Teachers Conference Presentation Proposal

The War Behind the War: Mobilizing America for World War II

The Friends of the National World War II Memorial invites presentation proposals for its 2027 Summer Teachers Conference, The War Behind the War: Mobilizing America for World War II.

World War II was fought on battlefields across Europe, North Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, but victory depended on far more than what happened at the front. Behind every soldier landing on a beach, aircraft taking flight, and ship crossing an ocean stood an extraordinary network of people, communities, industries, institutions, policies, and systems.

The 2027 conference will examine how the United States transformed itself from a nation at peace into a military, industrial, agricultural, scientific, and logistical power capable of fighting and sustaining a global war.

The conference will move beyond familiar accounts of battles and commanders to explore what made those battles possible: the recruitment and training of millions of Americans; the production and movement of equipment and supplies; advances in science, medicine, intelligence, and communications; political leadership and public policy; and the contributions of communities throughout the country.

At the heart of the conference will be a broader question:

What did it take to mobilize a nation for global war?

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From American Communities to a Global War

For millions of Americans, the road to World War II began in their own communities—with an enlistment or draft notice, a new wartime job, the arrival of a military installation, a government contract, a call for volunteers, or the departure of a local military unit.

Those communities sent soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, nurses, and other service members around the world. Once overseas, their ability to fight and survive depended on vast systems that supplied food, fuel, ammunition, equipment, intelligence, transportation, communications, medical care, and reinforcements across enormous distances.

At home, workers built ships, aircraft, vehicles, weapons, and countless other necessities of war. Farmers increased production. Scientists and engineers confronted new problems. Railroads and ports moved people and materiel. Families waited for letters and news. Local, state, and federal officials implemented policies that affected nearly every aspect of American life.

The theme therefore extends beyond the traditional home-front story. It connects hometowns to training camps, factories to battlefields, public policy to individual experience, and local communities to the larger global conflict.

Participating educators will be encouraged to consider:

How did communities across the country become part of the global story of World War II?

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Politics, Policy, and Leadership

Mobilization was also a political undertaking.

Presidents, members of Congress, governors, mayors, military leaders, and other public officials made consequential decisions about preparedness, military service, wartime spending, industrial production, civil liberties, labor, resources, and the responsibilities of government and citizens during a national emergency.

The conference will explore political history as one dimension of the larger mobilization story. Presentations might examine presidential leadership, congressional debate and oversight, elections, state and local government, public opinion, individual political leaders, or the ways national policies were experienced and debated within communities.

This political lens is intended to deepen understanding of how wartime decisions were made, contested, implemented, and experienced—not to separate political history from the military, social, economic, and community histories with which it was intertwined.

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Areas of Exploration

Presentation topics may include, but are not limited to:

Building the Fighting Force

• Recruitment, enlistment, and the draft
• Basic and specialized military training
• The transformation of civilians into service members
• Reserve and National Guard units
• Women in uniform and military support roles
• The experiences of Black, Native American, Japanese American, Latino, immigrant, and other service members
• The rapid expansion of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Army Air Forces

Producing and Supplying a Global War

• Conversion of American industry to wartime production
• Shipbuilding, aviation, vehicles, armaments, and other wartime manufacturing
• Agriculture, food production, and feeding military forces overseas
• Quartermaster operations and military supply
• Fuel, clothing, equipment, ammunition, and replacement parts
• Small businesses, local industries, and community contributions
• Lend-Lease and supplying Allied nations

Moving and Sustaining a Global Force

• Railroads and troop movements across the United States
• Ports, convoys, shipping, and overseas supply routes
• Military aviation and air transport
• Landing craft and amphibious operations
• Construction of bases, roads, airfields, bridges, and other infrastructure
• Logistics in Europe, North Africa, Asia, and the Pacific
• Replacements, reinforcements, and maintaining fighting strength

Innovation and Problem-Solving

• Wartime medicine, nursing, blood plasma, penicillin, and rehabilitation
• Engineering, aviation, navigation, and communications
• Radar, sonar, mapping, meteorology, and aerial reconnaissance
• Intelligence, codebreaking, deception, and information gathering
• Scientific research and technological development
• Innovations developed in response to military and civilian wartime needs

Politics, Policy, and Leadership

• Presidential leadership and wartime executive power
• Congress, wartime legislation, appropriations, and oversight
• Preparedness and debates surrounding American entry into the war
• The draft, military manpower, and national service
• Federal, state, and local government during wartime
• Elections and political leadership during the war
• Civil liberties and wartime government policy
• Labor, industry, economic policy, and wartime regulation
• Public opinion and political debate
• Individual political leaders whose decisions shaped mobilization or the conduct of the war

Communities Connected to the Front

• Local servicemembers and military units
• Training camps, airfields, shipyards, arsenals, and military installations
• Families waiting for news from overseas
• Letters, photographs, newspapers, and other connections between battlefront and home
• Casualty notifications, Gold Star families, and community remembrance
• Migration and demographic change
• Volunteerism, bond campaigns, scrap drives, rationing, and civil defense
• How national wartime policies were implemented and experienced locally

Local Stories Within a Global War

• Individuals whose journeys connected an American community to a major campaign or battle
• Community institutions that supported service members and their families
• Factories, farms, transportation networks, laboratories, and other local contributions
• Local political leaders and civic institutions during the war
• Memorials, cemeteries, archives, newspapers, and family collections that preserve local World War II history
• Overlooked individuals or communities whose contributions deserve greater recognition

Presentations centered on a particular battle, military unit, individual, political event, or campaign are welcome when they illuminate the larger conference theme. Proposals should demonstrate how the subject helps educators better understand the people, decisions, resources, systems, or communities that enabled the United States to fight and sustain a global war.

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Presentation Proposal Guidelines

Educators, historians, scholars, authors, archivists, museum professionals, and public history practitioners are encouraged to submit proposals that directly engage with the 2027 conference theme.

Proposals should be focused rather than attempting to survey the entire American war effort. A compelling individual story, local case study, political decision, military operation, artifact, collection of primary sources, historical question, or wartime challenge can provide an effective entry point into the larger theme.

Proposals may include:

• Original historical research presented in an engaging and accessible format
• Focused case studies connecting an individual, unit, institution, decision, or community to the larger war effort
• Classroom-tested lesson plans, source sets, or instructional approaches
• Interactive workshops involving historical decision-making, logistics, mapping, artifacts, or primary-source analysis
• Presentations based on archival collections, oral histories, letters, photographs, newspapers, maps, political records, or material culture
• Approaches for helping students research the World War II history of their own communities
• Stories that bring greater attention to overlooked people, places, occupations, decisions, or contributions

Strong Proposals Will:

• Clearly connect to The War Behind the War rather than address World War II only in general terms
• Be historically rigorous while remaining accessible and engaging for educators
• Incorporate primary sources, artifacts, photographs, maps, oral histories, or other evidence when appropriate
• Offer a fresh perspective or illuminate a lesser-known aspect of World War II
• Connect individual experiences to broader military, political, economic, technological, or social developments
• Explain how the subject can enrich classroom instruction
• Provide ideas or methods educators can adapt in different regions and communities
• Help teachers connect national and global history to the people, places, records, and stories found closer to home
• Leave participants with questions, resources, or approaches they can share with their students

Presenters are encouraged to consider how their subject might help educators and students explore:

How did our community become part of the global story of World War II?

and

How did individual choices, public decisions, and community actions contribute to a national effort with global consequences?

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National Museum of the United States Army

The 2027 Summer Teachers Conference will include a full-day visit to the National Museum of the United States Army, with educational sessions, presentations, lunch, and opportunities to explore the museum’s galleries and collections.

Presentation proposals do not need to focus specifically on the U.S. Army. The museum visit will serve as one component of the conference’s broader examination of how Americans from communities across the country were recruited, trained, equipped, transported, supplied, and sustained in a worldwide conflict.

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Submit a Proposal

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Proposal Deadline: January 15, 2027

Proposals will be reviewed by the conference committee, and selected presenters will be notified by February 1, 2027.

Applicants will be asked to provide a proposed presentation title, presentation summary, connection to the 2027 conference theme, anticipated learning outcomes, primary sources or other materials to be incorporated, classroom and community applications, and a brief professional biography.

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