CHAPTER 21

AMERICA AND WORLD WAR II(1941 - 1945)

21.1 – MOBILIZING FOR WAR

• American industrial output during the war was extremely high– Turned the tide of the

war?

Germany

Japan

“Once the fire is lighted under it there is no limit to the power it can generate” Winston Churchill about America’s industrial potential

21.1 – MOBILIZING FOR WAR

Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor…..

• FDR announced a plan to build 50,000 war planes/year

• FDR asked Congress for $4 billion to build a 2-Ocean Navy

• FDR created the National Defense Advisory Board, War Production Board and the Office of War Mobilization (last 2 were after PH)

• Congress increased the defense budget to more than $17 billion

• Use of the “cost-plus” system to get war materials built as fast as possible

21.1 – MOBILIZING FOR WAR

Importance of mass production

LIBERTY SHIPS

Henry Kaiser – applied construction industry techniques to shipbuilding Took 244 days to build the first one, HK got that

down to 41days……he built 3,000 for the war

21.1 – BUILDING AN ARMY

• Selective Service and Training Act – first peacetime draft in U.S. History (1940)

• Government Issue – “GIs”

21.1 – BUILDING AN ARMY

• Army was segregated– African Americans were

in separate units– Led some AAs to oppose

the war– Idea of a “double V”– Tuskegee Airmen

21.1 – BUILDING AN ARMY

• Other minorities also served – Most not allowed in

combat positions– Mexican Americans

(started joining NG in ‘30s)

– Japanese (internment camps at first; extremely decorated)

– Native Americans (fierce fighters; huge % served)

21.1 – BUILDING AN ARMY• Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps

(1942)– Mostly clerical work, freed up

men for combat

• Becomes the Women’s Army Corps (WAC)

• Women Airforce Service Pilots delivered planes (WASPS)

• 68,000 women served as nurses during the war

21.2 – EARLY BATTLES – PACIFIC THEATER

• Chester Nimitz – commander of Navy in the Pacific– Pearl Harbor damaged,

but did not cripple the U.S. Navy in the Pacific

21.2 – FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES

• Japan attacked immediately after PH– Gen. Douglas MacArthur

led the defense– Retreated to the Bataan

Peninsula (horrific conditions)

– U.S. surrendered on April 9, 1942

– Thousands died on the Bataan Death March

DOOLITTLE RAID ON TOKYO

• James Doolittle leads a raid of B-25s and on April 18, 1942 American bombs hit Japan for the first time

• Infuriates Japanese leadership, develop new strategies to defeat the U.S.

BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA

• Japan wanted to cut off American supplies to Australia by attacking New Guinea

• May of 1942 – Massive battle holds off the Japanese and supply lines to Australia remain open

video

BATTLE OF MIDWAY

• U.S. had cracked the Japanese code and knew about the planned attack at Midway

• June 4, 1942 – Japanese flew into an ambush, many planes and ships were destroyed

• Major turning point in the Pacific theater; only 6 months after Pearl HarborVideo

21.3 – LIFE ON THE HOMEFRONT

• America gained some benefits from the war, such as…

– Increasing employment– Rising wages– Giving some minorities

new opportunities– Pulled the country out of

the Great Depression

• There were some negatives at home as well, such as…

– Longer workweeks– Higher taxes– Racial/ethnic tension– Poor living conditions

ROSIE THE RIVETER

• Women started getting hired for work– More married women started

working, not just single girls

– Women were now working in factories, not just traditional roles such as secretaries and teachers

– Permanently changed views of women, and attitudes of women themselves

MINORITIES

AFRICAN AMERICANS

• FDR created the Fair Employment Practices Commission in 1941 – goal was to end discrimination in hiring practices

• 2nd Great Migration

• Race riots – ex. Detroit in 1943

• Tuskegee Airmen

MEXICAN FARMWORKERS

• Bracero Program – federal program that brought in Mexican workers to help with the harvests and to build/repair railroads

• Zoot Suits – what were they? Riots? Victory suits?

ZOOT SUIT

JAPANESE AMERICAN RELOCATION

• Backlash against Japanese-Americans after WWII– Especially on the West Coast

• 1942 – most of the West Coast is declared a military zone and Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment camps– Korematsu v. United States

• 1945 – Gov’t began releasing interned Japanese

• 100th Battalion – all Japanese unit, most decorated American unit in WWII

• 1988 – President Reagan apologized the Japanese Americans on behalf of the U.S. gov’t and granted $20,000 to interned Japanese still alive

ORGANIZING & PAYING FOR WAR

• Government created agencies to regulate prices and wages

• Rationing – gov’t agencies limited the purchase of products to make sure they were available for military use– Ex. meat, sugar ,gasoline

ORGANIZING & PAYING FOR WAR

• Victory Gardens – Americans used all types of available land to plant gardens in order to increase food supplies

• Scrap Drives – volunteers collected all types of materials – Rubber, tin, aluminum,

car bumper, bicycles

ORGANIZING & PAYING FOR WAR

• War Bonds – gov’t spent more than $300 billion on the war – Taxes were raised but not as

high as FDR wanted, why not?

– Buying bonds allowed people to “lend” the gov’t money

– Individuals bought about $50 billion worth

– Banks, companies…bought about $100 billion worth

21.4 – PUSHING BACK THE AXIS

• Casablanca Conference (Jan. 1943)– FDR and Churchill agreed

to:a. Increase bombing of

Germany

b. Attack Sicily (soft underbelly)

c. Unconditional surrender for Germany and Japan

21.4 – STRATEGIC BOMBING

• Allies drastically increase the bombings on German as of early 1943…leads to….– Oil shortage– Destruction of RRs– Destruction of factories

(aircraft)– Eventual control of the

Air for the AlliesIn an industrial war you need to destroy the industrial capabilities of the enemy

21.4 – ITALY• Eisenhower, Patton, and

Montgomery lead the invasion of Italy in July of 1943

• Germans evacuated by August 18

• What happens to Mussolini?

• Germans seized northern Italy and fighting continued until 1945

21.4 – TEHRAN CONFERENCE

• FDR, WC, JS meet in Tehran, Iran in Nov./Dec. of 1943

– Stalin promises invasion of Germany when Allies invade France in 1944

– FDR and JS agree to divide Germany after the war

– JS promises to help the U.S. against Japan after Germany is divided

21.4 – FRANCE

• Operation Overlord – invasion of France– Led by Dwight Eisenhower

– “dummy” equipment placed at Calais to fool the Germans

– real landing was at Normandy

– D-Day – June 6, 1944

21.4 – FRANCE• 7,000 ships carried

over 100,000 troops

• Landed at beaches named:– Omaha, Utah,

Juno…

• Largest amphibious invasion in history– Gave the Allies a

foothold in France/W. Europe Saving Private Ryan clip

http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.php

CASUALTIES

AMERICAN 6,603

BRITISH 2,700

CANADIAN 946

KILLED 2,500

AMERICAN WAR CASUALTIES THROUGHOUT HISTORY

21.4 – JAPAN• Island hopping was led by

Nimitz and MacArthur

– Began in late 1943

– First attack showed need for better equipment, such as Amphtracs

– Targets included Marshal Islands, Mariana Islands, Philippines…

– Islands could serve as bases for planes (B-29s) to bomb Japan

– By Aug. 1944 the bombing of Japan began

21.4 – JAPAN• Guadalcanal

– MacA. Begins invasion in August of 1942

– Lasts until early 1944

– Retakes the Philippines in October of 1944 (he did in fact return)

– Japanese attack the P. at Leyte Gulf• Largest naval battle in

history• Kamikazes for the first time• Japanese eventually

retreat; both sides suffer terribly

21.5 – END OF THE WAR IN EUROPE

• As the Allies advanced from Normandy the French Resistance rebelled

• Aug. 25, 1944 – Paris is liberated

• Battle of the Bulge(Dec. 1944 - Jan. 1945)– Hitler’s last-gasp offensive

against the Allies– Patton eventually leads

the Americans to victory in early 1945 (finally an end in sight?)

videos

21.5 – END OF THE WAR IN EUROPE

• By Feb. 1945 the Soviets had pushed the Germans back close to Berlin

• April 30, 1945 – Hitler committed suicide

• V-E Day – May 7, 1945 – Germany surrenders, war in Europe is over

• Allies insisted on unconditional surrender

21.5 – END OF THE WAR IN ASIA

• Iwo Jima – U.S. needed a closer base for planes to bomb Japanese cities

• Feb. 19, 1945 – 60,000 Marines land on IJ– About 6,800 marines are

killed – Island is captured

video

21.5 – END OF THE WAR IN ASIA

• Okinawa – U.S. needed a base to launch a land invasion of Japan, IJ was too far away to serve this purpose

• U.S. troops landed on April 1, 1945– More than 12,000

Americans died– Island was captured on June

22, 1945

video

21.5 – DEATH OF FDR

• FDR died on April 12, 1945 of a stroke

• Harry Truman became president

video

21.5 – FIREBOMBING OF JAPAN• By early 1954 the U.S.

developed a new strategy for bombing Japan (Curtis LeMay)

– Use of napalm created horrific fires

– Tokyo was firebombed in March of 1945

– Thousands of civilians were killed; about 80,000 people killed in Tokyo alone

– Very controversial

– Why do this?

21.5 – SURRENDER?

• U.S. was demanding unconditional surrender

• Japanese wanted to ensure the Emperor’s rule

• Truman was hesitant to agree to any Japanese requests– Why?

Emperor Hirohito

21.5 – ATOMIC BOMB• Manhattan Project – secret

American program to build an atomic bomb

– Led by Gen. Leslie Groves

– J. Robert Oppenheimer led the team of scientists working on the bomb in New Mexico

– July 16, 1945 – detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb

J. Robert Oppenheimer

21.5 – ATOMIC BOMB• Debate about if/how to

use the bomb?

• August 6, 1945 – first bomb is dropped on Hiroshima– over 100,000 killed

• August 9, 1945 – bomb is dropped on Nagasaki

• V-J Day – August 15, 1945 – Japan surrendered; the war is over

video

21.5 – NEW WORLD• United Nations –

created on April 25, 1945

– Goal was to create int’l cooperation and to promote int’l peace and security

– 5 permanent members of the Security Council (U.S., USSR, China, France, Great Britain)

21.5 – TRIALS• International Military

Tribunal – set up trials for war crimes committed by German and Japanese leaders

• Nuremberg, Germany

• Tokyo, Japan– Emperor was not put on trial,

why not?

– Results of the trials?video