Evan Study guide - 3.docx

Section 3: "the Homefront" America Mobilizes for War: the U.S. Government did this in three ways. a) gearing up the U.S. industry to supply the war effort Govt. created the War Industries Board that handled the purchasing of war items for both the Allies and the U.S.. It was run by Bernard Baruch (...

Section 3: "the Homefront" America Mobilizes for War: the U.S. Government did this in three ways. a) gearing up the U.S. industry to supply the war effort Govt. created the War Industries Board that handled the purchasing of war items for both the Allies and the U.S.. It was run by Bernard Baruch (a wall street stockbroker) The WIB made sure that businesses cooperated with the govt. to covert factories from peacetime production to wartime production. They also determined how raw materials would be distributed and produced. The Fuel Administration was in charge of boosting coal and gas production to meet the needs of the war effort. They also encouraged people to conserve energy. Methods to conserve energy were: daylight savings time and shortened work weeks for non-military worker industries. The Railroad administration made sure that the railroads ran smoothly to help the war effort. the War Labor Board dealt with any labor disputes, but these were few and far between b/c t he labor leaders saw this increase in manufacturing as an opportunity to increase membership and higher pay. B) the Federal Government raising money for the War effort. the monetary cost of the World War I effort was about $33 billion dollars and $10 billion went to the allies as loans. 1/3 of the total was raised through taxation such as: increased income tax, corporations paid income tax known as the "excess profits tax"(any company that profited by the war effort would have to pay a tax on those profits) and the govt. levied excise duties on items such as gum, theatre tickets and records. The govt. borrowed the rest of the money from the American people by selling war bonds. People would buy these bonds and the money would go to the war effort, in return you would get your money back at a certain time with a return on your investment. The type of bonds included: Victory Bonds, Liberty Bonds. (1/5 of the country's population invested in the fourth Liberty Loan) Children were even asked to pitch in by collecting pennies to buy War Savings Stamps. C) The American people had to get behind the War effort with moral support. without public support, no war effort can be successful and the Govt. knew this and they needed to get the public behind the war effort by creating govt. committees to this. The Committee on Public Information was created to "sell" the war to the American people. It was led by George Creel who enlisted many famous Americans from the entertainment field to help him in this cause. Thousands of "four minute men" spoke at movie theatres and public halls to promote the war effort and to gain recruits into the service. This promotion of the war also had a negative effect on society. Many people were accused of spying for the enemy and many German nationals living in the U.S. were treated unfairly due to their heritage Loyalty Leagues were created to make sure no spied on the U.S. Any anti-American sentiment in newspapers was not tolerated and they were shut down. People were arrested for criticizing the President, questioning the American govt. or the military. Eugene Debs was arrested for 10 years for telling an audience to resist militarism. Around 3,000 cases that ended up as convictions involved people supposedly spying on the U.S. Who took over for the White man during the war? Women also were able to obtain jobs and became an essential part to the American workforce, but women still wondered how could America be fighting for democracy abroad while women at home still could not vote. Blacks were in the same position as women. They filled in for many jobs that white men held in peacetime, but there was still a lot of discrimination against blacks in America. Many blacks migrated north to work in factories and by the end of the war, up to 100,000 blacks held skilled jobs and jobs as managers. Race riots did occur in some northern cities( mainly Detroit) due to the influx of blacks from the south .