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AMERICA IN WORLD
WAR II
CHAPTER 35
The Allies Trade Space For Time
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After Pearl Harbor, the free world was on the edge of
disaster
Japan running amok in Pacific and Germany might drive
England to the wall before US aid could stem the tide.
ABC-1 agreement
Why is stopping Hitler a bigger priority?.
Plan: Devote enough energy to Japan to keep them from
getting any more and begin to try to drive them back, but
make Europe the first priority.
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This strategy criticized by public, pacific commanders, China and
far-east allies, but was sound.
Revving the Economic Engine
US had massive economic potential, but
needed time to get geared up.
 Wasn’t clear that had time.
 England in desperate shape.
 America needed to time to convert
factories to all-out war production.
 Fear that skilled German scientists would
come up with dramatic new weapons.
 Had to feed and arm itself and allies.
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The Shock Of War
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National unity wasn’t a problem—Pearl Harbor
had silenced isolationists.
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US communists and socialists fully backed the war.
Why?
No government witch hunts against American
Germans or most Japanese-Americans. Why?
Exception: West-Coast Japanese,
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110,000 interned in concentration camps. Why?
Most interned were well integrated into US
 Lost millions in earnings and property.
 Upheld by Supreme Court in Korematsu v. U.S.
 Apologize in 1988 and pay reparations.
Japanese Internment
Waiting for the Signal From Home
Building The War Machine
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War snapped US out of the
depression.
Full employment.
War Production Board.
Henry J. Kaiser -Ship-building
king
Rationing
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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.
Food Rationing
Farmers have bumper crops
and boom time.
Do Your Part
Economic Bumps
War caused Inflation. Why?
 WPB response.
 Unions gave no-strike pledge, but hated
wage caps and some staged labor
stoppages.
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 Mine
workers under John L. Lewis were the
worst.
 Roosevelt took a tough stance.
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1943 Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
Manpower Shortage
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15 Million men served
in WWII.
216,000 women
served in military in
one capacity or
another
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WAACS (Army) ,
WAVES (Navy)
Severe manpower
shortage at home.
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Braceros.
Rosie the Riveter
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6 Million women took
jobs outside the
home; over half had
never worked before.
Rosie the Riveter.
Effect on Women’s
movement
2/3 left or lost their
jobs after war.
Wartime Migrations
Reason for wartime migrations.
 Detroit and LA, Dallas
 1.6 million blacks moved from the south.
 New race problems in northern cities.
 Blacks resent their treatment.
 FDR issues executive order prohibiting
discrimination in defense industries
 Fair Employment Practices Commission.
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Internal Migration in the United States During World War II
Blacks Demand Fairness
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Blacks adopt the
Double V slogan.
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Military segregation
NAACP membership
shoots up and
Congress for Racial
Equality is established
(CORE)
Move north continues
after the war.
Creation of Sun Belt
Economic Effect of War
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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.
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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.
Federal Spending
All the federal spending finally cures the
depression.
 War cost $330 billion.
 Where did money come from?
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 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.
Figure 36.1: The National Debt, 1930–1950
Fighting in the Pacific
THE RISING SUN IN THE PACIFIC
 JAPAN’S HIGH TIDE AT MIDWAY
 AMERICAN LEAPFROGGING TOWARD
TOKYO
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Students get this stuff on their own.
The Allied Halting Of Hitler
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Battle of North Atlantic
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German subs were sinking
merchant ships faster than
they could be built..
North Africa
9/42 Russia stalls the
German steamroller on the
outskirts of Stalingrad
High-water mark for Hitler
The North African Second Front
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Soviets are begging the allies to open
second front. Allies recognize they need
to.
 Stalin’s
concerns and fears
 Allies concerns
Americans are willing to make a crosschannel invasion in 1942 but Churchill and
England’s high command are against this.
 British argue for an attack at the
underbelly of Europe in the Mediterranean.
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Operation Torch
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Invade North Africa 11/42.
Ike in command.
Biggest sea-born invasion up to that time.
American troops get pummeled by Germans in first battle at
Kasserine pass. Patton takes charge.
U.S. and Brits begin to drive Germans East.
Forced Germans to surrender in Tunisia 5/43
Casablanca
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Churchill and Roosevelt
Jan. 1943.
Agree to invade Sicily.
The plan
Many on American staff
don’t like this idea.
Churchill and Roosevelt
agree to insist on
unconditional surrender
of Germany. Why?
Sicily
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Sicily invaded and
falls 8/43.
Mussolini is deposed
soon thereafter and
Italy unconditionally
surrenders.
Germans don’t leave
and carry on fight in
Italy
Invasion of Italy
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9/43 Allies invade toe of
Italy and start fighting up
the boot.
Bogs down; amphibious
invasion along the Western
coast at Anzio.
Is very slow going in Italy
fighting through the
mountains.
Allies finally get Rome 2
days before D-Day.
Do not finish in Italy until 5
days before German
surrender.
Italy Assessed
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Benefits:
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Does divert some German troops and provides us
with air bases from which we can easily bomb
Germany.
Does open the Mediterranean to Allies greatly
restricting Germans.
Problems:
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Delayed the cross-channel invasion by many months,
giving Soviets a chance to get further into Eastern
Europe before the war ends.
Increased Soviet suspicion
Tehran Conference
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Late Nov. 1943
Purpose
First meeting of
Roosevelt and
Stalin
Roosevelt
attempts to
placate Stalin
Eisenhower’s D-day Invasion Of France
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Eisenhower is given
command of D-day
landing.
June 6, 1944.
Biggest sea-borne
invasion in history.
Land near
Normandy.
Five beaches. Gold,
Juno, Sword, Utah,
Omaha
D-Day
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Very hard fighting;
Have to break out before Germans
bring in reinforcements and drive
invasion back into the ocean.
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US has Air superiority.
 US has used paratroopers the night
of the D-day invasion
 Hitler dithers on the day of the
invasion.
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August, 1944, invasion of southern
France opens a second front.
Patton breaks out and races to the
German border, but is forced to stall
when he can’t get enough supplies.
Election of 1944
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Election of 1944 comes at a bad time—the war
is reaching its climax
Republicans nominate Dewey, popular governor
of New York. He is only 42 and is very liberal for
a Republican.
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Platform?
FDR is renominated as a matter of course.
Roosevelt is in very poor health.
VP, Henry Wallace, dumped and replaced by
Truman. Why?
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Roosevelt relationship with Truman.
Roosevelt Again
FDR stays in the White House running the
war for most of the election.
 Dewey position on New Deal
 Dewey position on war.
 Dewey is hurt by his VP candidate who
has been a staunch isolationist.
 FDR wins by 3 Million votes and 432-99 in
the Electoral College. Reasons
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Battle of the Bulge
December 1944, Germany was wobbling.
 Dec. 16, 1944 Hitler unleashes a powerful
all-out counter-offense in the snowshrouded and foggy Ardennes forest.
Battle of the Bulge.
 Allies are thrown back in disarray.
 German target is port of Antwerp. Goal?
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Battle of the Bulge
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Problem—Germans are very
low on fuel and lack air
support.
101st Airborne is
surrounded but refuses to
surrender at Bastogne.
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Constantly shelled, low
supplies, no winter clothing.
Patton drives north in record
time and relieves Bastogne.
V-E Day
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March 1945 American Troops reach the Rheine
April, 1945 just outside Berlin, US forces meet up with Soviets who have
been driving in from the East.
Discover the concentration camps.
April 12, 1945, Roosevelt dies.
Truman, who is totally out of the loop, is hastily sworn in.
April 30, 1945, Hitler commits suicide as Berlin is falling around him.
May 7, 1945, Germany surrenders unconditionally.
Japan Dies Hard
American subs devastate Japan’s
merchant fleet.
 Massive fire-bomb raids of Japanese
cities.
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 March,
1945, destroy ¼ of Tokyo and killed
over 80,000. As devastating as later Nuclear
attacks.
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MacArthur recaptures New Guinea.
Leyte Gulf and Philippine
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October, 1944,
biggest naval battle in
history. Leyte Gulf.
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Douglas MacArthur returns to
Philippines
Japan’s naval power is
destroyed.
First Kamikazes.
Jan. 1945, recapture
Philippine mainland.
Okinawa and Iwo Jima
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Spring 1945 vicious
battles on Okinawa
and Iwo Jima.
Japanese fight to the
last man, inflicting
severe casualties.
Impact on US
strategic thinking?
Atomic Awfulness
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Invasion of Japan is assumed will cost America thousands of
casualties.
Japan is sending out peace-feelers, but does not appear willing to
surrender unconditionally.
Potsdam conference July 1945 Allies agree again to unconditional
surrender.
Japan wants to keep the emperor.
Manhattan project. Very secret.
First atomic bomb in New Mexico July 1945.
Nagasaki and Hiroshima—Japanese surrender.
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Hiroshima—70,000 instant deaths and 60,000 more over next months
due to radiation.
Soviets enter the war just after the first bomb and overrun
Manchuria and Korea (hence North Korea)
Japan surrenders August 10, 1945
Why Does Truman Use the Bomb?
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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.
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Probably most important