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Congress approved the Selective Service and Training act
The Selective Service and Training act was a plan for the first peacetime draft in American history. General George C. Marshall was responsible for taking the recruits and building a large army. Marshall guided the largest expansion of the army in American history. -
The overwhelming army's training facilities
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, 60,000 men enlisted for the army. This big number of recruits caused an overwhelming problem at the army's facilities. So the Department of Agriculture transferred over 350,000 acres of land to the War Department. Some other bases were built and some were expanded. -
African Americans wanted to push for the Double V
At first not all African Americans wanted to support the war because of the segregated military. But one African American newspaper launched the Double V campaign. This campaign had the idea of encouraging African Americans to support war to win a double victory over Hitler's idea of racism. -
Air Force created the first African American unit
The 99th Pursuit Squadron was the name of the first African American unit. The pilots trained in Alabama were known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The Squadron helped in the battle of Anzio in Italy. They flew 200 missions without losing a single member to enemy aircraft. -
American Japanese and Hispanics started serving in the war
Even though American Japanese were not allowed to serve at first, they served at the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Also hundreds of thousands of Hispanic Americans served even with the racial hostility against them. Some of them even received the Medal of Honor. -
Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 8802
The Order 8802 stated that it shouldn't have any type of discrimination in the employment of workers. Like race, color, creed, or national origin. Roosevelt also created the first federal civil rights agency since Reconstruction, the Fair Employment Practices Commission. -
The relocation of minorities
After the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Americans were mad at Japanese immigrants and American Japanese. Roosevelt executed the Order 9066 which allowed the War Department to declared any part of the US a war zone. A couple days later the whole West Coast was declared a military zone so all the people with Japanese ancestry had to be evacuated to internment camps. -
Woman joined the air forces
At first women were enlisted only for administrative and clerical jobs. The Congress allowed women in the military for the first time in 1942, creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Many women were not happy since it was not part of the regular army, so they decided to change that. -
War production increased really fast after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Roosevelt thought that it would be better if the government and big business worked together to prepare for the war. So he created the National Defense Advisory Committee. The government also signed contracts with this business, where the government would pay the cost of making the products and a percentage as profit to the companies. This type of contract was called the cost-plus system. -
Roosevelt created the National Housing Agency
With the big demand of workers at industries to produce war materials, thousands of people had to move to bigger cities. It created lots of industrial regions. Those places were really hard to find places to live, so the Congress authorized $150 million for housing, and Roosevelt created the National Housing Agency which coordinated the government housing programs.