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The '''American home front during World War II''' covers all the developments inside the United States, 1940-1945. For comparisons with other nations see [[World War II, Homefront]]

The '''American home front during World War II''' covers all the developments inside the United States, 1940-1945. For comparisons with other nations see [[World War II Homefront]]

==Economic mobilization==

==Economic mobilization==

A strong area of American culture even then was a fascination with celebrities, and many stars of Hollywood and radio gave service above and beyond the call in the donation of their time for everything from being Civilian Defense marshalls to making personal appearances at War Bond drives. Bonds were the money that financed the war, and Bond drives where celebrities appeared were always very successful.  Several stars were responsible for personal appearance tours that netted multiple millions of dollars in bond pledges - an astonishing amount in 1943.  The public paid roughly 2/3 of the face value of a war bond, and received the full face value back after a set number of years. While this may have represented a rather unspectacular interest rate, the government has never defaulted on payment of a single mature bond. People were challenged again and again to put "at least 10% of every paycheck into Bonds".  Compliance was very high, with entire factories of workers earning a special flag to fly over their plant if all workers belonged to the "Ten Percent Club". There were seven major War Loan drives, all of which exceeded their goals.  An added advantage was that citizens who were putting their money into War Bonds were not putting it into the home front wartime economy.  There was a job for anyone who wanted one during the war, most of them well-paid.  Personal income was at an all-time high, and more and more dollars were chasing fewer and fewer goods to purchase.  This was a recipe for economic disaster that was largely avoided because Americans - cajoled daily by their government to do so - were also saving money at an all-time high rate, mostly in War Bonds, but also in private savings accounts and insurance policies.

A strong area of American culture even then was a fascination with celebrities, and many stars of Hollywood and radio gave service above and beyond the call in the donation of their time for everything from being Civilian Defense marshalls to making personal appearances at War Bond drives. Bonds were the money that financed the war, and Bond drives where celebrities appeared were always very successful.  Several stars were responsible for personal appearance tours that netted multiple millions of dollars in bond pledges - an astonishing amount in 1943.  The public paid roughly 2/3 of the face value of a war bond, and received the full face value back after a set number of years. While this may have represented a rather unspectacular interest rate, the government has never defaulted on payment of a single mature bond. People were challenged again and again to put "at least 10% of every paycheck into Bonds".  Compliance was very high, with entire factories of workers earning a special flag to fly over their plant if all workers belonged to the "Ten Percent Club". There were seven major War Loan drives, all of which exceeded their goals.  An added advantage was that citizens who were putting their money into War Bonds were not putting it into the home front wartime economy.  There was a job for anyone who wanted one during the war, most of them well-paid.  Personal income was at an all-time high, and more and more dollars were chasing fewer and fewer goods to purchase.  This was a recipe for economic disaster that was largely avoided because Americans - cajoled daily by their government to do so - were also saving money at an all-time high rate, mostly in War Bonds, but also in private savings accounts and insurance policies.

 

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==

* O'Brien, Kenneth Paul and Lynn Hudson Parsons, eds. ''The Home-Front War: World War II and American Society'' [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=16165781 (1995) online] essays by scholars  

* O'Brien, Kenneth Paul and Lynn Hudson Parsons, eds. ''The Home-Front War: World War II and American Society'' [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=16165781 (1995) online] essays by scholars  

*  Watters, Mary. ''Illinois in the Second World War.'' 2 vol (1951)

*  Watters, Mary. ''Illinois in the Second World War.'' 2 vol (1951)

==External links==

==External links==