Ww2 And Its Effect On Louisiana Economy

WWII brought many changes to Louisiana but as it was in the Civil War location was its greatest asset. The Mississippi River was and still is one of the biggest ports in the United States. During WWII, the river and Louisiana by extension were important to the mobilization of military forces and the accoutrements that went with it. The south produced the oil and gas that fueled tanks and powered air planes, and further north along the river, industrialization increased on war materials. Part of the mobilization was the training of soldiers. Louisiana trained many of the soldiers in WWI, and the government saw no reason why the same could not be done again in WWII. The Louisiana Maneuvers was an economic boom to the state because with the

Baton Rouge, home of the Standard Oil Refinery, produced the high-octane fuel needed for aviation engines, and other by products like synthesized rubber. Shreveport housed the Beaird Company who manufactured shell casings and parts for armored tanks while the Brewster Company built bomb bodies Minden became the site of a large U.S. Army munitions plant. New Orleans, strategically placed on the river, is the largest industrialized city in the state. Everything comes in and goes out on the river. New Orleans benefitted in the economic boom simply by being lucky enough to have one Andrew Higgins as its resident. Eisenhower is credited with saying, “Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us”. Higgins revolutionized boat building, particularly those used in military maneuvers. By 1944, his company alone employed 20,000 workers. While New Orleans profited from industrialization, other parts profited from the increase use of timber, cotton fibers, oil, and Louisiana’s natural resources. Oil reserves and crude oil production increased, and for a short time, Louisiana had more jobs than they had people to fill them. This boom stretched out to the rural communities. Men and women moved into cities for jobs, and for the first time in years, as Edith Ambrose stated in the video, “they had money in their

Many African-Americans felt it was time to fight the tyranny of oppression within their own country like they were fighting it in Europe. Racism was still prevalent, but the African-Americans’ participation in the war led to the Fair Employment Practices Commissions, whose job it was to ensure that companies did not discriminate based on color. In places like Shreveport, who refused to abide by the FEP, they lost defense contracts because they did not want to be bullied to hire African-Americans. Despite this, many African-Americans were hired to do jobs that would normally go to a white man because of a labor shortage. There was also a bid to stop them from voting. Many a parish set about to try and outsmart the non-discretionary clauses that they were being asked to add to their voting practices. While African-Americans were fighting inequality so were the women. Due to the labor shortages, they too, went out for jobs that were not “women’s jobs”. They became welders, machinists, and mechanics. By necessity, Louisiana advanced toward equality for African-Americans and women. It was not a giant step, but it was definitely a step in the right