WW2 Domestic social changes and know how the war impacted The American People in Wartime

WW2 two ended the depression

Labor, the work created a labor shortage. The Armed Forces took 15 million men and women out of civilian workforce even though the demand for labor was rising. The very young and the elderly and minorities and the millions of women were previously thought not ready for the workforce but they were now used as workers. Union membership rose. People had a no strike pledge where the unions agreed not to stop production in the war.

Production, government spending was pumping more money into the economy each year after 1939. Warm money then all the new deal relief agencies combined had done. 1939 federal budget 9,000,000,000 x 19 45 it had risen to 100 billion. The gross national product went from 91 billion in 1939 266 billion in 1945. Personal incomes grew 100% or more in some areas. There was a shortage of consumer goods so people save their money which helped him and postwar years. Government made 40 billion worth of investments in factories military and transportation for highways and power plants in the West during the war. 10% of all the money spent went to California alone. They made airplanes in California. Washington and California made ships. Office of Price administration and the anti-inflation act froze prices throughout the country. There was rationing on coffee sugar meet but are candidates gasoline and oil. By 1944 American factories were producing more than the government needed the output was twice that of all the other access countries combined.

Women/Children, women worked because there was a shortage of men workers. Working Women increased by 60% during the war. Most of the women were married an older. White men made the most, than white women, then black man than black women. A few women had jobs and what was traditionally men's work. Women joined unions. There are many working mothers. Most women worked in government work. Some women went to the military as WAAC’s which is the Army, or WAVE’s which is the Navy they mostly did typing a clerical work. There were very few childcare facilities so sometimes the kids left home alone or in parking lots in the factories why they worked. Juvenile crime rose during the war. Young boys were arrested for burglary vandalism. A lot of people dropped out of high school one third of all teenagers between 14 and 18 were employed

 

Mexican-Americans, there is a shortage of workers so many Mexicans got jobs. Many Mexican workers entered the US on the West Coast because of labor shortages.Braceros were contract laborers that were admitted to the US to work a specific job. During the depression many Mexican farmers were deported to make room for white workers. Young Mexicans joined street gangs on the West Coast and zoot suits. The zoot suit Latino gangs and young military men cut in fights and had riots in LA. Zoot suits are long loose jackets with padded shoulders and baggy pants tight at the ankles

Indians, because there was a shortage of workers many Indians found employment. 25,000 Indians were in the military during World War II. Code talkers spoke their own language with the enemy you couldn't understand any used as a code they were mostly Navajo Indians. The war brought whites and Indians together sometimes for the first time. Some Indians never went back to the reservation after the war. Many young people left the reservations to serve in the war and never went back. There was pressure for tribes to assimilate into white society.

African Americans, because there was a shortage of workers many African-Americans found employment. Many African-Americans signed up to fight in the war to improve the position of their race. Some were demanding that defense contracts had to have blacks on the workforce. The fair employment practices commission investigated discrimination against blacks in war industries. The need for labor in war plants increased blacks moving from the South to the cities of the North. There was racial problems in some cities in 1943 Detroit is a riot. Blacks fought segregation. There is citizens and demonstrations in segregated theaters and restaurants. Eventually this would lead to the civil rights movement. Military leaders usually gave blacks the worst jobs in the military but by the end of the war some were being integrated allowed to serve on ships and sent into combat. 700,000 blacks served.

American Voices Sarah Killingsworth is a black woman who got a job at the Douglas defense plant. She heard that the production line had a lot of accidents. She got a job working nights in the ladies restroom. It was very segregated in Los Angeles. You have certain places you could go where other black people were you couldn't sit down with whites. Thought the war was okay because it made a way for them to get out on their own in society.