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Saving for Democracy: Thrift, Sacrifice, and the World War II Bond Campaigns

Kiku Adatto

in Thrift and Thriving in America: Capitalism and Moral Order from the Puritans to the Present

This chapter recounts the war bond campaign of the Second World War, illustrating a notion of thrift fully embedded in a social attempt to serve the greater good. Saving money was equated directly ... More

This chapter recounts the war bond campaign of the Second World War, illustrating a notion of thrift fully embedded in a social attempt to serve the greater good. Saving money was equated directly with service to the nation and was pitched as a duty of sacrifice to support the war effort. One of the central characteristics of this campaign was that it enabled everyone down to newspaper boys to participate in a society-wide thrift movement. As such, the World War II war bond effort put thrift in the service of democracy, both in the sense that it directly supported the war being fought for democratic ideals and in the sense that it allowed the participation of all sectors in the American war effort. This national ethic of collective thrift for the greater good largely died in the prosperity that followed World War II, and it has not been restored even during subsequent wars in the latter part of the 20th century.Less

The Obligation to Volunteer: Women and Coercive Voluntarism

Christopher Capozzola

in Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen

This chapter focuses on American women's voluntarism during World War I. It argues that in a political culture organized around voluntarism, Americans struggled to understand the difference between ... More

This chapter focuses on American women's voluntarism during World War I. It argues that in a political culture organized around voluntarism, Americans struggled to understand the difference between voluntary sacrifice and unpaid, or even forced, labor. Coercion operated differently in women's organizations than in the male vigilante societies that dominated headlines. Although women did not by and large experience or participate in physical violence, coercion still abounded.Less

Policing the Home Front: From Vigilance to Vigilantism

Christopher Capozzola

in Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen

This chapter focuses on mob violence and vigilantism in wartime America. It shows that Americans who engaged in extralegal actions to support the war effort insisted that they were exemplars of ... More

This chapter focuses on mob violence and vigilantism in wartime America. It shows that Americans who engaged in extralegal actions to support the war effort insisted that they were exemplars of vigilant citizenship. Their victims, however, denounced them as lawless vigilantes unworthy of the nation's honor. The wartime and postwar concern with mob violence led many to ignore legal and nonviolent forms of state and private coercion that arose alongside, and outlasted, crowd actions. The distinction obscured the ways that Americans wove coercion into the fabric of their political culture during this period.Less

Conclusion

TALBOT C. IMLAY

in Facing the Second World War: Strategy, Politics, and Economics in Britain and France 1938-1940

This chapter summarizes the findings; discusses the links between the three dimensions — strategic, domestic-political, and political-economic; and the relative importance of each to the overall war ... More

This chapter summarizes the findings; discusses the links between the three dimensions — strategic, domestic-political, and political-economic; and the relative importance of each to the overall war effort of France and Britain.Less

Belfast, Ireland, and the War, 1914–1918

A. C. Hepburn

in Catholic Belfast and Nationalist Ireland in the Era of Joe Devlin, 1871-1934

This chapter focuses on the years between 1914 and 1918. The years 1913-14 were a time of trial for Devlin, from the pressure to accept temporary exclusion in February 1914 to the unwelcome emergence ... More

This chapter focuses on the years between 1914 and 1918. The years 1913-14 were a time of trial for Devlin, from the pressure to accept temporary exclusion in February 1914 to the unwelcome emergence of paramilitary forces on both sides and then his exclusion from the Buckingham Palace Conference. He did not cave in and remained supportive of the Liberal Government, and, for the first time in his career, felt closer to Redmond than to Dillon in positive support for the war effort. However, the next four years were to see a downward spiral. The Volunteer movement brought violent revolution and repression, which drove an ever-deeper wedge between the two communities in Belfast and destroyed the constitutional movement across the country. The government at Westminster degenerated into coalitions that were more concerned with maintaining their own stability (and winning the war) than with settling the Irish question. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church was more concerned to run with popular opinion than to take political risks in order to achieve a compromise settlement.Less

Veterans Tell Their Stories and Why Historians and Others Listened

G. Kurt Piehler

in The United States and the Second World War: New Perspectives on Diplomacy, War, and the Home Front

This chapter examines how the support of influential Americans, including President Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, combined with the pioneering work of ... More

This chapter examines how the support of influential Americans, including President Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, combined with the pioneering work of combat historian S. L. A. Marshall to produce richly detailed histories that contributed to the U.S. Army's unprecedented drive to document the services wartime history—a practice that the Army had not followed either during or after other major conflicts. The chapter demonstrates that in addition to its use in official histories, others put oral history to use to serve the war effort. Samuel Stouffer and the U.S. Army's Research Branch often used oral histories to improve survey questions that went out to hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The Research Branch's work proved invaluable in many instances, and perhaps nowhere was it more worthwhile than in reshaping treatments for battle fatigue. The extensive use of oral histories during the war led to its widespread acceptance by the U.S. Army after 1945, and because of the active campaigning of wartime practitioners such as historian Forest Pogue, the wider community of academic historians, who often disparaged the value of oral history after the war, came increasingly to embrace the practice during the 1960s and the 1970s.Less

CONCLUSION

Bruce Levine

in Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War

This concluding chapter offers a balance sheet for this experience and what it reveals about slavery, secession, the Southern war effort, and the connections binding these things together. It ... More

This concluding chapter offers a balance sheet for this experience and what it reveals about slavery, secession, the Southern war effort, and the connections binding these things together. It suggests the significance of this episode for subsequent Southern history — and especially for the Southern elite's attempt to regain its footing in a postwar, post-slavery nation.Less

Conclusion

Mark Rawlinson

in British Writing of the Second World War

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that the character of wartime writing was strongly determined by its relations to the discourses with which, in the broadest ... More

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that the character of wartime writing was strongly determined by its relations to the discourses with which, in the broadest sense, Britain's war effort was administered. The complexity of those discourses — correlated with the fundamental structure of war — does not permit the description of wartime culture in terms of either top-down propaganda or of spontaneous consensus. In consequence, it is not plausible to ascribe straightforwardly consensual or oppositional meanings to many wartime texts.Less

Advertising and Commercial Radio during World War II, 1942–45

Cynthia B. Meyers

in A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertising, and the Golden Age of Radio

This chapter studies how the advertising and commercial radio industries responded to World War II and participated in the war economy. World War II provided the advertising and commercial radio ... More

This chapter studies how the advertising and commercial radio industries responded to World War II and participated in the war economy. World War II provided the advertising and commercial radio industries with the opportunity to expand audiences, contribute to the war effort, and demonstrate their focus on American culture and business. During the war, government agencies coordinated with business interests to help disseminate war information not just as propaganda programs, but also as specific themes integrated throughout commercial radio entertainment. William B. Lewis, adman and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) executive, integrated propaganda and entertainment in order to reach audiences, mobilizing Americans for total war.Less

Northern Ireland, 1939–45

Brian Barton

in A New History of Ireland Volume VII: Ireland 1921-84

In Northern Ireland, attitudes, patterns of behavior, and the overall pace of life remained uniquely static and unchanging. Within the first six months of war, rationing in certain supplies had ... More

In Northern Ireland, attitudes, patterns of behavior, and the overall pace of life remained uniquely static and unchanging. Within the first six months of war, rationing in certain supplies had forced some modification in public consumption; travel restrictions and censorship resulted in a progressive narrowing of cultural life, and parts of the province were already struggling to absorb the burgeoning military camps set up to accommodate British troops. Nevertheless, during the spring of 1940, a Belfast diarist was justified in describing Northern Ireland as ‘probably the pleasantest place in Europe’. In addition, informed British visitors were shocked by the entirely different atmosphere that they detected in Northern Ireland, in comparison with other regions of the United Kingdom. The entire absence of any real sense of urgency regarding the war effort and the general slackness in public attitudes.Less

General George S. Patton and the War-Winning Sherman Tank Myth

Nicholas D. Molnar

in The United States and the Second World War: New Perspectives on Diplomacy, War, and the Home Front

This chapter analyzes Patton's defense of the Sherman in the face of scathing criticism following the Battle of the Bulge. It argues that the general's advocacy on behalf of ... More

This chapter analyzes Patton's defense of the Sherman in the face of scathing criticism following the Battle of the Bulge. It argues that the general's advocacy on behalf of the tank salvaged its reputation both at the time and for generations to come. It shatters Patton's defense of the Sherman, and unhesitatingly demonstrates that all too often the men assigned to America's premier tank “were slaughtered because of the use of such an inferior” weapon. Patton, who understood all too well the Sherman's myriad flaws, rushed to defend the tank because he knew that it would remain the armored division's workhorse and that public criticism would only hurt the morale of his tankers and in turn the war effort. The chapter concludes that Patton's defense of the Sherman inadvertently contributed to a host of postwar studies that championed the tragically flawed weapon and played a role in fostering contemporary popular culture's depictions of the Sherman as a war-winning weapon.Less

The Initial Year of the Advertising Council

Inger L. Stole

in Advertising at War: Business, Consumers, and Government in the 1940s

This chapter looks at the strategizing and planning efforts that went into the Advertising Council. It outlines the Council’s organizational setup and its working relationship with the government’s ... More

This chapter looks at the strategizing and planning efforts that went into the Advertising Council. It outlines the Council’s organizational setup and its working relationship with the government’s Office of War Information (OWI) during its first year of existence. It also presents the Council’s criteria for accepting the government’s domestic information campaigns and how individual campaigns were prepared and implemented in actual advertisements. By providing their services to the government through the Council at no charge, advertisers hoped to impress upon the American people that theirs was a patriotic institution helping the war effort. The chapter concludes with a discourse regarding the advertisers’ victory in the battle to keep advertising a tax-deductible expense for business.Less

War and Public, 1939–1945

David Pratten

in The Man-Leopard Murders: History and Society in Colonial Nigeria

This chapter focuses on the war years. The war effort gave many causes championed in the progressive discourse of the ‘reading public’ a new economic and political imperative. A range of economic ... More

This chapter focuses on the war years. The war effort gave many causes championed in the progressive discourse of the ‘reading public’ a new economic and political imperative. A range of economic issues — the manilla exchange rate, tax collection, school funding and palm oil production — would dominate their concerns, along with a growing list of ‘social ills’ which would fall under their increasingly vigilant and vociferous purview, including court corruption, masquerade violence, child betrothal, human trafficking and juvenile delinquency. The political ground shifted quickly during the war with the effect that the views of the progressive elite and the radical nationalists began to converge. At the beginning of the war government propaganda efforts sought to deflect local agitation by enlisting the support of the anti-colonial nationalist faction. By the end of the war, however, the nationalist agenda had broadened its constituency and it was not only the radical core that the Colonial Government attempted to outflank but also the improvement unions and the conservative press that had affiliated to and were supporting emergent nationalist political parties.Less

Composers on the March, 1941-45

Kiril Tomoff

in Creative Union: The Professional Organization of Soviet Composers, 1939-1953

This chapter examines the Composers' Union during the Great Patriotic War. The war was an important moment in the development of the Soviet music profession. During a chaotic and traumatic ... More

This chapter examines the Composers' Union during the Great Patriotic War. The war was an important moment in the development of the Soviet music profession. During a chaotic and traumatic evacuation, the Composers' Union expanded contacts and implicit commitments between the central body and local chapters, clarified the institutional relationship between its professional and resource distribution functions, and drew a solid boundary on membership by permanently excluding performers. At the same time, an influx of new members, mainly songwriters, changed the face of Composers' Union membership. Most importantly, the leadership of the Composers' Union helped to stimulate and support composers' and musicologists' response to the call to professional arms. The Composers' Union as a whole and its members individually produced just the sort of music that the war effort required. For this service, the members of the Composers' Union gained lasting juridical access to a comparatively privileged strata of Soviet society.Less

Nationalism and Mobilization in Wartime Anthropology, 1914–18

in Anthropology at War: World War I and the Science of Race in Germany

This chapter begins the examination of the practice and discourse of anthropology during the war years, exploring the influence of the conflict on the day-to-day work of anthropologists. With normal ... More

This chapter begins the examination of the practice and discourse of anthropology during the war years, exploring the influence of the conflict on the day-to-day work of anthropologists. With normal avenues for anthropological work cut off, many anthropologists turned the focus of their science toward the conflict itself in an attempt to support the war effort and gain the recognition of the state. As a result, anthropologists fully mobilized their discipline for war, throwing their support behind the German government, signing patriotic decrees, and condemning the enemies of the Central Powers. Anthropologists gave lectures on the anthropological makeup of the enemy, undertook investigations of wartime nutrition in German schoolchildren, and commented on the Allied use of colonial troops. All the while, the shortages and limitations caused by the war affected the institutions in which they did their work. The new wartime context encouraged members of the discipline to practice an increasingly nationalistic anthropology, and facilitated the erosion of the distinctions and precepts at the heart of the liberal tradition.Less

Wartime, Unity and Alienation

Paul Grainge, Mark Jancovich, and Sharon Monteith

in Film Histories: An Introduction and Reader

This chapter discusses the United States film industry during the Second World War. The film industry and its personnel were recruited for the war effort. Directors such as Frank Capra and John Ford ... More

This chapter discusses the United States film industry during the Second World War. The film industry and its personnel were recruited for the war effort. Directors such as Frank Capra and John Ford were conscripted into the armed forces where they made a series of documentaries that supported US involvement. Hollywood was also enlisted in other ways. The Office of War Information (OWI) worked with the film industry to mobilise support for the war and maintain morale during it. In the process, a whole host of films sought to illustrate the dangers of the menace posed by the Axis powers. The chapter also includes the study, ‘What to Show the World: The Office of War Information and Hollywood, 1942–1945’ by Clayton R. Koppes and Gregory D. Black, which examines the OWI and its control over the content of motion-pictures during the Second World War.Less