American Studies.
Week Thirty
Monday, April 15, 2024 7:18 AM
Monday
On to World War II
The Mobilization for WWII
United States: In 1936, the U.S. Army ranked nineteenth in size globally, behind Portugal and only slightly ahead of Bulgaria. Its half-strength divisions were scattered across numerous posts, with outdated equipment and reliance on horses—an increasingly anachronistic approach3.
The Mobilization for WWII - Changes on the Homefront
All the old iron beds were pulled out of the garages and they
were put in the metal drives. The Boy Scouts did a great deal
of that. The city took up the old streetcar lines. It went down
Government and Dauphin Street, and we added those to the
scrap pile. But everyone took part in World War II down to
the youngest child.
— Katherine Phillips, THE WAR
Background:
Before World War II, the United States took an isolationist
posture in world affairs. The population was far more concerned
about its own economic well-being than it was with
the political upheaval in Europe and Japan’s imperialistic
activities in Asia. Stories of Japanese and German military
activity had been in the news since the mid-1930s, but for
most Americans these seemed to be very distant events.
America’s military preparedness was not that of a nation
expecting to go to war. Powerful isolationist factions, combined
with a strong pacifist movement and a rejection of the
League of Nations, kept the United States from having any
resemblance to its militaristic counterparts in Europe and
Asia. In 1939, the United States Army ranked 39th in the
world, possessing a cavalry force of 50,000 and using horses
to pull the artillery.
The U.S. government began to understand the threat level
imposed by the Axis powers, and in November 1939 altered
previous neutrality legislation to permit the shipment of war
supplies to China and Europe on a cash-and-carry basis. In
1941, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which actually
placed the United States in a quasi-war between its merchant
fleet and Hitler’s submarines. But the American public was
only semiconscious of these events, and in no way were the
country’s cities, small towns and agricultural regions ready
for war. The “sleeping giant” wouldn’t awaken until Sunday
morning, December 7, 1941.
Once awakened, America began turning out war production
at every level of its industry and agriculture. In the next four
years, entire factories and the towns that they supported
began turning out war materiel at rates that would eventually
outperform all the Axis powers combined.
By 1945, the United States had produced nearly 300,000
warplanes, more than 100,000 tanks, 87,000 warships and
nearly 6 million tons of aircraft bombs. The government
rationed everything from gasoline to silk. The civilian
population chipped in as well, growing victory gardens and
saving rubber from tires and grease from cooking stoves.
Towns like those featured in the film — Luverne,
Minnesota; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut;
and Mobile, Alabama — would transform in ways never
imaginable. These changes would have long-lasting
repercussions on these towns and thousands like them all
across the country long after the war ended.
NEWSREEL: An army of 150,000 men, women and children
invaded an American city. Whites, Negroes, Indians, Creoles,
Cajuns — they came from every corner of the land, their
roots in every curve of the globe: Moscow, Indiana; Warsaw,
North Dakota; Hamburg, California; Milan, Missouri;
Baghdad, Kentucky. Some came out of patriotism, some out
of grim necessity, some for a richer life; all came to do a war
job. This could be any one of a hundred great American war
centers. It happens to be Mobile, Alabama, but the story is
the same in every wartown in America.
GO TO CLIPS
https://www.pbs.org/video/war-wartown/
Now discuss the following questions:
1. This clip was shown in movie houses throughout the
United States during the early days of World War II. It is
obviously structured to be a morale booster. Look closely
at how the script is written. What do you think is the
overall theme of the clip? Why do you think the towns
featured in the quote were selected for this newsreel clip?
How do you think Americans in the early 1940s reacted
to seeing scenes of hundreds of people heading off to work?
2. The clip describes how American factories geared up for
war production and the challenge they faced converting
car manufacturing with 15,000 parts to B-24 bomber
manufacturing with 1,550,000 parts, producing one every
63 minutes. What type of logistics were necessary for this
mobilization? How was the government involved?
3. Describe some of the changes that factories of civilian
products would have to go through to convert to military
production. What is mass production? What is an assembly
line? How are jobs divided up? What other observations
can you make from the newsreel footage about the
factories, the laborers and the materials being produced?
What was the impact of all this war production on American
industry overall?
4. Referring to the newsreel footage presented in the segment,
describe some of the changes that factories of civilian
products would have to go through to convert to military
production. What other observations can you make from
the newsreel footage about the factories, the laborers and
the materials being produced? What was the impact of all
this war production on American industry overall?
5. Mobile, Alabama’s employment doubled in shipbuilding
and dry dock facilities as 150,000 people came in from all
parts of the region to work in defense plants. Many of
those people were from poor rural communities, including
many African Americans. Describe some of the personal
reasons why these people sought employment in Mobile
and some of the challenges they faced once they got there.
What were some reasons for the negative reactions residents
of Mobile had toward the newcomers?
6. By 1943, six million women had entered the workforce,
nearly half of them working in defense plants, doing jobs
previously reserved for men. Life magazine paid tribute to
these “Rosie the Riveters” as neither drudges nor slaves,
but the heroines of a new order. What is meant by this
statement? How did their experience change previous attitudes
about women in the workplace? How did it affect
women and their families? How did it affect society?
7. The original residents of Mobile also had to make adjustments
to the influx of workers coming to work in the
defense plants. Describe some of the strains the quick
increase in population had on the town’s infrastructure
and services. Many of the people arriving from the rural
areas did not have the same lifestyle as the permanent
residents of Mobile. Describe some of the characteristics
of their lifestyle and the reactions by the residents of
Mobile. What was the ever-present binding force that
was on all their minds, and how did it help to bring
them all together?
Rationing and Recycling
GO TO CLIP
https://www.pbs.org/video/war-rationing-and-recycling/
1. Develop a list of some of the major items that civilians in
the United States rationed, recycled or just went without
during World War II.
2.How were these items used in the war effort?
3. How did the Depression help prepare many Americans for
doing without the “luxury” items? After the war, recycling
was discontinued. It began again, slowly, after the 1960s
on a volunteer basis. Why do you think Americans didn’t
continue to recycle items after the war?
4. How do you explain the contradiction between Americans
whose act of rationing and recycling made them feel they
were part of the war effort and the emergence of a black
market for goods during the war?
5. How did rationing and recycling contribute to a sense of
community? Do you think Americans today would ration
to contribute to a war effort?
Look at the following WWII propaganda posters. What themes do you notice? What are the subliminal messages in each post?
