How War Shaped American Society

During World War 1, the United States went through social changes that changed the life of many African-Americans, immigrants, and women. These changes included more rights and jobs to many different men and women in America that would help change America into what it is today.

“During the war about half of American women worked outside of their homes,”( Hughes 2). The number of working women rose from fourteen point six million in nineteen forty one to nineteen point four million in nineteen forty four. “Women were not just motivated by wages or patriotism; but buy the feeling of independence that they gained from the work,” (Hughes 2). Without women laborers the US economy would have never been able to produce military hardware to be successful in the war. Even though women played a huge role in the work force during the World War II, they also played an even bigger role in the war itself. Women played several different roles in the actual war. “A few of women’s roles in the actual war of World War II would be army nurses, spies, pilots and entertainers,” (Scott3). Women served as army nurses during World War 11, there were than seven thousand active nurses on duty when the United States entered the war. “Women also served as pilots, on September tenth nineteen forty two, Nancy Harkness Love, with the support of th U.S. Air Transport Command, organized twenty five women pilots into the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (W.A.F.S),” (Scott3). Women pilots were used to serve non- combat flights, to free the men for combat flights. “Women spies of the World WarII , they were often successful and unsuspected since people suspected women that women’s properly roles were solely domestic,” (Scott3). Lastly

The internal negative impacts are as followed: United States soldiers returned home with a grand welcome party however, all else was lacking. America had never experienced a time of post war such as World War I and was ill prepared for the return of its’ soldiers and its’ new claimed victory. “By granting World War II veterans comprehensive education, housing, and unemployment benefits, the government recognized the error of sending World War I veterans home with little more than the clothes on their backs” (Keene, Jennifer D. 2). American soldiers faced a tremendous change to their prior life-styles as war efforts had altered the familiarity of their hometowns. World War I and Its Aftermaths states, “Frustration and racism combined to produce violence” (28). Turmoil grew greatly post the Great War due to the Great Migration, new-found intolerance among American citizens, and lack of jobs. Acts of violence were induced by and included racial riots, strikes, and violation of civil rights. Racial Riots such as the Red Summer were a direct result of World War I. “The massive bloodshed during included thousands of injuries, hundreds of deaths, and vast destruction of private and public property across the nation” (Chavaz, Tizoc 21). Intolerance was cultivated during the Great War. “By whipping up nationalist passions American attitudes toward radicalism, dissent, and immigration were poisoned” (Chavaz, Tizoc 21). Greedy business men desired to cripple the union and the gains made during the War. World War I and Its Aftermath states, “Many business leaders, on the other hand, were determined to break the power of the unions and roll back the gains labor had made” (27). The business leaders’ actions caused a wave of strikes to hit the nation. War. World War I and Its Aftermath states, “By the end of the year, more than 3,600 strikes involving more than 4 million

As the war dragged on, it affected American society at nearly every level. It shook up

After the end of World War II, the United States went through many changes. Most of the changes were for the better, but some had an adverse effect on certain population centers. Many programs, agencies and policies were created to transform American society and government.

Before the World War II, many women only held jobs in the house providing for their children, husband, and the needs that came with taking care of the household, but during the war, this completely changed. Many women were given new opportunities consisting of new jobs, new skills, new challenges, and greater chances to do things that were once only of imagination to them. Women made the war especially possible with taking over the jobs that men would usually do, but could not do because of the war. One of the first things that encouraged women to take on jobs of the men who went off to war was the propaganda. Propaganda consisted of films, radio, and print. These advertisements used showed women fighting in the army and many working in

After World War II, the American psyche became permanently stained with new ideas. During this time period, the American government actively sought to change the way the American people thought. The support of the American public was crucial to the success of the war effort. Many ideas introduced during this point of time consisted of new roles of certain people groups in American society. Women and minority groups would prove themselves in the workplace, millions of citizens would be discriminated against, and social barriers would be broken and assembled. Even though World War II took place in Europe and the Pacific, it made lasting social changes that can still be seen in America.

Women had different perspectives during World War 2. Many served in different branches of armed forces. Some labored in war productions plants. Most women stayed at home and had other responsibilities to raise children, balance check books, and some labored in war-related office jobs, while the men went to war. In addition to factory work and other front jobs about 350,000 women joined the Armed services, serving at home and abroad. “Rosie the Riveter,” later became a popular propaganda for women. While women worked in a variety of positions closed to them the industry saw the greatest increase in female’s workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943,

The American home front during World War II is recalled warmly in popular memory and cultural myth as a time of unprecedented national unity, years in which Americans stuck together in common cause. World War II brought many new ideas and changes to American life. Even though World War II brought no physical destruction to the United States mainland, it did affect American society. Every aspect of American life was altered by U.S. involvement in the war including demographics, the labor force, economics and cultural trends.

Even though Rosie the Riveter is an image frequently synonymous with the contemporary women’s movement, she was not designed to promote social change or improve the role of women in the workplace during World War II. In reality, she was promoted as the ideal female worker and was patriotic, confident, capable, and beautiful in a large propaganda campaign by the United States government. Since the war caused many men to answer the call to serve in the military, both at home and abroad, the United States was faced with the urgent challenge of recruiting women into the workforce. Rosie the Riveter was their solution to this problem.

It gave them a taste of what was out in the world and got them to think of themselves as workers instead of just homebodies. At first they were hesitant because it was a new domain, but once they grew accustomed to this new role they weren’t about to evacuate and instead embraced their new power with Rosie the Riveter, the new face of activism. Rosie stood for everything these women fought for and was a symbol of hope and persistence. Her famous words echoed through the streets of the United States, “We Can Do It!” Some of the more daring women wanted to help even more, so they enlisted to go fight alongside the men of their country. These brave women were now soldiers and proved that they could enter dangerous situations and do the job right. For the women of this time there was no going back to the docile housewife of the past. From this point on they were looking for a future outside of the house. Then, in 1945 the war drew to a close and men who had been away began to file home. They were anticipating returning to their old jobs that women had occupied when they were away, however women were resisting to leave.

War, destruction, grief, hunger, hate, peace, love, wealth. WW2 brought many mixed feelings and emotions, it brought billions of dollars of destruction, but as bad as it was could we say the war also had positive effects. It wasn't until early December of 1942 until the second great world war had begun. Japan dropped bombs on the naval base in Hawaii which caused the US to declare war changing America forever. WWII impacts were like nothing else, the way Americans lived on the home front, the roles of women as well as gender and race relations, and the US economy was affected greatly. This war altered the way Americans lived forever, it brought the people together with one goal, and it was to defeat the axis power.

In 1942 the Women’s Army Corps was introduced. These women worked in more than 200 non- combatant jobs stateside and also every part of the war. They served not only as common nurses but also “within the ranks of the United States Army.” There was also the Women’s Army Corps introduced in 1942. This group of 1,100 women was asked to join and fly military aircraft, due to the shortage of pilots. Their job was to fly from factories to military bases and also different take off points around the country. Even though during their enlistment the WASP were supposed to become part of the military, after a couple years the program was cancelled. The last group the, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, was already established. After being absent for twenty-three years, they had to be reactivated because of WW2. While a large portion of these women did the job of secretarial and clerical they had other jobs they did. Thousands of WAVES performed duties in aviation, medical professions, communication, intelligence, science and technology. These military jobs and the other non-traditional jobs the women participated in made them almost like a ghost in their home front.

The war brought a return of prosperity and ended the Great Depression. (Winkler,1986) It also promoted the growth of big industrial business and strengthen military industrial links. (Winkler,1986) Women around the country were transformed from the average house wife into a person with a voice and most importantly a purpose. They contributed into the war effort and changed the way society viewed them. “The war was a vehicle for lasting social and economic gains.” (Winkler,1986) As the war ended, the United States of American came to be known as a powerful

World War II had a definite impact on the United States. It changed how people lived and how other people were viewed. Not many people realize the treatment of people from our own country during World War II. Three groups of people that were affected were women, African Americans, and Japanese Americans. The lives of these people were changed drastically, whether by having to work, mistreatment because of skin color, or by being blamed for something that was done by a country they were native to.