5.2 The American Home Front
Learning Target 22: Identify and explain changes American society experienced with the mobilization of its economic and military resources during World War II.
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The United States’ mobilization of its economic and military resources during World War II brought significant changes to American society. Mobilization is the act of assembling and making both soldiers and supplies ready for war.
The mobilization of the United States to a wartime economy during World War II was massive. The federal government reorganized factories, converting them from producing consumer goods and services to making materials to support the war effort.
As factories shifted to making war materials, consumer goods were in short supply. The federal government needed to control supply and demand. A rationing program was established to regulate the amount of commodities that consumers could purchase. Rationing affected the purchase of food, clothing, shoes, gasoline, tires and gasoline. Americans received coupon books that allowed the purchase of the rationed items. Regulations were also imposed on some wages and prices.
Mobilization had major effects on the lives of Americans. A peacetime draft was instituted in 1940 to supplement military enlistments. Every man between the ages of 21 and 35 was required to register.
Scrap drives were conducted to reuse materials for the production of war goods. Citizens also raised victory gardens to supplement food supplies and purchased war bonds to help fund the war. Some labor unions signed no-strike pledges, so that production of war goods would continue.
Job opportunities in the civilian workforce and in the military opened for women and minorities. Women went to work in factories that had previously been open only to men. They also worked in support units in the military. African Americans organized to end discrimination and segregation so that they could contribute to the war effort. More than a million African Americans served in the U.S. military during the war. Although Japanese Americans were interned in relocation camps by the U.S. government, many enlisted in the armed services.
The mobilization of the United States to a wartime economy during World War II was massive. The federal government reorganized factories, converting them from producing consumer goods and services to making materials to support the war effort.
As factories shifted to making war materials, consumer goods were in short supply. The federal government needed to control supply and demand. A rationing program was established to regulate the amount of commodities that consumers could purchase. Rationing affected the purchase of food, clothing, shoes, gasoline, tires and gasoline. Americans received coupon books that allowed the purchase of the rationed items. Regulations were also imposed on some wages and prices.
Mobilization had major effects on the lives of Americans. A peacetime draft was instituted in 1940 to supplement military enlistments. Every man between the ages of 21 and 35 was required to register.
Scrap drives were conducted to reuse materials for the production of war goods. Citizens also raised victory gardens to supplement food supplies and purchased war bonds to help fund the war. Some labor unions signed no-strike pledges, so that production of war goods would continue.
Job opportunities in the civilian workforce and in the military opened for women and minorities. Women went to work in factories that had previously been open only to men. They also worked in support units in the military. African Americans organized to end discrimination and segregation so that they could contribute to the war effort. More than a million African Americans served in the U.S. military during the war. Although Japanese Americans were interned in relocation camps by the U.S. government, many enlisted in the armed services.
