By Phoebe Lee and Christy Kim

By: Phoebe Lee and Christy Kim

The Great Depression: Devastating impact on the economy during the 1930 s → New Deal Policies of FDR Did not successfully end the economic crisis Unemployment rates were still high http: //tvtropes. org/pmwiki. php/ Main/The. Great. Depression

Cash and Carry Policy (1939) Problem: converting manufacturing companies → war production industries. “Conversion” - key to economic growth during the 1940 s = the goal of the public officials and labor leaders. Walter Reuther of United Auto Workers labor union convinced car-company executives & many federal officials to convert to war production. http: //www. artslant. com/global/artists/show/1 50377 -alwyn-scott-turner? tab=ARTWORKS

Car companies converted to aircraft production industries – required a major shift in both technique and manpower Military & carrier ship production - easy to convert = produced as many as 106 ships between 19381940 and the same amount in 1941. Needed to transport goods to Great Britain and France Maritime Commission shipyards transported goods (Lend-Lease Act) - contributed to the heavy, post-war economic burden. Lend-Lease Act: called for aircraft, ships, military vehicles, munitions, and also food (esp. to Britain) Pearl Harbor → enter war as the “Arsenal of Democracy”

War 1939: Several mobilization agencies closely directed and influenced the operation of private companies and industries. Administration Manufacturers - not trusted to stop producing consumer goods & fully contribute to the war effort. Stakes were too high to keep the laissez-faire policy Military services - unlimited demands for equipment and personnel Caused major problems for the manufacturers because it decreased the products available to the public (i. e. for textiles, cars, food) http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/File: We _Can_Do_It!. jpg

War Production Board(Jan 1942) Aim: to balance the demands of the civilians & the military Led by Donald Nelson - convinced the military to reduce its “Olympian demands” & establish a plan of war production to meet most military and some civilian needs Social living & economic standing of the people increased dramatically Taxation and War bonds: Department of Treasury generated money to pay for war through various methods: 1 st general income tax (applicable to everyone) - collected by continuous withholdings from paychecks Government took $45 billion in 1945 to $8. 7 billion in 1941 Revenue continued growing as the tax rate started to increase until the peak in 1944 to 20. 9% https: //broeder 10. wordpress. com/2 012/05/09/snap-shot-in-timemilwaukee-journal-april-1943 -part 2/

War bonds Expanded to cover $167. 2 billion. Treasury Department created famous “war bonds” featuring celebrities & values of the public (i. e. “Doing it all you can, brother? ”) By 1946: 85 million Americans bought > $185 billion worth of war bonds despite reduced paychecks due to the income tax. Inflation: Price controls on food and merchandise created to resist inflation, but inflation soared 28. 0% in 1946 Wage increase = improved quality of life & stability of families However, the deep south’s economies worsened

Expansion of Employment: Fed Gov’t ruled “maintenance -of-membership” - required employers to accept unions Labor Unions grew; unemployment rates dropped. 1944: unemployment dropped to 1. 2% of the civilian labor = near “full employment” status Population shifts: Need for more industrial workers = great rural-urban migration (esp. to the west & http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sun_Belt southwest) Trend of growth in Sun Belt cities (i. e. Houston, Miami, Albuquerque, Phoenix, & Los Angeles)

Scientific and Technological Innovation: Key aspect in WWII contributed greatly to Allies victory Manhattan Project: Cost ~ $2 billion & employed > 100, 000 professionals Product: positively reflected the war economy & accelerated the surrender of Japan after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Postwar: War Production Board Chairman (Nelson) reconverted war production industries back to manufacturing companies in favor of civilian production. http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon

Postwar economy = prosperous Gross National Product jumped from $200 thousand-million (1940) to $300 thousand-million (1950) to > $500 thousand-million (1960) due to the production of goods & services Automobile industry: annually quadrupled between 1946 -1955 Real estate: more affordable mortgages Security: defense spending increase due to the Cold War Major corporations merge: variety of large and small industries (i. e. telephone, hotels, bakeries, insurance, and fast food, like Mc. Donald’s) The business market now not sold products, but service. http: //soyandmilkfreelife. wordpress. com/20 12/03/03/mcdonalds-soyland/

http: //econperspectives. blogspot. com/ http: //xpda. com/junkmail/? issue=214 Government deficit more than its own revenue causing the federal deficit to reach a level several times higher than that during the Great Depression and increase public debt. http: //www. usgovernmentspending. com/downchart_gs. php? year=1930_2010&view= 1&expand=&units=p&fy=fy 11&chart=H 1 total&bar=0&stack=1&size=m&title=&state=US&color=c&local=s

http: //thecurrentmoment. wordpress. com/2012/05/22/was-there-austerity-is-there-still/ The graph portrays a huge drop in government consumption especially when the war was over. Consumption rates fell, but the graph shows a significant difference between the time of the great depression and that of the post war period, which means the economy is still burgeoning with new life.

Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937: no Americans on belligerent ships, no selling or transporting munitions to belligerents, no loans to belligerents Neutrality Acts of 1939: cash and carry policy (munitions for European Western democracies) http: //www. mtholyoke. edu/~le 20 j/Neutrality. After. War. html

http: //www. xtimeline. com/evt/view. aspx? id=418991

Move Fall of France from Isolation to Intervention FDR → Two-ocean navy and construction of huge air fleets Congress appropriated $37 billion within a year Congress → America’s first peacetime draft on Sept. 6, 1940 to train 1. 2 million troops and 800, 000 reserves. German Threat led to the Havana Conference of 1940: US met with Latin America, agreeing to uphold the Monroe Doctrine. http: //www. guardian. co. uk/world/2009/sep/06/francesecond-word-war-de-gaulle

German air attacks in Britain split isolationist and interventionist Americans Sept. 2, 1940: 50 US Destroyers for 8 British Bases Financial Weakness of Britain → Lend-Lease Bill (March 1941) Provided supply of munitions to belligerents By 1945: $50 billion worth of munitions sent German submarines begin to sink US ships (limited) US navy escorts shipments (July 1941) Clashes with German Uboats → shoot-on-sight policy http: //blogs. cfr. org/patrick/2011/08/16/rememberingthe-atlantic-charter/

German Attack on USSR → US Repeal of Neutrality Act of 1939, supporting the USSR through the Lend-Lease policy to keep the war in Europe Atlantic Conference (August 1941) Churchill and FDR draft 8 -point Atlantic Charter→ call for selfdetermination and a new League of Nations. Late 1940: Embargo on Japan → push toward joining WWII Pearl harbor (Dec. 7, 1941) http: //history. state. gov/milestones/1937 -1945 3, 000 American causalities Destroyed aircrafts, the US battleship fleet, and numerous small ships.

Intervention: US declares war in support of the Allies (Britain, France, and USSR) on December 11, 1941 on Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) US and Britain agree on “getting Germany first” in the ABC-1. General Douglas Mac. Arthur: US commander leading the defense in the Philippines against Japanese; kicked out, but returns in 1944 US: Island-hopping strategy in the Pacific War (1942 -1945) http: //theinquisitiveloon. blogspot. com/2012/04/retribut ion-battle-for-japan-1944 -45. html

Casablanca Conference (Jan 1943) FDR and Churchill in Casablanca, Morocco. Stalin was unable to attend due to USSR military engagement with Germany. Developments: finalized strategic plans & “unconditional Surrender” http: //history. state. gov/milestones/1937 -1945/Casablanca Tehran Conference (Nov. 28 – Dec. 1, 1943): Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill agree on broad plans for launching simultaneous attacks on Germany: USSR from the east US and Britain in northern France - May 1944 (Operation Overlord) http: //history. state. gov/milestones/19371945/Tehran. Conf

Bretton Woods Conference (July 1944) United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference of 44 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945): Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt agreed on: Crushing Germany Occupation zones in Germany Allowing Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania to have a representative government based on free elections A new international peace organization(United Nations) http: //history. state. gov/milestones/1937 -1945/Bretton. Woods http: //history. state. gov/milestones/1937 -1945/Yalta. Conf

United Nations Conference succeeds the L of N (Apr. 25, 1945) Actions could not be taken against Participating nations without the consent of the U. N. Leaders: US, Britain, USSR, France, China Potsdam Conference (July 1945): Truman, Stalin, and Churchill agree on: An ultimatum for Japan to surrender or be destroyed. Est. 4 occupation zones in Germany that were demilitarized and occupied by Britain, France, US, and the USSR Revised German-Polish-Soviet border http: //history. state. gov/milestones/1937 -1945/UN http: //history. state. gov/milestones/1937 -1945/Potsdam. Conf

Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 th and 9 th 1945. The formation of UN, 1945 Oct. 24, 1945: 29 nations ratified the Charter for the creation of the UN Emergence of US as a world superpower. http: //www. gwu. edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB 162/index. htm

"Milestones: 1937 -1945. " U. S. Department of State Office of the Historian. United States Department of State, 3 Dec. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. <http: //history. state. gov/milestones/1937 -1945>. Kennedy, David M. , Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant: A History of the Republic. Thirteenth ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2006. 800 -81. Print. Tassava, Christopher J. "The American Economy during World War II. " Economic History Services. EH. net Encyclopedia, 5 Feb. 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http: //eh. net/encyclopedia/article/tassava. WWII>. “ The Postwar Economy: 1945 -1960. " United States History. U. S. Department of State, n. d. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http: //countrystudies. us/united-states/history-114. htm>.