Before officially entering World War II, the United States underwent many changes domestically to prepare for victory. The first step in successfully doing so was for Congress to give President Roosevelt total authority to regulate American life. This happened after the attack on Pearl Harbor and President Roosevelt’s first step was to increase industrial output toward war production. Previous to Pearl Harbor, only 15 percent of industrial output was military directed.
President Roosevelt also created many organizations that would contribute to the war effort. The first organization founded was the War Production Board which had the purpose of turning civilian goods factories into war production factories. There were also the National
Women also played a large role in military production. The federal government urged women to join the work force with propaganda like, “Rosie the Riveter.” Even though women did the same work as men they were only paid about 65% of a man’s wage. Women, although urged to work, were definitely underappreciated by the government but without them war production would have been cut significantly.
Roosevelt’s blueprint for preparing a country for war was a huge success. By 1943 over a third of the United State’s economy was committed to war production. The U.S. was also successful in becoming the worlds largest exporter of synthetic rubber. This was after Japan had seized Southeast Asia and cut off the American supply of crude rub
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