By the end of the war the membership of NAACP (National association for the advancement of coloured people) rose from 50,000 to 450,000 during the four years of war. This put an extreme amount of pressure on the President which made him enforce a new law; forbidding any company with a contract for war equipment to practise discrimination.
I therefore feel that black Americans were the most affected by the impact of war because the war permanently and dramatically increased the standard of living for better. The increase in the NAACP membership shows us that more people began to care about the victims of this cruel racial prejudice. In the long term the war had permanently strengthened the confidence for a better life of many Black Americans. Also because Black Americans helped greatly in the war this would help them press for their rights and one new law was passed which would eventually help them live a happier life.
Women were yet another group of people who were affected by ww2. During the 1930’s, before the war, sexual discrimination was worse than ever as during the Depression people thought men should have all the available jobs. All women were domestic workers staying at home to tend to the children. If women worked they would have only been working in offices or other low paid domestic jobs. They were considered extremely inferior to men.
However, the war years increased job opportunities as over 6 million women went to work in war factories which made war equipment and had learnt new skills that had previously only been used by men. Working in the factories brought women higher wages than they had previously been used to. The short term gains for women during the war were; more money, more independence and more freedom, and in the long term they gained a greater confidence in themselves.
However after the war men wanted women to go back to the home and give up the ‘manly’ jobs. The government actively encouraged women to leave their jobs too and most women accepted this and returned home to their domestic chores. Those who did work would have only been working ‘woman’s jobs’ like being a secretary, this would have been the ideal woman.
Therefore I think woman were greatly affected by the impact of war. They permanently increased their status and decreased the sexual discrimination in the USA. Although many males still retained prejudice against women, the traditional attitudes had been undermined and the confidence of women strengthened greatly, so that in the long term the rights and opportunities of woman were greatly extended. In years to come women would be able to challenge the ideas that they were only able to do a limited number of jobs and that their position was lower than men’s.
I also feel the Japanese Americans were greatly affected during and after the events of ww2. Before the war there were several thousand people of Japanese origin living in the USA. These people did not experience any kind of hatred; they weren’t segregated, discriminated against and they were treated equally to everybody else. However, after the attack on Pearl Harbour there was a wave of anti-Japanese prejudice aimed directly at these people, as the Americans were worried they would be disloyal to America and assist a Japanese invasion on the West Coast. Then with complete disregard to their civil rights, President Roosevelt authorised their immediate forced transportation to remote and uncomfortable internment camps. Many people lost their homes, businesses, property and possessions. Many of them were also shipped to Japan.
Therefore I feel that the Japanese Americans were affected by the impact of ww2 because there lives changed so dramatically in such a short period of time. They went from being respected American citizens to victims of panic and prejudice and in the long term I am sure many would have been emotionally scarred.
The Economy was affected greatly by the war. Before the war America was in the longest and most severe Depression ever seen. There were banks collapsing, high unemployment, poverty, and many businesses which had failed. Farmers were also suffering hardship as they were hit by a disastrous drought that lasted for the entire 1930’s.
During the war many factories opened to make war equipment like weapons etc. Many more jobs were available so the unemployed numbers decreased, and people earnt more money which would have increased their standard of living.
After the war America was out of the depression without the threat of dictatorship which affected the many people in America. The USA now had a strong economy. Only in the United States were people better off than before the war. American banks became the world’s bankers. Only the USA could help the war-shattered economies of other countries. The war economy, coupled with good weather in the years 1941-45, boosted agriculture.
Therefore I think the economy was greatly affected by ww2, because America managed to come out the depression and improve the lives of many American people.
