The Home Front Changed Forever

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The Home Front Changed Forever

Chapter 1

The U.S. Economy was on a slow return trajectory from the devastating effects of the Stock Market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression that followed; Hoovervilles still littered city landscapes, a relic to the Presidency of Herbert Hoover. The United States had a new President and it was under President Roosevelt and his new deal programs that unemployment would decrease from its all time high of around 21 percent to about 9 percent. Tensions overseas were growing and our relationship with the Empire of Japan was being stretched to the limit. The United States hand was forced with the surprise Pearl Harbor attack, our grandparents and even our great grandparents found themselves thrust into World War II under-equipped and behind the power curve when it came to a military arsenal.

Life as we knew it here on Long Island and all over the country had changed, December 7th 1941 changed the face of the country forever. All of a sudden the citizens of this country had a new enemy, and that enemy was the empire of Japan. The United States had been in a period of isolationism since the close of the First World War. The citizens of this country were not expecting the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th , 1941 although there have been some pieces of evidence brought to light that the government had an idea that Hawaii might be a possible target if Japan were to attack. Over the following 4 years after the attack the United States went through some drastic changes and the citizens of this great nation pulled together and rose up like never before to accomplish a common goal, which was to defeat the axis powers and crush Japan.

On December 8th 1941 President Roosevelt ad...

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... their due recognition by our government.

Works Cited

http://home.earthlink.net/~reyesd99/stewartsmith/introduction.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Signs-Bill-Awarding-Congressional-Gold-Medal-to-Women-Airforce-Service-Pilots/

Kaddy Steele, Wasp 1942-1944 (The WASPs: Women Pilots of WWII n.d.)

Eleanor Roosevelt, 1942.

The Grumman Plane News Special Edition for Women. Vol. 2 April 1943

http://people.hofstra.edu/alan_j_singer/liwomen/liwomen_iii_essay_4.pdf

Women Pilots Causal about Testing Fighter Planes for the Navy

New York World-Telegram November 16, 1943

http://people.hofstra.edu/alan_j_singer/liwomen/liwomen_iii_essay_4.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/120floyd/120facts2.htm

http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-03.html

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