Comments on: Project 1 Week 1 – Jonathon Baker

By: jsmith37

jsmith37 — Thu, 19 May 2016 00:10:59 +0000

I too agree that the support from the home front occurred in different forms, especially with our women in the 1940’s. Many American women who had not held a job before the war went to work to help aid men at war. Some women became welders, while others helped build airplanes. “U.S. workers played a vital role in the production of such war-related material,” and many of them were women (History.com Staff 2010).
While Germans believed American women were petty, “spending more money on cosmetics than navies spent on ships”(Department of Defense 1944), they were sadly mistaken. Hitler soon learned America’s labor force was made up of women, while men were prepared for war. During this time, many women stopped working because they were not used to it. After losing many American men in battle, recruitment started to pick back up.
Although most Americans did not initially want to go to war, they felt as if they had to defend themselves. “We know that in war it’s the common man who does the paying, the suffering, the dying”(Capra 1944). I have to agree with you that it was a complete nation that helped back the war, not just individuals.
I found these readings very interesting in what people at home were doing to help with the war effort, as well as what Germany personally thought of us.

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By: admin

admin — Wed, 18 May 2016 23:13:48 +0000

In reply to rhasting.

Everyone: Be careful that you don’t “blend” Japan and Germany. The United States was involved in “all aid short of war” in the Atlantic/Europe when Japan attacked in December 1941 after months/years of growing tension with the United States over Japan’s expansionist plans in Asia. Hitler declared war on the U.S. a few days later, thus getting Americans into an official two-front war. Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill had met earlier and decided that whatever happened there would be a “Germany first” policy.

By: rhasting

rhasting — Wed, 18 May 2016 18:53:42 +0000

I really enjoyed reading your post, Jonathon. I wanted to do this project myself, but I was simply unable to. I love the movie White Christmas, and while it came out in 1954, the message of solidarity that it portrays is powerful and indicative of that time. Thankfully, that mentality still exists in our military today, as we are taught from day one at Basic Training, “Never leave a soldier behind,” no matter the circumstances.

The Second World War did receive a lot of support from the home front, very similar to that of World War 1. We were at once a nation united against a common enemy who had struck us unaware on Dec 7, 1941. From the front lines to the home front, through tire and food rationing, victory gardens, the selling of war bonds, Pearl Harbor made the war very real, as the ocean that separated us from the troubles that Europe faced was all at once made irrelevant. In a speech that President Roosevelt gave in April 1942:

“As we here at home contemplate our own duties, our own responsibilities, let us think,
and think hard of the example which is being set for us, by our fighting men […] They
are farmers, workers, business men, professional men, artists, clerks. They are the
United States of America. That is why they fight. We, too, are the United States of
America. That is why we must work and sacrifice. It is for them. It is for us. It is for
victory.”

Additionally, added to the fact that Japan attacked us on our own soil, American’s realized the magnitude of the threat they now faced. After the fall of France in 1940, only England stood against the Axis Powers, as they were methodically conquering all of Europe. (I pledge, 299)

By: rhasting

rhasting — Wed, 18 May 2016 18:51:01 +0000

Additionally, added to the fact that Japan attacked us on our own soil, Americans realized the magnitude of the threat they now faced. After the fall of France in 1940, only England stood against the Axis Powers, as they were methodically conquering all of Europe.

By: conger87

conger87 — Wed, 18 May 2016 17:05:33 +0000

The Second World War received a lot of support from the home front. In part, they probably understood the gravity of the situation. People watching the newsreels could see the size of Germany and Japan getting larger on the map day after day. That is a lot different than Korea, Vietnam, or others, where the conflict is confined to a smaller piece of the globe. The war too infiltrated all aspects of American citizen’s lives as you mentioned: musicals like White Christmas, Bugs Bunny cartoons, and Truman on radio broadcasts. The war was everywhere, so in a way that factor probably helped galvanize the public like few conflicts before or since.
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By: cortiz

cortiz — Wed, 18 May 2016 16:31:16 +0000

I really enjoyed reading your Crosby project and I find it very interesting how the nation as a whole came together in every way to win this war. Today we are so politically charged that it seems nobody can do anything without some of kind of protest. Even that is result of major changes in our country over time. In my opinion, Truman laid things out very well for all Americans to understand what they were fighting against. The newspapers, Hollywood and citizens were all on board to win this war. You have to remember that the Japanese hit us on our own soil when they bombed Pearl Harbor. I believe that attack made us sit up straight and come to the realization we were fighting for our country, Hawaii is not far from the West Coast. With wars today we send our military men and women to foreign lands and do not see or consider what they do for the service of this country. Life goes on here on the Homefront; no rations, no food shortage, gas shortage, etc. Whether or not you agree with any war, if you see what our military members do with your own eyes, or witness some type of aggression against yourselves as citizens you are going to feel that more than reading about it in papers.
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