The way in which funds are allocated and distributed by government officials during a war, whether it be increasing production of war time materials, food etc. , is instrumental in winning a war. Also, Faragher speaks of certain inconveniences that Americans had to face during war time such as rationing food, working longer days, and suffering a sharp increase in their income taxes (Faragher 730). Many Americans who were not Caucasian saw hardship during World War II due to either deep seeded racism or fear that they may be assisting the nation they previously lived in.
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One seemingly positive outcome of WWII on the home front was the increase in jobs and wages that it manifested (Faragher 730). The need for war time materials such as guns, ammunition, vehicles etc. , became the driving force in creating many new jobs for the American people. This then in turn lead to an increase in the income of your average American family at the time, allowing them to purchase things they had previously been deprived of thanks to the Great Depression (Faragher 730).
However the need to ration, or use sparingly in order to conserve, obstructed the “luxuries” that were newly available to the American people (Faragher 730). Another limiting factor that many Americans faced was the drastic increase in income taxes imposed in order to provide the government with enough funds to adequately support the war time effort (Faragher 730). Although their new, higher paying jobs were great, because of the sharp increase in taxes their wages did not seem to go quite as far as they would have hoped.
While increases in jobs and wages of these jobs was generally a positive aspect of the home front, one negative impact war time had on American life was directed toward Japanese Americans. Because of who our enemies were during the war, Japanese Americans were disgustingly persecuted during World War II in the United States, a nation with a reputation for being the “land of the free. ” They were not only banned from certain military areas on the west coast but were even rounded up and put into camps (Faragher 732).
More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were forced to leave jobs, loved ones, and their homes during president Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 (Faragher 732). While the methods used in the camps are much different and the American camps were not designed to torture and kill, we see a slight similarity to the concentration camps imposed by one of the most famous oppressors in history, Adolf Hitler, during his Holocaust (Faragher 732).
Japanese Americans lived in cramped, uncomfortable conditions and were guarded by soldiers (Faragher 732). Fear is an understandable emotion for one to have experienced during this time, however, it does not constitute the denial of basic human rights such as freedom. The home front during World War II is a subject that can not possibly be described in its entirety in just a few pages. There were many other issues and pressing matters that the United States government had to deal with at the time.
The increase in production of goods during war time was instrumental in turning a nation scarred by the Great Depression around. It not only created jobs but gave Americans a feeling of satisfaction knowing that they were helping support their country by producing war time materials. The war time measures taken put a lot of strain on many families, including especially Japanese Americans, but all Americans nonetheless. It can be said that the home front in the United States during World War II saw its fair share of successes and failures.
