Chapter 26

World War II

American NeutralityThe Road to War

• September 1, 1939 – War begins with German invasion of Poland after policy of appeasement

• Most support allies, but remain isolationist

• U.S. set to begin “thousand-step road to war”

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

• “This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well” FDR

• April, 1940 – Nazi Blitzkrieg (lightning war)

• By June 22, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France fall to Nazis

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EUROPE: JUNE 1941

American NeutralityThe Road to War

• Fall 1940 – Battle of Britain – Brutal air bombardment of Britain.

• Committee to Defend America (interventionist) vs. America First Committee (isolationist)

• U.S. moves closer to war – Committees assembled to organize economy/government for defense

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DR. SEUSS CARTOONS AGAINST THE U.S. STAYING NEUTRAL

DR. SEUSS CARTOONS

AGAINST THE U.S. STAYING

NEUTRAL

American NeutralityThe Road to War

• 1940 – FDR appoints 2 prominent Republicans Henry Stimson (Sect of War) and Frank Knox (Sect of Navy)

• Executive order – Trades 50 destroyers for right to build bases on British islands

• Runs for re-election! – 3rd term!

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

• Election of 1940

• “Your boys are not going to be sent into foreign wars” – FDR

• Democratic “coalition” won handily!

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FDR (D)Wendell Willkie (R)

American NeutralityThe Road to War

• Lend-Lease Act – (1939 amendment to neutrality act enables U.S. to sell weapons on a “Cash and Carry” basis)

• With British short on cash and German U-boats hampering English shipping, Congress authorized President to supply any nation whose defense was vital to defense of U.S.

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

• Land Lease (cont.)

• FDR compares it to lending a neighbor a garden hose when his house is on fire

• June 1941 – Extended to Soviet Union (Hitler abandoned Nazi-Soviet Pact)

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

• State of Union Address, January 1941

–FDR’s Four Freedoms

–Freedom of Speech

–Freedom of Worship

–Freedom from want

–Freedom from fear

Is U.S. intervention now inevitable?

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

• The Atlantic Charter

• August 1941 – FDR and Winston Churchill meet secretly to discuss goals and military strategy

• Calls for postwar economic collaboration, political stability, free trade, self-determination, and collective security

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

• September 1941 – U.S. supplying allies and in a virtual undeclared naval war with Germany

• FDR will not ask for a declaration of war without an enemy attack

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

Pearl Harbor

• Japan and U.S. on shaky relations since 1930’s due to Japanese aggression in Pacific, particularly China

• Panay incident (1937)

• 1940 – Tri-Partite Pact (Japan, Germany, Italy)

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

Pearl Harbor

• As Japan expands (French Indochina) U.S. cuts of exports (Oil) to Japan

• September 1941 – Tojo begins plans to attack U.S. despite continuation of talks

• December 7, 1941 – Attack on Pealt Harbor

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American NeutralityThe Road to War

Pearl Harbor

• December 7, 1941 – Attack on Pealt Harbor, Hawaii

• Over 2400 Americans Killed

• United Americans in determination to fight!

• December 8 –FDR appears before congress to ask for a declaration of war

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Organizing for VictoryFinancing the War

• Dramatic expansion of federal power, particularly executive branch (War Powers Act)

• Mobilization required cooperation between business and politics (like WWI)

• 1945 Federal budget ($95 billion)10 times greater than in 1939

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Organizing for VictoryFinancing the War

• Revenue Act of 1942 – Average American also taxed – Tax revenues rise from $2.2 to $35.1 billion

• Payroll deductions and tax withholding sold to public as patriotic

• Govt. employees increase fourfold – far beyond New Deal expansion

• “Dollar-a-year-men” – agencies staffed by active business leaders

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Organizing for VictoryFinancing the War

• Office of Price Administration (OPA) – supervised domestic economy (inflation, allocation of resources etc)

• Anti-Inflation Act – stabilized prices, wages and salaries

–Goods + Wages = Inflation

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Organizing for VictoryFinancing the War

• War Production Board (WPB) – oversaw defense contracts, conversion of industry to military production, evaluated requests for scarce resources

–Used generous tax write offs and cost-plus provisions (profit guarantees) to entice business cooperation

–Preferred dealing with major corporations than small business

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Organizing for VictoryFinancing the War

• War Production Board (cont)

–Suspension od anti-trust prosecution

–Become the core of the military-industrial complex which links the federal government, military and corporate America together in an interdependent partnership

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Organizing for VictoryFinancing the War

• Successes (by 1945)

• “Arsenal of Democracy”

• Mass Production

– 86,000 tanks

– 296,000 airplanes

– 15,000,000 guns

– 64,000 landing crafts

– 6,5000 ships

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Great Depression now over

Organizing for VictoryMobilizing the Fighting Force

• 15 million mobilized

• Blacks still Segregated (A Jim Crow army cannot fight for a free world), Hispanics not

• Navajo Code Talkers – used native language to send military messages

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Organizing for VictoryMobilizing the Fighting Force

• Women – both opportunity and discrimination

• 350,000 served –

• 1/3 of all nurses nationwide volunteer

• Military limited duties of women – similar to civilian life (health care, clerical work)

• Social lives restricted to avoid “improprieties”

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Organizing for VictoryWorkers and the War Effort

• Critical labor shortage –

• Well organized government propaganda urged women into the labor force

• Rosie the Riveter

• 36% labor force – was expected they would go back to home after the war

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Organizing for VictoryWorkers and the War Effort

• Organized Labor

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Fighting and Winning the WarWartime Aims and Strategies

• 2 Theatres

• 1942 = Bad

• Winter 1942-43 – Stalingrad

• Tehran -

iv.

Fighting and Winning the WarWar in Europe

• 1st Turning Point – Stalingrad

• Africa and to “THE SOFT UNDERBELLY” Italy – Falls June/July 1943

• D-Day – June, 6 1944

iv.

Fighting and Winning the WarWar in The Pacific

• Turning Points – Battle of Coral Sea

• Battle of Midway

• Island hopping

iv.

Fighting and Winning the WarWar in The Pacific

• Iwo Jima and Okinawa

iv.

Marines Raising the US Flag at Iwo Jima

Okinawa

The Bombing of Hiroshima

• August 6, 1945: On President Truman’s orders, the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima.

• It destroyed about 90% of the city and killed about 140,000 people.

Nagasaki

• When the bombing of Hiroshima did not elicit a surrender from the Japanese government, a 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

• The bomb on Nagasaki was equally destructive and led to a Japanese surrender.

V-J Day• August 14, 1945: Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender.

• The formal surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, officially ending WWII.

World War II Allied Deaths

Nation Military Civilian Total

France 122,000 470,000 592,000

Britain 305,800 60,600 366,400

US 405,400 0 405,400

USSR 11,000,000 6,700,000 17,700,000

World War II Axis Deaths

Nation Military Civilian Total

Germany 3,250,000 2,350,000 5,600,000

Italy 226,900 60,000 286,900

Japan 1,740,000 393,400 2,133,400