Economic Homefront:How World War II Helped Bring an

End to The Great Depression

Eleanor, Jennie, Syd, and Audrey Kate

The Great Depression & World War II

What Was the Great Depression?

What Was World War II?

Thesis

World War II was a significant factor in ending the Great Depression, because the U.S. created its own markets, built its own war materials, and according to unemployment charts of the 1940s, unemployment dropped from over 20% to approximately 1%.

The Great Depression’s Problems & World War II’s

SolutionsThe Great Depression’s Problems

World War II’s Solutions

Unemployment skyrocketed

Created more jobs for the unemployed Americans

Factories were shut down

Used vacant factories to make war materials

Companies went bankrupt

More money in the economy

The U.S. Built its Own War Materials

• Scarcity of resources• Used vacant factories• Enabled entirely new industrial

sectors

Factories & the People Who Worked There

• Closed-down factories of the Great Depression became shipbuilding and war material factories

• 6.5 million females joined the workforce

• America’s factories were at full production

Housing Price Rate

Unemployment Rate

Conclusion

• The U.S. formed its own markets• The U.S. accommodated its closed-

down factories into productive war factories

• Housing price rates increased and unemployment declined quickly

Bibliography“Housing Price Chart,” <http//www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=607&q=the+great+depression&gbv=2&oq=the+gr&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.2391.5953.0.7391.6.6.0.1.1.0.78.344.5.5.0.r065lTcE2yo> “Shipbuilding Factory,” http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/_popups/home_front/industrialization/03.html

“Unemployment Rate Chart,"http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=607&q=the+great+depression&gbv=2&oq=the+gr&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.2391.5953.0.7391.6.6.0.1.1.0.78.344.5.5.0.r065lTcE2yo   “Women At Factory,”http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/media?id=pc041967&st=world+war+2  

   

 Bibliography 

“Great Depression Banks,”http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/extmedia?id=ar234080&st=great+depression&sc=2&em=lr0023

 “Airplanes During World War II,”Hyman, Louis. “How Did World War II End The Great Depression?” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-16/how-did-world-war-ii-end-the-great-depression-

echoes.html McElvaine, Robert S. “Great Depression.”

http://www.nbk.grolier.com/ncpage?tn=/encycarticle.html&id=a2041569-h&type=Ot

 Mitchener, Kris J., “Great Depression,”http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar234080&st=great+depression&sc=3 2012

Taylor, Nick. “The Great Depression.” http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/great_depression_1930s/index/html?scp=1spot&sq=the%20great%20depression&st=cse#

“The American Homefront”U.S. History Online Textbookhttp://www.ushistory.org/us/51b.aspTuesday, June 05, 2012