The Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II 239so that people could live freely under governments they themselves chose
prompted many young men to enlist in the armed services after Pearl
Harbor. The Selective Service boards around the country registered
about 31 million, of whom 10 million were inducted into service. And the
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Act, sponsored by Representative Edith
Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, passed in May 1942 and created up to
150 , 000 noncombatant positions (mostly nurses) for women within the
army. This corps was intended, said Rogers, to give “women a chance to
volunteer to serve their country in a patriotic way.” Almost 350 , 000
women served in the WAACs, the WAVEs, and similar groups in other
military branches. A total of more than 15 million American men and
women participated in World War II, of whom 10 million served in the
army, 3. 5 million in the navy, nearly 600 , 000 in the marines, and 240 , 000
in the Coast Guard. This was the largest mobilization of manpower in
U.S. history. Sadly, some 253 , 573 died during the war, and 651 , 042 were
wounded, 253 , 573 missing, and 114 , 205 taken prisoner.
Of necessity, the war vastly increased the powers of the chief execu-
tive. His involvement in and control of foreign and domestic policy was
expected by both the electorate and Congress. On December 16 , 1941 ,
the First War Powers Act was approved, followed on March 22 , 1942 ,
by the Second War Powers Act, which authorized the President “to
make such redistribution of functions among executive agencies as he
may deem necessary” to prosecute the war. The cost of the war ran into
the billions, and the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau in
March 1942 asked for $ 56 billion for defense out of a budget of $ 59 bil-
lion. The Revenue Act of 1941 had raised taxes to a level that brought
in revenues of $ 13 billion, the largest single revenue bill in the nation’s
history up to that time. But the Revenue Act of 1942 went farther, rais-
ing the excess profit tax from sixty to ninety percent and the income
tax from four to six percent and imposing a “victory tax” of fi ve percent
on those with a gross income over $ 624. Furthermore, it lowered ex-
emption levels to the point where they produced millions of new tax-
payers. In fact, this act has been described as the income tax that
transformed a “class tax” to a “mass tax.” Between^1941 and^1945 , the
cost of the war came to $ 321 billion, a little over half of which was
borrowed. Consequently, the national debt rose from $ 49 billion in
1941 to $ 259 billion in 1945.