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The USA, c1920–55: Boom, Bust and Recovery

The war and the economy, 1941–45

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Recall questions on the collapse of unemployment, the doubling of production, the War Production Board, how the war was financed, and the second Great Migration.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

How did the war reshape American industry and population?

Who and when

How did the Second World War affect unemployment?

Who and when

How did the war transform American industry?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did the war reshape American industry and population?

    Model answer

    New industries grew and people migrated to industrial cities, especially in the west and north.

  2. 2

    How did the Second World War affect unemployment?

    Model answer

    War production ended unemployment and created labour shortages.

  3. 3

    What happened to unemployment during the war?

    Model answer

    It effectively disappeared, falling from over nine million in 1939 to about 700,000 by 1944, with labour shortages in many industries.

  4. 4

    How did the war transform American industry?

    Model answer

    Production doubled, the government funded new plant, and the United States built some 300,000 aircraft and 86,000 tanks, becoming the arsenal of democracy.

  5. 5

    How was the war economy managed?

    Model answer

    Through the War Production Board allocating materials, price controls and rationing, and cost-plus contracts guaranteeing manufacturers a profit.

  6. 6

    How was the war financed?

    Model answer

    By a huge expansion of income tax to cover most wage earners for the first time, and by war bonds, with the national debt rising from $49 to $259 billion.

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AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
BOther estimates run to several hundred dead.
COpponents claimed thousands.

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