America in WWII

Plan of Action

• US citizen’s want “Get Japan first”

• ABC 1 agreement- (with England) get Germany first

• Why-

Allie Trade Space for Time • Isolationism has its

problems• US was the most powerful

military power on Earth (On paper)

• Biggest Challenge- can America mobilize the economy into war production quick enough

• Other threat- German scientists could create upbeat weapons

Shock of War

• Pearl Harbor shuts up isolationists

• Commies and socialists backed war effort-why

• WW I- US is fearful of immigrants

• WW II- speeds up immigrant assimilation (except Japanese)

Shock of War

• Executive Order 9066- Japanese Interment camps for 110,000 (2/3 American born) concentrated on the Pacific Coast

• Upheld by Supreme Court in Korematsu v. U.S.

• 1988- US apology• Germans in internment

camps as well (on much smaller scale)

Shock of War• CCC and WPA eliminated by

conservative congress in 1942• “Dr. New Deal” in retirement,

replaced by “Dr. Win the War”

• No idealism like WW I• Some propaganda • 1942- Opinion Poll- 9 out of

ten can’t recall information on Atlantic Charter

• Majority of US- no clear idea what the war was about

Building the War Machine

• WWII ends the Great Depression

• War Production Board • Henry J Kaiser “Sir

Launchalot” master of quick ship building

Building the War Machine• War production board

halted manufacture of non-essential items

• War industries had first priority in transport and raw materials

• National speed limit and gas rationing (save rubber)

• Farmers have bumper crops and boom time.

Building the War Machine • Office of Price Administration-

food and price regulation • National War Labor Board-

ceilings on wage increases • Labor Unions resent wage

ceilings• Many have no strike pledges, but

labor walk outs occur (United Mine Workers- John L. Lewis)

• 1943, Congress passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act, which let the federal government seize and operate industries threatened by or under strikes.

Manpower and Womanpower

• 15 Million men served in WWII.

• 216,000 women served in military in one capacity or another )

• WAAC’s (Army)• WAVES (Navy)• SPARS (Coast Guard)• Some industries and

farmers exempt from draft

Manpower and Womanpower

• Severe manpower shortage at home.

• Bracero program- Mexican agricultural workers cross border for harvest fruit and grain crops (mainly in the west) (around many years after WWII)

Manpower and Womanpower• More than 6 million

women take factory jobs outside the house

• Day Care centers are established

• Post war- women (33%) don’t want to give up jobs (for shadowing reversal)

• Women’s impact sometimes exaggerated

War Time Migrations

• Many cities boom• FDR on the south “ the

nations number one economic problem”

• FDR- old confederate states get disproportional amount of defense contracts

African Americans and WWII• Racial tensions are national

issue, not regional• A. Philip Randolph

threatens “Negro March on Washington” in demand for equal opportunities for blacks in war industries

• FRD forbids discrimination in war industry, creates the FEPC- Fair Employment Practices Commission

African Americans in WWII

• Military service- blacks mostly receive non-combat jobs

• Exception to the rule – Tuskegee Airmen

• Double V- victory over dictators abroad, victory over racism at home

African Americans in WWII• NAACP membership

increases• Congress on Racial

Equality (CORE)- forms, militant organization committed to nonviolent “direct action”

• Mechanical cotton picker means no need for cheap labor in the south, along with war industry jobs, means more African Americans leaving the south

Native Americans in WWII

• American Indians leave reservations for war time jobs and military

• 25,000• Code Talkers-

Comanches and Navajos use native languages for radio messaging, Germans and Japanese can’t decipher

Mexican Americans

• Zoot Suit Riots- in LA• Mexican, Mexican

Americans attacked by soldiers returning home

• Zoot Suiters seen as anti American– 1. Should join war effort

– 2. Zoot Suits = waste of materials

Holding the Home Front • Americans at home suffered very

little from the war, especially when contrasted to the Brits and Russians.

• War invigorated the US economy to an unprecedented level. – GNP doubled from 1940 to

1945 and pay checks went way up.

• Disposable income more than doubled, but not much to spend on because all factories devoted to war.

• The war, even more than the New Deal, leads to the Big Government of the second half of the 20th Century.

• All the federal spending finally cures the depression.

• War cost $330 billion. • Where did money come

from?– Forced US to borrow at

unprecedented level and to raise taxes.

– Top brackets went as high as 90%.

– National debt goes from 49 Bill in 1941 to 259 Bill. in 1945.

National Debt

War in the Pacific • Japan strategy- win

fast or loose slow• Imperialism kicked

into high gear• Guam, Wake, the

Philippines, Hong Kong, British Malaya, Burma), the Dutch East Indies, and even pushing into China.

• When the Japanese took over the Philippines, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur had to sneak out of the place, but he vowed to return to liberate the islands; he went to Australia.

• After the fighters in the Philippines surrendered, they were forced to make the infamous 85-mile Bataan death march.

Japan’s High Tide at Midway• Battle at Coral Sea- US

(Aussie help)- 1st time in history battling done completely by carrier based aircraft

• Battle at Midway- US stop’s Japanese expansion

• Japanese are moving towards Alaska Islands

• Defense is increased in North West- construction of “Alcan” highway through Canada

Leapfrogging toward Tokyo • Americans won at

Guadalcanal in August 1942 and then got New Guinea by August 1944.

• General MacArthur- convinces US to adopt island hopping strategy

• U.S. also retook the Aleutian Islands ofAttu and Kiska in August of 1943

• Island battles are costly for Japan- losing air craft carriers

• Japan uses Kamikaze Pilots

Stopping Hitler

• U boats – “wolf packs” are causing chaos for allied merchants

• Radar helps allies• British crack German

“enigma” codes• Battle of the Atlantic-

Allies victory “saves” Atlantic Ocean

Stopping Hitler

• In Africa• German General

Erwin Rommel “Desert Fox”

• US and British drive Nazi’s away from Suez Canal

• In Russia • 1942- Russia bravely

stops German offensive at Stalingrad

• 1943- Soviets have recovered 2/3 of the land lost to Germany

A Two Front War• Russians are losing man

power, beg for help from allies

• 1942- FDR promises invasion of Europe to help USSR

• British don’t want agree, want to attack Germany through Mediterranean

• Dwight D Eisenhower leads secret invasion in North Africa, 1943 Germ. Itl troops forced to surrender

Casablanca Conference 1943

• FDR and Churchill meet, Stalin too busy fighting off Germany– 1.Increase war in Pacific

– 2. More Pressure on Italy

– 3. Unconditional Surrender

• #3 controversial- some believe that this makes Hitler to want to fight till the very end

Italian Invasion • Falls in 1943• But Nazi’s in Italy do

not surrender and demonstrate strong resistance

• 1944 Rome is taken• Take over is slow and

frustrating, does pull some Nazis off of European Front, but pace delays Allied invasion of France

Tehran Conference 1943

• The Big three finally meet

• Discuss war plans• Agree to a two front

war on Europe, USSR from the East, Brits and US from the west

D-Day

• Normandy France • Led by Eisenhower• June 6, 1944. Biggest

sea-borne invasion in history

• Five beaches. Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah, Omaha

D-Day • Allies had control over Air of France• Beach faced tough resistance• General George S Patton ( Blood ‘n’ guts) makes name for

himself• French “underground” is helpful• 1944 Paris is liberated

Really…a 4th term• Election of 1944• Republicans – Thomas Dewey

(VP = isolationist) continue with war plan, create international peace org.

• Demos- FDR, most people concerned about VP

• Demos VP- Harry Truman- efficient head of Senate Committee investigating wasteful war expenditures

Really… a 4th term

• Reps- don’t make a huge deal about 4th term

• CIO helps Democrats• FDR basically wins

because the war is going well

The Last Days of Hitler

• Soviet pressure from the east, Allies blockbuster bombs on the west

• Battle of the Bulge- Germany attempts to break American lines, but fails

The Last Days of Hitler • Soviets and US

horrified at the Holocaust

• US knew about campaign, but slow to act – 1.Didn’t allow Jewish

refugees in the country– 2.Declined to bomb

railways

The Last Days of Hitler • Soviets reach Berlin in 1945• Hitler kills himself 1945• FDR dies of a cerebral hemorrhage 1945• May 8 1945- VE day-

Japan Dies Hard • US submarines destroy

50% of Japanese merchant fleet

• Battle of Tokyo- Allies burn down a ¼ of the city, 83,000 die

• Battle of Leyte- last offensive move by Japan

• MacArthur re-conquers the Philippines

• Battles of Iwo Jima, Okinawa

Potsdam Conference

• US planning all out assault on Japan, Japan secretly tried to negotiate peace with Russia (We knew about this)

• PD- HT, and Big two- Japan must surrender or die

Manhattan Project

• Secret atomic bomb creation

• Blank check from congress- originally meant for Germany

• 1945- Test in New Mexico• Aug 6 1945- Bomb

Hiroshima(180,000 die) • Aug 9- Bomb Nagasaki • Sept 2 1914- VJ Day

Why Does Truman Use the Bomb?• Avoid US casualties, but

clear Japan would likely surrender before Invasion.

• To show Soviets what we have

• To prevent Soviets from being involved in Pacific longer and grabbing more territory and having a say in rebuilding of Japan

Score one for the Good Guys

• Death in WW II smaller in comparison to other wars ( Penicillin)

• 1st war in which more civilians than soldiers die• American territory untouched, while rest of the

world in ruins • Industrial strength huge reason we win war