World War Two Home Front
• War Production Board (1942)• Liberty Ships• Payroll Withholding (1941)• Office of Price Administration
(1941)• War Labor Disputes Act (1943)
• Dr. Win-the-War (1943)• Tuskegee Airmen • Nisei• Keynesian Economics • Military Industrial
Complex (1961)
I. Mobilizing for WarII. Wartime Challenges to the New Deal
FDR’s Objectives for
1942:• 60,000 planes
• 45,000 tanks
• 20,000 antiaircraft guns
• 8 million tons of shipping
The Middle Class
1) The government lowered the amount of money exempt from income taxes.
2) The government adopted payroll withholding.
3) While 7 million Americans filed income tax returns in 1941, in 42 million did in 1944.
The Wealthy
1) Tax rates were made more progressive, the surtaxes rising to 94 percent.
2) F.D.R. proposed a “Super Tax” in 1942, that would confiscate all income over $67,000 a year. Only two to three thousand Americans would have been affected.
The War Labor Disputes Act
1) The president had the authority to seize and operate any strike-bound plant deemed necessary to national security.
2) Established a mandatory 30-day cooling off period before any strike could be called.
3) Gave the National War Labor Board the authority to settle labor disputes for the duration of the war.
Dr. Win-the-War
“Old Dr. New Deal . . . knew a great deal about internal medicine, but nothing about surgery. So he got his partner, who was an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Win-the-War, to take care of this fellow who had been in this bad accident.”
“At the present time, obviously, the principal emphasis, the
overwhelming emphasis should be on winning the war.”
- F.D.R
Cost plus contracts benefited major corporation, which received the majority of government contracts.
African Americans in WWII
• About a million African Americans served in the military during WWII, however, most served in segregated units
• Double V campaign– African Americans were fighting for victory
abroad and victory at home– Called for an end to racial discrimination on all
levels
Tuskegee Airmen• Flew more than 15,000 sorties, mostly bomber escort• Destroyed over 1,000 German aircraft • Never lost a bomber
Internment
120,000 Japanese Americans, 77,000 of whom were Nisei—native native born citizens of the United States–were interned during World War Two
Acceptance of Keynesian Economics
0
50,000,000,000
100,000,000,000
150,000,000,000
200,000,000,000
250,000,000,000
300,000,000,000
Federal Budget Federal Deficit
19401945
Government Involvement in the Economy:Where $175 Billion of War Contracts Went
General MotorsTop 100 CorporationsRest of Contracts