Download U.S. and WWII

U.S. and WWII
“Good Neighbor Policy”
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Roosevelt Announced during his inaugural
address (1933)
We would oppose armed intervention in
Latin American affairs
In response to increasing tensions/conflicts
We will “respect the rights of others”
“This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I
cannot ask that every American remain
neutral in thought as well.”
- Franklin Roosevelt, 1939
Neutrality Tested
 No question that U.S. favored Allied Powers
 What would it take for the U.S. to assist them?
 At the very least, Roosevelt believed we should
make armaments available to Allied armies
Neutrality Acts (1935-36-37)
 Only trade non-military goods with nations
at war
 President to warn Americans from travelling
in hostile waters
 (1937) “Cash-and-Carry” Policy
Lend-Lease Agreement (1941)
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The U.S. could lend or lease armaments “to
any nation deemed pivotal to the defense
of the United States.”
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They would be returned after the war
The Atlantic Charter, Aug.1941
 Called for “certain common principles” on
which to base “a better future for the world.”
 Openly called for “the final destruction of the
Nazi tyranny.”
 Statement of war aims?
$$$ War Spending $$$
1941
1945
Budget $9 Billion
$100 Billion
GNP
$91 Billion
$166 Billion
Debt
$49 Billion
$259 Billion
Zoot-suits
D-Day Invasion
• June 6, 1944 – Invasion to retake France
• Thousands of planes, ships, tanks, landing
craft, and 3.5 million troops
• American, Canadian, French and British
forces
• Among the Americans alone, 3,000 died
June 6, 1944 – D-Day
Aug 25, 1944 – Paris Liberated
By September – France, Belgium,
and Luxemburg Liberated
Dec 44-Jan 45 - Battle of the Bulge
May 8, 1945 – Victory in Europe (VE) Day
General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional
surrender of the Third Reich
Yalta Conference
Early Feb 1945, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt met
Decided upon unconditional surrender for
Germany
4 Occupation zones
demilitarization
Soviet Union would enter war with Japan
3 months after the fighting in Europe ended
Stalin would join the newly formed United
Nations
Dresden, Germany
February 13, 1945
4,000 tons of explosives
dropped
35,000 – 135,000 dead
Strategic, or payback
for blitz?
Hitler greeting his “soldiers” in Berlin, April 20, 1945
Berlin Falls May 2, 1945 (VE Day May 8)
United Nations
June, 1945
50 nations signed the UN Charter which
pledged “to save succeeding generations
from the scourge of war.”
The Security Council is made up of 15
member states, consisting of 5 permanent
members–China, France, Russia, the
United Kingdom and the United States–and
10 non-permanent members, currently:
Azerbaijan, India, South Africa, Colombia,
Morocco, Togo, Germany, Pakistan,
Guatemala, and Portugal
War in the Pacific ends
July 26, 1945 – Potsdam Declaration issued
August 6 – First bomb dropped on Hiroshima
August 8 – Soviet Union invades Manchuria
August 9 – Second bomb dropped on Nagasaki
August 15 – Emperor Hirohito gives radio address
declaring acceptance of Potsdam Declaration
terms
- (VJ, Victory over Japan Day)
September 2 – Japan surrenders in Tokyo Harbor to
General Douglas MacArthur
Truman Doctrine 1947
U.S. must help “free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed
minorities or by outside pressures.”
Offer of financial and military support to
Greece and Turkey (prevent instability)
Beginning of “containment” philosophy
Marshall Plan
June 1947
(European Recovery Program)
Sec. Of State George Marshall
We will offer financial aid to countries in
Europe who want it
Equal aid was offered to the Soviet Union
Basketball reads: “European Recovery.”
Caption: “Can he block it?”
The Second Red Scare / McCarthyism
• Berlin Blockade (led
to Airlift in 1948/49)
• Russia Detonates
Bomb 1949
Korean War 1950-53
Espionage +
Subversion
-Hiss Case
-Ethel & Julius Rosenberg
• Communist Victory
in China (1949)
Politics – Dems week on
communism