Chapter 25America & World War II

Section 1

Mobilizing for War

Converting the Economy

• The U.S. industrial output was twice that as Germany and 5x that of Japan.

• Best way to mobilize the economy was to give industry an incentive to move quickly.

• Gov’t signed cost-plus contracts agreeing to pay a company whatever the manufacturing cost, plus a guaranteed % of the costs as profit.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

• Set up during the Depression.

• Made loans to companies to help them with the cost of converting to war production.

American Industry

• After Pearl Harbor, almost all major American industries and 200,000 companies converted to war production.

Tanks Replace Cars

• *Don’t Write*

• The automobile factories turned to the production of trucks, jeeps, and tanks.

• The also built artillery, rifles, mines, helmets, pontoon bridges, cooking pots, and other supplies, producing nearly 1/3 of the military equipment that was manufactured during the war.

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2300 AberdeenProvingGroundss

French GPF Self Propelled 155mm Artillery

2081 AberdeenProvingGroundss

2084 AberdeenProvingGroundss

XB-70 prototype (never used) later helped develop the M1

German Rail Gun

B-24 Bombers

• Henry Ford created an assembly line for B-24 bombers.

B-24

Liberty Ships

• Henry Kaiser built the Liberty Ship, a basic cargo ship used during the war.

• They were welded instead of riveted, making them cheaper and easier to build and difficult to fall apart and sink.

War Production Board

• Set priorities and production goals to control the distribution of raw materials and supplies.

Office of War Mobilization

• Settled different arguments between different agencies.

Selective Service & Training Act

• 1st peacetime draft in American history.

• Numbers were overwhelming at first.

• Named GIs, after their uniforms meaning “Government Issue,” went through basic training for 8 weeks.

A Segregated Army

• At the beginning of the war the military was completely segregated.

• A.A. were organized into their own military units with white officers.

Double “V”

• A.A. were disfranchised, meaning they were often denied the right to vote.

• The Pittsburgh Courier, launched the Double “V” campaign stating A.A. should join the army to win a double victory abroad and at home.

Tuskegee Airmen

• The army air force created the 99th Pursuit Squadron, an A.A. unit.

• They played a most important role in Italy.

Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp

• 1st time women were allowed in the military.

• By 1943 they became part of regular war operations.

• Replaced by the Women’s Army Corp.

Americans Go To War

• 1941 the American troops were untrained and had little experience.

• They did, however, suffer the fewest casualties in combat of all the major powers.

End of Section 1

Next: The European and Pacific Theaters