Status - John Skinner - USS Fullam:
War Production
In the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, President Roosevelt had set very aggressive targets for war production. There were many obstacles. though. Industrial plants needed time to convert to war production, and raw materials distribution was difficult, and complicated by hoarding.
Most difficult was finding workers, and housing for the large number of workers who left home for manufacturing jobs. More and more the men were pulled into the armed forces, and new workers were needed. Women slowly began filling almost every type of factory job. Rosie the Riveter became a popular song in 1942, and indicated the reality in many factories.
Mary McLaughlin's high school friends attended college but also worked in the summer:
Mary:
We were completely unprepared for war and it took a long time to get productive. All women who could went to work in the factories and shipyards which ran twenty four hours a day. My friends Irene and Colleen were attending college, but in the summer they worked at the GE plant in Lynn.
The GE factory in Lynn is now famous for building the first jet engine for the US military in 1942. It was an aviation plant and produced airplane engines and parts throughout the war. Here are some articles about this plant:
Mary decided not to go to work in the factories but to stay at Dun & Bradstreet. Although she had only gone to college for one year, that gave her an advantage and a chance for better work assignments at the company.
More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, p. 294-296.
- The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 316-337.
- The Darkest Year, The American Home Front, 1941-1942, William K. Klingaman, pp. 215-224.
- No Ordinary Time,Doris Kearns Goodwin, pp. 410-418.
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