1. World War II: Mobilization and the Home Front

2. Pearl Harbor
Early in the morning, Dec. 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor is attacked
Pearl Harbor is the home naval base of the Pacific Fleet at the time
The base is caught off-guard and unprepared.
Both civilian and military targets are hit, but the real target is the Pacific Fleet.
The aircraft carriers are not present, but the battleships are a near total loss.
Approximately 2,400 Americans are killed.
The USS Arizona took a catastrophic hit to a powder magazine and 1,177 sailors perish

3. A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
Americans reacted with fear and anger at the surprise attack
Many people feared a follow-up invasion
FDR was caught off-guard because while he expected an attack, he thought a war declaration would come first and that it would be in the Phillipines.
On Dec. 8th, 1941 FDR calls on Congress to declare war on Japan, which they do.
On Dec. 11th, Germany and Italy declare war. The U.S. is officially at war with the Axis Powers.

4. Mobilization
While Pearl Harbor caught the U.S. by surprise. The country wasn’t totally unprepared for war.
In 1940 FDR had increased military spending and instituted the first peace-time draft
Army Chief of Staff Marshal worked with FDR to make sure that the military would be ready
To meet the demand for soldiers FDR expanded the draft, but millions eagerly volunteer.

5. War Production
At the beginning of the war FDR and the government committed billions of dollars to war spending
The factories neglected during the Depression would roar back to life in a race to produce
From over 185,000 aircraft are produced, over 120,000 tanks
These goals are met due to the efforts of men like Henry Ford and US workers eager to get to work
To replace losses in shipping American shipyards produce over 5,500 cargo ships over the course of the war
These “liberty” ships are built on a new type of assembly line shipyard and are massive cargo ships and were used to ship war materials abroad
Almost half of the cargo ship production were these liberty ships, one being completed in a record 4 and a half days

7. Office of War Information
The Office of War Information (OWI) was the propaganda arm of the federal government during WWII.
Created in 1942 OWI was responsible for producing posters and short films to promote US war interests
The messages could be about supporting the war effort but also about the dangers of failing

8. Women’s Roles
Women were actively recruited and eagerly joined the military.
They took non-combat roles that were still essential
The Navy had WAVES(Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)
The Air Corps had WASPS (Women Airforce Service Pilots) that tested and delivered aircraft
The WAC (Women’s Army Corps)was the largest group of women service members where 150,000 women held a wide variety of jobs.

9. Labor’s Role Women also worked in jobs vacated by men gone to war
Women like the iconic Rosie the Riveter were taking jobs that had never been open before and proving they could do a “man’s job”
The extra war spending is ultimately what pulled the U.S. out of the Great Depression
Millions of jobs were created and as a result Labor Unions grew
Concerned about strikes hampering the war effort FDR creates the National War Labor Board and has the Smith-Connally Act passed to try to quickly solve labor disputes.

10. Issues of Racism
African Americans were as eager to serve as anyone else.
Unfortunately they were still forced to serve in segregated units and faced discrimination
Despite these challenges some units were still able to distinguish themselves
The Tuskegee Airmen was an African American fighter pilot unit.
They flew over 15,000 missions over North Africa and Italy and were honored for “outstanding performance and extraordinary heroism”

11. Sacrifice at Home
To meet the military’s demand for food many people had to work hard to grow and save food.
Victory Gardens are applauded as a way to grow your own food which can be eaten fresh or canned to preserve it
Even with gardens rationing of certain foods like coffee, butter, sugar, and meat was required.
People also had to be conscientious of their trash. Anything that could be recycled was not to be wasted.

12. Japanese Internment
Likely the most regrettable action of the U.S. during WWII was the internment of Japanese-Americans
When FDR issued Executive Order 9066 he empowered the military to create military zones and force people of Japanese descent from those zones.
The goal was to move Japanese Americans away from “sensitive” areas
There was widespread paranoia that Japanese Americans, citizens or not, may help the enemy.
They would be forced to move from the homes on very short notice and put into camps with few furnishings and little space
While in the camps they were unable to earn money and were required to reaffirm their loyalty to the U.S.

13. The Manhattan Project
Beginning in 1939 American scientists, many refugees from Europe, began research on developing an atomic bomb
Many feared that Germany was also working towards such a weapon, correctly so
The Manhattan Project is the code name for the top secret research program funded by the US government to create the atomic bomb before any other country is able to
Multiple locations work on the best way to get the required nuclear material and by the time enough fuel is available in 1945 two bomb prototypes have been designed at an estimated cost of $2B

14. The Manhattan Project
Dubbed “fat man” and “little boy” these bombs used different trigger mechanisms to achieve the chain reaction needed for a nuclear explosive
It was a fat man type that was successfully tested in July of 1945 in New Mexico
Little boy would be tested on the city of Hiroshima the following month