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★ CHECK OUT OUR T-SHIRTS: https://bravestgeneration.com/collections/all ✚ Watch our "Old America" PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaGAbbh1M3ImKavW8ZY0aZyFK1c-PLCAj ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/TheBestFilmArchives ►Google+: https://plus.google.com/+TheBestFilmArchives ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/BestFilmArch It is a 1942 US Army documentary film about how industry is playing a vital role in winning World War 2. It makes a positive appeal for unity, both between management and labor, and between civilian workers and the armed forces. It contrasts America's free industrial labor force with the subjection of laborers in countries overtaken by Axis powers. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND / CONTEXT Despite all the warnings of war, the United States wasn’t completely prepared when World War 2 broke out. The Great Depression (started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s) had rubbed out many of the country’s machine and tool industries, the military was woefully under-supplied, and many soldiers found themselves drilling with toy guns and wooden tanks. However, Demands imposed by the United States participation in the war turned out to be the most effective measure to battle the long-lasting consequences of the Great Depression. The Roosevelt administration followed its New Deal (a series of social liberal programs between 1933 and 1938) approach and aimed to maintain significant control over the economy. Government programs continued to recruit workers but this time the demand was fueled not by the economic crisis but by massive war demands. Production sped up dramatically, closed factories reopened and new ones were established creating millions of jobs in both private and public sectors, and many industries adjusted to the nearly insatiable needs of the military. Two-thirds of the American economy had been integrated into the war effort by the end of 1943. Controlled production: The most powerful of all war-time organizations whose task was to control the economy was the War Production Board (WPB), established by Roosevelt on January 16, 1942. Its purpose was to regulate the production of materials during World War 2 in the United States. The WPB converted and expanded peacetime industries to meet war needs, allocated scarce materials vital to war production, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited nonessential production. It rationed such commodities as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubber, paper, and plastics. The WPB and the nation's factories effected a great turnaround. Military aircraft production, which totaled 6,000 in 1940, jumped to 85,000 in 1943. Factories that made silk ribbons now produced parachutes, automobile factories built tanks, typewriter companies converted to machine guns. The WPB ensured that each factory received the materials it needed to produce the most war goods in the shortest time. In 1942-45, WPB supervised the production of $183 billion worth of weapons and supplies, about 40% of the world output of munitions. Britain, the USSR and other allies produced an addition 30%, while the Axis produced only 30%. One fourth of the US output was warplanes; one fourth was warships. Meanwhile, the civilian standard of living was about level. The War Production Board was dissolved shortly after the defeat of Japan in 1945, and was replaced by the Civilian Production Administration in late 1945. Commercial institutions that had bought billions of dollars of bonds and other treasury paper during the war years, were estimated to be holding more than $24 billion at the war's end. Labor: The unemployment problem ended with the mobilization for war, hitting an all-time low of 700,000 in fall 1944. There was a growing labor shortage in war centers, with sound trucks going street by street begging for people to apply for war jobs. Greater wartime production created millions of new jobs, while the draft reduced the number of young men available for civilian jobs. So great was the demand for labor that millions of retired people, housewives, and students entered the labor force, lured by patriotism and wages. Labor shortages were felt in agriculture, even though most farmers were given an exemption and few were drafted. Large numbers volunteered or moved to cities for factory jobs. At the same time many agricultural commodities were in greater demand by the military and for the civilian populations of Allies. Production was encouraged and prices and markets were under tight federal control. Civilians were encouraged to create "victory gardens", farms that were often started in backyards and lots. Children were encouraged to help with these farms. Because of the unprecedented labor demands, groups that were historically excluded from the labor market, particularly African Americans and women, received access to jobs. How Did American Industry Help Win World War 2 | US Army Documentary | 1942 TBFA_0074 (DM_0036)