Download Apush Chapter 28 Notes

Apush Chapter 28 Notes
By Emily Claus
America in a World at War
War on Two Fronts:
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the people of the United States held a united front and
entered World War II. The Allies were losing badly and appeared ready to collapse and Japan
was taking over. The first move the U.S. had to make was holding off defeat and then to focus
on victory.
Containing the Japanese Within days after Pearl Harbor the Japanese managed to take both American and British
territory including Guam, Wake Island, the British colony of Hong Kong, Singapore, and
the Philippines. They bombed the American airfield in Manila severely limiting the
American air power in the Pacific.
 America had two broad offenses to fight back against the Japanese. One group of troops
led by General Douglas MacArthur planned to move north from Australia and travel
through New Guinea and land in the Philippines. The second group would led by Admiral
Chester Nimitz would move west from Hawaii to Japanese outposts in the Pacific. The
two groups would then meet and invade Japan.
 Battles
Battle of Coral Sea – May 7-8, 1942, the first major Allies victory which occurred
northwest of Australia. American forces turned back a strong Japanese fleet.
Midway – June 3-6 1942, another victory for the Allies, it was an enormous
battle that had heavy losses. It occurred outside an American outpost at
Midway Island and allowed America to regain control of the central Pacific.
Guadalcanal- August 1942, the first battle of American offense took place on the
southern Solomon Islands. America attacked three of the islands including
Gavutu, Tulagi, and Guadalcanal. The battle occurred for six months until the
Japanese retreated. The battle destroyed Japans last chance of launching and
effective offense to the south. America began moving toward Japan itself.
Holding Off the Germans In Europe American military had less control and had to coordinate with the other
nations along with the new member the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was receiving
the most impact from Germany and wanted an invasion of France across the English
Channel. But the British preferred a series of offenses around the majority of the Nazi
empire in northern Africa and southern Europe. Roosevelt did not want to upset the
Soviet Union but the invasion would take a long time to prepare and he wanted
American troops in Europe immediately, so he sided with Britain.
 Under General Erwin Rommel the British attacked Nazi forces in North Africa forcing the
Germans to retreat from Egypt. Anglo-American forces landed at Oran and Algiers in
Algeria along with Casablanca in Morocco moving eastward to Rommel through Nazi
territory.
 The Germans gave all their forces to fight in Africa and pushed back the Americans in
Kasserine Pass in Tunisia. The Americans regrouped alongside General George S. Patton
and fought and effective counteroffensive. With the Allied naval power and the British
attacking from the east under General Bernard Montgomery, Germany was gone from
Africa in May 1943.
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The African movement postponed the English Channel invasion irritating the Soviet
Union. However threats on the Soviet Union were disappearing as the red army held off
Germans in southern Russia at Stalingrad. Hitler received mass casualties during this
battle and could not continue his eastern offensive.
 The siege of Stalingrad devastated the land and the death toll rose to 20 million. Their
success in beating back the Germans caused Roosevelt to agree during a meeting with
Churchill to an Allied invasion of Sicily. The Soviet Union was upset that it would further
delay the France invasion but agreed when Churchill explained that this invasion could
knock Italy out of the war and distract German soldiers who would normally be present
for an invasion in France.
 July 9, 1943 American and British forces invade Sicily and win 38 days later. They head
for the Italian mainland. Mussolini government collapses and the dictator fled to
Germany. Pietro Badoglio succeeded him and declared the country to be part of the
Allies. Germany however moved eight divisions into the country and built a defense wall
just south of Rome. Allies in the peninsula could not gain access until the spring and
invaded capturing Rome on June 4, 1944. This delayed the invasion of France even
futher.
America and the Holocaust –
 In 1942 America discovered about the concentration and death camps that Jews, blacks,
homosexuals, and communists were being sent to in mass numbers. The public urged
the government to step in or at least free the remaining Jews but the government
refused.
 Pleas to destroy railroad tracks leading to the camps were rejected. Allied bombers
were flying just of the death camp Auschwitz in Poland several times but saw rescue as
“unfeasible”.
 The German passenger liner the St. Louis carrying over 1,000 escaped Jews landed on
the coast of Miami in 1939. Unable to enter the U.S. they returned to Europe. The U.S.
had not even used all its possible visas. Assistant Secretary Breckinridge Long attempted
to keep Jews from entering the country.
 All in all there was little the U.S. could have done other than defeat Germany to help the
Jews.
The American People in Wartime –
Prosperity  WWII marked the official ending of the Great Depression and brought prosperity
to the country.
 Federal spending increased from 9 billion to 100 billion pumping more money
into the economy.
 Demands of wartime production helped industry grow and with a shortage of
goods people were now placing their money in savings.
The War and the West –
 The government was spending the most money in the West which relied on the
government for improvements. California became the naval point for the war
against Japan.
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The government was also creating large manufacturing facilities in the West to
serve the needs of the military. The government spent 40 billion dollars on
factories, military and transportation facilities, highways and power plants in the
West. 10% of all money spent in the West went to California.
California was becoming the center of American aircraft industry along with a
large shipbuilding industry. The West itself became among the most important
manufacturing areas in the country.
Labor and the War –
 The war took 15 million men and women creating a serious labor shortage.
Civilian work forces increased by 20% during the war.
 People who had been previously turned away from jobs (young people, elderly,
and women) were now taking on many jobs. People who had become
unemployed during the depression were now also getting jobs.
 Union memberships were now increasing drastically, due to the rise and the
current war, the government was afraid that strikes would cause production to
slow or stop.
 The Little Steel Formula set a 15% limit on wartime wage increase and the non –
strike pledge prevented workers from stopping production during wartime. In
return the government created the “maintenance-of-membership” which made
all workers starting at unionized defense plants would be enrolled in the Unions.
The workers also gave up the right to demand economic gains during the war.
 Many union leaders and workers resented the restrictions and over 15,000
strikes caused work stoppages (though the strikes and been unauthorized b y
union leaders).
 The Smith- Connally Act required unions to wait thirty days before striking and
empowered the president to seize a struck war plant (FDR vetoed it but it
passed). Many state laws also attempted t limit union power.
Stabilizing the Boom –
 There was a large rise in the fear of inflation so in 1942 Congress passed the
Anti-Inflation Act allowing the government to freeze prices, wages, salaries, and
rents. The act was to be enforced by the Office of Price Administration (OPA) led
by Leon Henderson.
 OPA never gained popularity, had a very complicated system of rationing scared
goods.
 Government spending and the national debt increased. To pay for the war the
government sold bonds and created the Revenue Act of 1942. It created a 94%
rate for wealthy people and even taxed the lower tax. To ensure payment it was
taken as a payroll deduction.
Mobilizing Production –
 The War Production Board (WPB) was a superagency designed to have broad
powers over the economy. It never gained much authority or strength.
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The WPB never gained military purchase control; they mostly went around
the board. They were also never able to satisfy most businesses.
The power of the board was moved to the Office of War Mobilization led by
James F. Byrnes. Slightly more successful than WPB.
New industries were appearing funded by the Defense Plants Corporation.
Including the synthetic rubber industry. Factories were producing too much
and many believed they should stop production, they were turned down.
Wartime Science and Technology –
 The government was pouring money into scientific research with the National
Defense Research Committee led by Vannevar Bush.
 In the beginning of the war the Germans and Japanese had most technological
advancements including tanks, submarines and more effecting armor in such cases
as the blitzkrieg. Japan had large air technology and better fighter planes.
 America however had better techniques for mass production such as assembly lines.
That helped produce new military parts and weapons faster. Tank and submarine
technology was also growing and soon Allied weaponry was even with the enemy.
 For every new weapon of the enemy’s, the Allies created a new innovation to limit
its damage. Radar and Sonar became available from radio technology to help track
German U-boats.
 Centimetric radar used narrow beams of short wavelength to spot the enemy.
Germans tried to counter by creating the “acoustic” mine which went off whenever
a ship got close. The Allies would now send sound waves to detonate the mines
before getting close.
 Germans also created new rocket-propelled bomb technology. America and Britain
however had the air advantage with new four engine bombers capable of flying a
bomb load of 6,000 pounds for 1,300 miles.
 The Gee navigation system used electronic impulses to help pilots plot their exact
location. In 1942 allied bombers used the Gee system to launch a bomb raid on
Germany military systems.
 The Oboe system told planes when they were within twenty feet of their target.
 Ultra was a top secret British intelligence project. They attempted to take the Axis
intelligence devices and decode the enemy messages. The Enigma machine
constantly changed the coding system used.
 Bombe was an electro-mechanical computer could decipher the axis codes. British
scientists took it from Poland when it fell. It was very slow and could not keep up
with the changing codes so it was updated and could break the messages in hours to
1,000 messages a day.
 The Colossus II was the first programmable computer was introduced a week before
Normandy invasion.
 The American Magic operation created the machine known as purple. It could
decode Japanese codes.
African Americans and the War –
 Blacks used the war to improve their position in society, this time by making
demands.
 A. Phillip Randolph the president of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters planned to
lead a march to the capitol insisting the government require companies receiving
defense contracts to integrate their workers. Roosevelt afraid of violence and
embarrassment agreed to establish Fair Employment Practices Commission to
investigate discrimination in war industries. It was very symbolic of black now
making demands from the government.
 Blacks flocked to Northern cities for job opportunities creating urban tensions. In a
fight in Detroit 34 people died, 25 being black.
 The Congress of Racial Equality created mass popular resistance to discrimination by
organizing sits ins and demonstrations in segregated theaters and restaurants. Help
establish the civil rights movement.
 Military leaders now saw assigning black soldiers to menial jobs a waste of
manpower. Black began serving on ships with white soldiers and black units were
being sent into combat.
Native Americans and the War –
 25,000 Native American workers served during the war. Many served in combat or
as code talkers, by doing military communications in their native language to
confuse the enemy.
 Many Indians left the reservations for work and saw society for the first time and
got a taste for material benefits only to stay in America even after the war. Others
returned to the reservations losing the jobs available to them.
 New pressures emerged to assimilate the tribes. John Collier resigns.
Mexican American War Workers –
 Many Mexican workers came to the U.S. to respond to the labor shortages. Contract
Laborers were admitted into the U.S. to work on a particular job. People in the
Southwest began actively recruiting them.
 Farm owners were hiring Mexicans and for the first time major numbers of
Mexicans went to work in factories, forming the second largest group of migrants to
American cities. Over 300,000 served in the military.
 Mexicans faced tensions with whites in neighborhoods. Mexican teenagers were
joining street gangs. The pachucos dressed in “zoot suits”, padded shoulder, loose
suits, baggy pants tied at ankles with watch chains, brimmed hats, and greased
ducktail hairstyles. They served as a symbol of rebellion to white middle class
society.
 Four day riots broke out over animosity over the suits. Sailors stationed at Long
Beach invaded Mexican American communities and attacked zoot suiters (who
apparently attacked them). The police did not disturb the sailors who were burning
their clothes, cutting their hair, and beating them. When the Mexicans fought back
they were arrested. Zoot Suits became prohibited in Los Angeles.
Women and Children at War –
 Women in the work force increased by nearly 60% and accounted for one third of
paid workers. They were now older and more likely to be married. Most women
replaced men in the industrial force. Many owners categorized jobs by gender.
Women were given “household” like jobs and owners avoided giving them manual
labor.
 Rosie the Riveter became a symbol for women workers. Many women were joining
unions and eroded prejudices.
 Most women worked in service sector jobs and for the government as secretaries,
typists, and clerks know as “government girls”.

Women now lived in areas together without many men creating distinct female
communities.
 Latchkey children or eight hour orphans were in the car or at home alone while their
moms worked and dads were deployed, there was very limited child care.
 Juvenile crime rose drastically. Thefts, vandalism, burglaries, and teenage girls were
being arrested for prostitution. Many teens were also employed.
 The divorce rate rose rapidly and the Baby Boom began.
Wartime Life and Culture –
 Anxiety of loved ones at war grew. People had money to spend now and things to
spend it on. Theaters, magazines, resort hotels, casinos, and dance halls saw mass
popularity and audiences.
 Troops believed they were fighting for the comforts of home and future prosperity.
 The USO recruited thousands of women to work as hostesses in clubs for the
soldiers who were now far away from women. The women were expected to dress
nice, dance well, and chat kindly with the men. Dance brigades traveled to military
bases to dance with men.
The Internment of Japanese Americans – .
 Ethnic hostilities had not disappeared. Italians were not allowed to travel and
several hundred were imprisoned. However the war blurred the ethnic distinctions
more.
 Japanese hostility grew very large and was even directed at Americans of Japanese
descent. There was rumor of Japanese conspiring to aid the enemy on the pacific
coast. Many people wanted the Japanese threat “removed”.
 FRD authorized the army to intern the Japanese Americans and created the War
Relocation Authority (WRA) to oversee it. They were rounded up and taken to
relocation centers which were only slightly different from prisons. Most people did
not oppose the interments. Some were permitted to leave for college or factory jobs
or even drafted to the military.
 In 1944 the Supreme Court ruled the relocation was allowed in Korematsu v. U.S. in
the same year it barred the interment of loyal citizens. In 1945 most were released.
Chinese Americans and the War –
 American alliance with the Chinese enhanced their position in society. Congress
repealed the Chinese exclusion acts. Most who entered the country were women.
And they worked for the war effort.
The Retreat from Reform –
 FDR shifted the public and governments attention from the new deal reform to
winning the war. This was in part because the government could not enact the new
programs.
 Many conservatives in congress used the war to dismantle the new deal. The lack of
unemployment allowed them to destroy a lot of the bills, acts and relief funds.
 In the 1944 election FRD won against republican businessman Thomas E. Dewey.
The Defeat of the Axis –
 The axis advance in Europe and the Pacific had stopped.
The Liberation of France  By 1944 Britain and U.S. bombers were bombing German military installations
round the clock.
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Allied invasions were now easier due to the breaking of German code.
D-Day: June 6 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower Commander of the Allied
forces, landed on the 60mi of the Cotentin Peninsula on the coast of Normandy.
This was now where the attack was expected. Airplanes and ships bombarded
the defenses while 4,000 vessels landed troop on the beaches. The allies won
and within a week Germany was dislodged from the Normandy coast.
 Battle of Saint-Lo – General Omar Bradley’s first army cuts through Germany
Lines, George S. Patton’s Third Army went through hole created by Bradley’s
and into the heart of France. By August 25, the city was liberated and the axes
were almost entirely out of France and Belgium.
 At the Rhine River in December German forces struck in desperation within
50mi of front I the Ardennes forest at the Allies. The battle of the Bulge stopped
serious German resistance in the West.
 Bernard Montgomery pushed into Germany with a million troops and cornered
300,000 German soldiers.
 On April 30, Adolf Hitler killed himself at the capitol. On May 8th, known as V.E.
day (Victory in Europe) Germany surrendered.
The Pacific offense –
 In February 1944 the American naval won a series of victories in the Marshall
Islands and broke the perimeter of the Japanese Empire. American submarines
were now destroying Japanese shipping and ruining their economy.
 More Battles: In June 1944 American Armada hits Mariana Islands and captures
Guam, Tinian, and Saipan.
Battle of Leyte Gulf: Japan uses entire fleet against allies in three encounters,
the largest naval battle in history.
 Japanese use suicide planes to kill Americans and start night attacks.
 American ships bomb Japan who is running out of will and recourses.
Government leaders were trying to end the war but military leaders wouldn’t
allow it.
The Manhattan Project –
 American attempts to beat the Nazis in making the first atomic bomb.
 The idea was based of Einstein’s theory of relativity. (Mass is related to energy)
 The bombs would have uranium which would set off a nuclear chain reaction.
 Enrico Fermi discovers uranium’s radioactivity.
 Became known as the Manhattan Project. The Trinity Bomb was the first
effective one.
Atomic Warfare –
 Truman takes over after FDR death.
 America gives Japanese an ultimatum surrender by Aug. 3 or face devastation.
Japans surrender had conditions and the U.S. did not accept. The deadline
passed with no surrender. Truman orders the atomic bomb on Japan.
 On Aug. 6 1945 American b-29 Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb in
Hiroshima. 80,000 civilians were killed.
 Two days later the Soviet Union declares war on Japan and the U.S. drops
another bomb on the city on Nagasaki causing 100,000 deaths.
 Japan surrenders on Sept. 2, 1945 on the American battleship the Missouri.