THE WAR - PBS: Public Broadcasting Service

1 THEWARAKENBURNSFILMS ubjects:Soc ial St ud ies, Am eric an History , Worl d Hist ory, Civi csAll the old iron beds we re pu lled out of the ga ra ge s an d theywer e put in the meta l drives. Th e Boy Scoutsdid a gre at dea lof tha t. The city to ok up the old str eet car line s. It wen t downGo ve rnment and Dauphin Str ee t, an d we adde d th ose to thesc rap pile. But ev ery on e took par t in WorldWar II downtothe youn ge st chi ld. Kat her ine Ph illips,THEWA RBackground:Befor e WorldWar II, the Uni te d St ate s took an isolationistpostu re in worldaffai rs . Th e pop ul at ion wa s far more con -cer ned aboutits ow n econ omi c well -be in g than it was wi thth e polit ica l uph eav al in Eu rop e an d Ja pan s im perialisticac tivit ies in Asia.

2 St or ie s of Jap ane se and Ger man mili taryac tivit y had been in the ne ws si nc e the mid-1930s,but formost Am eric an s these se em ed to be ve ry erica s military pre paredn ess was not that of a nati onexpectin g to go to war. Pow erfu l isola ti onist fact ions, com -binedwit h a str ong paci fi st move me nt and a reje ctionof theLea gue of Nations, kep t the Uni te d St ate s fr om having anyresemblance to its mili ta ri st ic cou nt er part s in EuropeandAsia . In 1939,the Unit ed Sta te s Ar my ra nked 39t h in thewor ld, pos ses sing a cava lry forc e of 50,000and us ing hor sesto pu ll the e gov ernm ent bega n to under sta nd the threatleve limposed by the Axis po we rs , and in November1939alte redprev ious neutra lity legis lat io n to per mi t the shipm ent of warsuppliesto Ch ina and Eur ope on a cash -and- car ry basi s.

3 In1941,Congress pa ss ed th e Le nd-Le ase Act , whichactuallyplac ed the Un ited Sta te s in a qu asi -war bet weenit s me rchantfleet and Hitler s su bma ri ne s. Bu t the Am er ican publicwasonly sem icon sc ious of the se ev en ts, an d in no way we re thecou ntr y s cities , sma ll town s an d agri cul tural regionsre adyfor war. The sleeping gi an t wou ld n t awakenuntil Sundaymorning, December 7, ce aw aken ed, Ame ri ca begantu rn in g out war pro ductionat ever y level of its indu st ry an d agri cu lture. In the ne xt fouryea rs , ent ir e fac toriesand the to wn s th at they supportedbegantu rn in g ou t war mat erie l at rat es that wouldeventual lyou tperf or m all th e Ax is pow ers combi 1945,the Un it ed St at es had produced nearl y 300,000warpl an es, more than 100,000tan ks, 87,000war ship s andnearl y 6 mil lion ton s of air cr aft bom bs.

4 The gove rnme ntrat ion ed ev eryth in g from gas olin e to silk . The ci vi lianpop ul at ion ch ip ped in as wel l, gro wing vi ct ory gar de ns andsav in g ru bber from tires an d greasefrom cookingstov ns lik e those feat ured in th e fi lm Luv erne,Min nesot a; Sac ram en to, Calif or nia; Wate rbury,Connect icut ;an d Mobi le, Alabam a woul d tran sfor m in ways nev erim agin abl e. These ch an ges woul d have long-lastingrep erc ussion s on th es e tow ns an d thou sandsli ke them allac ross the cou nt ry lon g af ter the war ende th is less on, st ude nt s will exam in e an d get a se nse of lif ein Am eri ca prior to it s ent ry in to th e war.

5 The n the y wil lex plorethe change s br ou gh t on by wartim e indu stry andhow the peopleadju ste d to lif e in the in dust rial boomtownsan d re fle ct on soc ioec on omic ch an ges in the character ofth ese tow ns an d th e reasons for th em .Openi ng Ac tivi ty:Begi n th is les son by hav in g stu de nts tak e out a she et of pap eran d com plete a free wri tin g ex erc ise basedon the fol lo wingqu es tion s: How wou ld you de sc ribe th e ch arac ter of your ownnei ghborhood,cit y or tow n? Wh at do peoplepr imari ly do th ere for a liv ing? Wh at is the st ron gest memory you hav e of livi ng there?

6 Desc ribe how a major eve nt (nat ur al dis aste r, majorcri me, or soci al or econ omic eve nt ) af fect ed the town ornei ghborhood. How migh t it have chan ged th e char ac ter of the to wnor neigh borh ood? How were people you knewaf fe ct edby the ev en t?Ac ti vi ty 1: Th e Fo ur TownsDiv ide studen ts int o small grou ps of th ree to five and haveth em creat e a gr aph ic organ iz er th at ou tlines the nam es ofOnTheHomeFrontthe four town s in the fil m, wi th col umns for each town sma in ec onomic activ it y, rem embr anc es from feat ured inter -vie wees and the town sexp er ie nce wi th socialtens ions.

7 (St ud ents will fill out th eir grap hi c or ganizeras they vi ewth e clip.)Ha ve stu dentsview Th e Fou r To wns cl ip on the we b sit e,wh ic h ex pla ins the stat us of th e four townspr ior to Am eri ca sent ry int o th e war. Af te r st ud en ts have com ple ted the grap h-ic or ganizer,reviewand di sc uss th ei r fin TO CLIP(ht tp:/ /w .org/ )Ac tiv ity 2: WartownCon tinue to wor k in gr oup s an d watc h the next segme nt, Wartown . Upo n completin g the ir viewi ng, have the studentgrou ps revie w th e open in g sta te me nt from the segm ent:NE WSR EEL: An army of 15 0,0 00 men, womenand ch il dr enin vad ed an Am ericancit y.

8 Wh ite s, Ne gr oes, Indians,Creoles,Ca juns they ca me from eve ry cor ne r of the la nd, thei rroots in ever y curv e of the globe : Moscow, Indiana;Wars aw,Nort h Da kota ; Ham bur g, Ca li for ni a; Mi lan, Mis sour i;Ba gh dad, Ken e cam e ou t of patr iot ism , someoutof grim neces sity , som e for a ri ch er li fe; all cameto do a warjob. This cou ld be any on e of a hu ndred great Americanwarcen ters. It ha ppensto be Mobile, Alabama, but the story isth e sam e in ev ery wa rtownin Am er ic TO CLIP(ht tp:/ /w .org/ )Now di sc uss th e followingque stio ns:1. This clip wa s sh own in movi e hous es throughouttheUn it ed Sta tes durin g the earl y day s of Wor ld War II.

9 It isobv iou sly structured to be a moral e boost er. Lookclos elyat how the sc ript is wri tte n. Wh at do you thi nk is theov erall them e of th e clip? Why do you th ink the to wnsfea tur ed in th e quotewere se le ct ed for th is newsre el cl ip ?How do you th ink America ns in the ear ly 1940sre acte dto seei ng sc ene s of hu ndredsof peoplehead in g off to work?2. The clip des cribeshow Ame ri ca n fa ct ories gearedup forwar pr oductionan d th e ch al le nge th ey faced conv erti ngcar manu fa cturingwith 15,000part s to B-24 bomberma nuf act uringwith 1,550,000parts , producingone every63 minu tes.

10 Wha t typ e of logi st ic s we re necessaryfor thi smobilizat ion? How wa s the gov er nm en t involved?3. Describe som e of th e chan ge s th at fac toriesof civi li anprod uct s would hav e to go th roughto convertto mili taryprod uct ion. Wh at is ma ss produ ct ion ? Whatis an ass em -bly line? How are jobs divi de d up ? Whatotherobs erva -tion s can you make from th e newsre el foota ge aboutthefa ctor ies , the labo rers and th e mate ri al s beingproduced?Wh at wa s the imp act of all this wa r pr od uctionon Americanindust ry ove rall?4. Ref err ing to the new sre el fo ot age pr es ent ed in the segme nt,desc ribe som e of the chan ges that fac tories of civ il ianproducts woul d hav e to go throu gh to convertto milit aryproduction.