1. Chapter 17 Section 1 Notes U.S. Mobilizes for War
After Pearl Harbor
Japan thought U.S. would
back away from conflict
U.S. did just the opposite
Got ticked off
Wanted revenge

2. Expansion of the Military
5 million men volunteer for service within 1st 6 months
Not enough to fight “2 wars”
In Pacific (Japan)
In Atlantic (Germany/Italy)
Selective Service expands the draft
18 – 45 year olds
10 million more soldiers
All races and ethnicities included
Discrimination and segregation exist
No women

3. Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
Formed by Gen. George Marshall
Around 350,000 served
All volunteers
Non-combat positions only
Nurses, radio operators, pilots, etc…

4. Minority Contributions to the Military
1 million African Americans
No combat until 1943
300,000 Mexican Americans
50,000 Asian Americans
Chinese and Japanese
served as spies, interpreters
25,000 Native Americans

5. Industrial Wartime Production
Most industries converted to help the war effort
Auto industry most affected
No cars made for civilian use
from February 1942 until after
war ends in September 1945.
Made tanks, jeeps, planes, boats, etc…
Jeep production
Willow Run bomber plant in Ypsilanti, MI

6. Shipyards added & expanded
Henry Kaiser led construction of 7 new ones in California
East Coast shipyards modernized (WWI)
Constructed huge ships in record time
At 1st, 1 built every 4 days (1942)
1 per day by 1945
Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in NY b

8. Work force in the U.S. during the war
At 1st, U.S. govt. and businesses were worried there wouldn’t be enough workers due to the draft
They were wrong
18 million in factories at the high point (1944)
6 million were women
did traditionally male jobs (hard manual labor)
were paid around half of what males made

9. 2 million were minorities
Between WWI & WWII, not allowed to work in many factory jobs due to discrimination
A. Phillip Randolph
Most well respected black labor leader
Organized a march on the Capitol of around 100,000 that was supposed to occur July 1941
FDR met with him and got march stopped
FDR ordered war industries to end race discrimination

10. Scientific discoveries during the war
Office of Scientific Research and Development
Improved radar and sonar
Developed pesticides (DDT) to
fight insects and lice
Developed penicillin
Began to develop atomic bomb
Took around 3 years to complete
Manhattan Project (more in Section 3)

11. Supply and Demand within the U.S. during the war
most production geared towards war =
less production for consumers in U.S.
higher prices for products (inflation)

12. 3 ways U.S. Gov. tries to keep inflation low
Office of Price Administration (OPA)
Created to “freeze” prices
Set up a system of rationing products
everyone got an = amount.
Black Market still existed
Raised income taxes
Reduced demand on consumer products
Encouraged people to buy bonds

14. War Production Board (WPB)
determined what kind of products each company would make
determined what raw materials would go to each industry
led recycling drives around the country

15. Propaganda Kept morale high, encouraged enlistment
Sometimes racist, sexist
Especially against Japanese
Types:
Visual Ads
Radio ads
Newsreels
“Shorts”
Full Length Movies
Most famous producer = Frank Capra