When the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, the United
States was not completely prepared for war. Congress had passed
America’s first peacetime draft in history in September of 1940
and American manufacturers had been supplying the Allied powers with
war materials.
However, the United States now needed to supply their own troops with
weapons and supplies. This was a great challenge. Americans
on the home front made sacrifices by donating scrap metal, bought government
war bonds, conserved energy, planted “victory gardens”, and
joined the armed forces. Every man, woman, and child had a role
in the mobilization of the homefront.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew that war production would be essential
to an Allied victory. The War Production Board was established in
January 1942 as well as the National War Labor Board to help the manufacture
of weapons and supplies in American factories.
Please download these four Adobe Acrobat Reader Files below before continuing to any other pages. You will be required to read these files later on during this module:
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Production Goes to War
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U.S. Labor Goes to War
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War Production Drive
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Women Workers in Ten War Production Areas
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War Production War
production was essential to supply troops with the
resources necessary to defeat the Axis Powers.
- Students will understand the significance of wartime production
on the outcome of the war.
- Students will create a persuasive letter to send to factories
telling them the important role they play in the war effort.
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Labor Lessons Labor played a vital
role in manufacturing wartime necessities.
- Students
will evaluate the role labor played in a national effort to win
the war.
- Students will examine the growth in shipyard workers between
1935 and 1942.
- Students will investigate the effect women had on homefront
war production.
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Students will analyze the increased need for skilled workers
in N.J.
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PropagandaPosters were employed in a propaganda campaign to keep the nation focused on war effort.
- Students will examine propaganda posters as they relate to war production, labor, and women’s roles.
- Students will create a propaganda poster illustrating the importance of war production, labor, and women’s roles.
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Culminating AssessmentsStudents
will combine all knowledge learned throughout the unit to complete
two activities.
- Students must complete all other lessons in this unit before
beginning this assessment.
- A final portfolio will be created that demonstrates mastery
of the skills and content incorporated in this module.
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Unless otherwise specified, all documentary and photograph sources used in this section of Electronic New Jersey were provided courtesy of the Rutgers University Special Collections and University Archives, the NJ State Archives, and/or the NJ Historical Society
