Download America and WWII

US and the period
of appeasement
America’s response to the
rise of Dictators in Europe
 The rise of dictatorships in Europe after
WWI made Americans feel like
everything they had fought for during
WWI was pointless.
 Turned away from involvement in
European affairs. =______________
The Neutrality Acts -1935
 Response to Hitler’s rearming of
Germany
 Based on the idea that arms sales to the
allies during WWI had help bring the US
into the war the act made it illegal for
Americans to sell arms to any country at
war.
Neutrality Acts of 1937
 Continued to ban weapons sale
 Added that if nations wanted non-military
goods from the US they had to buy them
on a “cash-and-carry” basis.
 Nation would have to send its own ships
to pick up the goods, and it had to pay
cash.
 Loans were not allowed.
Neutrality Acts of 1939
 In response to Britain and France
declaring war on Germany
 FDR wanted to support our Democratic
allies.
 FDR had Congress Revise the Neutrality
Acts to allow for nations to buy military
arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis.
 However businesses continued to sell other goods to BOTH sides
before the US entered the war.
 See Reading/Clip
World War Breaks
out in Europe
1939-1945
Hitler’s Lightning Attack
 September 1st 1939 Hitler invaded Poland
 Blitzkrieg (lighting war) used fast moving
planes and tanks, followed by massive infantry
forces.
 Britain and France declared war on Germany
on September 3rd.
 Poland had already fallen to Nazi Germany.
 Hitler annexed the Western half of Poland
The Fall of France
 Hitler invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and the
Netherlands.
 With everyone’s attention on Hitler’s sweep of these
nations he sent an even larger force into France
through the Ardrennes Forest, avoiding the Maginot
Line - a system of fortifications along France’s border
with Germany. Allied forces and German forces
stared at each other. Became known as Stizkrieg
_________________
 By the end of 1940 German troops had pinned Allied
forces on the beaches of Dunkirk.
The Fall of France Cont.
 By June 14 Germans had taken Paris
 French surrendered on June 22, 1940.
 Germans controlled the North and set up a
puppet government in the south.
 “capital” in Vichy and headed by Marshall
Petain
 Charles de Gaulle- set up a government-inexile in Britain.
 April 9th 1940 Hitler launched attack on
Denmark and Norway.
The Soviets make their
Move
 On September 17 1939, Stalin sent
troops to occupy the Eastern half of
Poland
 Stalin then moved to annex Lithuania,
Latvia both fell without a struggle.
 Finland resisted- surrendered in
March1940.
Hitler attacks Great
Britain
 The Battle of Britain 1940-1941
Hitler prepares to Invade
the Soviet Union
 Hitler was planning an invasion as early as
1940
 Hitler needed to control the Balkan states in
order to set up bases from which to attack the
Soviet Union
 Through the threat of force Hitler pressured
Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary to join the
axis
 Yugoslavia and Greece resisted due to pro
British government, Yugoslavia fell in 11 days
Greece in 7 days.
Hitler Invades the Soviet
Union
 Operation Barbarossa 1941-1943
America and WWII
1941-1945
US begins mobilizing for
war
 FDR wins 1940 Presidential election (3rd term)
 Moves towards further intervention in WWII.
 Four-Freedoms speech US and Britain stand
for




Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Worship
Freedom from Want
Freedom from Fear
Mobilizing for War
 When Hitler took France in 1940 FDR
began mobilizing the army for war.
 August 1940 - Selective Service and
Training Act- peacetime draft.
Lend-Lease Act
 1940 Britain ran out of money to wage war
 Lend-lease act would allow the US to lend or
lease arms to any country considered “vital to
the defense of the US.”
 US could send arms to Britain if Britain
promised to return them or pay for them after
the war.
 US contributed over $50 Billion to Lend lease
 US should become “The Great Arsenal of Democracy”
Hemispheric Defense
Zone
 Lend-lease Act did not make provisions of
getting the arms to Britain.
 German submarine patrolling the Atlantic
Ocean were sinking British ship.
 US response – Roosevelt declared that the
entire western half of the Atlantic was part of
the Western Hemisphere and therefore neutral.
 US navy patrolled the Atlantic and told the
British where the German submarines were.
The Atlantic Charter
 Secret Meeting between Churchill and
FDR
 Committed the two nations to a postwar
world of
 Democracy
 Non-aggression
 Free trade
 Economic advancement
 Freedom of the seas
Foundation for United Nations
Undeclared Naval War in
the Atlantic
 German U-boat fired on an American
destroyer.
 FDR responded with a “shoot-on-sight”
policy.
 Germans began targeting American
Destroyers
US and Japan
 Japan’s goal was to build a
Southeast Asian empire. “Asia for
Asians”
 Posed threat to US territories of the
Philippines and Guam.
 US aided the Chinese
(unsuccessful)
 Japan took over French colonies of
Indochina (Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia)
US aids Britain the Pacific
 Britain had a naval presence in the Pacific to
protect its empire In Asia.
 As German U-boats sank British ships in the
Atlantic they had to move their ships from the
pacific to fight Hitler.
 This left Britain vulnerable to Japanese Attack
 US helped the British by putting economic
pressure on Japan.
US Pressures Japan
 1940 Congress passed the Export
Control Act which________________
 Japanese respond by formalizing their
alliance with Germany and Italy.
 FDR would lift embargo only if Japanese
would pull out of Indochina.
Japanese Attack Pearl
Harbor
 American intelligence knew that their was
plans of a Japanese attack but the question
remained -- where?
 December 7, 1941 Surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor
.
 December 8th Congress declared war
 December 11th Germany and Italy declared
war on the US
Japanese Victories
 Japan swept through the pacific
 Acting as conquerors not liberators
 The Battle of Bataan
 The Bataan Death March
The War at Home
How do you get business to make war
materials in a capitalist nation?
 by convincing corporations to build war
materials i.e. warplanes.
 Cost-plus contracts – The government paid the cost
of the product plus a guaranteed percentage as
profit to companies.
 RFC – allowed to give loans to companies to pay for
the new equipment they needed in order to produce
war materials
 By summer 1942 almost all major industries and
most corporations converted to war production.
From Cars to Tanks
 The Assembly line structure of the
automobile industry easily worked to
make tanks, trucks, planes, guns helmets
etc.
 Liberty Ship – cargo ship which
transported materials throughout the war
 Welded together making it harder to sink
Creating an Army
 Men were given shots and Issued Uniforms
“Government Issued” GI
 Draftees were sent to basic training for eight
weeks to learn how to handle guns, read maps,
dig trenches etc.
 Army was segregated- African Americans were
separated from whites, usually under white
commanders. Wanted to keep them out of
combat.
“Double V”
 African American leaders argued that
blacks should join the war effort to fight
for a double victory.
 Victory over Hitler’s racism abroad and a
victory over racism at home.
FDR Responds to African
American Pressure
 African Americans in the North voted for
FDR
 FDR ordered The Navy, Marines and Air
Force to recruit Blacks.
 Tuskegee Airmen –sent in to combat in Italy
 Did NOT integrate the military but it did
expanded roles of blacks and integrated
military bases.
Women in the military
 They were enlisted but not able to enter
combat.
Life on the Home front –
Women and Minorities gain
ground
 Companies needed so
many laborers to
produce for war they
could not discriminate.
 Break-down of the
married women
syndrome if you were
married you should stay
home.
 2.5 Million women began
working in shipyards,
aircraft factories etc.
 “Rosie the Riveter”
A. Philip Randolph and the
Sleeping Car Porters Strike
 Businesses still refused to hire African
Americans
 Randolph threatened FDR with a fifty thousand
man March on Washington if FDR did not open
up defense jobs to blacks.
 FDR executive order 8802 stated “there shall be no
discrimination in the employment if workers in defense
industries… because of race, creed , color or national origin.”
 Fair employment Practices Commission- First
piece of civil rights legislation since the end of
the Civil War
The Rise of the Sunbelt
 Many Americans had to move to get jobs
 Major industrial growth in the South and
West.
 A Nation on the move created a Housing
Crisis
 Racial Tensions exploded as African
Americans moved into already crowded
neighborhoods looking for work
The Zoot-Suit Riots
 A type of suit that had a knee-length Jacket,
wide lapels and baggy pants
 Seen as unpatriotic because it used so much
fabric.
 Worn by Mexican American Teenagers
 Upon hearing a rumor that A group of zoot-suit
teenagers attacked several sailors about 2,500
soldiers and sailors stormed into MexicanAmerican neighborhoods.
 They cut their hair and tore off their suits. No
police intervention occurred
Zoot-Suit
Daily Life During WWII
 Government controlled prices, wages and
brokered between Unions and Owners.
 Rationing – constricted consumption to make
sure there was enough for the army.
 Every month each household would receive a
coupon book.
 Blue coupons – controlled processed food
 Red Coupons- controlled meats, fats and oils
 Other coupons controlled things like sugar and
coffee
Daily Life during WWII
Cont.
 Scrap drives – stations set up to collect vital
war materials such as tin, aluminum, pots,
rubber etc.
 Mostly done to make people feel like they were
part of the war effort.
 Victory gardens
 Paid for the war by raising taxes and selling
Victory Bonds
The Japanese Internment
 After Pearl Harbor many Americans in the
West began discriminating Japanese
Americans
 Mobs attacked Japanese businesses and
homes. Banks wouldn’t cash their checks
 Feb. 12 1942 – FDR signed order to allow the
War Department to declare any part of the US
a war zone.
 Secretary of War declared the West coast a
war zone and had all Japanese Americans
evacuated into 10 internment camps.
Japanese Internment
Cont.
 The internment camps were held up as
constitutional by the Supreme Court.
 No Japanese American was ever tried for
espionage or sabotage,
 1988 President Regan apologized and
paid each surviving member of the
interment camps $200,000.
Japanese Internment and
th
the 5 Amendment
 No person shall be held to answer for a
capital, or otherwise infamous crime,
unless on a presentation or indictment of
a grand jury, except in the cases
arising… in time of war or public danger;
nor shall any person be deprived of life,
liberty or property, without due process of
law.
Allies turn the Tide in the
Pacific
 Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942)
 The Battle of Midway Presentation
Allies Turn the Tide: North
Africa and Italy
 Operation Torch 1942-1943
 Operation Husky
Hitler Pursues the Soviet
Union
 The Battle of Stalingrad Presentation
 Enemy at the Gates Clip
Victory in Europe
 D-Day (Operation Overlord)
 Saving Private Ryan clip
 The Bombing of Dresden
 Battle of the Bulge
Island Hopping in the
Pacific
 US strategy was to retake the pacific one
Island at a time “Island-Hopping
Strategy”
 After the US success at Guadalcanal the
Japanese advances had stopped.
 Iwo Jima
 Island of Okinawa
Ending WWII
 V-E Day May 8th 1945 –Victory in Europe
 Firebombing of Japan – Bombers
released bombs with napalm which
exploded and set fires. -Target civilians
 By June 1945 six of Japans Industrial
centers were destroyed
 Over 80,000 civilians killed.
Ending WWII
 After the capture of Okinawa Japanese
Emperor urged Japanese to military
leaders to end the war.
 US Required unconditional surrender
 Japanese wanted to keep their emperor
 The Manhattan Project – secret plan to
build a nuclear bomb. July 16th 1945 US
detonated the first Atomic bomb in Los
Alamos New Mexico.
The Japanese Surrender
 After the success of the Okinawa
 Does the US invade Japanese Mainland?
 Do you risk losing 500,000 lives or do
you use the newly designed A-bomb?
Ending WWII
 August 6 1945 – US Drop the Atomic bomb on
Hiroshima
 August 9 1945 – Soviets declare war on Japan
and the US dropped a second A- bomb on
Nagasaki
 V-J day – August 15th 1945 Japan
surrendered.
 Nuremburg Trials were set up to try German
military leaders for war crimes – 36 Germans
and 7 Japanese were executed.