Although Nevada alone was not directly involved with any sort of battle during World War II, Nevadans still played a huge part in the war itself. The mining of copper and silver that Nevada could provide made a huge impact on the creation of weaponry and ammo. The population during this time also grew due to military personnel being stationed at some of the new military bases. Nevada's involvement with World War II made a big impact when considering the amount of metal the state was able to provide. The World War II era also had an impact on Nevada's gaming as well as fear of attack on the Hoover Dam. .
During the time of World War II, Nevada's population grew. Nevada's main industry during this time was mining, just as it was during World War I. The increase in demand for copper and silver raised Nevada's production and helped the economy. The need for minerals greatly increased the usage of Nevada mines. Minerals were desperately needed to build tanks, planes and other weapons to support the war. "Magnesium – a material used to make bombs – was produced in Henderson in a new factory opened by the government" (Nevada np). .
Following the attack at Pearl Harbor and America's entry into World War II, Senator Pat McCarran successfully campaigned to have new military bases built in Nevada. The new bases that were to be installed were airfields. The construction of the new bases brought in workers from all over the country to build them and once construction had ended the workers were replaced with military personnel. "The December 7th, 1941 attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii caused military leaders concern about the vulnerability of the California coast to enemy attack" (Weller np). .
During WWII, the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) established a number of air bases in Nevada to train pilots in fighters and bombers. There were many airfield bases in places such as Las Vegas, Tonopah, Reno and Fallon Nevada.
