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Peacetime Draft
September 16 first selective training and service act (Peacetime Draft) leading to the induction of million of men into ww2 -
Pearl Harbor
Immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor, millions of men were called to duty. These men left behind millions of jobs. Instantly, the nation faced a labor shortage that was filled by workers who had previously been denied many employment opportunities.
In the months after Pearl Harbor, defense spending drove up demand and caused inflation to surge at an annual rate of nearly 13%. -
The 1942 Revenue Act
The 1942 Revenue Act imposed the highest income tax rates in American history. The highest earners paid a 91% tax on some of their income. Companies paid up to 40% of their gross profits in corporation taxes. More Americans were paying taxes than ever before. -
Defense Spending Tripled
In 1943, more than 40% of GDP was devoted to national defense. Monthly war expenditures in June 1943, had risen to 7.7 billion dollars, the equivalent of an annual rate of over 90 billion dollars. The national debt of the United States rose from 3% of GDP in 1939 to 27.5% in 1943. -
The Bretton Woods Conference
A gathering of delegates from 44 nations that met from July 1 to 22 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to agree upon a series of new rules for the post WW2 international monetary system. -
World War II Ends
The private economy boomed as the government sector stopped buying ammunition and hiring soldiers. Factories that had once made bombs started to make household items, like toasters. -
Employment Act
President Harry S. Truman signed the employment act of 1946 as hundreds of thousands of American soldiers returned from WW2 and the economy transitioned from wartime production. Its main purpose was to lay the responsibility of economic stability of inflation and unemployment onto the federal government. -
Marshall Plan was negotiated
Secretary of State George Marshall proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. -
Approval of Marshall Plan
President Truman signed the Marshall Plan on April 3, 1948, and aid was distributed to 16 European nations.
It provided more than $15 billion to help finance the reconstruction of cities and industries heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers; which promoted commerce between Europe and the U.S. -
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal legislation aimed to raise the minimum wage, provide federal aid to education, ensure all Americans had healthcare, and legislate equal rights. It almost doubled the minimum wage (from 40 to 75 cents an hour) and established the Housing Act, which provided 800,000 new houses for the poor. -
Start of the Korean War
The war boosted GDP growth through government spending, which in turn restrained investment and consumption. Inflation reached 21%. Some of the jumps in prices were due to consumers moving up their purchasing to avoid a feared absence of goods like that experienced during World War II.