3. How were the live of Americans on the home
front affected, socially and economically,
during World War II?
4. Source: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Radio Address Announcing the Proclamation of an Unlimited National Emergency,
"We Choose Human Freedom" May 27, 1941
Now, THEREFORE, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do proclaim
that an unlimited national emergency confronts this country, which requires that its military, naval, air
and civilian defenses be put on the basis of readiness to repel any and all acts or threats of aggression
directed toward any part of the Western Hemisphere.
I call upon all the loyal citizens engaged in production for defense to give precedence to the needs of the
Nation to the end that a system of government that makes private enterprise possible may survive.
I call upon all our loyal workmen as well as employers to merge their lesser differences in the larger
effort to insure the survival of the only kind of government which recognizes the rights of labor or of
capital.
I call upon loyal State and local leaders and officials to cooperate with the civilian defense agencies of
the United States to assure our internal security against foreign directed subversion and to put every
community in order for maximum productive effort and minimum of waste and unnecessary frictions.
I call upon all loyal citizens to place the Nation's needs first in mind and in action to the end that we may
mobilize and have ready for instant defensive use all of the physical powers, all of the moral strength,
and all of the material resources of this Nation.
6. "I think a lot of women said, Screw
that noise. 'Cause they had a taste
of freedom, they had a taste of
making their own money, a taste of
spending their own money, making
their own decisions. I think the
beginning of the women's
movement had its seeds right there
in World War Two." -DellieHahne,
an educator who worked as a
nurse's aid for the Red Cross during
the war
7. Source: In Response to Executive Order 9066, Dwight Okita
All Americans of Japanese Descent
Must Report to Relocation Centers
Dear Sirs: “Of course I'll come. I've packed my galoshes and three packets of tomato
seeds. Denise calls them love apples. My father says where we're going they won't grow
I am a fourteen-year-old girl with bad spelling and a messy room. If it helps any, I will
tell you I have always felt funny using chopsticks and my favorite food is hot dogs. My
best friend is a white girl named Denise- we look at boys together. She sat in front of me
all through grade school because of our names: O'Connor, Ozawa. I know the back of
Denise's head very well. I tell her she's going bald. She tells me I copy on tests. We're
best friends. I saw Denise today in Geography class. She was sitting on the other side of
the room "You're trying to start a war," she said, "giving secrets away to the Enemy. Why
can't you keep your big mouth shut?" I didn't know what to say. I gave her a packet of
tomato seeds and asked her to plant them for me, told her when the first tomato
ripened she'd miss me.”
Dwight Okita
8. African-American Migration, 1940- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
1950 Roosevelt establishing the Fair
James Farmer and the Congress Employment Practices Commission
of Racial Equality (CORE) (FEPC)
Japanese Relocation The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
Camps, 1942
(NAACP)
Japanese American Citizens
Pre-Civil Rights Movement
League (JACL) The National Debt, 1930-1950
The Zoot Suit Riot in Los Angeles The Ration System of 1942
of 1943 The American Teenage movement in
GI Bill of Rights of 1944 the 1940s
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor in The Women Airforce Service Pilots
Hawaii (WASP)
The Bracero program in 1942 The African-American Double V
Manzanar Internment Camp, 1943 campaign
The War Production Board Roosevelt signing of Executive Order
makings of weaponry 9066
Aftermath of the Great Depression Korematsuv. United States
Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act of American propaganda during World
War II
June 1943
John L. Lewis and the United Mine
Workers
9. America was coming out of the Great Depression. They were
trying to keep out of World War II. The bombing of Pearl Harbor
caused them to become involved. The lives of the Americans on
the home front were changed drastically both socially and
economically. The main change socially was women in the
workforce. They began to occupy jobs that were once only
occupied by men. They acquired a new sense of freedom and
control over their own lives. They worked both at home and in the
military. Another social change involved race. African Americans
in the war gained African Americans at home some respect. They
were no longer thought of as incapable. Large scale migration of
African Americans from the south to north defense centers
caused racial tensions in some of the more crowded cities. After
bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were targeted
and suspected of being spies. They were sent to internment
camps. No Japanese American was safe from persecution.
Economically every American was affected. A rationing system
was implemented to save resources for the war effort. Income
per person was at an all time high. Savings was as well, invested
in war bond, which they benefited from post war. Nearly every
American made sacrifices and did what they could to contribute
to the war effort.
