205: Total War on the Home Front: Victory Gardens, Volunteering, and the Double V

History That Doesn't Suck

Prof. Greg Jackson

History, Education

4.7 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“I suggest that while we keep defense and victory in the forefront, that we don't lose sight of our fight for true democracy at home.”

This is the story of life on the American home front.

While millions of brave men and women are sacrificing life and limb “over there,” those left behind are making sacrifices of their own—heeding the call to grow gardens in their backyards or on community lots, combing their homes for spare scrap metal and rubber, rationing so there’s enough to go ‘round, and buying up war bonds.

The economy changes drastically; for one thing, the Great Depression is definitely over. Unemployment drops to just about nil as millions join the military or the workforce. Small towns swell with floods of people following industrial government contracts, and women and teenagers take on new roles to fill critical gaps.

And yet, though every American is asked to make these sacrifices to win the war, not even close to every American receives the same protections and benefits from wartime contracts and legislation. Black Americans, still stifled by Jim Crow, fight for a Double Victory—against the Axis powers, and against prejudice back home. The “Good War” is not an evenly distributed burden by any means, but all in all, the home front is pulling its weight in this war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Some follow the noise.
0:03.3	Bloomberg follows the money.
0:05.4	Because behind every headline is a bottom line.
0:09.3	Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings,
0:13.8	there's a money side to every story.
0:16.5	And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss.
0:20.8	Get the money side of you understand what others miss.
0:22.3	Get the money side of the story.
0:25.3	Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com.
0:29.0	Packages by Expedia.
0:33.7	You were made to occasionally take the hard route to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
0:37.3	We were made to easily bundle your trip. Expedia, made to travel. Flight inclusive
0:41.1	packages are at all protected.
0:52.3	It's Tuesday night, May 27th, 1941.
0:56.8	We're in Washington, D.C., at the White House, where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is sitting
1:01.9	behind a desk, looking over his notes just before going on the air to broadcast one of his
1:07.3	famous fireside chats.
1:09.1	But this isn't a normal fireside chat, delivered with no more
1:12.8	than members of his inner circle present in the diplomatic reception room. No, instead, FDR is seated
1:18.9	in the White House's most impressive East Room, with some 300 leaders from across the Americas, North
1:24.6	and South, as a live audience. Interesting and fitting.
1:29.6	Tonight, the president will explain to the millions of Americans tuning in that,
	...

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