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Within days of Germany’s attack on Poland, President Roosevelt expanded the army to 227,000 soldiers.
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Before the spring of 1940, many Americans had opposed a peacetime draft. Opinions changed after France surrendered to Germany in June 1940
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President Roosevelt ordered the armed services to recruit African Americans and to put them into combat. He also promoted Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the highest-ranking African American officer, to the rank of brigadier general.
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much had already been done to prepare the economy for war, but it was still only partially mobilized. The attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything.
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Stated, “there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” To enforce the order, he created the Fair Employment Practices Commission, the first federal civil rights agency since Reconstruction.
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The wartime economy also benefited Mexicans. In 1942, the federal government arranged for Mexican farmworkers to help harvest crops in the Southwest as part of the Bracero Program, which continued until 1964.
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Congress first allowed women in the military in May, creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). It appointed War Department official Oveta Culp Hobby as WAAC’s first director. Many women were unhappy that WAAC was not part of the regular army, however. About a year later, the army replaced the WAAC with the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), and Hobby became a colonel.
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President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 allowing the War Department to declare any part of the United States a military zone and to remove people from that zone as needed.
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Although the military did not end all segregation during the war, it did integrate military bases, and helped steadily expand the role of African Americans within the armed forces. These successes paved the way for President Truman’s decision to fully integrate the military in 1948.
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Fighting between white and African American teens triggered a citywide riot that left 25 African Americans and 9 whites dead.