America in World War II

1937-1945{ch. 34-35}

Unit 6Chapter 34-40

Sept. 1940: Congress passes a conscription lawAmerica’s first peace-time

draft

Roosevelt declared in 1943 that the New Deal reform era was overMany programs of the once-popular

New Deal were wiped out-including (CCC, WPA, etc.)

The U.S. Comes Out of the Depression

Isolationism…

Why didn’t America Act?Distracted by the econ.Vividly recall losses of

WWISafe behind protection

of two oceans Rise of fascists

increased desire to avoid conflict

Good Neighbor Policy Renounced intervention in

Latin America

Congress Passes the Neutrality Acts

World War II

•Summarize the tone of the cartoons

Der Fuehrer’s Face

World War IISummarize the experiences as represented by the

following individuals:•George Hynes, U.S. Army

•Robert Morris, U.S. Coast Guard•Robert Sherrod, journalist

•Ann Darr, Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs)•Daniel Inouye, Japanese American (Nisei)

Neutrality?

Democracies have no real leverage

Allies desperate to avoid war

Germany gets Sudetenland

Appeasement

Neville Chamberlain:“Peace in our time”

Sept. 1938 ~ Munich Conference

Atlantic Charter

An 8-point plan for post-war worldPledges that

countries will not have borders changed

Self determination & a return to pre-war governments

League of nations type organization

“Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars”

FDR’s 3-peatFDR’s 3-peat

1. Cash-&-Carry (1939) Purchases from England &

France help lift our economy

2.Destroyers for Bases (1940)

50 surplus American destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy

3. Lend-Lease Act (1941)A clear declaration of

hostility to Hitler Sank first U.S. ship that May

Wartime Economy

War Production Board (WPB)American factories

transformed to produce an enormous amount of munitionsHalted the manufacture of

nonessential itemsThe Office of Price

Administration (OPA) The War Labor Board (WLB)

Imposed ceilings on prices & wages

Wartime Economy

Printed by Oldsmobile, General Motors

Royal Typewriter Companyfor the U.S. Civil Service Commission

“There is religious and racial prejudice everywhere in the land, and if there is a greater obstacle anywhere to the attainment of the teamwork we must have, no one knows what it is.”

Arthur Pope, Committee for National Morale

Produced by theDouglas Aircraft Company

Produced by the General Motors Corporation, 1942

Norman Rockwell created a series of paintings onthe "Four Freedoms" theme.

He effectively translated abstract concepts of freedom into four scenes of everyday American life.

The Saturday Evening Post, one of the nation`s most popular magazines, commissioned and reproduced the paintings.

After winning public approval, the paintings served as the centerpiece of a massive U.S. war bond drive and were put into service to help explain the war`s aims.

Printed by the Government

Printing Office for the Officeof War Information

Printed by the Government Printing Officefor the Office of War Information

Printed by the GovernmentPrinting Officefor the War Manpower Commission

Produced by Winchester

Americans on the home front suffered little from the war, compared to the people of the other fighting nationsThe national debt rose from $49 billion in

1941 to $259 billion in 1945The government sold bonds or borrowed

money from its peopleCitizens were asked by the government to

ration everything

The Home Front

The Rise of Dictators

NationNation Dictator Dictator PoliticsPoliticsAggressive ActionsAggressive Actions

Soviet UnionSoviet Union

GermanyGermany

JapanJapan

ItalyItaly

Spain Spain

America & Britain adopted the strategy of “getting Germany first”America diverted its

strength to reprimand Japan, Hitler might crush both the Soviet Union & Britain

America then utilized “leapfrogging” or “island hopping” to neutralize Japanese control of the Pacific

Allied Strategies

Under Axis control by Under Axis control by 19411941

World War IIWorld War II•List 5 major events between WWI-II

•On your map locate the major battles & designate them as Axis or Allied victories

Cartoon Conversation Cartoon Conversation FOLDABLEFOLDABLEDraw cartoons individually in each box or as one that includes all six groups

Women Women African African

AmericansAmericans

Mexican Mexican AmericansAmericans

Japanese Japanese AmericansAmericans

Jewish AmericansJewish Americans Native AmericansNative Americans

Womanpower:1. The armed services

enlisted nearly 216,000 women in WWII

Most commonly known were the WAACs (Army), WAVES (Navy), & SPARs (Coast Guard), WASPs (Air Force)

2. The Army Nurse Corps had 74,000 active duty nurses overseas

Millions of women also took jobs working in the war industry

"Rosie the Riveter"

Roles of Women

Women wore hard-hats & overalls & operated heavy machinery

Represented a radical departure from the traditional American feminine ideal of housewife & motherThe immediate post-

war period, however, witnessed a rush into suburban domesticity & the mothering of the “baby boomers”

Roles of Women

African American welders, Conn.

1. 44,000 Native Americans served (1/3 of able-bodied men from 18-50 years of age)

2. The Navajo Code Talkers created a code by translating words into English, then using the first letter of each English word to decipher the meaningThey were used in the

Pacific & were a major reason for the success of the Marines

According to Major Connor, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."

Roles of Native Americans

Roles of Mexican Americans1. Almost 500,000 Hispanic Americans served

during World War II (constituting 2.3% to 4.7% of the U.S. Armed Forces)

2. Racism against Mexican Americans, however, & the fear of teen crime led to the zoot suit riots.

June 1943: 2500 soldiers & sailors attacked Mexican American neighborhoods in LA

Roles of African AmericansA. Philip Randolph threatened

to march on Washington to protest prejudiceRoosevelt banned discrimination

in government agencies with the Executive Order 8802established the Fair

Employment Practices Commission

Soldiers of color enlisted, but in segregated units (Tuskegee Airmen)

Double Victory campaign: Victory against dictators abroad, &racism at home

Roles of Jewish AmericansPalestine was the most favored destination of

Holocaust survivors, followed by the U.S. Although thousands of Jews were admitted into

the U.S. under the German-Austrian quota, the U.S. did not pursue an organized & specific rescue policy for Jewish victims of Nazi Germany until early 1944

President Roosevelt created the WRB, which helped to rescue many thousands of Jews in Hungary, Romania, & elsewhere in Europe. However, immigration restrictions were still in effect

after the war, & legislation to expedite the admission of Jewish DPs was slow in coming.

Many Jewish Americans campaigned for the U.S. & Britain to help establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine

“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”

Roles of Japanese-Americans

After Pearl Harbor, fear of a Japanese invasion & of subversive acts by Japanese Americans prompted the government to move more than 110,000 into internment campsThey were forcibly removed from

homes, businesses, and allowed only the possessions they could manage to carry

The camps deprived them of basic rights, & the internees lost hundreds of millions of dollars in property

Roles of Japanese-Americans

Executive Order 9066

Executive Order 9066

Executive Order 9066

Supreme Court ruling Korematsu v. U.S. (1944), the court upheld the constitutionality of the concentration campsFred Korematsu  was

arrested for not reporting to a relocation center

The court ruled during WWII, that the internment of Japanese Americans such as Korematsu was legal because they posed a potential threat to the United States

Roles of Japanese-Americans

Roles of Japanese-AmericansAs the war progressed, many of the young

Nisei volunteered to serveThe 442nd Regiment received more medals

for bravery than any other American unit its size during World War II.

Early in 1939, the world's scientific community discovered that German physicists learned secrets of splitting a uranium atomAlbert Einstein sent a letter to President

Roosevelt urging the development of atomic research

Roosevelt saw neither the necessity nor the utility for such a project, but agreed to proceed slowly [code name — the Manhattan Project]

At Potsdam, President Truman met with Stalin & British leaders & issued an ultimatum to JapanWith the Japanese still refusing to surrender,

the first atomic bomb was dropped Stalin then invaded the Japanese defenses

of Manchuria & Korea

Allied Strategies

Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima

Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki

After the Japanese still refused to surrender, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki ~ August 9, 1945

August 10, 1945 ~ Tokyo surrendered under the condition that Hirohito be allowed to remain the emperor

The formal end to the war came September 2, 1945American forces suffered 1

million casualties in WWIIAfter the war, much of the

world was destroyed while America was virtually left untouched

Post-war issues:InflationCompetition for jobsWomen’s rolesJewish homeland?Soviet influence

V-J Day!