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Chapter 35
America in World War II, 1941–1945
CHAPTER THEMES
Theme: Unified by Pearl Harbor, America effectively carried out a war mobilization effort that produced vast social and
economic changes within American society.
Theme: Following its “get Hitler first” strategy, the United States and its Allies invaded and liberated conquered Europe
from Fascist rule. The slower strategy of “island-hopping” against Japan also proceeded successfully until the atomic
bomb brought a sudden end to World War II.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
America was wounded but roused to national unity by Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt settled on a fundamental strategy of
dealing with Hitler first, while doing just enough in the Pacific to block the Japanese advance.
With the ugly exception of the Japanese-American concentration camps, World War II proceeded in the United States
without the fanaticism and violations of civil liberties that occurred in World War I. The economy was effectively
mobilized, using new sources of labor such as women and Mexican braceros. Numerous African Americans and Indians
also left their traditional rural homelands and migrated to war-industry jobs in the cities of the North and West. The war
brought full employment and prosperity, as well as enduring social changes, as millions of Americans were uprooted and
thrown together in the military and in new communities across the country. Unlike European and Asian nations, however,
the United States experienced relatively little economic and social devastation from the war.
The tide of Japanese conquest was stemmed at the Battles of Midway and the Coral Sea, and American forces then began
a slow strategy of “island hopping” toward Tokyo. Allied troops first invaded North Africa and Italy in 1942–1943,
providing a small, compromise “second front” that attempted to appease the badly weakened Soviet Union as well as the
anxious British. The real second front came in June 1944 with the D-Day invasion of France. The Allies moved rapidly
across France, but faced a setback in the Battle of the Bulge in the Low Countries.
Meanwhile, American capture of the Marianas Islands established the basis for extensive bombing of the Japanese home
islands. Roosevelt won a fourth term as Allied troops entered Germany and finally met the Russians, bringing an end to
Hitler’s rule in May 1945. After a last round of brutal warfare on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the dropping of two atomic
bombs ended the war against Japan in August 1945.
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17.
Korematsu v. US
Executive Order 9066
War Production Board
Office of Price
Administration
War Labor Board
Smith-Connally AntiStrike Act
WAACS
WAVES
SPARS
GI
Braceros
Rosie the Riveter
Fair Employment Practices
Commission
code talkers
rationing
Office of Scientific
Research and
Development
Jiang Jieshi
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39.
Guam
Wake
I Shall Return
Douglas MacArthur
Bataan Death March
Coral Sea
Midway Island
Chester W. Nimitz
Raymond A. Spruance
Guadalcanal
leapfrogging
Attu and Kiska
Tarawa and Makin
Guam
Marianas
Saipan
B-29
wolf packs
Enigma
Erwin Rommel
Bernard Montgomery
El Alamein
40. Stalingrad
41. Dwight D. “Ike”
Eisenhower
42. unconditional surrender
43. Teheran
44. D-Day
45. George S. Patton
46. Thomas E. Dewey
47. Harry S. Truman
48. Battle of the Bulge
49. General A.C. McAuliffe
50. Holocaust
51. VE Day
52. fire bomb raid
53. Leyte Island
54. Iwo Jima
55. Okinawa
56. kamikazes
57. Potsdam Conference
58. Manhattan Project
59. Hiroshima
60. Nagasaki
61. VJ Day
Chapter 35 Study Guide
The Allies Trade Space for Time
"America's task was far more complex and back-breaking [in World War II] than in World War I." Explain.
Why was time more important than expense to the Allies?
The Shock of War
How did the war affect liberal ideals and goals at home?
Evaluate the treatment of Japanese Americans during the war.
How did New Deal programs suffer as a result of the war?
Building the War Machine
What effects did the war have on manufacturing, agriculture and labor?
Makers of America: The Japanese
In what way can it be said that the reason's for Japanese immigrants' success also caused them trouble?
Manpower and Womanpower
What opportunities were opened to women as a result of the war?
Why might the impact of the war on women have been exaggerated?
Wartime Migrations
What effect did the war have on the nation's minorities?
Analyze the internal migration of Americans during the war.
Describe the contributions of minority groups to the war.
Holding the Homefront
What economic effects resulted from American participation in the war on the homefront?
Describe the costs and financing of the war
The Rising Sun in the Pacific
Describe Japanese victories in the Pacific in the months following Pearl Harbor.
Where was resistance to the Japanese strongest in the early days of the war?
Japan's High Tide at Midway
What was the importance of the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway?
American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
Describe the strategy the United States use to defeat the Japanese.
The Allied Halting of Hitler
"The war against Hitler looked much better at the end of 1942 than it had in the beginning." Explain.
How and when did the Allies finally gain the upper hand against German uboats?
Describe the Allied efforts against North Africa.
A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
The Soviets believed that they had made the greatest sacrifices in WWII. Analyze this claim.
Describe the purpose and outcome of the Invasion of North Africa.
What was the British plan for the war, and why might they have chosen this route?
What was the result of the invasion of Italy? Was it what the British hoped?
D-Day: June 6, 1944
Describe the strategies and preparations for the Allied invasion of France
Why could June 6, 1944 be considered THE turning point of the war?
FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
Why was the choice of a vice-presidential candidate important and difficult for the democrats in 1944?
Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
What factors led to Roosevelt's victory over Dewey?
The Last Days of Hitler
Describe the last six months of war in Europe.
Japan Dies Hard
Explain the meaning of the title of this section.
The Atomic Bombs
What was the military impact of the atomic bomb?
The Allies Triumphant
"This complex conflict was the best fought war in America's history." Explain
Varying Viewpoints: The Atomic Bombs: Were They Justified?
20.
In light of the discussion in this section, evaluate the atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki and the fire-bombing
of Dresden & Tokyo.
EXPANDING THE “VARYING VIEWPOINTS”

Gar Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy (rev. ed., 1985).
A view of the atomic bomb as aimed at Russia rather than Japan:
“The decision to use the weapon did not derive from overriding military considerations.…Before the atomic bomb
was dropped each of the Joint Chiefs of Staff advised that it was highly likely that Japan could be forced to
surrender ‘unconditionally,’ without use of the bomb and without an invasion.…Unquestionably, political
considerations related to Russia played a major role in the decision; from at least mid-May American policy makers
hoped to end the hostilities before the Red Army entered Manchuria.…A combat demonstration was needed to
convince the Russians to accept the American plan for a stable peace.”

Martin Sherwin, A World Destroyed (1975).
A view of the atomic bomb as primarily aimed at Japan:
“Caught between the remnants of war and the uncertainties of peace, policymakers and scientists were trapped by
their own unquestioned assumptions.…The secret development of this terrible weapon, during a war fought for a
total victory, created a logic of its own: a quest for a total solution of a set of related problems that appeared
incapable of being resolved incrementally.…As Szilard first suggested in January 1944, the bomb might provide its
own solution.…The decision to use the bomb to end the war could no longer be distinguished from the desire to use
it to stabilize the peace.”
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE “VARYING VIEWPOINTS”
21. Assess the validity of the claim that the dropping of the bombs on Japan was not so much an attempt to end the war
against the Japanese, as it was “the first salvos in the emerging Cold War.”
22. What does each of these historians see as American officials’ thinking about the relationship between the bomb and
the ending of the war against Japan? What does each regard as the primary reason for the use of the bomb?
23. What conclusions might be drawn from each of these views about the political and moral justifications for dropping
the bomb? Could the use of the atomic bombs have been avoided?
Analysis Questions
“This is an hour of crisis.…To American Negroes, it is the denial of jobs in government defense projects. It is racial
discrimination in government departments. It is widespread Jim-Crowism in the armed forces of the Nation.…What a
runaround! What a disgrace! What a blow below the belt!” A. Philip Randolph (1889–1979) (Call for March on
Washington, 1941)
“When I joined the Army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all my boyish hopes and dreams.…I
still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day, which proclaimed, most proudly, that
‘Old soldiers never die. They just fade away.’ And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and
just fade away.” Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) (Speech to Congress, 1951)
“Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. America loves a winner.
America will not tolerate a loser.” George Patton (1885–1945) (Speech to his troops before D-Day, 1944)
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How did America’s domestic response to World War II differ from its reaction to World War I?
What was the wisest strategic decision in World War II, and what was the most questionable?
How were the European and Pacific wars similar and how were they different?
What was the significance of the dropping of the atomic bomb, then and now?
5 Account for the increased urbanization of Black Americans in the period 1914 to 1945. (72)
HISTORIC NOTES

Early in the war, Germany, Japan, and Italy have considerable military success. The Allies, except for France,
which had surrendered in 1940, are fortunate not to be overwhelmed completely.
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Fearing that they will be disloyal, FDR orders the detention of Japanese Americans, a serious violation of basic
American civil rights.

Millions die in the Holocaust, a systematic attempt by the Nazis to destroy those they consider to be inferior – Slavs,
the mentally ill, homosexuals, political prisoners, and, especially, Jews.
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The war occasions extensive demographic changes. Urban areas expand to meet the demand for labor in war-related
industries. Rural and less-developed areas in the West and Southwest grow as well, a result of receiving government
military contracts.

As in every American war, blacks contribute significantly in WWII despite the obstacles placed before them. But
the military will not be desegregated until 1948.
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The considerable financial resources needed to wage war drive up the national debt. In fact, New Deal spending
pales in comparison with wartime military expenditures.

The success of the D-Day landing in the summer of 1944 affords the Allies a bridgehead in France from which they
can move inland and ultimately invade Germany itself. With the USSR counterattacking from the east and the
British and Americans closing in from the west, Hitler’s Third Reich is doomed. In April, 1945, shortly after Hitler
killed himself, Germany surrenders, a victory FDR does not see, having died suddenly the month before.

With the war in Europe over, the Allies turn all of their attention to defeating Japan. After bloody battles in the
Pacific, Truman orders atomic bombs cropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, inflicting enormous civilian casualties.
Japan soon surrenders.

Women play an important role in the war effort; they replace male workers who were in the military and fill
supporting roles in the military.
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In 1944 FDR won reelection for a 4th term, in large part because of military success and grassroots support from the
CIO and other organized labor political action groups.
Advanced Placement United States History Topic Outline
21. The Second World War
A. The rise of fascism and militarism in Japan, Italy, and Germany
B. Prelude to war: policy of neutrality
C. The attack on Pearl Harbor and United States declaration of war
D. Fighting a multifront war
E. Diplomacy, war aims, and wartime conferences
F. The United States as a global power in the Atomic Age
22. The Home Front During the War
A. Wartime mobilization of the economy
B. Urban migration and demographic changes
C. Women, work, and family during the war
D. Civil liberties and civil rights during wartime
E. War and regional development
F. Expansion of government power