APUSH AMSCO Unit 7.12

explain how and why U.S. participation in World War II transformed American society

War Production Board

established to manage industries

Office of Price Administration

regulated civilian lives (froze prices, wages, and rent; rationed meat, sugar, gas, and tires) to fight wartime inflation; led to the black market

federal spending

increased 1000% from 1939 to 1949; total debt was $250 billion; GDP increased 15%

Manhattan Project

produced the first atomic weapons

Office of War Information

controlled news about troop movements and battles

“The Good War”

the unity of Americans behind the wars democratic ideals made americans believe in “the good war”

home front

1.5 million African Americans left the South and 1 million served in the military

“Double V”

victory over fascism abroad and the victory of equality at home

Executive Order 8802

prohibited discrimination in government and in business that received federal contracts after a march was threatened on Washington

Smith v. Allwright

said that it was unconstitutional to deny membership into political parties to African Americans as a way of excluding them from voting in primaries

Braceros

temporary residents; allowed Mexican farmworkers to enter the US in the harvest season without going through formal immigration procedures

Executive Order 9066/internment camps

100,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast left their homes for internment camps

Korematsu v. U.S.

said that the Japanese internment camps were justified during war time

Rosie the Riveter

encouraged women to take defense jobs even though they received lower pay

wartime migrations

helped soften regional differences and open the eyes of many Americans to the injustice of racial discrimmination