Teaching World War II: Home Front

Instructions for You

Objective: The wartime experience of most Americans was little like the wartime experience of European civilians. In this exercise, your students will consider the significance of this fact. First, they'll examine a quote from a woman who worked in a munitions factory during the war. 

Then they'll extrapolate the effects Americans' relative distance from the carnage of war may have had on the U.S. approach to future military conflicts.

Length of Lesson: One class period. 

Materials Needed: 

• Quote from Peggy Terry, provided below

Step One: Read this quote aloud with your students.

"The war gave a lot of people jobs. It led them to expect more than they had before. People's expectations, financially, spiritually, were raised. There was such a beautiful dream. We were gonna reach the end of the rainbow... I remember a woman saying on the bus that she hoped the war didn't end until she got her refrigerator paid for."
– Peggy Terry, a woman who worked in a munitions factory during the war

Step Two: Give students 5 minutes to respond to the quote in writing. Their response can address any part of the quote and can simply be a response to the question, "What do you think of this quote?" 

Try not to give students too much direction—let them form their own conclusions. The only requirement here is that they keep writing for the entire 5 minutes. 

Step Three: Allow students to read their writings aloud or share excerpts or thoughts.

Step Four: Follow up by addressing any of the questions below that did not come up naturally through students' sharing of their writing and ideas in Step Three.

1. How common do you think feeling was?
   • Was it callous or understandable? Explain.
2. Do you think a person in England or the Soviet Union would have said the same? Why or why not?
3. What enabled Americans to experience the war differently than their allies?
4. Have Americans experienced war in the same way that other countries have over the past 100 years?
   • Be sure to offer specific examples to demonstrate similarities or differences.
5. Do you think the U.S. experience of WWII has affected the way we think about war in general? Why or why not?
6. How might experiencing a war "from a distance" like this affect the U.S. approach to future conflicts abroad?
   • How has it affected the U.S. approach to conflicts abroad over the last 70 years?
     • Offer some examples to support your position.

Instructions for Your Students

You know that game, one of these things is not like the others? Uh huh. Well, check this out. During World War II... 

• France was overrun and occupied by Nazi soldiers. 
• Britain suffered nightly air attacks.
• Seven million Russian civilians lost their lives. 
• Many of the great cities of Europe and Asia were reduced to rubble. 
• The Jews of Europe were nearly destroyed in the Holocaust.

And...

• American civilians experienced new levels of prosperity as wartime mobilization created new jobs and high wages.

Can you figure out which one isn't like the others? Yeah. We figured you could. 

Today you'll be examining the American experience of WWII and trying to figure out what effect America's distance from the carnage of war may have had on the U.S. approach to future military conflicts.

Step One: Read this quote aloud with your teacher and classmates.

"The war gave a lot of people jobs. It led them to expect more than they had before. People's expectations, financially, spiritually, were raised. There was such a beautiful dream. We were gonna reach the end of the rainbow... I remember a woman saying on the bus that she hoped the war didn't end until she got her refrigerator paid for."
– Peggy Terry, a woman who worked in a munitions factory during the war

Step Two: Take 5 minutes to respond to the quote in writing. Your response can address any part of the quote. In fact, it can simply be an answer to the question, "What do you think of this quote?" The only requirement here is that you keep writing for the entire 5 minutes. Seriously. Don't put that pencil/pen/keyboard down. Keep. On. Writing. About whatever comes to mind.

Step Three: Be brave. Read your writing (or at least part of it) aloud or share some of the thoughts that occurred to you while you were writing. After you've shared, listen to find out what your classmates came up with.

Step Four: Use the questions below to address any issues that did not come up naturally during your discussion in Step Three.

1. How common do you think feeling was?
   • Was it callous or understandable? Explain.
2. Do you think a person in England or the Soviet Union would have said the same? Why or why not?
3. What enabled Americans to experience the war differently than their allies?
4. Have Americans experienced war in the same way that other countries have over the past 100 years?
   • Be sure to offer specific examples to demonstrate similarities or differences.
5. Do you think the U.S. experience of WWII has affected the way we think about war in general? Why or why not?
6. How might experiencing a war "from a distance" like this affect the U.S. approach to future conflicts abroad?
   • How has it affected the U.S. approach to conflicts abroad over the last 70 years?
     • Offer some examples to support your position.