-
6. Social Class, Recruiting, and Ideology
- Indiana University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
98 6 Social Class, Recruiting, and Ideology Recruiting and Social Class A close examination of the soldiers who volunteered for the PNG prior to its induction into federal service highlights several issues surrounding American military service before the United States became fully involved in the war. Starting with an examination of the 1,988 PNG enlistment records remaining from 1939 to 1941, one can construct a social profile of the PNG volunteers. This collection, held in the Pennsylvania State Archive, is fortuitous, because the bulk of the Army’s enlistment records were burned up in a 1972 fire at the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis.1 Each PNG enlistment record contains data on the volunteer’s residency, employment, years of employment, years of education, birthday, and dependents—enough information to allow one to draw conclusions on the soldier’s social class and reasons for joining the National Guard. Conscription affected the PNG’s recruiting efforts in 1940–41. As debates over Selective Service raged, enlistments in the PNG climbed somewhat in June 1940, then fell for the rest of the summer as young men of the state waited to see whether conscription might be in their future. Before the year was up, SelectiveServiceprovidedadirectboosttoPennsylvaniaNationalGuardrolls. Upon enactment of the Burke-Wadsworth Selective Service bill on September 16, 1940, draft-age men began enlisting in the PNG in greater numbers in October.2 This proportional relationship between conscription and volunteering was nothingnew.TheUnitedStates exploited thethreatofcompulsoryservice to boost voluntary enlistment during the Civil War, when people considered being drafted a badge of shame. During World War I, the Army did not use the draft just as a prod to persuade men to volunteer; it drafted millions. The PNG Social Class, Recruiting, and Ideology | 99 took advantage of the World War II draft to encourage men to volunteer for National Guard service instead.3 There was a direct relationship between world events, domestic policy, and volunteering for the PNG. Enlistments rose briefly following the invasion of Poland in September 1939. A similar increase occurred when Germany conquered France. A short, sharp spike in Pennsylvania enlistments followed the implementationofthedraftinthefallof1940,buttherelationshipbetweenthe draft and volunteering became most evident as the 28th Division’s federalizationdateofFebruary17 ,1941,approached.Onceitbecamepublicknowledgein October that the War Department was going to mobilize the PNG that winter forayearofservice,enlistmentspickedup.4 Personalpreferencewasthedeciding factor for many. January and February 1941 were the last opportunities for men to choose to join the 28th Division of their own volition, and volunteering skyrocketed during the six weeks leading up to its federalization. Volunteering for the National Guard was a last act of personal sovereignty for these men in a country moving systematically toward full mobilization. The Social Profile of Pennsylvania National Guard Volunteers The citizens who volunteered for the Pennsylvania National Guard shared a number of characteristics. Above all, the great majority came from the urban working class. Of the entire sample, 1,345 (67 percent) worked as unskilled laborers , while 33 percent (643) held skilled, clerical, or professional jobs. Rough comparisonsrevealthatintermsofemployment,theenlisteesdivergedsignificantlyfromtherestofPennsylvania ’sworkingpopulation.U.S.Censusrecords, whichprovidelaborinformationinmuchgreaterdetailthansimply“skilled”or “unskilled,” show that 44 percent of Pennsylvania’s male labor force consisted of skilled labor.5 Only 8 percent, or 161 individuals, of the PNG volunteers were skilled. More specifically, just 18 recruits had been electricians, only 20 worked as carpenters, while 60 had been mechanics. Twenty-three percent of thePNG-enlistedforce,numbering458,workedatwhite-collarjobs,compared with 17 percent holding such jobs statewide.6 Two percent (40) held professional or executive jobs, as compared with 5.6 percent for the state. Within the unskilled segment of the recruits, 398 listed “laborer”—the most commonly listed job. Clerk was the next most frequently held position at 158, followed by student (120), truck driver (102), and salesman (69). Only 29 enlistees were farmers—1.4 percent—compared with 4 percent of the state’s population who [54.160.245.243] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13:20 GMT) 100 | Guard Wars engaged in some sort of farmwork. Nine (0.4 percent) of the volunteers were lawyers, matching closely the 0.3 percent statewide. Small numbers of recruits held jobs in numerous other fields. There were, for instance, two bartenders, a milkman, and a steel miller.7 The high percentage of unskilled workers among the enlistees can be explained at least in part by their youth. Normally one enters wage labor at the apprentice level, working one’s way up to skilled positions.8 Thus, many of the youngenlisteeswhoheldunskilledjobswouldhaveascendedintoskilledlabor laterintheirthirtiesandforties.Therefore...