtenstein (2003)
  5. ^ Campbell
  6. ^ Flynn (1993)
  7. ^ Campbell
  8. ^ Campbell
  9. ^ Campbell
  10. ^ Garfinkel
  11. ^ Wynn
  12. ^ Keith Robar, Intelligence, Internment & Relocation: Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066: How Top Secret "MAGIC" Intelligence Led to Evacuation (2000)
  13. ^ Brinkley
  14. ^ Fox, Madison Avenue Goes to War: The Strange Military Career of American Advertising, 1941-45, (1975)

References

Further reading

Surveys

Economy and labor

Draft

Gender and minorities

Politics

Propaganda, advertising, media, public opinion

Social, state and local history

External links

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