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 Early in the war, Germany, Japan, and Italy have considerable military
success. The Allies, except for France, which had surrendered in 1940,
are fortunate not to be overwhelmed completely.
 Fearing that they will be disloyal, President Roosevelt orders the
detention of Japanese Americans, a serious violation of basic American
civil rights.
 Millions die in the Holocaust, a systematic attempt by the Nazis to
destroy those they consider to be inferior—Slavs, the mentally ill,
homosexuals, political prisoners, and, especially, Jews.
 The war occasions extensive demographic changes (one of the AP
themes). Urban areas expand to meet the demand for labor in warrelated industries. Rural and less developed areas in the West and
Southwest grow as well, a result of receiving government military
contracts.
 As in every American war, blacks contribute significantly in
WWII, despite obstacles placed before them. But the
military will not be desegregated until 1948.
 The considerable financial resources needed to wage war
drive up the national debt. In fact, New Deal spending
pales in comparison with wartime military expenditures–
see chart on p. 831.
 The success of the D-Day landing in the summer of 1944
affords the Allies a bridgehead in France from which they
can move inland and ultimately invade Germany itself.
With the Soviets counterattacking from the east and the
British and Americans closing in from the west, Hitler’s
Third Reich is doomed. In April 1945, shortly after Hitler
killed himself, Germany surrenders, a victory President
Roosevelt does not see, having died suddenly the month
before.
 With the war in Europe over, the Allies turn all of their
attention to defeating Japan. After bloody battles in
the pacific, President Truman orders atomic bombs
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, inflicting
enormous civilian casualties. Japan soon surrenders.
 See the photo and poster on p. 827, depicting the
important role women played in the war effort.
 In 1944, FDR successfully won reelection for a fourth
term, in large part, because of the military successes
and grassroots support from such groups as organized
labor.
 The 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor caused a violent
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hatred of Japan among Americans. Robbed Americans of good
sense and sense of justice.
Isolationist feelings from Americans were now replaces by
feelings of revenge against Japan. “Get Japan first” was the
battle cry of many Americans on the Pacific Coast.
Anti-Japanese sentiment remained stronger than the antiGerman sentiment throughout the war.
In Washington D.C., the ABC-1 agreement was created with the
British as a “getting Germany first” strategy.
Lack of attention on Germany would cause Hitler to go after the
Soviet Union and Britain and have a stronger foothold in Europe
then he already did.
Knock out Germany first, then focus on Japan was the goal.
However it was met with a lot of criticism from revenge-thirsty
citizens.
 From the beginning, the Allies were thought to triumph.
 The U.S. was potentially the mightiest military power on earth,
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potentially. But when it came down to it, bullets were going to win
the war.
Expense was no limitation, but time was the biggest necessity.
America’s biggest problem was preparing for all out war production,
while hoping that dictators wouldn’t attack their adversaries, Britain
and Soviet Union.
Knowledge of German scientists creating new weapons such as
rocket bombs and possibly atomic arms added to haste.
America faced the challenge of being able to mobilize after being in
isolation for so long. The United States was forced to feed, clothe,
and arm itself, along with transporting goods.
The United States had to send large amounts of good and
munitions to allies who were as far away as Austrailia.
 American unity was no problem thanks to the bombing of
Pearl Harbor.
 Many of the few pro-Hitlerites in United States melted
away, where as millions of Italian Americans and German
Americans loyally supported the nation’s war program
(compared to WWI where many immigrants questioned it).
 WWII speeded the assimilation of many ethnic groups into
American society. Prior to 1941, immigration was cut off,
however many ethnic communities were now well-settled.
These immigrants were crucial to Roosevelt’s re-election,
as opposed to when the government was on a “witch-hunt”
for minority groups during WWI.
 110,000 (2/3 were American-born U.S. citizens) Japanese Americans
were sent to concentration camps on the Pacific coast because the
Washington top command feared some Japanese Americans would
betray America and act as saboteurs for Japan in the case of
invasion. Post-Pearl Harbor hysteria had a good deal to do with the
camps.
 FDR issued the “Executive Order 9066” which gave military
commanders to designate “exclusion zones” in which the Japanese
were sent.
 Two known well known commanders were Major Karl Bendetsen and
Lt. John L. Dewitt. Dewitt is known for saying: “a Jap’s a Jap.”
 Unfair and unnecessary: loyalty and combat of Japanese Americans
proved to admirable.
 These camps deprived these people of their dignity and basic rights.
 Families were forced to bring the clothes on their back because they
were evacuated from their homes so fast, therefore no time to pack.
Many Japanese men and women were unprepared for the harsh
winters of camps in Wyoming and died.
 Some families were authorized to return to their home by American
families sponsorship and the Japanese family confirmed loyalty.
 Conditions of the camp:
 Tar-paper covered barracks
 No plumbing
 No cooking facilities
 Fred Korematsu, a Japanese
American man, violated the
Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34
when refusing to go to an
internment camps and stayed at
his home in San Leandro,
California.
 Korematsu argued the Executive
Order 9066 was unconstitutional
and violated the 14th amendment
 Fred Korematsu was arrested and
convicted affirming the
constitutionality of the Exclusion
Order.
 In 1988, the United States government officially apologized
for the internment camps and gave each camp survivor
$20,000 in reparations.
 By 1942, many of the New Deal programs such as the
CCC, WPA, and the NYA were shut down by the new
conservative Congress.
 In 1943, Roosevelt replaced “Dr. New Deal” with “Dr. Winthe-War”. It not only acknowledged the urgency of the war
but the power of revitalized conservative forces in the
country.
 WWII wasn’t as much as a crusade around the U.S. as
WWI was. Propaganda was mainly in the Atlantic Charter
and much of the focus was on ACTION.
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Made in August, 1941. Created by the United States and Britain
(later agreed to by all Allies) and defined Allies’ goals for postWWII world.
Goals:
1.
No territorial aggrandizement
2.
No territorial changes against wishes of the people
3.
Restoration of self government to those without
4.
Free access to raw materials
5.
Reduction of trade restrictions
6.
Global cooperation to secure better economy and social
conditions for all
7.
Freedom from fear and want
8.
Freedom of seas
9.
Abandonment of the use of force
10. Disarmament of aggressor states
 WWII caused the American economy to take a huge turn.
Huge military orders soaked up the idle industrial
capacity of the still-lingering Great Depression, in 1942
$100 billion worth of orders sprung up.
 The War Production Board made American factories
create the following weapons:
 40 billion bullets
 300,000 aircrafts
 76,000 ships
 86,000 tanks
 2.6 million machine guns
 Created on executive order by FDR on January 16th, 1942 and
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ended with defeat of Japan. Replaced in 1945 by Civilian
Production Administration.
Regulated the production of materials and fuels during WWII.
Converted/expanded peacetime industries to meet war needs,
allocate scare materials vital to war production, and established
priorities of distribution of materials and services.
It prohibited nonessential production.
Rationed materials included:
 Gasoline
 Heating Oil
 Metals
 Rubber
 Paper
 Plastic
 Henry J. Kaiser was a well-known for his ship
construction. One of his ships was completed in two
weeks. Built “Liberty Ships” every 45 days.
 “Liberty Ships” were cargo ships that were relatively
cheap to build and based off a British concept.
 During the Japanese invasion of British Malaya (first
major battle of WWII between Japan and Britain) and the
Dutch East Indies, access to rubber was temporarily cut
off causing a national speed limit and gasoline rationing
in order to conserve rubber and create 51 synthetic
rubber plants.
 Farmers, the ones not in the war, also increased their
output using new machinery and improved fertilizers.
1944 and 1945 were record-breaking years for wheatharvests. These wonders of production once again
caused economic strains to the United States.
 The Office of Price Administration brought ascending
prices under control with regulations.
 Rationing held down the consumption of meat and butter,
but like anything else “banned” a black market ensued for
the goods.
 Labor unions member ship grew from 10 million to 13
million during the war to fight the War Labor Board
imposed wage ceilings.
 Even though with many “No-Strike” pledges, many
unions had walkouts that created obstacles for the
war effort.
 Well know strikers were the United Mine Workers,
lead by John L. Lewis.
 In retaliation towards these rash acts of laborers,
Congress passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
in 1943. It authorized the federal government to seize
and operate tied-up industries. It also made strikes
against any federal government-operated industry
were made a criminal defense. Because of this act,
many coal mines were taken over by the government.
 While 15 million men were enlisted during WWII, nearly
216,000 women were employed for noncombat
duties.Women’s branches of military were known as the
WAAC (Army), WAVES (Navy), and SPARS (Coast
Guard).
 However, women were not the only people kept at home.
Certain industrial categories (shipbuilders) and agricultural
workers from the draft in order to keep production flowing.
 Even with these exemptions, the U.S. was still short on
laborers, so we made an agreement with Mexico to send
over thousands of Mexican agriculture workers called
braceros. Braceros were apart of the western U.S.
economy for nearly 20 years. Not only used in agriculture,
but work on the railroad too.
 More than 6 million women took jobs outside of the house, when
half of them had never participated in wage-earning jobs. Because
many were previous stay-at-home mothers, the government was
forced to set nearly 3,000 day-care centers for children care.
 Women who went to work in industrial factories for war materials
such as planes, tanks, and munitions were know as “Rosies” from
“Rosie the Riveter”. Even after the war ended, many of these
women kept their factory jobs leading to an economic revolution of
women’s roles in American society.
 But the majority of American women didn’t work for wages in the
wartime economy but continued on with the traditional housewife
roles.
 By the end of the war 2/3 of women war workers left the labor force
not only by choice but by force of employers looking to reemploy the
returning servicemen.
She was the symbol of economic
power and feminism for women in
the workforce. The name actually
came from a popular song about a
woman working on the assembly
line, doing her part in the war effort.
 Many of the 15 million men and women in uniforms
chose not to go home at the end of the war.
 Towns like Los Angeles, Detroit, Seattle and Baton
Rouge sucked people to them through war industries.
 California’s population grew by nearly 2 million.
 The South was “the nation’s number one economic
problem” –(FDR) in 1938
 When the war started, FDR seized the opportunity to
accelerate the region’s economic development.
 The South received a disproportionate share of defense
contracts, including nearly $6 billion of federally
financed industrial facilities.
 1.6 million blacks left the South to seek jobs in the war
plants of the West and North.
 As they migrated around the nation, race relations
became a national problem, rather than a regional
issue.
 Tensions arose over employment, housing and
segregated facilities.
 A. Philip Randolph threatened a massive “Negro
March on Washington” in 1941.
 Head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters
 “Negro March on Washington” was
to demand equal opportunities for
blacks in war jobs and in the armed
forces.
 He inspired the Freedom budget that
aimed to deal with the economic
problems facing the African
American community
 Roosevelt responded to the March on Washington by
issuing an executive order forbidding discrimination in
defense industries.
 He also established the Fair Employment Practices
Commission (FEPC) to monitor compliance with his
edict.
 Blacks were also drafted in the army, but they were
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generally assigned to service branches rather than combat
units and were subjected to segregated blood banks.
However, the war helped embolden blacks.
“Double V”– victory over the dictators abroad and over
racism at home
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) recruited nearly half a million members
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded in 1942
 The mechanical cotton picker was introduced in 1944.
It did the work of 50 people at 1/8 of the cost.
 5 million black tenant farmers and sharecroppers
headed north in the 3 decades after the war.
 This movement was considered one of the great
migrations in American history.
 Within a single generation: almost the majority of
African Americans left the South.
 Thousands of Native Americans found war work in
major cities and thousands more went into service.
 90% of Native Americans resided on reservations in
1940; 6 decades later more than ½ lived in cities,
mostly in southern California.
 25,000 Native American men served in the armed
forces.
 Comanches in Europe and Navajos in the Pacific made
valuable contributions as “code talkers”
 These men transmitted radio messages in their native
languages which were incomprehensible to the
Germans and Japanese
 They were called “walking codes” and each person had
to memorize the language.
 They were there for every major engagement from
1942-1945.
 http://www.navajocodetalkers.org
 In 1943 “zoot-suit” clad Mexicans and Mexican
Americans in Los Angeles were viciously attacked by
Anglo sailors who cruised the streets in taxis for
victims.
 Order was only restored when the Mexican
Ambassador made an emotional plea.
 Near the same time, another brutal race riot killed 25
blacks and 9 whites in Detroit
 The war invigorated the economy and lifted the
country out of a decade-long depression in America
 The gross national product vaulted from less than $100
billion in 1940 to more than $200 billion in 1945.
 Corporate profits rose from $6 billion in 1940 to almost
twice that in 4 years.
 Disposable personal income more than doubled.
 On December 7, 1944 Macy’s department store rang up the
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biggest sales day in history.
When the price controls were finally lifted in 1946,
Americans lust to consume pushed prices up to 33% in less
than 2 years.
The war pointed the way to the post-1945 era of biggovernment interventionism.
Millions of men and women worked in the armed forces.
Millions more worked the defense industries where their
employers and unions were monitored by the FEPC and
WLB and their personal needs were cared for by
government-sponsored housings projects, day-care
facilities, and health plans.
 The Office of Scientific Research and Development
channeled hundreds of millions of dollars into
university-based scientific research, establishing the
partnership between the government and universities.
 The war cured the depression, not the New Deal.
 The wartime bill amounted to more than $330 billion
(ten times the direct cost of WWI and twice as much
as all previous federal spending since 1776)
 FDR wanted the pay-as-you-go policy to finance the
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war. However, the costs were too big.
The income-tax net was expanded to catch about four
times we many people as before.
The maximum tax rates rose as high as 90%
Only about 2/5 of the war costs were paid from current
revenues, the rest was barrowed.
The national debt skyrocketed from $49 billion in 1941
to $259 billion in 1945.
The war cost $10 million an hour.
 Besides attacking Pearl Harbor,
the Japanese launched
widespread and successful
attacks on various Far Eastern
bastions.
 These bastions included
American outposts of Guam,
Wake and the Philippines.
 The Japanese quickly seized the
British-Chinese port: Hong Kong
and British Malaya which held
rubber and tin.
 Then, they went to Burma.
 They cut the Burma Road, which the US had used to
send munitions to the armies of Jiang Jieshi, who was
trying to resist Japan.
 When the Japanese took the road, the US had to fly
over the Himalaya mountains from the India-Burma
theater.
 Japan took the Dutch East Indies and destroyed the
British, Australian, Dutch, and American naval and air
forces
 In the Philippines: General Douglass MacArthur, 20000
American troops and a much larger force of ill-trained
Filipinos held off violent Japanese attacks until April 9,
1942 when they surrendered.
 MacArthur had left to Australia, as ordered by Washington,
as he left he said “I shall return”
 The Japanese treated the troops horribly as they walked the
80 mile Bataan Death March to prisoner-of-war camps.
 The island fortress of Corregidor held out until May 6, 1942
when it too surrendered, and left Japanese forces in
complete control of the Philippine islands.
 Japan attacked New Guinea, north of Australia, and
landed on the Solomon Islands where they threatened
Australia itself.
 Australia and the United States fought back in May of
1942 in Coral Sea
 They inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese.
 For the first time in history, the fighting was done by
carrier-based aircraft and neither fleet saw or fired a
shot directly at the other.
 Japan then looked to the Midway Islands, more than
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1000 miles north of Honolulu.
The planned to launch devastating assaults on Pearl
Harbor.
They hoped to force the weakened American Pacific
fleet into destructive combat or compel the US to
negotiate a cease fire in the Pacific.
The battle was fought near Midway on June 3-6, 1942.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was a high-grade strategist
who directed a smaller but freely skilled carrier force
under Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
 The fighting was all done
by aircraft and the
Japanese retreated after
losing four vitally
important carriers.
 Midway was highly
important as it raised
American spirit and halted
Japan’s forces.
 As America pushed Japan into the eastern Pacific, it
did win them an easy victory of Kiska and Attu in the
Aleutian islands off Alaska.
 This brought fear that the US would be invaded as
much of American strength was divided to the defense
of Alaska, including the construction of the “Alcan”
Highway through Canada.
 They shouldn’t have worried, as the Japanese had over
extended themselves in 1942.
 The United States was finally able to seize initiative in
the Pacific.
 In August of 1942, American forces gained slight
ground on Guadalcanal Island in an effort to protect
the lifeline from American to Australia through the
Southwest Pacific.
 In an early naval defeat by Japan, American supplies
ran dangerously low and American barely held on for
weeks.
 The Japanese troops evacuated Guadalcanal in
February 1943.
 Their losses were significantly higher than America’s:
20,000 to 1,700
 The American navy began to inflict horrible losses on
the Japanese.
 Finally, conquest of New Guinea was completed by
August 1944 when General MacArthur fought his way
through the tropical jungle.
 Instead of following the old-fashioned strategies that
would dictate Americans to reduce the number of
Japanese outposts directly, the forces took to
“leapfrogging”.
 They would take a nearby island, set up airfields on
them and then bomb the enemy bases.
 As the US cut off important supplies to Japan, the
number of forces decreased.
 Admiral Nimitz skillfully coordinated the efforts of
naval, air and ground units.
 In May and August of 1943 Attu and Kiska were easily
retaken.
 In November 1943 “bloody Tarawa” and Makin fell
under suicidal resistance.
 In January and February 1944, the key outposts in the
Marshal Islands surrendered
bloody Tarawa
Attu and Kiska
New Guinea
 From bases in the Marianas, the United States’ B-29
super bombers carried out round-trip bombing raids
on Japan.
 In the “Great Mariana’s Turkey Shoot” (June 19, 1944)
the Hellcat fighter plane and new technology of
antiaircraft destroyed 250 Japanese aircraft with only
loosing 29 American planes.
 The Battle of the Philippine Sea: US naval forces sank
several Japanese carriers
 The Japanese navy never recovered.
Great Mariana’s Turkey Shoot
Battle of the Philippine Sea
 “Suicide Cliff” a mass suicidal leap of surviving
Japanese soldiers and civilians
 The major islands of the Mariana’s fell to the US in July
and August 1944.
 Round the clock bombing of Japan began in November
1944.
 Americans were having trouble in Europe just like the
Pacific
 Hitler’s U-Boats were dominating the Seas
 1942-500+ ships lost, 111 in June alone
 The tide turned (ha) slowly but surely with the help of
air patrols, radar, and bombing sub bases.
 The upperhand was finally gained in 1943 when the
British cracked the “Enigma” codes and could intercept
the location of U-Boats
 The turning point in the air had come in late 1942
 Recovering from the Battle of Britain the RAF with the
help of the American Air Force launched massive
bombing raids on Germany
 In May they launched a 1000 plane bombing raid on
Cologne
 There were victories in Africa, as well
 Marshal Erin Rommel “The Desert Fox” had taken most
of North Africa and was prepare to breakthrough the
Allied lines but a shipment of American Sherman tanks
helped British General Bernard Montgomery counter
attack at El Alamein and drive the Germans back over a
thousand miles to Tunisia
 Highly Decorated in WWI
 Between the Wars he held positions at several military
academies and published several military textbooks
which attracted the attention of Hitler
 He was essential in the Blitzkrieg and helped capture
Poland and France with his armored and mobile
infantry forces
 He had immense success in Northern Africa as he
drove his tanks all the way to Egypt, but he was so
strung out and under supplied he only had 13 tanks left
at El Alamein and was forced to retreat
 After North Africa he went sort of unemployed as a
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General and finally went on to help with the defense of
France.
Rommel’s career came to an end after the failed
assassination attempt of Hitler in 1944
While not directly part of the attempt, Rommel had
been in favor of removing Hitler
Facing the choice of a public trial and execution,
Rommel instead chose forced suicide, to die with his
honor intact. On October 14 he took a cyanide pill
Rommel had a reputation as one of the few humane
officers in the Nazi army. He did not kill Jewish
prisoners or citizens and his armies were never
accused of war crimes
 There was also great success in Russia in 1942
 In September the Russians were finally able to gain
victory at Stalingrad—the graveyard of Hitler’s
hopes
 More than 20 German divisions were surrounded
and captured
 In November, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive that was not halted until the end of the
war
 In a year, Russia had reclaimed 2/3 of the land lost
to Germany
 August 23, 1942-February 2, 1942
 Among the bloodiest battle in the history of modern
warfare
 Soviets: 478,741 killed or missing, 650,878 wounded and
sick, 40,000 civilians dead, 4,341 tanks, 15,728 artillery
pieces, 2,769 combat aircraft -Total: 1,129,619 casualties
 Germans: 750,000 killed, missing or wounded, 91,000
captured, 900 aircraft , 1,500 tanks, 6,000 artillery pieces
Total: 841,000 casualties
 TOTAL: 1,970,619 Casualties
 Hitler’s main goals after the tough winter of 1941 was to
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defeat Russia before the US entered the war, and to
capture valuable petroleum deposits in the Caucasus
In July, heavy bombing began with some 1,000 tons of
bombs. The city was turned to rubble
The Luftwaffe dominated the skies and the city was all
but leveled by August
By late August the Germans had reached the Northern
and Southern Outskirts of the City.
The Soviets moved in and hunkered down in buildings
all across the city using snipers and small machine gun
teams as their main tactic
Fighting bogged down and turned to greuling hand to
hand combat
 German tanks and aircraft became virtually useless as
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Germans and Soviets often occupied different levels of
the same buildings
Fighting was so close quarters there was even combat
in the sewer system below the city, the Germans began
to nick name it the “rat war”
One railway station changed hands 14 times in six
hours
Eventually, the Germans reached the Volga River and
the Soviets evacuated the city
On November 19 they launched a massive counter
attack which split the German Army and trapped
245,000 soldiers in the city
 In 1942 already millions of soviets lay dead and an area
the size of Chicago to the Eastern Seaboard lay ruined
 Russia strongly desired that the allies create a second
front to relieve the pressure on Russia
 FDR rashly promised to open a second front by the end
of 1942
 With the losses of WWI still in their minds, British
strategists preferred to attack Hitler’s fortress through
the “soft underbelly” of the Mediterranean
 The next choice of attack was North Africa
 Led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 400,000 allied
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troops with the help of 850 ships invaded
The Germans were eventually trapped in Tunisia and
surrendered in May 1943
After the fall of Africa, FDR and Churchill met in
Casablanca and decided to step up the Pacific war and
to invade Scicily
They also called for the controversial “unconditional
surrender”
Many argued that this caused the enemy to fight
harder even though it cannot be proven it affected the
war in any way
 Sicily fell in August of 1943 and shortly after Mussolini
was deposed and Italy unconditionally surrendered
 However, Germany did not leave Italy
 Italy was soon forgotten after the invasion of France,
but fighting did not end there until May of 1945,
shortly before Germany’s official surrender
 Born in 1885 to a military ancestral family
 His fathers family had fought in the Revolutionary
War, and he had many great uncles and his
grandfather who fought and died in the Civil War for
the CFA, his Grandfather died during Pickett’s Charge.
His maternal Grandfather had fought in the Indian
Wars
 He attended VMI and West point and graduated in
1909
 He was on the 1912 and 1916 Olympic Team
 As an Aide to General Pershing in the pursuit of
Pancho Villa he led the first ever motorized attack
 At the onset of WWI Pershing promoted him to
Captain and attached him to the tank training school
for US troops. With his service there he was eventually
promoted to Colonel
 Patton commanded American-crewed French Renault
tanks at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and in the MeuseArgonne Offensive. He was wounded in the leg and sat
out the rest of the war. He was awarded three medals
 Between the wars Patton met and worked with
Eisenhower on the doctrines of armored warfare and
he championed for the advancement of the US
armored program. However he was largely ignored by
the government
 At the onset of the war, Patton was a Brigadier General
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and in command of the 2nd armored Division
He participated in the invasion of Morocco and was
eventually promoted to lieutenant general and given
command of the II Corps
He was known for his strict regulations and discipline
of troops including down to fine for not shaving daily
Under his direction the II Corps were able to help
defeat Rommel’s Afrika Corps
He was placed in command of the seventh army in
Sicily his army moved quickly through the island and
liberated Palermo and Messina
In Sicily he got into some trouble when he slapped a
private
 After the invasion of Normandy he was given
command of the Third Army, which used armored and
air support possibly the best out of any other
commander in the war
 He advanced across France, relived Bastogne in the
battle of the Bulge, and the final advance into
Germany
 the Third Army was in continuous combat for 281 days.
It had advanced farther and faster than any army in
military history, crossing 24 major rivers and capturing
81,500 square miles of territory, including more than
12,000 cities and towns.
 the U.S. Third Army, which under his leadership
advanced farther, captured more enemy prisoners, and
liberated more territory in less time than any other
army in history
 Stalin had not quit asking for a second front
 Finally after the Big Three conference in Teheran, the
agreed to coordinate Russian attacks on the Eastern
Front with an Allied invasion of France
 Eisenhower was once again chosen to lead this, after
having proved himself in Africa and the
Mediterranean
 The operation, set for June 6, 1944, involved 3 million
men, 4600 vessels, and numerous airplanes
 The allies were barely able to gain a fingerhold on the
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beaches, however, air superiority for the allies
prevented German reinforcements and eventually the
allies were able to push inland
Once out of the containment of the beaches, American
soldiers began to push across France
Patton and his armored divisions made leaps and
bound across the country
Paris was liberated in August of 1944
Aachen—the first German city—fell in October of
1944, it was the beginning of the end for Hitler
 Codenamed Operation Neptune
 Began at 6:30 am
 Consisted of two phases:
 an airborne assault landing of 24,000 shortly after
midnight
 and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and
armoured divisions
 160,000 troops landing on June 6, 1944. 195,700 Allied
naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships
were involved
 The night before the amphibious landing took place there
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was the massive paratroop drop
It was the last drop done at night due to its unsuccess
45% of American paratroopers were scattered and unable to
find their units
This did have some success as it confused Germans as to
where the Americans were forming
The Amphibious landing took place on Sword, Juno, Gold,
Omaha, and Utah beaches as well as an assault on the cliff
top emplacement Pointe du hoc
The British attacked at Sword and Gold, the Canadians at
Juno, and the Americans at Omaha and Utah.
Omaha was the most fortified and suffered the most
casualties, Gold and Juno suffered moderate, while Sword
and Utah faced little resistance
 The Presidential campaign came at an “awkward” time
in 1944 as the war was reaching its climax
 However, the election process continued and the
Republicans were faced with the difficulty of
dethroning Roosevelt
 Thomas E. Dewey was nominated on the Republican
ticket as a more liberal and internationally focused
candidate with a popular vote getting background
 To offset these views, the older more conservative
isolationist John Bricker of Ohio was nominated as
vice president
 While FDR had aged under the terrible strain of the war,
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he was indispensible to the Democrats
However, he was sort of forgotten at the conference and
the focus shifted to the vice-presidential nomination
Henry Wallace had served four years as VP and sought reelection. However, he was distrusted by many
conservative Democrats and was passed over
Smiling Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri was selected
Truman had only previously come to the public spot light
due to chairing a senate committee investigating
unnecessary expenditures in the war
No one had anything good to say about Truman—more
importantly they had nothing bad to say
 While FDR was busy fighting a world war, Dewey went
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on the offensive
He attacked New Dealism and the “Old men” in
Washington
His foreign policies, however, were extremely similar to
those of FDR
In the closing weeks of the campaign FDR finally
emerged to defend himself
The CIO helped immensely—”What were you doing in
1932?”
 However, the success of the war garnered a 432 to 99
victory over Dewey
 Republicans were still under the taint of the
Hardingites Isolationism
 By mid-December 1944, the
Nazi forces were on the
retreat and U.S. victory in
Germany seemed imminent.
 Hitler made one final push
with his remaining reserves.
 Secretly concentrating his
troops in the snowy Ardennes
Forest, Hitler, on December
16, 1944, hurled his troops at
the thinly held and surprised
American lines.
 Pushing on for 10 days,
Hitler’s objective was
Antwerp, a Belgian port.
 Nazi forces created a
“bulge” in the
surprised/outnumbered
Allied line. However, the
101st Airborne Division held
on to Bastogne. General A.
C. McAuliffe refused to
surrender to the Germans.
 Allied reinforcements
rushed in to win the Battle
of the Bulge.
 American troops reached
the Rhine river by March
1945. Luckily, one
undiminished bridge was
found, and General
Eisenhower’s troops
pushed on to reach the
Elbe River by April 1945.
 Eventually, U.S. and Soviet
troops met each other a
little south of Berlin.
 “Amerikanskie tavarishchi”
 Americans were surprised to see
the horrors of the concentration
camps.
 Previously, Roosevelt’s
administration had refused a
large number of Jewish people
from coming to America and his
military commanders declined
bombing rail lines that carried
concentration camp victims.
 Soviet troops finally reached
Berlin in April 1945.
 Adolf Hitler and his mistress
committed suicide in an
underground bunker on April
30, 1945.
 Meanwhile, the United
States was still dealing with
the sudden death of
President Roosevelt who
died of a massive cerebral
hemorrhage on April 12,
1945.
 The German government
surrendered
unconditionally on May 7,
1945 and May 8 was
officially declared V-E Day.
 America’s “silent service” was devastating Japanese
merchant ships. 1,042 ships were destroyed by the end
of the war.
 The U.S. launched devastating bombing raids from
captured Mariana islands like Saipan. In a 2 day
bombing raid on Tokyo (March 9-10 1945), 250,000
buildings were destroyed and 83,000 people died.
 General MacArthur, after taking control of New
Guinea, headed to the Philippines with 600 ships and
250,000 men.
 Japan made one final effort
to stop MacArthur by
targeting his transports
and supply ships.
 Japan’s navy clashed with
the U.S.’s at Leyte Gulf,
fighting on the sea and in
the air from October 23-26,
1944.
 The Americans won and
Japan was done as a sea
power, losing roughly 60
ships.
 MacArthur next landing on the
Philippine island of Luzon in
January of 1945. By March, he
took the Philippine capital,
Manila. The Philippines,
however, where not conquered
until July.
 Iwo Jima was MacArthur next
target. It was captured in March
1945 after a 25 day assault and
4,000 American casualties.
 Okinawa was the last island
between MacArthur and Japan.
After 50,000 American
casualties, Okinawa fell into
American control in June of
1945.
 While strategists in Washington were planning an all
out invasion of the Japanese main island, Tokyo
recognized imminent defeat and sent peace feelers to
Moscow, which had not entered war with Japan yet.
 Having broken the Japanese radio codes, the
Americans knew of Japan’s actions. However, Japan
still showed no signs of a willingness to surrender
unconditionally.
 Stalin, Churchill, and
Truman met in Potsdam,
Germany from July 16 to
August 2, 1945.
 Participants met to
discuss how to deal with
the newly defeated
Germany. Other goals
included peace treaties
and post-war order.
 Actions agreed upon include:
 Allie occupation in Germany to
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insure demilitarization, movement
to democracy, decentralization,
and decartelization.
Division of Germany and Austria
into four occupation zones.
Division of Berlin and Vienna into
four occupation zones.
Prosecution of Nazi’s.
Giving back all German
annexations in Europe.
War reparations to the Soviet
Union.
Shifting of Germany’s eastern
border to the Oder-Neisse line,
reducing Germany’s size by ¼ of
it’s prewar borders.
 On July 26, 1944, Churchill,
Truman, and Chiang Kaishek issued the Potsdam
Declaration. The
declaration outlined the
terms of surrender for
Japan.
 At the end of the
conference, the United
States, Great Britain, and
China gave Japan an
ultimatum: surrender or
meet “prompt and utter
destruction.”
 Original codename:
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“Development of Substitute
Materials”
The project was in operation
from 1942 to 1946 under Major
General Leslie Groves.
The U.S., Canada, and the
Britain were involved in the
project (the Manhattan Project
absorbed the British
Counterpart, Tube Alloys).
The project employed more than
130,000 people.
It cost nearly $2 billion
(equivalent to $25.8 billion
today).
 The first atomic bomb, nicknamed
“The Gadget,” was set of at 05:30 on
July 16, 1945 at Trinity Site, NM. The
test was codenamed Trinity. The
Gadget exploded with the energy
equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT.
 The shock wave could be felt over
100 miles away. The mushroom
cloud reached 7.5 miles high. The
explosion could be heard as far away
as El Paso, Texas.
 A cover story about an ammunition
explosion at Alamogordo Field was
issued.
 “Now I am become Death, the
destroyer of worlds.”
 On August 6, 1945, an American
bomber dropped on atomic
bomb on the city of Hiroshima,
Japan. About 180,000 Japanese
were either dead, wounded, or
missing.
 On August 8, the Soviet Union
entered the war with Japan, as
previously agreed. Soviet troops
quickly took over Japanese
defenses in Manchuria and
Korea in a 6 day victory march.
 On August 9, American bombers
dropped the second atomic
bomb on Nagasaki. About
80,000 were killed or missing.
 On August 10, the Japanese
surrendered on one
condition: that Hirohito be
allowed to remain as emperor.
The Allies excepted this
condition on August 14.
 The official end came on
September 2, 1945. Surrender
ceremonies were conducted
by General MacArthur on the
battleship Missouri in Tokyo
Bay.
 Meanwhile, Americans back
at home were celebrating V-J
Day
 Americans suffered roughly 1 million casualties.
Comparatively, this number was low (Soviet Union lost
about 20 million).
 Compared to past wars, the proportion killed by
disease was greatly reduced due to the use of blood
plasma and drugs such as penicillin.
 The American homeland was also left virtually
unscathed, unlike other nations involved.
 How was America transformed from a peacetime to a
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wartime economy? What were the steps that America
took to mobilize for their war with the Axis powers?
What was the impact of the war on domestic America?
What was America’s strategy for winning the war
against the Axis powers?
What turned the tide of the war in the Pacific for
American troops?
How did WWII end and what were the terms of
settlement?