Download United States in World War II

United States in
World War II
“The Good War”
“The Greatest
Generation”
Who were the major
players in the war?
What was the war
all about? Why did the US
get involved?
What were the lasting
effects of the war?
Major Powers Involved
Axis Powers
• Japan
• Italy
• Germany
Allied Powers
• Great Britain
• Russia
• United States
Results of WWII
•Ends the Great
Depression
•Role of Gov’t Changes
•US = Leading Role in
International Affairs
Holocaust
• Lebensraum: clean living
space
• Purified Race:
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Jews
Slavs
Non-whites
Mental Disabilities
Physical Disabilities
Gypsies
Homosexuals
Incurable Ill
Holocaust
• Holocaust:
• Systematic murder of 6
million Jews (Plus 5 million
more)
• Anti-Semitism:
• Hatred of Jews
• Blamed all Problems on Jews
• Nuremburg Laws/Star of
David
Holocaust
• Kristallnacht: “Night of the
Broken Glass”
• November 9-10, 1938
• Nazi Brownshirts attacked
Jewish homes, businesses,
and synagogues
• 30.000 blamed and arrested
after
• 1939: Final Solution:
• A policy of genocide “the
deliberate and systematic
killing of an entire
population”
Holocaust
• Ghetto: segregated
Jewish areas (sealed off
with barbed wire and
stone walls)
• Concentration Camps
• Final Stage: 6 death
camps in Poland
• 12,000 killed within a day
A. Presidential Election of 1940
Franklin D.
Roosevelt ran for an
unprecedented third term
2. Republican Candidate: Wendell
Willkie
1. Democratic Candidate:
3. Electoral Count: FDR 449 to Willkie 82. Popular
vote much closer.
FDR and Wendell Willkie
B. U.S. Foreign Policy
1940s: Franklin D. Roosevelt
1. By 1940, France had fallen to the Germans and
Britain was in great financial crisis
2. Washington was questioning the wisdom of
neutrality
3. Congress passed the first
peacetime draft on
September 6, 1940
C. From Cash and Carry to
Lend-Lease
1. As a result of Britain’s financial crisis, the
U.S. passed the Lend-Lease Bill, patriotically
number HR 1776, in March of 1941
2. The Lend-Lease Bill eventually
provided over $50 billion
worth of arms and equipment
to those nations fighting
aggressors
3. This was a direct change in the Neutrality
Laws of the 1930s
FDR Signs the Lend-Lease Bill
D. Undeclared War
1. The Axis Powers viewed the Lend-Lease Bill
as an unofficial declaration of war
2. German U-Boats began
attacking U.S. merchant
ships and U.S. destroyers
in the Atlantic
3. Robin Moor – Merchant ship sunk by U-boat
4. Greer- Destroyer, attacked
E. Atlantic Charter
1. Secret meeting between FDR and Churchill
on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland
2. Both leaders agreed that the people had the
right to choose their own form of
government and proposed a new League of
Nations (many other factors were included)
F. Pearl Harbor
1. Japan joined the Berlin-Rome Axis in June of
1940
2. Late 1940, Washington
imposed the first of many
embargoes on Japan – Japan
was VERY dependent on U.S.
steel, scrap iron, and oil
3. Negotiations between Japan and Washington
took place in November and early December of
1941
4. U.S. State Department insisted the Japanese
leave China – if they complied the U.S. would
began some trade
5. Japan refused the offer
– which meant war
6.
U.S. officials were aware of this decision early – cracked the
code of the Japanese diplomats to Japan
7. As a democracy the U.S. could not strike first
8. U.S. knew the Japanese
would attack in the Pacific –
they did not know where
9. DECEMBER 7, 1941 –
Sunday morning without
warning – Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii – over 2,000
Americans died
10. “A date which will live in infamy” – FDR
addressed Congress the following day –
Congress was one vote shy of a unanimous
decision for war
11. December 11, 1941 – Italy and Germany
declared war on the U.S.
I. Mobilizing for Defense
A.
Government expanded the military:
• Enlarged draft
• WAAC- Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps allowed women to serve in
non-combat positions in Army
• Minorities- could serve but usually in segregated units
• American Indians served as code talkers in the Pacific
B. Government Control
• War Production Board-directed conversion of factories
• Industries were converted to produce war goods- no
cars just tanks, planes boats, and guns
• Office of Price Admin (OPA)- rationed items such as gas,
tires, coffee, sugar, meat, and butter; also froze prices and
raised taxes
• Production of goods was how we planned to win
C. Wartime Costs- over $330 Billion
• Some was borrowed – national debt went from $49 bil
1941 to $259 bil in 1945
• Government also increased the income tax and sold
war bonds to finance the war
Paying for the War
Paying for the War
D. Promoting War (propaganda)
• Government used media to create prowar movies & songs to build support for
war and troops
• Disney made cartoons to build support for
war
• Hollywood hired to make pro-war movies
E. Office of War Mobilization
--their job was to recruit people into places
where labor shortages existed
1. women- nurses,
volunteers,
Pilots, laborers in
factories
E. Office of War Mobilization (Cont.)
2. Americans cut back on consumption and grew
gardens, recycled, changed clothing styles to help
conserve materials, became very patriotic, etc.
3. The West coast practiced black outs and drills
due to fears of more attacks by Japanese
Duties of a responsible citizen of
US
4.“Rosie the Riveter”
Used to
persuade women
to work in the
factories to
replace the men
at war. Women
gained better
pay and
opportunities!
People moved to where the war industry factories were located
II. Discrimination in the War
A. African Americans• Gained better job opportunities
• Still served in segregated units in the war
• A. Phillip Randolph- led movement to
increase fairness for African Americans in
jobs and the military
• FDR passed an executive order prohibiting
discrimination in defense plants and
government jobs
II. Discrimination in the War (Cont.)
B. Zoot-suit riots- in LA where Hispanics were
targeted for violence in 1943
C. Japanese-American Relocation
1. Internment- forced relocation of
Japanese citizens of the US on the
Pacific Coast to camps inside the US
Individual liberty vs. National Security
2. Over 110,000 Japanese-Americans (2/3 were
American born U.S. Citizens) were forced into
internment camps in 1942
3. There was no evidence of disloyalty; US fears led
to this as a matter of national security. Norman
Mineta was one of these people.
4. Korematsu v. US, 1944 SC case upheld the
internment on basis of national security. They
remained imprisoned until 1945.
Japanese Internment
Individual Liberty vs. National
Security
• President Ford will repeal Executive Order 9066.
• Ronald Reagan will later issue a formal apology letter to the
Japanese Americans.
• President Clinton presented a Medal of Honor to Fred
Korematsu at the White House.
• In 2001, George Bush formally apologized and each surviving
internee would receive a nontaxed check for $20,000.
III. War for Europe and N.
Africa
A.
B.
C.
Battle for Atlantic- US and GB worked to defeat German U-boats
East- Soviets turn back Germans at Stalingrad
Operation Torch- Allied invaded N. Africa to liberate it Nov. 1942;
led by Dwight Eisenhower
D. 1943- we invaded Italy; it fell 1945
- Tuskegee Airmen vital to this effort
E. June 6, 1944- D Day, Operation Overlord- Allied invasion at
Normandy, France to liberate W. Europe
-Supreme Allied Commander- Dwight D. Eisenhower
F. Liberation of death camps began 1944+
G. FDR elected to 4th term 1944; died April 12, 1945; Harry S. Truman
became new president
H. Yalta Conference- meeting held Feb. 1945 to plan for post-war
peace; divided Germany into 4 pieces and set framework for
United Nations
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike)
D- Day Invasion
June 6, 1944
I. V-E Day: May 8, 1945 Victory in
Europe when Germany surrendered
IV. Pacific Front
A. After Pearl Harbor, Japan
attacked areas in the Pacific and
East Asia
1. Included: China, Guam,
Wake, the Philippines,
Hong Kong; they planned to
take over all the way to
Australia.
Pacific Theater of Operations
2. US aided China against
Japan
3. Doolittle Raids- we retaliated
on Japan April 1942 by
bombing Tokyo
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle:
First U. S. Raids on Tokyo, 1942
4. Japan conquered along way to Australia; they took the
Philippines from us:
• Many of our soldiers were captured and marched across Bataan
Peninsula to prison camps- many died in process
• Gen. Douglas MacArthur vowed to return and retake the
island and free our soldiers
5. 1st Allied offensive in Aug. 1942
6. Used island hopping to free the islands/territories from
Japan
7. Kamikaze- suicide-plane bombers used to attack our ships
during battle to retake Philippines in 1944
General Douglas MacArthur
Farthest Extent
of Japanese Conquests
Election of 1944
Thomas Dewey
(Rep)
FDR
(Dem)
Feb. 1945 Iwo Jima
B. Ending the War
•
Manhattan Project- US development
of the atomic bomb
•
Pres. Truman- should we use the
bomb? Why/ why not?
• 1st dropped on Hiroshima August 6, 1945
• 2nd dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945
Mushroom Cloud
V-J (Victory in
Japan) celebrated
Sept. 2, 1945
Kiss in Times
Square when the
surrender of Japan
was announced.
C. After the war…
1.
2.
Nuremberg Trials- held Nazi leaders accountable for their
actions and set precedent for declaring people guilty of
crimes against humanity
We occupied and rebuilt Germany and Japan to prevent
another world war (we left them after WWI and look what
happened!)
D. Costs of War
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Total direct and indirect costs of war may
have reached as high as $4 trillion
U.S. deaths 400,000
30 mil civilians died
European infrastructure gone
Holocaust- murdered 6 mil Jews
E. Effects on the US:
• Did not return to Isolationism- remained interventionist
• Leading members of the United Nations and other organizations
to promote collective security
• Emergence of 2 world superpowers
• Expanded the president’s powers and made the government
bigger
• Increased national debt and government role in economy