Topic: the United States Home Front During World War Ii

Topic The United States Home Front During field fight II Essential Question How important was the home wait to the United States triumph in reality War II? subject field Standard for United States History Era 8, Standard 3 The origins and naturally of creative activity War II, the character of the fight at home and abroad, and its reshaping of the United States role on world affairs. Instructional ObjectivesStudents will be able to 1. Explain and evaluate extensive stinting and soldiery machine mobilization on the home front by the United States during beingness War II and its clashingion of the success of the struggle effort. 2. Explain how the whole country, across each frugal and social levels, was involved in a unified effort to produce the goods of state of warfarefare and of the common sacrifice made by any citizen by rationing, victory gardens, bond drives, etc. 3. Analyze and assess the effects of World War II on culture, family, gender roles, and techno logy in Ameri give nonice society.Background Description/Historical Signifi contributece Although in that respect were no military battles fought on the mainland of the United States, World War II had a profound effect on the soil as the Federal government mobilized its economic, financial, and human resources to defeat Axis aggression. This war returned the nation to economic prosperity after a decade of dismal depression, promoted the growth of big business, and enhanced a plastered relationship between industry and the military.Politic eachy, the power of the presidency and influence of the Federal government increased, and soci every last(predicate)y and economic whollyy, the war, through common sacrifice made by all, became a vehicle for improving the status of Americans. In short, the war became a catalyst for significant economic and social change whose impact extended well-beyond its duration. For example, before the war women had traditionally played a secondary role in the job market and men had rule the industrial job sector.However, with millions of men being drafted or connector the military, women were needed to man the factories and supply centers producing goods for the war. (Over 400,000 women withal served in the military during World War II. ) They as well as had traditionally faced job discrimination and disdain pay levels, but some of these inequities began to fade as they took on more than and more responsibility in factories and production centers. Posters extolling Rosie the Riveter were printed, recognizing the need and importance of recruiting women for the ferment force.Between 1941 and 1944, the number of women working outside the home ruddiness by 5,000,000. By 1944, 72% of the female workforce were married women and their average age was over thirty-five. The war could not adopt been won without them. The war also began to create a more level playing field for minorities who had traditionally faced discrimination. w hole Americans were needed in the war effort and so glum American, Hispanic Americans, and Japanese Americans (where in California whole families had been sent to military detention camps), were being drafted and joining the military.In the case of African and Japanese Americans, separate and segregated military units were created yet, they fought on the same battlefields with their fellow citizens. Changes also occurred on the home front. Factory actors were needed in the industrial north, and a migration of black workers to northern factories began and would hatch until many years after the war had ended. What happened in the country during this time was really remarkable.Americas main course into the war had brought the Nation together, united in a common and just cause, like at no other time in its history. The sacrifice being made by families and citizens was equally and fully shared. At the same time, social change was occurring which would carry over into the post-war year s and ultimately result in more equal rights for everyone. What was happening on war front was linked to the home front. The combination would result at wars end with America emerging as the worlds pre-eminent economic exceedingly power.Instructional Activities and Primary Source/ papers Excerpts The following document excerpts, photographs, and posters can be selected, read, discussed, analyzed, and assessed by students, either singly for subsequent general class discussion, in a pair-and-share format, or in small groups with a conjunctive culture activity. At the discretion of the teacher, document excerpts, photographs, and posters could grouped at contriveated stations in the classroom, and small groups of students could unfold from station to station during the instructional period.As the groups of students examine, explain, and evaluate the pictures and texts of the following selected documents, they will begin to ascertain and assess the glacial role that the American home front played in the Allied victory in World War II. The teacher can select (as a menu) which of the following photographs, posters, and document excerpts are most bewitch for the instructional needs of their students on this historical topic. Following these photographs, posters, and document excerpts there is a menu of intriguing questions to stimulate student discussion and interaction.As a discussion prompt for either small group or whole class discussion, the teacher can present the following adage to the students If every picture tells a story, hunt what story about the American home front in World War II is being told by the following photographs and posters. The photographs and posters of women and African Americans during World War II have been selected from the following websiteswww. womenshistory. about. com and www. archives. gov/ interrogation/african-americans/ww2 pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic Document A Whereas it is the policy of the United State s to encourage full participation in the national disaffirmation broadcast by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin, in the firm feel that the democratic way of life within the Nation can be defended successfully only with the alleviate and plunk for of all groups within its b rolls, and Whereas there is evidence that available and needed workers have been barred from battle in industries engaged in defense production solely because of considerations of race, creed, color, or national origin, to the detriment workers team spirit and of national unity Now, therefore, . . .I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin, and I do hereby declare that it is the duty of employers and of tire organizations . . . to fork out for the full and equitable participation of all work ers in defense industries, without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin. . . . All contracting agencies of the Government of the United States shall admit in all defense contracts hereafter negotiated by them a provision obligating the contractor not to assort against any worker because of race, creed, color, or national origin. executive director fix 8802, June 25, 1941 by prexy Franklin Roosevelt Document B It is the policy of the Government of the United States to encourage full participation in the National Defense program by all citizens, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin in the firm belief that the democratic way of life within the nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups within its borders. The policy was stated in my Executive Order signed on June 25, 1941. The order instructed all parties making contracts with the Government of the United States to include in all defense contracts thereafter a provision obligating the contractor not to discriminate against any worker because of race, creed, color, or national origin. Questions of race, creed, and color have no place in determining who are to man our ships.The sole qualification for a worker in the maritime industry, as well as any other industry, should be his loyalty and his professed(prenominal) or technical ability and training. Letter from President Franklin Roosevelt to Mr. Joseph Curran, President of the National Maritime Union, January 14, 1942 Document C I welded . . . lying on the floor while another welder spattered sparks from the ceiling and chippers like heavyweight woodpeckers shattered our eardrums. I . . . have sat at a bench welding flat and straight plates. . . I did overhead welding, horizontal, flat, vertical. . . I made some good welds. . . I had a good smack of summer at present, and I am convinced that it is going to take backbone for welders to stick to their jobs through the s ummer months.It is harder on them than on any other of the workerstheir leathers are so hot and heavy, they get more of the fumes, and their hoods fashion instruments of torture. There were times today when Id have to stop in the middle of a tack and push my hood back just to get a breath of fresh air. It grows unbearably hot under the hood, my glasses fog and blur my vision, and the only thing to do is to stop. . . . Yet, the job substantiate my strong conviction. . . that what exhausts the woman welder is not the work, nor the heat, nor the demands upon physical strength. It is the apprehension that arises from inadequate skill and consequent lack of confidence, and this can be overcome by the right kind of training. Ive mastered tacking now, so that doesnt bother me.I know that I can do it if my machine is correctly set, and I have acquire enough of the ways of machines to be able to set them. And so, in spite of the discomforts of climbing, heavy equipment, and heat, I enjoye d the work today because I could do it. Augusta Clawson, a female welder in a shipyard, quoted from Augusta Clawson, Ship daybook of a Woman Welder (New York Penguin, 1944). Document D In the figure below the development of the United States pains force by gender during the war years. Year Total labor force (*1000) of which Male (*1000) of which female (*1000) Female share of total (%) 1940 56,100 41,940 14,160 25. 1941 57,720 43,070 14,650 25. 4 1942 60,330 44,200 16,120 26. 7 1943 64,780 45,950 18,830 29. 1 1944 66,320 46,930 19,390 29. 2 1945 66,210 46,910 19,304 29. 1946 60,520 43,690 16,840 27. 8 Source vanity of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States (1976), Chapter D, Labor Series D 29-41. Document E It is nearly five months since we were encountered at Pearl Harbor. . . . Since then we have dispatched strong forces of our Army and Navy, several hundred thousand of them, to bases and battlefronts thousands of miles from home. We have stepped up our war production on a scale that is testing our industrial power, and our engineering genius and our economic structure to the utmost. . . . This is a tough joband a long one. . . To build the factories, to buy the materials, to pay the labor, to let the transportation, to equip and feed and house the soldiers, sailors and marines, and to do all the thousands of things necessary in a warall cost a lot of money, more money than has ever been spent by any nation at any time in the long history of the world. We are now spending, solely for war purposes the sum of about one hundred million dollars every day in the week. . . . All of this money has to be spent. . . if we are to produce within the time now available the enormous quantities of weapons of war which we need. . . . All of us are utilize to spending money for things that we want, things which are not absolutely innate.We will all have to forego that kind of spending. Because we must put every dime and every dollar we can possibly spare out of our earnings into War Bonds and Stamps. Because the demands of the war effort require the rationing of goods of which there is not enough to go around. Because the stopping of purchases of non- all important(p)s will release thousands of workers who are needed in the war effort. . . . I know the American farmer, the American workman, and the American businessman. I know that they will gladly assume the economy and equality of sacrifice, satisfied that it is necessary for the most vial and compelling motive in all their liveswinning through to victory. . . As we here at home contemplate our own duties, our own responsibilities, let us think. . . hard of the example which is being set by our fighting men. . . . They are the United States of America. That is wherefore they fight. We too are the United States of America. That is why we must work and sacrifice. It is for them. It is for us. It is for victory. President Franklin Roosevelt, Fireside Radio Chat, Ap ril 28, 1942 Document F In late May 1940, with the fall of France imminent, President Roosevelt requested huge funds for the development of military and naval requirements. On December 20, 1940, he established the Office of Production Management with industrial drawing card William S. Knudsen as Director.On December 29, 1940, in a fireside chat on the radio, he called for a national production effort that would make the United States the worlds arsenal of republic. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, at the beginning of 1942 Roosevelt announced a dogmatic production program Let no one say that this cannot be done, and we are committed to doing it. He issued a clarion call for 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks, 20,000 antiaircraft guns, 500,000 machine guns, and 8 million tons of merchant deportation in one year. The entire world was amazed by the pace of American production. By 1943, the production schedule was increased to 125,000 planes, 75,000 tanks, 35,000 antiai rcraft guns, and 10 million tons of merchant shipping.During the course of the war the productive capacity of the United States gave the allied coalition more than half its armaments, 35% of those used against Nazi Germany, and 86% of those employed against Japan. While providing the United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union, and Nationalist China with weapons system and loans, the United States at the same time doubled its industrial output. Louis L. Snyders Historical Guide to World War II Greenwood Press Westport, Conn Louis Snyder 1982 Sample Thought-provoking Questions To Develop Student Group or Whole-Class Discussion 1. If the adage, Every picture tells a story, is applied to each of the above-listed photographs and posters, how did World War II instill the lives of women and African Americans? 2.How did World War II affect American family life? 3. Explain the meaning of President Roosevelts Executive Order 8802, and how did this Executive Order affect Af rican Americans? 4. To what extent did Executive Order 8802 lay the foundation for the upcoming civil rights movement in the years after World War II? 5. Describe the experiences of women who worked in factors during World War II. (Example female welders). Why was it important for woman to work in factories during World War II? 6. How did the contributions of women on the home front contribute to the American victory in World War II? 7. How did World War II serve as a catalyst for social change in American society? Prior to discussing Question 8 provide a brief overview and background as to the role of A. Philip Randolph, the most important African American labor leader of the time, and how he threatened to organize a March on Washington if the Defense Industries were not desegregated. 8. Explain the meaning and significance of the following quotation and slogan of A. Philip Randolph, President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping political machine Porters, in 1941, in proposing a massiv e March on Washington WE LOYAL NEGRO American CITIZENS DEMAND THE RIGHT TO WORK AND FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY. Why did Randolph cancel the march after President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802?Do you think that Randolph made the right decision? Explain your viewpoint. 9. How did World War II end the Great Depression and return the United States to economic prosperity? 10. Why did President Roosevelt describe the United States as an arsenal of democracy? Summary The teacher can refer the students back to the essential question which was posed at the scoop of the lesson How important was the home front to the United States victory in World War II? The students are directed to respond and take a position (develop a viewpoint) on this historical issue concerning the pivotal role that the home front played in the victory of the United State in World War II.At the teachers discretion, the pupils responses can be presented orally as closure to small group and/or whole-class discussi on, or in written form, such as a response to an essay prompt or a journal entry into a learning log to bring effective closure to the lesson. Thus, as a circular approach to teaching and learning, the lesson was undecided with a thought-provoking essential question as its primary learning objective at the start of the instructional period, developed through an examination, explanation, and evaluation of primary source document excerpts through group work, conjunct learning, pair-and-share, etc. , and closed with a critical assessment through the lens of the lessons evaluative essential question. Application (Transfer Task) Students can compare the pivotal role and significant impact of the American home front to military victory in World War II to the role and impact of the American home front today as the as the United States fights wars against terrorism and to promote democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Students can also compare the roles of women and African Americans in the a rmed services today with the roles and opportunities that were presented to them during World War II. World War II at the Memorial pic 1. Study the envisions of sculptor Ray Kaskeys bas-relief grace that depict the following lend-lease/War Declared News of Pearl Harbor workforce and Women at Work/Aircraft Construction Agriculture West Coast Shipbuilding War bond army 2. How does Kaskeys relief panel capture the essence of the heroism of the men and women who worked on the home front in factories and on farms to secure Allied victory? Do you think Kaskeys panels reflects what you learned in this lesson? If, so explain how. 3. Study images of the two types of ornamental wreaths used around the memorial on the fifty six pillars. The oak leaves represent American industrial strength and the wheat sheaves represent Americas agricultural ability to feed the world. Why do you think Kaskey chose these particular metaphors for the home front? 4.Examine the image of the pillars of states and territories. Notice that they are all connected by ropes. What does this tell you about the memorials design based on what you have learned in this lesson? What does this design tell you about the nation and the American people from 1941-1945. 5. Read the memorial catalogue by Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby. (marker stone on northeast side of the plaza, federation face). How is what you have learned in this lesson reflected in Hobbys quote? pic 6. Read the memorial inscription by President Franklin Roosevelt (marker stone on northeast side of the plaza, west face). How is what you have learned in this lesson reflected in Roosevelts quote? pic look-alike 1 Pacific Victory Arch and State and Territory Pillars pic Image 2 Atlantic Victory Arch and State and Territory Pillars pic Image 3 Bas-relief panel Lend-Lease/War Declared pic Image 4 Bas-relief Panel News of Pearl Harbor pic Image 5 Bas-relief panel, Men and Women at Work/Aircraft Construction pic Image 6 Agriculture pic Im age 7 Bas-relief panel West Coast Shipbuilding pic Image 8 Bas-relief panel War Bond Parade pic The Friends of the National World War II Memorial would like to thank the generous support of the AT&T Foundation, GeneralMotors Foundation and USAA as major sponsors of our education program who helped make these lesson plans possible.