“American History 102”  http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture21.html April 21, 2006

• Once the United States was fully committed to the war in December of 1941, patriotism soared in American society
• Americans' willingness to carry out blackout and civil defense drills; to recycle metals, paper, and even cooking fats; to work longer hours, but to have fewer consumer goods to buy with their salaries demonstrated the nation's strong support for the war
• The federal government encouraged Americans to conserve and recycle materials such as metal, paper, and rubber, which factories could then use for wartime production

 “the Draft” http://www.foxvalleyhistory.org/WWII/pre1941/draft.htm  April 21 2006

• The draft began on October 16, 1940. The US government required that all men between the ages of 21 and 35 register with their local draft boards for possible service. Three draft boards operated in Outagamie County.
• The draft eventually targeted men as young as 18 and as old as 64. Outagamie County draft boards registered 23,351 men. Draft boards around the country registered 50 million men by the war's end.
• Draft boards registered men and classified them into the following categories:                                                  
  American troops pose at Camp McCain
  in Mississippi, 1943
  Courtesy of Jeffery Vogt
• Class I: available for service
  Class II: deferred because of an essential job
  Class III: deferred because of dependency or hardship
  Class IV: deferred because of age, health, or other factors
• Army requirements for male recruits included:

-height of 5 feet
-weight of 105 pounds
-have at least half of his natural teeth
-no flat feet
-no hernia
-no venereal diseases
-literate (the Army waived this requirement by the war's end)
“Total War” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_war April 20,  April 21, 2006

• Total war is a 20th century term to describe a war in which countries or nations use all of their resources to destroy another organized country or nation's ability to engage in war
• The most identifiable consequence of total war in modern times has been the inclusion of civilians and civilian infrastructure as targets in destroying a country's ability to engage in war.
• Total war also resulted in the mobilization of the home front. Propaganda became a required component of total war in order to boost production and maintain morale. Rationing took place to provide more material for waging war.
• 
• A US poster produced during World War II

“Women At Home After World War II” <Galenet.galegroup.com> April 21, 2006

• Between 1929 and 1945, Americans lived through the worst economic depression in the nation and the most terrible war in the history of the world
• With the end of the Second World War, in 1945, the country was understandably eager to return to normal peacetime life
• The woman's fundamental status," the distinguished Harvard University sociologist Talcott Parson wrote in 1949, "is that of her husband's wife, the mother of his children."

“World War II” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II April 21, 2006

• Home front" is the name given to the activities of the civilians of a nation that is in a state of total war.
• President Roosevelt stated that the efforts of civilians at home to support the war through personal sacrifice were as critical to winning the war as the efforts of the soldiers themselves.

“World War II Rationing”  http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1674.html April 21, 2006

• In the spring of 1942, the Food Rationing Program was set into motion.
• Rationing was introduced to avoid public anger with shortages and not to allow only the wealthy to purchase commodities.
• People were often required to give up many material goods, but there also was an increase in employment.
• Their efforts also included scrap drives, taking factory jobs, goods donations and other similar projects to assist those on the front. Government-sponsored ads, radio shows, posters and pamphlet campaigns urged the American people to comply. With a sense of urgency, the campaigns appealed to America to contribute by whatever means they had, without complaint. The propaganda was a highly effective tool in reaching the masses.
• Sugar rationing took effect in May 1943 with the distribution of "Sugar Buying Cards."

• American production was the major factor in keeping the Allies better supplied than the Axis.
• in 1943 the United States produced 369 warships (1.01/day). In comparison, Japan produced 122 warships, and Germany only built three.

 

 

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