Mobilizing for War Part 1 PDF

Mobilizing for War Guide to Reading Connection Content Vocabulary Reading Strategy In the previous chapter, you learned...

Mobilizing for War Guide to Reading Connection Content Vocabulary Reading Strategy In the previous chapter, you learned cost-plus, disfranchise Organizing As you read about American about the events that surrounded the mobilization for World War II, complete onset of World War II. In this section, you Academic Vocabulary a graphic organizer like the one below will discover how the United States mobi- incentive, priority, consult by filling in the agencies the U.S. govern- lized for the war. People and Terms to Identify ment created to mobilize the nation’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation, economy for war. Liberty ship, War Production Board, The U.S. government encouraged and Selective Service and Training Act assisted industry in improving manufac- Government Agencies turing for a wartime economy. (p. 573) Reading Objectives Created to Mobilize Automobile manufacturers and ship- Explain how the United States mobi- the Economy yards produced vehicles and other lized its economy. equipment for the war. (p. 574) Describe the issues involved in raising Despite continued barriers to full an American army. equality in the armed forces, African Americans and women made unique contributions to the war effort. (p. 576) Preview of Events ✦1940 ✦1941 ✦1942 ✦1943 1940 December 7, 1941 1942 1943 Fall of France; Selective Japan attacks Pearl Women’s Army Auxiliary Office of War Mobilization Service Act Harbor Corps (WAAC) established (OWM) established. The Big Idea , The following are the main History–Social Science Standards covered in this section. 11.7.3 Identify the roles and sacri- fices of individual American soldiers, People react to periods of breathtaking social and cultural change in as well as the unique contributions of different ways. Even before the United States officially entered the war, the special fighting forces (e.g., the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442nd President Roosevelt had begun to prepare the American economy by building up Regimental Combat team, the Navajo Code Talkers). the country’s defenses. Now the conversion to a wartime economy went at a 11.7.5 Discuss the constitutional issues rapid pace, with a new agency to control the production of jeeps, tanks, air- and impact of events on the U.S. home front, including the internment of Japanese planes, and ships. Americans, who before had been to a large degree isolation- Americans (e.g., Fred Korematsu v. United ists, approved a draft. Enlistees served in segregated units, but African Americans States of America) and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens; the began to push for more rights, and World War II saw the first African American response of the administration to Hitler’s atrocities against Jews and other groups; the combat units. Women also advanced during the war, serving for the first time in roles of women in military production; and the military itself rather than in auxiliary units. the roles and growing political demands of African Americans. 11.10.1 Explain how demands of African Americans lus for President Truman’s decision to end segregation 11.7.6 Describe major developments in avia- helped produce a stimulus for civil rights, including in the armed forces in 1948. tion, weaponry, communication, and medicine President Roosevelt’s ban on racial discrimination in 11.11.3 Describe the changing roles of women in soci- and the war’s impact on the location of American defense industries in 1941, and how African ety as reflected in the entry of more women into the industry and use of resources. Americans’ service in World War II produced a stimu- labor force and the changing family structure. 572 CHAPTER 12 America and World War II Converting the Economy Churchill was right. The industrial output of the United States during the war astounded the rest of the world. American workers were twice as productive as The U.S. government encouraged and German workers and five times more productive than assisted industry in improving manufacturing for Japanese workers. American war production turned a wartime economy. the tide in favor of the Allies. In less than four years, Reading Connection What motivates you to work the United States achieved what no other nation had better or faster? Read on to learn how the U.S. government ever done—it fought and won a two-front war motivated industry during World War II. against two powerful military empires, forcing each to surrender unconditionally. The United States was able to expand its war pro- President Roosevelt was concerned with the diffi- duction so rapidly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in culty of fighting a global war. The attack on Pearl part because the government had begun to mobilize Harbor, however, convinced him that the United the economy before the country entered the war. States must take action. When the German blitzkrieg swept into France in May 1940, President Roosevelt declared a national emergency and announced a plan to build 50,000 warplanes a year. Shocked by the success of the German attack, many Americans were willing to Shortly after 1:30 P.M. on December 7, 1941, build up the country’s defenses. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox phoned President Roosevelt and his advisers believed that the best Roosevelt at the White House. “Mr. President,” Knox way to rapidly mobilize the economy was to give said, “it looks like the Japanese have attacked Pearl industry an incentive to move quickly. As Henry Harbor.” A few minutes later, Admiral Harold Stark, Stimson, the new secretary of war, wrote in his diary: “If you are going to try and go to war, or to prepare chief of naval operations, phoned and confirmed for war, in a capitalist country, you have got to let the attack. business make money out of the process or business As Eleanor Roosevelt passed by the president’s won’t work.” study, she knew immediately something very bad had happened: ➤ “All the secretaries were there, two telephones were Franklin D. Roosevelt in use, the senior military aides were on their way with messages.” Eleanor also noticed that President Roosevelt remained calm: “His reaction to any event was always to be calm. If it was something that was bad, he just became almost like an iceberg, and there was never the slightest emotion that was allowed to show.” Turning to his wife, President Roosevelt expressed anger at the Japanese: “I never wanted to have to fight this war on two fronts. We haven’t got the Navy to fight in both the Atlantic and Pacific.... We will have to build up the Navy and the Air Force and that will mean we will have to take a good many defeats before we can have a victory.” —adapted from No Ordinary Time Unlike the president, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was not worried. Churchill knew that victory in modern war depended on a nation’s industrial power. He compared the American econ- omy to a gigantic boiler: “Once the fire is lighted under it there is no limit to the power it can generate.”  Normally when the government needed military American Industry equipment, it would ask companies to bid for the contract, but that system was too slow in wartime. Gets the Job Done Instead of asking for bids, the government signed cost-plus contracts. The government agreed to pay Automobile manufacturers and shipyards a company whatever it cost to make a product plus produced vehicles and other equipment for the war. a guaranteed percentage of the costs as profit. Under the cost-plus system, the more a company Reading Connection Name products you use that produced and the faster it did the work, the more would be in high demand during a war. Read on to discover money it would make. The system was not cheap, the role of shipyards in World War II. but it did get war materials produced quickly and in quantity. By the fall of 1941, much had already been done to Although cost-plus convinced many companies to prepare the economy for war, but it was still only par- convert to war production, others could not afford to tially mobilized. Although many companies were pro- reequip their factories to make military goods. To con- ducing military equipment, most still preferred to vince more companies to convert, Congress gave new make consumer goods. The Depression was ending authority to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and sales were rising. The Japanese attack on Pearl (RFC). The RFC, a government agency set up during Harbor, however, changed everything. By the summer the Depression, was now permitted to make loans to of 1942, almost all major industries and some 200,000 companies to help them cover the cost of converting companies had converted to war production. Together to war production. they made the nation’s wartime “miracle” possible. Reading Check Analyzing What government poli- cies helped American industry to produce large quantities of Tanks Replace Cars The automobile industry was war materials? uniquely suited to the mass production of military Switching to Wartime Production Automobile Production, 1941–1945 4 Automobiles Produced (in millions) 3,779,628 3 2 1 222,862 139 610 70,001 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Year Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. equipment. Automobile factories began to produce one of the most ambitious projects when he created trucks, jeeps, and tanks. This was critical in modern an assembly line for the enormous B-24 bomber warfare because the country that could move troops known as “the Liberator” at Willow Run Airport near and supplies most quickly usually won the battle. As Detroit. By the end of the war, the factory had built General George C. Marshall, chief of staff for the over 8,600 aircraft. Overall, the automobile industry United States Army, observed: produced nearly one-third of the military equipment manufactured during the war. “ The greatest advantage the United States enjoyed on the ground in the fighting was... the jeep and the two-and-a-half ton truck. These are the instruments Building the Liberty Ships Henry Kaiser’s ship- yards more than matched Ford’s achievement in air- that moved and supplied United States troops in bat- craft production. Kaiser’s shipyards built many tle, while the German army... depended on animal ships, but they were best known for their production transport.... The United States, profiting from the of Liberty ships. The Liberty ship was the basic mass production achievements of its automotive cargo ship used during the war. Most Liberty ships industry... had mobility that completely outclassed were welded instead of riveted. Welded ships were the enemy. ” cheap, easy to build, and very hard to sink compared to riveted ships. —quoted in Miracle of World War II When a riveted ship was hit, the rivets often came Automobile factories did not just produce vehi- loose, causing the ship to fall apart and sink. A welded cles. They also built artillery, rifles, mines, helmets, ship’s hull was fused into one solid piece of steel. A tor- pontoon bridges, cooking pots, and dozens of other pedo might blow a hole in it, but the hull would not pieces of military equipment. Henry Ford launched come apart. A damaged Liberty ship could often get back to port, make repairs, and return to service. Welded ships saved cargo as well as lives. Tank Production, 1941–1945 The War Production Board As American Tanks Produced (in thousands) 30 29,497 companies converted to wartime production, 25 many business leaders became frustrated 23,884 with the mobilization process. Government 20 17,565 agencies argued constantly about supplies 15 and contracts and whose orders had the 11,184 highest priority. The process was not only 10 frustrating, but the disorder also hindered 5 4,203 production. After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 tried to improve the system by creating the Year War Production Board (WPB) in January 1942. Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. The chairman, Donald M. Nelson, and the WPB received authority to set priorities and production goals and to control the distribu- tion of raw materials and supplies. Almost immediately, the WPB clashed with the mili- tary. Military agencies continued to sign con- tracts without consulting with the WPB. Over a period of three years, the WPB supervised 1. Interpreting Graphs How does the number of the production of $185 billion in military tanks produced relate to the number of automo- weapons and supplies. Finally, in 1943, biles produced in the previous graph? Roosevelt established the Office of War 2. Making Generalizations How do these two Mobilization (OWM) to settle arguments graphs illustrate the commitment of the United between the different agencies. States to winning the war? Reading Check Explaining What military need led to the production of Liberty ships? CHAPTER 12 America and World War II 575