Still the Americans to make a strong contrast had way less issues to find car mechanics and drivers than the Japanese among their civilians.
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Not to be simplistic, but couldn't that be because the US population was twice as big as the Japanese one? 134 million Americans vs 73 million Japanese should make more American mechanics than Japanese ones regardless, but it doesn't necessarily mean that every American is a radio engineer and every Japanese has never seen a car before.
This is just a point that gets repeated a lot and seems wrapped up in a lot of nostalgia (for Popular Mechanics magazine if nothing else) when many Americans had a childhood at the time that looked like:
Digging into literacy is an interesting historical topic. According to most sources, the US literacy rate in 1930 was 96%. The results are based on self-reported census answers (ie, Are you literate? Yes or no). By 1940, it grew to 97%. So there should be only around 4,000,000 illiterates of all ages in the US when the draft for young males started.
Strange that illiteracy became such a problem for the US Army then. One almost gets the sense that census wasn't too accurate or the army was complaining too much.
Edit: It seems they didn't actually ask about literacy in the 1940 census so they used an estimate, but they seriously claim 95% or so in 1930.
Strange that illiteracy became such a problem for the US Army then. One almost gets the sense that census wasn't too accurate or the army was complaining too much.
Edit: It seems they didn't actually ask about literacy in the 1940 census so they used an estimate, but they seriously claim 95% or so in 1930.
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Without having any insight, I wonder if it might be a difference of definition.
Someone who went to school for a few years, could sign their name and read street signs might not consider themselves illiterate in the 1930s, even if they couldn't read an army field manual to save their life, or anything longer or more complicated than an IOU.
There were plenty of people in the deep south still around who never had seen the inside of a school or even federal banknotes.
Someone who went to school for a few years, could sign their name and read street signs might not consider themselves illiterate in the 1930s, even if they couldn't read an army field manual to save their life, or anything longer or more complicated than an IOU.
There were plenty of people in the deep south still around who never had seen the inside of a school or even federal banknotes.
The swings of extremes are simply bizarre.
Japanese auto production:
Between 1925 and 1935, the Big Three (FordChevy/Chrysler plants in Japan) produced a cumulative total of 208,967 units. In contrast, Japanese owned corporate domestic production for the same period totaled 12,127 units, just 5.8% that of American manufacturers.
In 1930 alone, the US produces 2.5 million vehicles.
It is not that ‘no Japanese had ever seen a car’ (bizarre comment btw), it is the sheer quantity involved that allowed American teens in the 1930s access to tinker with and repair motorized vehicles and electronics that gave the US a monstrous advantage during the war.
Yankee Ingenuity was a thing.
Japanese auto production:
Between 1925 and 1935, the Big Three (FordChevy/Chrysler plants in Japan) produced a cumulative total of 208,967 units. In contrast, Japanese owned corporate domestic production for the same period totaled 12,127 units, just 5.8% that of American manufacturers.
In 1930 alone, the US produces 2.5 million vehicles.
It is not that ‘no Japanese had ever seen a car’ (bizarre comment btw), it is the sheer quantity involved that allowed American teens in the 1930s access to tinker with and repair motorized vehicles and electronics that gave the US a monstrous advantage during the war.
Yankee Ingenuity was a thing.
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Not to mention that those people who had cars in 1930s Japan where not the typical frontline truck driver either.
No one is saying that American industry wasn't productive or that they didn't have great engineers, just that this theme of every American teen in the 1930's being a budding engineer seems very idealized and not representative of a large portion of them, but it comes up very often. Almost like a backwards projection of later prosperity, or like I mentioned earlier, Norman Rockwell nostalgia.
You can read about it in history books about the recruitment of helicopter pilots for the Vietnam War for example, and to me the postwar prosperity makes that more believable than when the same is applied to a period known primarily for economic disruption and widespread misery.
1930's American white teens in upper middle class families living in the big cities of the Northeast surely had access to these things. Dust bowl refugees living in a tent in California? Sharecroppers in the South? Most of the American black population? Probably not so much....
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Most of the black populations wasnt at the frontline anyway and cars been a very common thing for the average joe in the US at this point unlike in Japan.
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I've moved on from comparisons to the Soviets or Japanese, to American myths of the 1930's. My point is there was more illiteracy, poverty, hunger and backwardness for more of the American population than is credited in the popular imagination and that these things make it seem hard to believe that the 'average' American teen had time or opportunity to tinker with or repair radios or cars or any sort of technical pursuit, because again, it was literally the time of the Great Depression.
Even ignoring the poverty though, I've still yet to hear anyone explain how a person who can't read or write can tinker and repair a radio. I recently finished a book on the insurgency in the Philippines in WW2 where they Macguyver all sorts of things with their radios specifically, but it's not the illiterate Filipinos or even the enlisted Americans doing it, but the American pre-war mining and other engineers.
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A lot of American teens had exposure to motor cars, radios and even aeroplanes - my grandmother washed laundry during the Depression but she had a car and her four sons kept it running since they couldn't afford a mechanic. It is true that a large part of the US didn't electrify until the 1930s, but when electricity came in, lights and radio were the first things people wanted... in general, whether by ads or personal ownership, Americans were mostly familiar with cars and radios.
So I'd argue that the greater American facility with machinery and electronics was - at least in part - due to the far greater availability of those things in the US versus Japan. The Japanese chose to divert their economy from consumer goods to military production whereas the US had the industrial capacity (and the lack of nearby enemies) to mass-produce consumer items.
We also should factor in the difference in character. The Japanese had been told over and over that obedience and specialization were key virtues whereas the American armed forces were goal-oriented, generalists and prone to solve problems by field expedients. One example is the Japanes Navy's creation of special damage control teams versus the US training of the whole complement in damage control. As long as the Japanese teams stayed intact, they were effective - but if the damage control teams became casualties, damage control virtually ceased. American crews were perhaps not as proficient as the specialized Japanese teams, but they were able to keep working even when the most proficient members were injured or killed. In part this reflected national doctrine and in part it simply recognized that Japan had a much smaller pool of trained mechanics.
So I'd argue that the greater American facility with machinery and electronics was - at least in part - due to the far greater availability of those things in the US versus Japan. The Japanese chose to divert their economy from consumer goods to military production whereas the US had the industrial capacity (and the lack of nearby enemies) to mass-produce consumer items.
We also should factor in the difference in character. The Japanese had been told over and over that obedience and specialization were key virtues whereas the American armed forces were goal-oriented, generalists and prone to solve problems by field expedients. One example is the Japanes Navy's creation of special damage control teams versus the US training of the whole complement in damage control. As long as the Japanese teams stayed intact, they were effective - but if the damage control teams became casualties, damage control virtually ceased. American crews were perhaps not as proficient as the specialized Japanese teams, but they were able to keep working even when the most proficient members were injured or killed. In part this reflected national doctrine and in part it simply recognized that Japan had a much smaller pool of trained mechanics.
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Southerners were too poor to own cars?
NASCAR exists because Southern boys souped up car engines to run moonshine throughout Prohibition.
The Dustbowl refugees all went west in Trucks and Cars. literally the premise of The Grapes of Wrath.
en.m.wikipedia.org
There are 241 registered vehicles for every thousand people in the US in 1940 per capita. 1 of every 4 had a car, meaning most families had a car. A new car cost about $800, but many of those Model T and Model A were still running and could be had cheap. ‘Hot Rods’ are these old cars in the 1930s that have been modified to improve power-weight ratios and were so prevalent the name still exists today.
The 1930s are called the Golden Age of Radio because 85% of American homes (and many cars) contain at least one radio that can receive free wireless radio broadcasts that generate hundreds of millions of (1930s) dollars of revenue every year. By comparison today 96% of us homes have tvs.
America, what a country!
NASCAR exists because Southern boys souped up car engines to run moonshine throughout Prohibition.
The Dustbowl refugees all went west in Trucks and Cars. literally the premise of The Grapes of Wrath.
File:The Grapes of Wrath (1939 1st ed cover).jpg - Wikipedia
There are 241 registered vehicles for every thousand people in the US in 1940 per capita. 1 of every 4 had a car, meaning most families had a car. A new car cost about $800, but many of those Model T and Model A were still running and could be had cheap. ‘Hot Rods’ are these old cars in the 1930s that have been modified to improve power-weight ratios and were so prevalent the name still exists today.
The 1930s are called the Golden Age of Radio because 85% of American homes (and many cars) contain at least one radio that can receive free wireless radio broadcasts that generate hundreds of millions of (1930s) dollars of revenue every year. By comparison today 96% of us homes have tvs.
America, what a country!
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Hrm, the 241 figure may be true, I dunno, but a quick google puts the number at roughly 45% so not quite a majority.Southerners were too poor to own cars?
NASCAR exists because Southern boys souped up car engines to run moonshine throughout Prohibition.
The Dustbowl refugees all went west in Trucks and Cars. literally the premise of The Grapes of Wrath.
File:The Grapes of Wrath (1939 1st ed cover).jpg - Wikipedia
There are 241 registered vehicles for every thousand people in the US in 1940 per capita. 1 of every 4 had a car, meaning most families had a car. A new car cost about $800, but many of those Model T and Model A were still running and could be had cheap. ‘Hot Rods’ are these old cars in the 1930s that have been modified to improve power-weight ratios and were so prevalent the name still exists today.
The 1930s are called the Golden Age of Radio because 85% of American homes (and many cars) contain at least one radio that can receive free wireless radio broadcasts that generate hundreds of millions of (1930s) dollars of revenue every year. By comparison today 96% of us homes have tvs.
America, what a country!
Was the Rise of Car Ownership Responsible for the Midcentury Homeownership Boom in the US?
It's common to hear from certain quarters that not only did the advent of mass motoring in the mid-20th century lead to a change in the type...
oldurbanist.blogspot.com
Mind: I don't doubt that's a major advantage. You don't need every single rifleman to fix a truck or radio, if only 1 in every squad can do it you already have one on hand all the time.
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Jumping back into literacy, what it is defined as is critical. This is why you see wildly different estimates for literacy rates - it really depends on what you are measuring. This can be:
- basic literacy; can you read "The cat sat on the mat"?
- functional literacy; can you read a newspaper?
- fluency; can you quickly and accurately read a newspaper, get the key ideas and points from it and reframe them in your own words?
No modern state (that I know of) uses the first definition of literacy to measure its populations, but in the early 20th century 'knowing your letters' was how literacy was often defined. The goalposts have shifted. Hence:
2020 Germany has a literacy of 88%, most likely using a definition somewhat like the definition of 'fluency' above. Most tests of literacy require interpretation of the texts used and the ability to reframe the contents of the text.
The 96% value most likely refers to basic literacy. I can believe that 96% of Americans in 1940 could recognize the alphabet and be able to sound out words and write their own name etc.
A very large number of conscripts were likely able to make out simple words and would not have defined themselves as illiterate, but lacked the level of fluency to read the training materials of the army. This group would have been classified as illiterate by the army.
- basic literacy; can you read "The cat sat on the mat"?
- functional literacy; can you read a newspaper?
- fluency; can you quickly and accurately read a newspaper, get the key ideas and points from it and reframe them in your own words?
No modern state (that I know of) uses the first definition of literacy to measure its populations, but in the early 20th century 'knowing your letters' was how literacy was often defined. The goalposts have shifted. Hence:
2020 Germany has a literacy of 88%, most likely using a definition somewhat like the definition of 'fluency' above. Most tests of literacy require interpretation of the texts used and the ability to reframe the contents of the text.
The 96% value most likely refers to basic literacy. I can believe that 96% of Americans in 1940 could recognize the alphabet and be able to sound out words and write their own name etc.
A very large number of conscripts were likely able to make out simple words and would not have defined themselves as illiterate, but lacked the level of fluency to read the training materials of the army. This group would have been classified as illiterate by the army.
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A high percentage of the volunteers for the Army would likely have come from the unemployed or marginally employed, without the skills needed to get a better job. I can easily see 15% of the volunteers failing to meet basic literacy standards, because they're NOT representative of the overall population.
As said, you don't need every man in a squad to be capable of repairing a jeep or radio, but if one or two can do it, you've got an advantage over a country where only one in 50 can do it. Besides having a larger manpower pool to draw from, the US had a population mostly well acquainted with machinery. That doesn't mean "every", but they had enough with technical skills to fill the various roles without years of training.
Japan had a core group of men trained to top-notch standards, but it took years of training for them to reach that peak. Once war broke out and it became necessary to expand the armed forces by a lot, and once wartime attrition set in, they couldn't easily replace losses to what they already had, much less increase the technical services with similarly competent newcomers. The US didn't have that problem to anywhere near the same extent, thanks to a far greater pre-existing familiarity with similar equipment.
As said, you don't need every man in a squad to be capable of repairing a jeep or radio, but if one or two can do it, you've got an advantage over a country where only one in 50 can do it. Besides having a larger manpower pool to draw from, the US had a population mostly well acquainted with machinery. That doesn't mean "every", but they had enough with technical skills to fill the various roles without years of training.
Japan had a core group of men trained to top-notch standards, but it took years of training for them to reach that peak. Once war broke out and it became necessary to expand the armed forces by a lot, and once wartime attrition set in, they couldn't easily replace losses to what they already had, much less increase the technical services with similarly competent newcomers. The US didn't have that problem to anywhere near the same extent, thanks to a far greater pre-existing familiarity with similar equipment.
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You are thinking of Vietnam where most of the troops were lower class, unemployed, or trouble makers given an option of the military or jail. The average age was less than 20 and no one respected them, some even spat or yelled obscenities at uniformed soldiers.
After Pearl Harbor guys FLOODED into recruiting offices. It wasn’t the unemployed, it was guys with good jobs of all ages with an average age of 26. Those left behind were looked down upon, women prized combat soldiers in ‘45/‘46. Ribbons and decorations on a uniform were heavily respected. Actors, lawyers, doctors, nurses, farm boys, factory workers. The outrage was real.
The US had similar problems in Korea.
Basically, the post WW2 career enlisted, (So those not doing GI bill stuff) including NCOs who often were WW2 veterans were the type that were "unable to find employment anywhere else".
They did not send their best in response to the UN resolution.
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I agree.
The difference is the moral indignation over an ‘unprovoked’ direct attack against US forces in 1941 versus protecting some Asian peninsula because Communism five years after WWII ended and the boys came home.
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Drachinifel very recently uploaded a video that I believe to be of relevance ehre:
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