“ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY”The American Home Front

during WWII

Everyday Life Changes

Food, gas & clothing are rationed

Families kept stamps that they could purchase goods with in their ration books

Scrap metal, aluminum cans, & rubber recycled to create weapons

Ways to Help Out

Some Americans planted “victory gardens” where they grew their own food

By 1945, 20 million gardens accounted for 40% of all vegetables

People also bought war bonds - debt securities issued by the govt. to finance the war

Men Fight, Women Work

Draft ages expand to men ages 18-37

Women began securing factory jobs, usually held by men

By mid-1940s, women in American work force up from 25% to 36%

By 1945, 1/4 married women worked

“Rosie the Riveter”

Rose Will Monroe, was a real-life worker building bombers at the Willow Run aircraft plant in Ypsilanti, MI

Appeared in promotional film

Inspired the fictitious character that was a very successful recruiting tool

Remember him?

Celebrities Enlist

Hall of Fame baseball player Joe DiMaggio Pro baseball continued

during war Actor Clark Gable

Movie theaters showed newsreal & propaganda

Heavyweight world champion boxer Joe Louis

Joe Louis

Before the war, “the Brown Bomber” knocked out German boxer Max Schmeling

Louis put on exhibitions to fundraise & donated $100,000 in fight prize money

Known for patriotism & support for black troops

Criticized for promoting a segregated Army

Japanese Internment

FDR signs executive order to remove & imprison all Japanese Americans living on West Coast

Combination of wartime panic & belief that they would assist Japanese military

120,000 JA’s put in “relocation camps”

Despite this, young JA men served in the armed forces & fought bravely

Other Vocab terms

Victory Ships - U.S. built cargo ships that supplied the Allies

G.I. – U.S. soldiers (General Issue) WAC, WASP, WAVES – Women’s

branches of the armed forces (Army, Airforce, Navy)