Mobilizing for Defense

1. How did the American response to the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor differ from Japanese expectations?      
The Japanese thought that the Americans were afraid of the Japanese and the power that they had. They thought that they made the United States a third-rate power. When in reality that it gave the Americans motivation to fight and to get revenge. The Americans were not afraid, but they were furious. 


2. What difficulties did women and minorities face in the wartime work force?     

African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans were very discriminated during the war. There were racial segregated neighborhoods, and they were denied basic rights of a citizens. Some of the minorities were wondering why they should fight for a country that looked down upon them. The African Americans that were in the war had noncombat jobs for the most of the war, until they fought for their right to be in combat, which was only for the last year of the war. Even though all of the minorities were discriminated against, a lot of them still fought in the war. During the war woman worked in factories and did stereotypical man jobs. At first places were reluctant about hiring woman because they did not think they had as much stamina in them, but once they realized how woman can work as well as men they kept hiring them. Woman would also get paid sixty percent of what the men would get paid for the same job. 

3. Why did President Roosevelt create the OSRD, and what did it do?           
President Roosevelt created the OSRD to bring scientist into the war effort. The OSRD created many things that helped the war, such as the creation of penicillin, which save many lives, and sonar for boats and plants to spot other boats and planes that might be a threat to them. The biggest thing that the OSRD did was the Manhattan Project, which was the creation of the atomic bomb. 


4. What basic problems were the OPA and WPB created to solve?           

The OPA was created to solve the threat of inflation by freezing the prices of goods, and by raising the amount of income taxes so that people had less money to send so there was less of a demand of certain goods. The WPA was created to decide which factories changed from peacetime factories to wartime factories; this made it so there were enough supplies for the war effort.

5. What type of items were rationed and why were they limited?       
Some of the typed of goods that were rationed were meat, gasoline, shoes, sugar, and coffee. These items were limited because they were deeded as goods that were essential for the military. It was hard for the people to deal with the rationing, but some people thought of it as their personal way of contributing to the war effort; while others were buy the goods off of a black market.


6. What is the message of the World War II poster on this assignment's blog posting? Why was this message important?   
The message of the World War II poster was to carpool to save gas so that the soldiers could use the gas that the citizens weren't using. The point was to tell everyone to ration out the goods that they have and to make the most of it so that there is enough supplies for the war. The message was important because it was a very convincing poster to get people to carpool and the soldiers needed the gas and the supplies for the war effort more than the citizens.