USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
How was the U.S. economy affected by World War II?

(A) the U.S. economy continued to decline.

(B) Unemployment rates increased and production in the factories decreased.

(C) It caused the U.S. to go into a second Depression.

(D) ** Unemployment rates dropped and production increased.

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -Our involvement in the war soon changed that rate. American factories were retooled to produce goods to support the war effort and almost overnight the unemployment rate dropped to around 10%. As more men were sent away to fight, women were hired to take over their positions on the assembly lines.

Concept note-2: -On the home front, the massive mobilization effort during World War II had put Americans back to work. Unemployment, which had reached 25 percent during the Great Depression and hovered at 14.6 percent in 1939, had dropped to 1.2 percent by 1944-still a record low in the nation’s history.

Concept note-3: -As the Cold War unfolded in the decade and a half after World War II, the United States experienced phenomenal economic growth. The war brought the return of prosperity, and in the postwar period the United States consolidated its position as the world’s richest country.

Concept note-4: -World War II was financed through debt and higher taxes, by the end of the war, U.S. gross debt was over 120% of GDP and tax revenue increased more than three times to over 20% of GDP. Although GDP growth skyrocketed to over 17% in 1942, both consumption and investment experienced a substantial contraction.