The Home Front: Life in the US During World WarII, presented by Dr. Edward Gordon

With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States faced defeat by a foreign military power for the first time since the War of 1812. A two-front war began four days later with Hitler’s declaration of war on the United States.

World War II lifted America from lethargy of the Great Depression and transformed the everyday lives of all its citizens. President Franklin D. Roosevelt rapidly called for the nation to mobilize its manufacturing for the war effort. “Every available plant and tool must be converted to war production!” Our nation quickly rose to become the “arsenal of democracy.”

In this program, Dr. Ed Gordon will explore some of the extraordinary feats of industrial expansion that were developed to equip and arm the Allied military forces. This rapid industrialization and the unprecedented build-up of our armed forces led to new opportunities for women and African Americans in U.S. factories and offices and to the creation of new military units in which they could serve.

Other ways in which the war extended into the home front included.

The imposition of rationing and a ban on the manufacturing of many consumer products

A great expansion of the number and types of military bases throughout the nation

The establishment of prisoner-of-war camps in nearly every state

The internment of Americans of Japanese descent who resided on the West Coast

On the battlefield and on the home front, the United States played a key role in the Allied victory. At the end of the war in 1945, the United States emerged as the world’s preeminent political, industrial, and military superpower. America’s subsequent leadership in combatting the Soviet Union during the Cold War has given rise to characterizing this time period — the “Great American Century.”