Converting+the+U.S+Economy+to+fight+WW2

=
When World War II began, it became clear that the United States was going to have to convert the economy in order to effectively contribute to the war. However, during the time of World War II (1939-1945) the United States was in the great depression. Clearly this was going to be a tough time to convert the economy.======

=
There were obviously going to be some companies that didn’t want to convert to military production, so they weren’t going to. That, however, made other companies that had to convert not want to because they were worried of losing consumer market share to those companies that never converted. Most auto companies had fully converted to military production by 1942 and were beginning to convert to aircraft production in 1943. The shipbuilding industry had been in a depression since 1921 due to the great depression and when World War II came about, the shipbuilding industry had to be revived.======

The American economy expanded at a rate that was unheard of between the years os 1941 and 1945. The gross national product of the United States went from $88.6 billion in 1939, which was while the United States was still going through the great depression, to $135 billion in 1944. The military production was at just 2% of the GNP and then it shot up to 40% in 1943.

The production of industries expanded, as did the expansion of employment. The Federal Government made many different agencies that were supposed to increase total production, control job wages and costs of items, and distribute the production to benefit the military. Among these agencies were: the War Production Board in 1942, the Office of War Mobilization in 1943, and the Office of Price Administration in 1942.

Following the war, the Federal Government continued with these agencies to directly affect the economic situation of America.

For more information, visit: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/tassava.WWII

Annotated Bibliography:

"Wayne." Naval History and Heritage Command. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. . (Used for image only)

"Online Library of Liberty." Online Library of Liberty - Front Page. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. . (Used for image only)

"Compensation from World War II through the Great Society." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. . -I automatically knew this source would be a credible and helpful source when I saw it was a “.gov”. It came from the United States Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics which obviously was extremely helpful in this project. This source gave me most of the statistics I needed to complete my studies on the conversion of the economy. It was a great source and also gave me insight to the aftermath of the conversion due to the war.

“The American Economy during World War II.” EH.Net Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. . -When I noticed that this source was a “.net” and also from an encyclopedia, I knew that it would be a helpful and credible source to use. It covered a lot of different things about the war, but there was a significant section dedicated the the economy and how it had to be converted and about the preparedness of the United States. This source gave me a lot of information on military production which obviously had to be done to contribute to the war.