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| THE HOME FRONT |
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| Rosie the Riveter. |
The Home Front
"The principal battleground
of the war is not the South Pacific. It is not the Middle
East. It is not England, or Norway, or the Russian Steppes.
It is American Opinion." --Archibald MacLeish, Director
of the Office of Facts and Figures, forerunner of the
Office of War Administration.
"We are now at war. We are now in it--all the way. Every
single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most
tremendous undertaking of our American history." So stated
President Roosevelt on December 9, 1941, during his weekly
radio address to the nation.
With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America had formally
entered the war as a partner of the Allies in the fight
for democracy--and life on the home front would never
be the same. Total war meant that all levels of the economy
and all segments of society dedicated themselves to victory.
FDR urged Americans to join the war effort by "out-producing
and overwhelming the enemy." While scarcity, rationing,
and shortages became regular topics of conversation, so
too did talk of duty, patriotism, unity, and victory.
The United States, which had the world's 18th largest
military in 1939, mobilized itself for total war production
almost overnight once the nation entered the war. The
immediate conversion of peacetime industries into war
production facilities involved companies of all sizes
and types. Toy companies began to manufacture compasses.
Typewriter companies made rifles and piano factories produced
airplane motors. The Ford Motor Company ceased producing
cars and began turning out tanks and bombers. And behind
each soldier stood hundreds of civilian workers making
everything an army needs to fight around the globe.
The Depression was over. Full employment was a reality
and confidence in victory was strong. From 1940 until
the Japanese surrender, the United States produced more
than 300,000 aircraft, 86,333 tanks, and 12.5 million
rifles. Its shipyards were just as productive, building
107 aircraft carriers, 352 destroyers, and 35 million
tons of merchant shipping.
The US also supplied a majority of war materials for its
Allied partners. By 1945, the US had produced more than
twice the war supplies of Germany, Italy, and Japan combined.
While returning to work and earning more money, Americans
on the home front also had to learn to ration their food,
recycle their scrap, plant "Victory gardens," and cut
back on travel. The government regulated the economy to
control inflation, maintaining price and wage controls
and instituting tight rationing programs throughout the
war.
Every family received ration books with stamps and coupons
for food items such as meat, sugar, and butter, and other
goods, like tires and gasoline. The government further
encouraged civilians to collect fabric, scrap metal, and
old tires for recycling. Rationing even changed fashion
styles. While women's slacks and skirts began slimmer
and shorter to save fabric, men's suits became cuff-less
and vest-less. Millions of families observed meatless
Tuesdays, millions more helped fund the war by buying
war bonds.
The war permeated every aspect of life on the home front.
Comic books, popular music, movies, and Broadway shows
all had patriotic themes. Propaganda supporting the war
effort was everywhere. Slogans like "Kick 'Em in the Axis"
and "Can All You Can" became popular and made people feel
that they could play a vital role in producing victory.
And the battle on the home front changed America in vital
ways as the workforce expanded to include women and minorities,
people moved to fill war industries, and the United states
fulfilled its role as "Arsenal of Democracy." These changes
were not always easy, but Americans made them with the
same determination and optimism that they exhibited on
the battlefields around the world.
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