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A PEOPLE and A
NATION
EIGHTH EDITION
Norton • Katzman • Blight •
Chudacoff • Paterson • Tuttle •
Escott • Bailey • Logevall
Chapter 27: The
Second World War at
Home and Abroad,
1941–1945
Ch. 27: WWII at Home and Abroad,
1941–1945
• Turning point for USA & its people
• Change status of USA in world
• Allied cooperation tenuous throughout
war
• Home front change with migration
• New race/gender/economic opportunities
• US Gov’t mobilize industry, labor,
science, & technology for war
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I. A Nation Unprepared
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Despite pre-war rearmament, USA not ready
War initially not go well for Allies
Hitler dominate Europe by late 1941
Japan expand rapidly at start of Pacific war
Capture Southeast Asia, incl. Philippines
Doolittle raid convince Japan to seek
Midway
• Key US advantage = MAGIC intercepts
• Midway (June 1942) turn tide of Pacific war
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II. Europe First Strategy
• FDR pursue Europe First strategy
• If Hitler win Europe, could directly
threaten USA
• Tensions among 3 major allies = another
problem
• Fear separate peace by USSR
• Stalin want second front in France ASAP
• Relieve German pressure on USSR
• Churchill oppose second front
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III. Second Front Controversy
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Churchill fear high causalities of invasion
Want operations to protect British empire
FDR initially side with Churchill
Agree to invasion of N. Africa (1942)
Stalingrad (1942–43) = turning point
USSR stop Hitler’s army
Begin German retreat from USSR
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IV. The Production Front: Business
• FDR see mass production as key US
advantage
• War Production Board (1942) oversee
conversion to wartime economy
• WPB guarantee profits in “cost + fixedfee” contracts as well as generous tax
deductions
• Corporate profits double, 1939-1943
• Big business grow bigger as ⅔ of all
WPB contracts go to 100 largest
businesses
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V. Universities & War; Opportunities
for Workers
• Big US Gov’t grants mobilize higher ed for war
• $117 million to MIT; Manhattan Project = $2
billion
• Universities join new military-industrial complex
• Massive labor shortage
• Increase production while withdraw 16 million
• New jobs for women, African Americans,
Mexican Americans, & poor whites from South
• Business resist change (hiring blacks, women)
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VI.Opportunities for African
Americans & Mexicans
• Blacks resist discrimination w/ protest
• Randolph & proposed March on DC, 1941
• FDR issue order to ban discrimination in
hiring for defense industries & US Gov’t
• New defense jobs spur 1.5 million blacks
to migrate from South to cities in North &
West
• US Gov’t encourage Mexican
immigration
• Gain jobs, but like blacks, Mexicans
suffer discrimination & segregation
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VII. Women at Work
• Over 6 million women enter workforce
• Unlike 1930s, women workers receive
praise
• Many women (both white & black) enter
traditionally male jobs (riveters, welders)
• Some businesses offer workers
healthcare
• US Gov’t fund childcare centers
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VIII. Organized Labor; Success on
Production Front
• Unions work with US Gov’t via no strike
pledge
• National War Labor Board (NWLB)
mediate union/management conflicts
• Union membership almost double
• Strikes occur when NWLB limit raises
• US Gov’t pass War Labor Disputes Act
(1943)
• Mass production achieve huge increase
in key war products (planes, ships, etc.)
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IX. Life on the Homefront
• Mobilization end Depression, spur
prosperity
• Americans volunteer help (victory
gardens)
• Office of Price Administration (OPA)
institute rationing of key goods (food, gas)
• To ensure support, Office of War
Information (1942) sell war at home
• Near unanimous support for war; popular
culture see it as fight for US way of life
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X. Wartime Prosperity
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Employment, wages, & savings skyrocket
OPA set prices to control inflation
US Gov’t finance war with deficits
US debt balloon ($49 billion to $259 billion)
Map 27.2: 15 million people move during war
Strain resources of burgeoning cities/towns
Some in North dislike poor whites from
South
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XI. Racial Conflicts
• Competition (jobs/housing) increase
tension
• Mobs of whites attack African Americans
• 250 race riots (1943); worse one in
Detroit
• Mexicans suffer LA zoot suit riots (1943)
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XII. Families in Wartime
• 3 million families suffer wartime
separation
• Marriage & birth rates soar (“goodbye
babies”)
• More divorces too as hasty marriages
unable to survive strains of war
• Working mothers suffer criticism that they
neglect children (“victory girls”)
• Some males vets have trouble accepting
new independence in their wives
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XIII. The Limits of American Ideals
• Tension between ideals and wartime practices
• US Gov’t use censorship & some propaganda
de-humanize enemy, but less then WWI
• US Gov’t intern 14,426 Europeans on spy fears
• Intern 112,000 Japanese Americans (most US
citizens) as “enemy race”
• None ever charged with treason; some enlist in
military; internees lose homes/businesses
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XIV. Segregation at Home and in
Military
• NAACP grow & advocate “Double V”
• Focus on parallels (Axis racism with Jim
Crow)
• CORE (1942) begin nonviolent direct
actions
• 887,000 black men & women serve in
war
• Serve in segregated, usually service,
units
• Red Cross segregate blood
• Military resist integration
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XIV. Segregation at Home and in
Military (cont.)
• Navy disregard safety of black sailors,
CA, ‘44
• Black soldiers suffer violence by white
soldiers & civilians
• Black combat units perform well (pilots)
• WWII = turning point for civil rights
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XV. America and the Holocaust
• Most tragic failure to live up to US ideals
• Hitler murder 11 million Jews,
“undesirables”
• Allies not attack Nazi death camps from
air
• Not till 1944 does USA help save
200,000 Jews
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XVI. Life in the Military
• Over 15 million men (draftees = 10 million)
• War broaden horizons; vets make contact with
different races, ethnic groups, regions
• 350,000 women volunteer as clerks/nurses
• Poor whites compose most combat units
• Combat = carnage from high tech weapons
• 300,000 combat deaths; 1 million wounded
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XVII. War in Europe
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USA & England continue to delay 2nd Front
Strain relations between Allies
At Tehran (1943) FDR overrule Churchill
Set cross-channel invasion for 1944
D-Day (June ‘44) = largest amphibious
landing
• USA/ England move in from west as USSR
invade Germany from east (Map 27.3)
• USA/ England win Battle of Bulge (1944–45)
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XVIII. The Yalta Conference
(Feb. 1945)
• England want to preserve empire
• USSR want reparations to help rebuild
• Also want Poland as buffer against
Germany
• Install pro-USSR government in Poland
• USA want to avoid errors of WWI peace
• Want to advance self-determination & US
power
• FDR want 4 Policemen to guide world
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XVIII. The Yalta Conference (cont.)
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Military positions shape settlement
USSR dominate E. Europe, esp. Poland
Each of the Big 3 compromise
Set up new UN; strong Security Council
(4 Policemen) & weak General Assembly
• Stalin agree to enter war against Japan
• Also allow France a German/Berlin zone
• Sign treaty with pro-US Jiang
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XIX. Harry Truman
• FDR pick inexperienced Truman as VP in
1944
• Germany surrender May 1945
• After death of FDR (April) & defeat of
Hitler, less cooperation between Allies
• Each of Big 3 jockey for influence
• HST less patient with USSR at Potsdam
(July)
• With atomic bomb, USA has less need of
USSR
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XX. War in the Pacific
• USA fight in carrier battles & difficult
“island-hop” invasions against Japan
• USA take Solomon, Gilbert, Marshall,
Mariana islands and retake Philippines
(1942–44)
• USA attack Japanese shipping to disrupt
flow of vital war materials/supplies
• At Iwo Jima (Feb/Mar 1945) both sides
suffer huge losses; same at Okinawa
(April/June)
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XXI. Bombing of Japan
• Fire bomb of Tokyo (May 1945) kill 100,000
• Bombing in first ½ of ’45 kill almost 1 million
• Japanese leaders reject unconditional
surrender (especially on Emperor)
• Extensive bombing during WWII = context
to understand US decision to use atomic
bombs
• Bombing of civilians widespread in WWII
• 225,000 die at Dresden, Feb. 1945
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XXII. The Atomic Bombs (August 6
and 9, 1945)
• With massive blast, fires, & radiation,
130,000 die at Hiroshima; 60,000 at
Nagasaki
• Primary goal of Manhattan Project = end
war ASAP & save US lives
• Truman & others want to avoid invasion
of Japan
• Reject peace feelers as unlikely to make
Japan surrender fully
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XXII. The Atomic Bombs (cont.)
• Anger at Japanese “beasts” (Pearl
Harbor, Bataan March) affect
Truman/others
• US leaders also assume monopoly on ABomb will benefit postwar USA
• Might deter postwar aggression
• Might encourage USSR concessions (E.
Europe)
• Might end Pacific War before USSR entry
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XXIII. Effect of WWII
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55 million soldiers & civilians die in WWII
USSR lose 21 million
USA escape war’s devastation
Emerge as dominate economic/military
power in world
• WWII change USA at home & abroad
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Summary: Discuss Links to the
World & Legacy
• War brides as new link between USA &
world?
• 60,000 US men marry foreign women
• Most adjust to USA, but some face racism
• Fears of nuclear proliferation as a legacy
of WWII?
• Why do some skeptics see “hypocrisy” in
Non-Proliferation Treaty?
• Current “nightmare scenario” on nuclear
use?
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