Mr. Ermer

U.S. History Honors

Miami Beach Senior High

WWII: America at War & The Holocaust

1940: Congress passes Selective Service & Training Act1st peacetime draft in American history

Army flooded with new recruits, needs land & supplies

U.S. army was segregatedAfrican-Americans see war as opportunity to

fight racism“Double V”: Victory over racism in Germany and at

homeTuskegee Airmen: 99th Pursuit SquadronNavajo “code talkers”500,000 Hispanics (17 win Medal of Honor)

Women serve various roles (Women’s Army Corps)

The U.S. Military

Camp Miami Beach

FDR’s National Defense Advisory CommitteeCost-Plus: Gov’t will pay businesses the cost

plus a percentage in profit for war materialsBuilding fighter planes and “two ocean” navy

stimulate economic growth200,000 factories converted to wartime

productionCar factories make tanks, ships, planes“Liberty Ships”

America’s Wartime Economy

WWII ends the Great DepressionFamilies move to where the jobs are—Sunbelt

Most men go off to war, especially white menWomen, African-Americans, Mexican immigrants fill

jobs once reserved for white, male American citizensExecutive Order 8802

“Victory Suits” and the “Zoot Suit” Race RiotsJapanese subs bomb California coast/oil refineries

West Coast Japanese moved to inland internment camps

German and Italian immigrants were restricted from travel, loss of property, internment camps

American Life During War

Wages and prices rise b/c of demandOffice of Price Administration and Civilian

Supply (OPACS) and Office of Economic Stabilization (OES)Economy regulated better than in WWI

Rationing of supplies and resourcesVictory GardensOffice of War Information (OWI)Most Americans believe in reasons for war,

sacrifice

Daily Life In Wartime America

Germany kills 6 million Jews, 5 million othersGypsies, handicapped, homosexuals, Slavic

peoplesNazis pass laws restricting the rights of JewsKristallnachtMany Jews try to leave for other countries—

rejected The St. Louis Affair

Rejected by the U.S. & Cuba, ship returns to Europe

The Final SolutionConcentration camps/extermination camps

Germany & the Jewish Persecution