Civil defense

For 3 years the U.S. was able to stay separated from the war that swept Europe but after December 7, 1941 the nation's mind set changed. Wide spread atriotism made citizens eager to help with the war over seas as well as at home. Numerous civil defenses emerged. Groups such as the Ground Observer Corps (GOC) attracted 600,000 civilians to be place spotters. every day they would man posts located three hundred miles inland and report every aircraft spotted. These sotters included men, women, and children (Wensyle). another more memorable form of civil defense was the air-raid drills. Families across the country stored helmets, flashlights, food, and other supplies in the event of an attack (Netscher). when practice sirens would sounds families would hand blackout curtains in their windows and turn out the lights and wait by candle of flashlight for the "all clear". In schools children would practice air-raid drills by crouching under their desks, ducking and covering (Netscher).

One of the most significant ways that americans contributed on the home front was by factories producing war materials for the Allied forces. Many factories completely changed their usual production to help the war effort. Canneries made parts for merchant ships, bedspread manufacturers made mosquito netting, and a soft drink company loaded shells ith explosives (Wensyle). henry ford, a car manufacturer build one of the larger defense lants in the country that produced B-24 bombers. By the end of the war approximately 300,000 planes, 87,000 ships and landing crafts, 100,000 tanks, 47 million tons of artillery shells, and 44 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition was produced on american soil (Wensyel). Throughout world War II U.S. citizens were anxious and eager to do whatever they could to protect their country at home and abroad.

Netscher, C. (2009). Home Front: Second World War. Journal of the Lancaster County Historial society, 111(2), 56-84

Wensyel, J. (1995). Home Front. (cover story). American History, 30(2), 44.

Propaganda in Hollywood

The propaganda that was used during WWII was extremely powerful. They pushed a lot of issues not would not have normally been brought up. Many Americans did not want to go to war. The people did not want to go to war in 1914 and they certainly did not want to go now. So with that the government used a pro-war style propaganda. The image above shows one type of propaganda. The idea of "it can happen here" was used to give examples of why America should enter the war. This was used before Pearl Harbor, and after that happened everything changed. The war did not seem so far away any more. After the U.S. entered the war the propaganda was heard on the radio and seen visually. Posters were still for the majority of the propaganda. During World War II the U.S. had one of the most successful propaganda campings. It helped with the production of labor and weapons. Many people this helped the U.S. win the war.

Another way propaganda was used through Hollywood. During this time there were many films in the 1940's that were centered around war. Many of the films showed patriotic themes. You have movies like Casablanca which showed that in the times of war you have men that would sacrifice themselves. There were also some movies and plays that were anti-fascist . Some would show characters trying to out-wit the Nazi's. You would also have cartoon characters like Bug's Bunny used in propaganda posters. Also they were Loony Toons cartoons that were banned because they were seen as racist because they were making fun of Japanese and Nazi's. Many other cartoons like Donald Duck was seen making fun of Nazi's. For example look at the two images below.

This seemed to be a very common theme in the 1940's.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/ww2/american/amerprop.htm

http://www.filmsite.org/40sintro4.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjLfyooJQEc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjLfyooJQEc

Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens
Victory Gardens during WWII was one of the only ways people could get food and or make money buy selling what they grew. Victory Gardens were a way to keep the food supply up for families and even the troops.Several famers had been growing for years and now it was time for their “cousins” to grow and get into the act. Since the government rationed things such as milk, cheese, sugar, flour, meats, eggs, canned goods, and just about anything you can grow in a garden; families had to find away for them to get into their homes themselves. Victory gardens was a huge positive and made families money and food on their tables.
Where ever they could grow they would. They used backyards, empty lots, and even city rooftops. One thing they did was they would pull together with their neighbors and one family would grow some things and the other families would all do something different that way they could come together and be a cooperatives. One interesting thing was for women to learn how to grow certain things it would be in magazines, kind of like a recipe. During this time, over 20 million Victory Gardens were planted and help people out greatly.
Once World War II ended so did Victory Gardens. By the spring of 1946, all victory gardens were over with. Victory Gardens were always publicized in things like magazines, posters and even radio if the families had access to them. All in all Victory Gardens made a huge difference in the communities and help families out like crazy.








Cities:

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html. By: Claudia Reinhardt

Images by: pennylibrarians.wordpress.com/.../

Japanese Internment

     Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued executive order 9066, 1942, which lead to the evacuation of Japanese-Americans to concentration camps around the western U.S. There was no reason for the incarceration of Japanese-Americans since they had committed no crime or treason (Jones 2005). Over half of the Japanese-Americans incarcerated were children (“Children of the Camps” 1999). The conditions of the camps were primitive and uncomfortable. Toilets were lined up, back to back, with no privacy. Prisoners had to hold up a towel in an effort for privacy (“Children of the Camps” 1999). The floors were unfinished in crowded eating areas. There were 10 camps around the western U.S. in mostly arid desolate areas. 

     Leading up to the internment, the government and Hollywood ran a campaign of propaganda against the Japanese. This fostered feelings of hatred and racism in the general public, toward the Japanese. This was compounded by the already tense situation between farmers in the west and Japanese immigrants (Jones 2005). The propaganda included cartoons presenting the Japanese as a vermin (“Jap Trap”) that couldn’t be defeated, only obliterated (Sundquist 1988). Other propaganda was spread by Hollywood such as Frank Capra’s movie depicting the lifestyles of the Japanese enemy as ruthless rapists and militants (1945). Propaganda even showed up in children’s shows such as Popeye to teach children songs like “You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap” (Darlandchuck 2010). Not everyone supported the internment though, protesting that there was no reason for mass relocation (Jones 2005). 

     Within the camps were violent conflicts among the prisoners that arose from loyalty screening. The government made an effort to weed out troublemakers and draft dodgers. This involved two questions; will you fight for the U.S. military, and will you renounce allegiance to Japan. This loyalty screening was ineffective because interned prisoners couldn’t justify serving a country that imprisoned them and those ineligible for citizenship feared foreswearing any allegiance to Japan would leave them without a country (Sundquist 1988). A rift formed between the two groups with violent outbursts. 

     The camps were closed in 1945 and by 1988 congress passed legislation awarding restitution payments of $20,000 each to 60,000 surviving internees (Jones 2005). Although, some feel this debt cannot be repaid with money since there is a lack of historical understanding and was basically swept under the table (Sundquist 1988).

Researched and Written by Jonathan Mueller

Works Cited

Children of the Camps: The Documentary. Dir. Stephen Holsapple. Center for Asian American
     Media, 1999. DVD.

Darlandchuck. Popeye The Sailor - 01 - You're A Sap Mr. Jap.flv. Film. Youtube.com. Web. 19
     Oct. 2010.

“Instructions to Japanese.” Photograph. Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 27 Aug. 2006. Web. 19 Oct.
     2010

 “Jap Trap.” Photograph. Historymatters.gmu.edu. History Matters, 14 Oct. 2009. Web. 19 Oct.
     2010.

Jones, Jacqueline, et. al. Created Equal: A History of the United States. New Jersey: Prentice
     Hall, 2011, 2008, 2005. Print

Know Your Enemy: Japan. Dir. Frank Capra. Prod. U.S. War Department, 1945. DVD.

Sundquist, Eric J. "The Japanese--American Internment." American Scholar 57.4 (1988): 529.
     Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.

Air Raids on the U.S.

By Harvey Gray

The first air raid that the United States was involved in was the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On December 6, 1941 President Roosevelt had recieved a message intercepted by military intelligence that Japan was terminating its relations with United States because of the heavy western sanctions on Japan. As President Roosevelt read this and he said "this means war". The next morning Japan had reached Pearl Harbor and bombed it taking out nearly all of the navy fleet that was their. About eight Americanbattleships were destroyed along with thirteen other navy vessels that were either sunk or badly damaged. Around 200 military aircraftwere destroyed and around 3000 military personnel were killed or wounded. At the same time time Pearl Harbor was being attacked there were several other locations under attack. This was the entrance of Japan in the war on Germany's and Italy's side. All the ships were destroyed with the exception of the Oklahoma, Utah, and the Arizona and all of those ships all saw actions in the war later on. This attacked embarked on the United States to enter the war on the allied side. The United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor went on to Tokyo Japan and bombed them on retaliation to let everyone know that if you come over to our home and attack we will come to yours and attack.

Rosie the Riveter

By Jennifer Preston

At the beginning of the United States entrance to World War II many men were drafted into the military. Due to the loss in number of men from drafts many companies were left to fulfill contracts for production of war equipment, but no men to finish the work. In order to fill these empty positions the government decided to establish campaigns to promote women to work for the war efforts. There were over 125 million advertisements including magazines, newspapers, songs, TV shows and movies aimed at getting women to work war jobs. A song Rosie the Riveter became popular at this time and then was even more publicized by the famous artist Norman Rockwell’s image of Rosie. The government used the character Rosie to portray working women as loyal, pretty, and patriotic.

At this time society only wanted this to be a temporary relief. Husbands did not want their wives working and people were worried with out mothers that juvenile delinquency would go up. But society slowly started to accept and even admire these women. Over 18 million women ended up working during WWII. Many faced discrimination from their male counterparts, but came to be well respected in the workforce. They received specialized training but only earned 60% of the male’s wages. Women came to find that they loved working and learning new skills. But as the war ended women were pushed out of their jobs or had to find ones that were lower paying and considered womanly. Still record numbers of women stayed in the workforce. The Rosie’s of WWII had created a new era for the women of the future.

Conscientious Objectors

Conscientious Objectors

War was not the perfect idea for everyone at that time. Everyone was not eager to serve in the war. Many people protested and had different reasons for not to join the war. Conscientious objector can be defined as a person who claimed the right to perform in the military services. Some of these objectors came to their beliefs on their own; others were members of several Christian denominations that are known as the historic peace churches. These include the Quakers, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren and Seventh Day Adventists. In York County, Nebraska, Henderson is a predominantly Mennonite community. People objected in moral and religious basis in taking part in the war and any kind of violence. The conscientious objectors were jailed or penalized during the time of First World War But during the Second World War congress recognized the contentious objectors to be morally and ethically right. Hence the congress created a new law under which the contentious objectors had two options, one they could go to the military but serve in the medical corps or other one to do non combat duties or alternate duties here at home and work for national importance. . Being conscientious objectors was almost considered to be non patriot or cowards. Although the experiences of conscientious objectors in the First World War meant that they were treated more humanely in the Second, their views were still often misunderstood and scorned, and their families (and careers) suffered. The Conscientious Objectors s worked to demonstrate that they were not cowards and to sow the seeds for justice and peace in the future. Many of them helped to launch the post-war Civil Rights movement. As U.S. troops came home from battle, many COs replaced them (especially in Europe, less in the Pacific islands or in Japan), working tirelessly to help in post-war recovery, feeding and clothing civilians. CO’s have been treated and ranked bad by many people throughout history, but their impact has been great. The co’s used the way of nonviolence and still showed their patriotic duty towards the nation. The CO’s showed the general public the new expression of democracy. The beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement and the acceptance of Gandhi's nonviolence originated as the CO’s movement originated in the world war two. Conscientious objectors in World War II who served their time in jail helped end segregation in U.S. prisons. These COs also developed the way for the draft resisters during the Vietnam War and for tax resisters of recent years.