Introduction
The onset of the Second World War (WWII) affected Americans through the economic stimulus developed in the United States of America. The U.S. experienced increased government spending, tax rates, debts, hostility, and oppression of minority populations across the country. In some cases, the death trolls traumatized children and women as the men stood firm and courageous for the nation’s victory. According to Galvin and Healy, the argument for and against WWII depends on global warfare’s economic and cultural impacts (318). In this case, the text considers the impacts of WWII on the economy, women, popular culture, and minority groups in the isolation of its benefits and disadvantages.
WWII Increased Military Spending
The U.S. economy benefitted from World War II because the nation used the conflict as a fiscal stimulus to eliminate the U.S. from the negative impacts of the Great Depression. Voxeu reports, for example, indicated that defense spending in America increased from 1.4% to 37% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) between 1940 and 1945 (Goel et al. 53). Military spending in WWI cost the U.S about $4.1 trillion, based on the data located from the Congressional Research Service (Bishop and McNab 238). The financial data mean that the country’s GDP rose in the active years of the conflict than in the first wave of World War.
WWII Raised American Gross Debts
Although the economy of the U.S. experienced increased spending during WWII, the country sunk into gross debts never witnessed in American history. The U.S. accumulated debts from countries it supplied weapons by the end of the Second World War. America had been free from the war for a very long time until it was triggered to be part of the conflict through the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor (Bishop and McNab 338). The U.S. reportedly experienced economic contractions marred by increased taxes across the nation, with the major influence of the war touching the gross domestic product. A recent microeconomic study indicated that the debt-to-GDP ratio of the U.S. rose to a world record of more than 113% by the end of the Second World War (Łaski 168). The country did not pay such huge amounts of debt by the end of WWI, although it was the first global warfare that ought to have initiated economic downfalls for the nation.
World War II and Popular Culture
Moreover, WWI impacted popular culture in the U.S. by virtually touching and affecting every part of American life, either directly or indirectly. The Second World War united illustrators, filmmakers, artists, cartoonists, and other entertainment and news mediums to create awareness about the war. The story of popular culture cannot be told without the narrations of the Second World War because the two entities are interconnected. For example, World War II changed the thinking and perceptions of Americans on home front programs by exposing the desperate struggles of soldiers during the war and the heavy patrols of the navy in World War II. The American home front program continuously created awareness of the war’s status, attracting most Americans to depend on such events to familiarize themselves with the nation’s status and casualties.
Effects of WWII on Women and Minority Groups
The end of World War II significantly changed the viewership of women and other minority groups in America. The entertainment industry, especially the home front media, shaped gender roles and values after the end of WWII. For instance, more than five million women entered the workforce during WWII, with an increasing number of male employees exiting jobs to offer security to their country and children (Galvin and Healy 417). Furthermore, the labor force offered by women in defense plants and factories shows the effects of WWII on gender. Even though the Second World War caused economic struggles in the U.S., the conflict empowered and allowed women to seek employment in large industries across the nation. The wars between minority groups and White Americans today originate from the aftermath of WWII; on the one hand, Whites believed that African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Mexicans did not actively help the country during the warfare. While on the other hand, the minority groups responded by questioning why they needed to engage in a “white man’s war.”
Conclusion
The arguments in the text support the fact that WWII affected the U.S. economy negatively more than it positively contributed to its growth and sustainability. The war left the country with huge debts and increased taxes, which affected the overall GDP of the nation. Besides, the war created disputes between minority groups and Native Americans who felt entitled to victory. The research recommends the role of the home front program during WWII based on its attributes of creating awareness and supporting women in employment and active engagement in the global conflict. Were it not for the war, many women would have remained subjects to their husbands and dependent on men due to a lack of jobs. Therefore, WWII created positive and negative effects on Americans; however, the negative forces superseded the good things associated with ending the war.
Works Cited
Bishop, Chris, and Chris McNab. History of World War II: The Campaigns, Battles & Weapons from 1939 to 1945. Amber Books Limited, 2019.
Galvin, Ray, and Noel Healy. “The Green New Deal in the United States: What it is and How to Pay for it.” Energy Research & Social Science, vol. 67, no. 1, 2020, p. 101529, Web.
Goel, Rajeev K., et al. “Growth in the Shadows: Effect of the Shadow Economy on U.S. Economic Growth over More than a Century.” Contemporary Economic Policy, vol. 37, no. 1, 2018, pp. 50–67, Web.
Łaski, Kazimierz. “Stylized Features of Economic Growth after World War II.” Lectures in Macroeconomics, Oxford University Press, 2019, pp. 162–179, Web.