Download WW2 Notes 2015 - Boone County Schools

War in Europe and Japan
Appeasement: The policy of granting concessions to potential enemies to maintain peace and avoid war.
During the period before WWII began, the democracies of the world such as Britain, France, and the US watched as
Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, and the Japanese began to expand their territory in a way that broke
international law. However, weary of war the democracies of the world looked the other way in an attempt to avoid
conflict. This policy of appeasement eventually failed, leading to the Second World War.
Isolation vs. Intervention
WWI:
How do you think US involvement in WWI would have affected the American people’s viewpoint of
getting involved in WWII?
After World War I the United States people were very weary of war. Many young men had died
during the war and many who returned came back broken men. This caused the WWI generation
to gain the nickname “The Lost Generation.” This weariness of war continued into the 1930’s as
it appeared that once again the European continent would erupt into warfare as a result of Hitler’s
desire to invade other countries.
Charles Lindbergh: Charles Lindbergh was a key isolationist - meaning that he did not want the United
States to go to war in Europe again.

Isolationism Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6e8BhGQ_HA
“An Independent Destiny for America”: Charles A. Lindbergh on Isolationism
The interwar peace movement was arguably the largest mass movement of the 1920s and 1930s, a
mobilization often overlooked in the wake of the broad popular consensus that ultimately supported
the U.S. involvement in World War II. The destruction wrought in World War I (known in the 1920s
and 1930s as the “Great War”) and the cynical nationalist politics of the Versailles Treaty had left
Americans disillusioned with the Wilsonian crusade to save the world for democracy. Senate
investigations of war profiteering and shady dealings in the World War I munitions industry both
expressed and deepened widespread skepticism about wars of ideals. On the right wing of the antiwar
movement, Charles A. Lindbergh, popular hero of American aviation, was a champion of diehard
isolationism and a prominent member of the America-First Committee, organized in September 1940.
In this 1941 speech, he drew on a time-honored theme of American exceptionalism as he urged his
listeners to avoid entanglements with Europe.
Charles Lindbergh: We are assembled here tonight because we believe in an independent destiny for
America. Such a destiny does not mean that we will build a wall around our country and isolate
ourselves from contact with the rest of the world. But it does mean that the future of America will not
be tied to these eternal wars in Europe. It means that American boys will not be sent across the ocean
to die so that England or Germany or France or Spain may dominate the other nations.
An independent American destiny means, on the one hand, that our soldiers will not have to fight
everybody in the world who prefers some other system of life to ours. On the other hand, it means
that we will fight anybody and everybody who attempts to interfere with our hemisphere.
The following political cartoons are by Dr. Seuss, the beloved children’s author.
Unlike Charles Lindbergh, Dr. Seuss was worried about Hitler’s growing power.
He felt that the U.S. should work to help the Allies (Britain and France) in Europe
in their fight against Hitler, and that by staying neutral America showing
cowardice. Look at the following political cartoons and analyze what they are
saying. How does Dr. Seuss disagree with Charles Lindbergh?
EDGING TOWARD WAR
Article on Cash Carry: http://classroom.synonym.com/cash-carry-act-1939-14739.html
Why do we want cash? –We are in the middle of the Great Depression. The hope was that the foreign
investments would boost our economy.
NEUTRALITY ACTS: A series of acts passed by the US Congress in order to keep the United States
neutral and out of the war waging in Europe.

Embargo- The initial response of the US congress was to stay completely neutral. This meant a
trade embargo on any products that would help another country to wage war (Ex-Weapons).

Cash Carry Act- After seeing the war in Europe begin to tilt in the favor of Hitler- the US
lightened its hardline policy on neutrality. With the passing of the Cash Carry Act, foreign
nations could purchase US weapons with money up front (Cash) and then transport them in their
own ships (Carry).

Lend Lease- The US sold weapons to our allies on loan, changing their position from cash only.
Eventually they even assisted in the transport of goods with the help of our navy. This was done
in order to prevent Hitler from taking over the whole of Europe.

Arsenal of Democracy- President Roosevelt used this term to describe his hope for the United
States to provide the weaponry that would keep the democracies of the world safe from Fascism.
Roosevelt pleading with the US congress to allow the United States to provide more aid to the fight
against Fascism.
A Dr. Seuss political cartoon illustrating that the Neutrality Act is holding back from our allies the aid
that is necessary for them to win the war against Hitler and Fascism.
Atlantic Charter
AUGUST 14, 1941
The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill,
representing His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to
make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which
they base their hopes for a better future for the world.
First: their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;
Second: they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes
of the peoples concerned;
Third: they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will
live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been
forcibly deprived of them;
Fourth: they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by
all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw
materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;
Fifth: they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field
with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social
security;
Sixth: after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will
afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford
assurance that all the men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want;
Seventh: such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without
hindrance;
Eighth: they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must
come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea
or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression
outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system
of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and
encourage all other practicable measure which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing
burden of armaments.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston S. Churchill
European/Pacific Theater
Battle of the Bulge: The last gasp of the German army to defeat the Western Allies as they prepared to
invade their German homeland. They tried to break through the Western lines by concentrating on one
area (thus creating a “bulge” in the battle lines) and were defeated.
The “Bulge” of the battle can be illustrated in the map above.
European Front Letters:
http://www.historynet.com/war-letters.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/bulge-dispatches/
Japan/Island hopping: The US had to island hop in order to gain strategic positions that would allow them
to bomb and eventually invade the main Japanese island.
Okinawa Letter: http://wwiiletters.blogspot.com/2009/03/lst-830-okinawa-1945-wwii-letter.html
The above pictures show the devastation caused by Japanese Kamikaze fighters in the Pacific.
Minorities
Rosie the Riveter was originally designed as a poster to inspire women to get
involved in the war effort by filling the hard labor jobs traditionally filled by the
men who were fighting. This poster would come to be a symbol for women’s
equality in the post-war era.
The above picture shows a young African American man being pulled off of a bus during the race riots of
1943 in Detroit. What does this illustrate about America’s attitude toward African American citizens in
the 1940’s.
On Jan. 31, 1942, the Pittsburgh Courier published a letter to the editor from James G.
Thompson of Wichita, Kan. It was titled “Should I Sacrifice to Live ‘Half American?‘ ” In it,
Thompson wrote:
“Being an American of dark complexion and some 26
years, these questions flash through my mind:
‘Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?’ ‘Will
things be better for the next generation in the peace to
follow?’ ‘Would it be demanding too much to demand full
citizenship rights in exchange for the sacrificing of my life?’
‘Is the kind of America I know worth defending?’ ‘Will
America be a true and pure democracy after this war?’
‘Will colored Americans suffer still the indignities that have
been heaped upon them in the past?’ These and other
questions need answering.”
The above cartoon illustrates Dr. Seuss’ view that the war industry needs to get past its racist
tendency of not hiring black laborers in order to better further the war effort.
The Dr. Seuss cartoon above illustrates the fear driven, prejudiced viewpoint of many white
Americans that Japanese Americans on the West Coast were secretly working for the Japanese
and could have possibly attacked the US mainland. This fear led to the eventual internment of
the Japanese.
Korematsu V. United States: Supreme Court case over the constitutionality of Japanese
Internment. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/landmark_korematsu.html
Home Front
Office of Price Administration (OPA): This administration was set up by the federal government in order
to prevent wild inflation due to wartime shortages of goods. The OPA utilized various methods of price
control, the biggest of which was rationing, in order to achieve this goal.
Office of Price Administration Manuel: http://www.archives.gov/boston/exhibits/homefront/1.05training-manual.pdf
Selective Service Act: All men aged 18-65 were required to register for the draft, and all men
aged 18-45 were eligible for military service.
http://stephendanko.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/WWII-Draft-KN-ob.jpg
War Bonds: A bond sold to the public by the Federal Government in which the proceeds went
directly to the war effort.