Mobilizing for WWII

Read Chapter 25-1: Mobilizing for War and note how each of the following contributed to that effort.

1. Selective Service System

Expanded the draft to increase the size of the army by an additional 10 million

2. Women

Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)- passed May 15, 1942- allowed women to serve in non-combat positions in the military

3. Minorities

About 300.000 Mexican Americans enlisted

About 1 million African Americans enlisted

13.000 Chinese Americans

33,000 Japanese Americans

Some 25,000 Native Americans

4. Manufacturers

Stopped manufacturing personal vehicles, and began making only war vehicles

Other factories converted to making war supplies

By the end of 1942, Henry J. Kaiser had built 7 massive shipyards to build ships for the military

5. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)

Developed new technology to be used in warfare

Developed technology in radar and sonar

Secretly developed the atomic bomb

6 Entertainment industry

7. Office of Price Administration (OPA)

Fought inflation by freezing prices and wages

Increased and expanded income taxes to lower demand by leaving workers less to spend

8. War Production Board (WPB)

Decided which companies would convert to wartime production

Allocated raw materials to industries

Organized drives for cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat to be recycled into manufacturing war materials

9. Rationing

Made life tougher for the civilians, but gave supplies to the soldiers in the war