During the second world war the community all joined together to help there country out any way they could?

Question

i have heard even kids would gather scrap metal to donate to the war effort, what was different about people at that time that made this happen? I cant imagine anyone making a personal effort like that for no reason anymore. alot of people dont even bother to vote, why are we so detached now and why were people so patriotic during ww2?

can you imagine what sort of public outcry there would be if were had to make cutbacks on things to support a war effort NOW? people moan about inflated gas prices, imagine if we had to stop producing cars for a while or donate some time to some public works project, it would never happen.

Answer 1

WW2 was a much greater threat than anything we have seen since. It was also a much more clear cut evil, with two violent, expansionist powers that already conquered several other nations. And there was Pearl Harbor. Under these kinds of threats people pull together.

What do we face now? A terrorist group who's leader we can't find, and two wars that aren't going so well and may not have been necessary.

Answer 2

It makes a good "feel good" story for the old folks, however tho scrap drives and rationing happend..so did black marketeering,war protests,draft protest,hordeing, pro communist (finnish workers party),pro nazi (american bund) movements and strikes, along with sabotage and spying for the japanese and german, unionised dock labor did everything from work stoppages to sabotage to undermine the war effort to the point the goverment had to basicly team up with organised crime to get things there and inteamsters/shipping running smoothly..and that was after the US was attacked, a very huge part of americans were against enterring the war at all and even after pearl harbour some still were, a lot of people were very aptriotic and volunteered ,but they still had to draft to get all the guys needed..if we were attacked today most people would rise up and be behind a war or retribution too,just like then, its just a lack of support the last few years for wars/police actions that simply arent veiwed as being any of our business or are very minor in relation to say WWII (current US casualties in Iraq just recently caught up with losses for the BATTLE of iwo Jima ) its not a lack of patriotism as much as an apathy toward the whole thing, and being sick of the political crap and the biased ,negitive news reports being stuffed down out throats 24/7.

Answer 3

You want to know what makes it so different?

The threat of communism and propraganda.

WWII was during a time when there were great fears about how patriotic your neighbors were. In those times it was unheard of to question the war efforts and the government because if you did, people wondered about you being American or being a supporter of the communist parties.

Propraganda also played a part as it gave the feel that everyone had to do their part to beat communism.

Answer 4

World War II has been called (with a good deal of justification, in my humble opinion) "the last popular war."

First of all, there was a clear enemy in the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan). Secondly, we entered the war as a direct result of the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Now, we had been giving aid to Britain against Germany, and, since the Nazis were in alliance with Japan, we committed ourselves to a two-front war--the one in the Pacific against Japan and the one in Europe against Germany--which was itself involved in a two-front war (they were fighting the British in the west and the Soviet Union in the east, so the US was actually in alliance with the Soviets during the war).

On the home front, you have to understand that the mindset of people was quite different than it is now. First of all, they were angry over Pearl Harbor (just as we were over 9/11), and this anger fueled a desire to get behind the war effort any way possible. People rose to the occasion--even celebrities such as Clark Gable, Martha Raye, and James Stewart served in uniform, and not just in entertaining troops (although a great many served in that capacity as well, such as Bob Hope and Glenn Miller)--Gable flew on combat missions as a gunner, Stewart was a pilot, and Raye was a nurse. Many other entertainers supported war bond rallies and performed valuable volunteer work, notably at Hollywood's Stage Door Canteen where many actors and actresses spent their time serving coffee and doughnuts to GI's.

Of course, women took jobs in factories and shipyards, making everything from uniforms and parachutes to welding together parts for planes, tanks, and ships. The economy turned rapidly from consumer goods to war materiel, people embraced rationing, planted "Victory Gardens" to augment their food supply, and willingly did without sugar and got by on one new pair of shoes per year. They practiced the art of "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Granted, there were (as there always are) people who were involved with black marketeering and figuring out ways to beat the ration system. This happens during any war, because there have always been and always will be those whose first (and often only) concern is for themselves and their own comfort, but there were just as many (the majority, I suspect) who DID play by the rules.

Could we do it again? I'd like to think so, but I'm afraid we may have gotten too attached to our lifestyles, which are opulent in comparison to most of the world.

Answer 5

In the UK in WW2 people were faced with a stark choice - pull together or face invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany. When the chips are down like that the mind gets concentrated wonderfully on what is important.

Answer 6

That's the myth, and there's a good deal of truth in it, but there was always a lot of black market and profiteering. Bombed out places were looted, including churches.
See 'An underworld at war'.