Chapter 14 Sec. 2The Home Front

The “War to End All Wars”

When the US entered WWI many men would need to be drafted in

order to meet the needs of war.

The Draft

• A new system called selective service run by the military would draft all men between 21 and 30 years of age. A lottery system would select men to come before a draft board to be interviewed. Eventually about 2.8 million Americans were drafted.

Approximately 2 million volunteered.

African Americans

• Nearly 400,000 were drafted and about 42,000 fought overseas. They encountered discrimination and prejudice in the army. They served in racially segregated units. Despite these challenged, many fought with distinctions.

Women

• WWI was the first war in which women officially served in the armed forces—noncombat positions—as clerical workers, radio operators, electricians, pharmacists, nurses and photographers.

Mobilizing the Civilians

• In order to increase food production while reducing civilian consumption, the Food Administration encouraged Americans to save food on their own—using slogans like:

• “Food will win the war—Don’t waste it”

• Wheatless Mondays, Meatless Tuesdays

• Victory Gardens

Paying for the War

• To fund the war effort, Congress raised income tax rates. The government also borrowed over $20 billion from the American people by selling Liberty Bonds and Victory Bonds. The US government agreed to pay back the Americans who bought bonds plus interest. Posters encouraged people to buy the bolds as an act of patriotism.

Mobilizing the Workforce

• The National War Labor Board was established in order to prevent strikes from disrupting the war effort

• Women filled industrial jobs vacated by men serving in the military—temporary jobs.

The Great Migration

• African Americans in the South migrated North to take jobs in factories producing war materials. Between 300,000 and 500,000 African Americans left to settle in cities like Chicago, New York, Cleveland and Detroit.

Mexicans Head North

• Over 100,000 Mexicans migrated North into Texas, Arizona, California and New Mexico providing labor for the farms and ranches of the Southwest, as well as, tens of thousands of Mexican Americans headed north to Chicago, St. Louis and other cities to take wartime factory jobs. Many faced hostility and discrimination, and like many immigrants before they settled in their own separate neighborhoods.