|
US Mobilization for WW2 Facts
for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting information, history and
facts on US Mobilization for WW2 for kids.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts for kids
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 1: The United States entered WW2
on December 8, 1941 when it declared war on Japan following the
Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The nation needed to quickly mobilize its economy and military
forces to fight in WW2.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
2: The US
mobilization effort focused on industry producing
massive amounts of war goods including arms, ammunition,
ships, tanks and warplanes.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 3: The US government had begun to
mobilize the economy before the country had entered the war, aware
of the threat posed to the nation through the aggressive and
expansionist policies of the Axis powers (Italy, Germany and Japan).
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 4: The
Neutrality Act of 1939 had ended
the US arms embargo in favor of supplying Great Britain and France
with arms and ammunition. And the
Lend-Lease Act
was enacted on March 11, 1941 as "An Act to Promote the Defense of
the United States".
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 5: In May 6, 1940
President Roosevelt had said to Congress that no nation
could be too strong and demanded means to stop any war
maker "before he can establish strong bases within the
territory of American vital interests." He asked for
money for at least 50,000 planes and a much bigger Army
and Navy. Congress agreed and FDR got the money.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 6: The U.S.
government realized that victory the war was dependent
on a nation's industrial power and was willing to spend
as much money as needed to win the war. The federal
budget increased from $8.9 billion in 1939 to over $95
billion in 1945.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 7: FDR's
New Deal
programs were largely curtailed as the munitions
industry and arms manufacturers provided millions of new
jobs and higher incomes than had been available through
the
Great Depression.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 8: Massive war spending saw the
end of the
Great Depression as war mobilization
brought full employment as factories hired anyone they could find.
Housewives joined the labor force and students quit school. Millions
joined the wartime labor force and others joined the military
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 9: To pay for the war, huge sums were raised by
taxes. The whole cost of the war came to nearly 300 billion dollars.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
10: The US government
provided incentives to industry to encourage and convert
to war production and produce war materials and vehicles
as quickly as possible.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 11: Companies providing military
equipment were no longer required to bid for government
contracts as the process was too slow. Instead the
government signed Cost-Plus Contracts.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
12: In Cost-Plus
Contracts contract the contractor was paid for
development and whatever it cost to make a product plus
additional payment to allow for a profit. Under the
Cost-Plus system the more a company made and the speed
it produced the goods resulted in more more money to be
made.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 13: In addition to the Cost-Plus
system the government gave new powers to the Reconstruction Finance
Company (RFC) to provide loans to companies to help cover the cost
of converting to war production
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 14: By the summer of
1942 nearly all major industries and nearly 200,000
companies had converted to war production. FDR
established the War Production Board (WPB) to control
the distribution of supplies and raw materials. In 1943
he established the Office of War Mobilization (OWM) to
coordinate all government agencies involved in the war
effort.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 15: The automobile
industry stopped making cars and started to produce
jeeps, military trucks, tanks, arms, mines, helmets,
aircraft and various other types of military equipment.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
16: Henry Ford built a
new factory Willow Run airport near Detroit to produce
B-24 bombers on an assembly line (had never been done
before). By 1944 the US airplane industry would become
the largest single manufacturing industry in the world.
Continued...
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts for kids
Facts
about the US Mobilization for WW2 Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with interesting information, history and facts
on US Mobilization for WW2 for kids.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts for kids
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
17: Henry J. Kaiser
introduced mass production techniques to shipbuilding
and his shipyards were famous for producing Liberty
Ships. By 1944 2,100 merchant ships were constructed.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 18: Liberty ships were welded instead of riveted
which made them cheaper, faster to build, easier to repair and
harder to sink than riveted ships.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 19: Thousands of American women of all
ages rolled up their sleeves and went to work in
shipyards, factories and defense plants.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 20: A fictional
character called
Rosie
the Riveter was created by the
government War Manpower Commission and used in posters
and war propaganda to get women to help in the war
effort.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
21: Patterns of
employment shifted as married women joined the
workforce. In 1941 there were 14.6 million working
women. By 1944 the figure had soared to nearly 20
million working women, most earned 50% less than men in
wages..
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 22: Between 1940 and 1945, the
female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27% to nearly
37%, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked
outside the home
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
23: Women also joined
the military and 350,000 women served in the U.S. Armed
Forces during WW2 both at home and abroad. A further
68,000 women served as nurses in the navy and the army.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 24: Congress established the Women's Army
Corps (WAC) although they were barred from combat. The
Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) became the first
women to fly American military aircraft. In the US Navy
there were Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency
Service (WAVES)
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 25: A strong sense of
patriotism and participation in the war effort
engulfed the nation and labor and business
representatives agreed to no strikes or lockouts.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 26: On June 25, 1941
Executive Order 8802 was signed by President Roosevelt
to prohibit racial discrimination in the national
defense industry. The executive order was issued in
response to pressure from civil rights activists A.
Philip Randolph and Walter White
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 27: There was a
wartime struggle against Jim Crow segregation and the
"Double V" Campaign was launched by the
Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African-American
newspaper, spurred by the U.S. crusade against Nazism.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
28: The "Double V"
Campaign encouraged African Americans to participate at
every level in winning the war abroad, while
simultaneously fighting for their civil rights at home.
The "Double V" stood for 'Double Victory - victory over
Hitler's racism abroad and victory over racism at home
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 29: More than 2.5
million African Americans registered for the draft when
World War II began; 1 million served.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 30: Congress
introduced the Selective Service and Training Act on
September 16, 1940 that required that men between the
ages of 21 and 35 register with local draft boards.
After the US entered World War II, a new selective
service act made men between 18 and 45 liable for
military service and required all men between 18 and 65
to register.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 31: The US Military
remained segregated and African-Americans were initially
assigned to non-combat positions (read the story of
Doris "Dorie" Miller).
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 32: FDR directed the
army to put African Americans into combat. Distinguished
African American units included the
Tuskegee Airmen, the
614th Tank Destroyer Battalion and the 761st Tank
Battalion. The US Military was fully integrated in 1948
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
33: On the Home Front
there were shortages of many basic items, such as meat,
coffee, sugar and gasoline. Conserving resources such as
scrap metal, rubber and gasoline drew the nation into
the war effort. Cooking fats were saved to make powder
for bullets.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts -
34: Rationing began in
1942 when meat, butter, sugar, coffee, gas and shoes
were all put on ration. There was also a shortage of
cloth as this was required to make the soldier's
uniforms. The length of skirts and dresses were
shortened and and vests, pockets and cuffs were
eliminated from men’s suits
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 35: The total amount of war
materials produced in the United States by 1945 was staggering and
astounded the rest of the world. U.S. factories had made
hundreds of thousands of trucks and jeeps, 296,000 warplanes, 86,000
tanks, 64,000 landing ships, 6000 navy vessels and millions of guns
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts - 36: American war production turned
the tide in favor of the Allies. US mobilization for WW2 played a
major part in the outcome of the war and victory for the Allied
Forces.
US Mobilization for WW2
Facts for kids
US Mobilization for WW2 Facts for kids - President Franklin Roosevelt Video
The article on the
US Mobilization for WW2 Facts provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Franklin Roosevelt video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 32nd American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1933 to April 12, 1945.
US Mobilization for WW2 Facts
●
Interesting Facts about US Mobilization for WW2 for kids and schools
●
US Mobilization for WW2 Facts for kids
●
US Mobilization for WW2 Facts with important dates and key
events
●
Franklin Roosevelt
Presidency from March 4, 1933 to April 12, 1945
●
Fast, fun, US Mobilization for WW2 Facts for kids
●
Facts for kids about US Mobilization in WW2
● Franklin Roosevelt Presidency and
US Mobilization for WW2 Facts for schools,
homework, kids and children |
