World War 1 on the US Home Front

Office of War Information (OWI)

• federal agency that disseminated news and promoted patriotism and encouraged civilian war efforts
• bolstered war nationalism with propaganda, allowing the US to continue to fight

Executive Order 9066 (1942)

• authorized the War Department to force the Japanese from their West Coast homes and keep them in relocation camps for the rest of the war
• let them out for only "military necessity”
• exemplified US racism during the war and increased morale to fight the Japanese

War Production Board (WPB)

• shifted businesses to the war effort
• asked all Americans to do their part with liberty bonds, rationing, victory gardens, etc.

War Labor Board (WLB)

• put ceilings on wage increases which led to union strikes

Connally Anti-Strike Act of 1943

• government can control striking industries to prevent more strikes from happening

Bracero Program

• -increased Mexican immigration for farm employment in the West

Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC)

• regulate who got hired, aiming for more black employment
• not fully passed because Congress disagreed.

Opportunities for Women

• women filled factory jobs (think Rosie the Riveter)
• WAC, WAVES, WASPs, Army and Navy Nurses Corps to serve in the war
• after the war, men forced them back into the home
• women veterans denied veteran benefits

GI Bill of Rights

• law Passed in 1944 to help returning veterans buy homes and pay for higher education

War Spending

• ended the Great Depression
• more spending than the New Deal when the Supreme Court and conservatives were concerned about New Deal spending
• Ford, who was against the war, contributed most to the American war effort

Japanese Internment

• high anti-Japanese sentiment after Pearl Harbor
• internment camps established by Executive Order 1966
• US was fighting the Nazis but portrayed the Japanese like how the Nazis portrayed the Jews

Korematsu v. US (1944)

• upheld the internment of Americans with Japanese descent during WWII as constitutional
• did not necessarily support the camps

Hirabayashi v. US (1943)

• allowed curfew against a racial minority when their country was at war with the US
• Gordon Hirabayashi had resisted this and got sent to the FBI
• appealed to the Supreme Court

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Bataan Death March

• Japanese forced about 60,000 of Americans and Filipinos to march 100 miles with little food and water, most died or were killed on the way

Double-V Campaign

• victory in war abroad and over racism at home
• from Pittsburgh newspaper article
• represents some hypocrisy because the US was fighting for democracy abroad when it had so much racism at home

Migration during WWII

• many families moved to live near defense jobs
• caused racial conflict and vibrant gay and lesbian communities

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Racial Conflict during WWII

• worst conflict between black people and white people in Detroit
• racism against Mexican pachucos and their zoot suits

Pachucos

• Mexican American adolescents who belonged in gangs and wore zoot suits to resist against their parents and middle class norms.

Zoot suits

• broad brimmed felt hats
• thigh-length jackets with wide lapels and padded shoulders
• pegged trousers
• clunky shoes
• used a lot of wool, which was needed to go to the war effort, causing white Americans to look down on them

Pachucas

• long coats
• huarache sandals
• pompadour hairdos

1943 Zoot Suit Riots

• pachuco gang rumored to have attacked whites
• white riots against pachuco gangs
• only Mexicans were arrested and zoot suits were outlawed

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Gay and Lesbian Communities in WWII

• migration allowed for vibrant lesbian and gay communities
• most kept their sexuality hidden especially soldiers
• army saw homosexuality as a psychological disorder that is grounds for dishonorable discharge

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