American Pageant

The Shock of War

U.S. faced 2 front war:
Japan &

Germany Goal: Get Germany first

U.S. also had to shift from depression to all-out war production

Ethnic Groups within the U.S.

WWII sped up the assimilation of many ethnic groups (unlike WWI)
Very little immigration prior to the war years

One group exception

Japanese 2/3 of them were American-born citizens

Japanese Internment

Japanese Internment

Building the War Machine

Building the War Machine

A lot of new technology was created during WW2: Radar and Sonar Ultra Magic

Building the War Machine

Labor Issues

 Roosevelt called on the nation to protect the four freedoms

Freedom of

speech Freedom of worship Freedom from want; and Freedom from fear

 The Office of War Information

Spread propaganda I.E. posters

encouraging people to join the armed forces or to save gasoline. Also warned the public about the dangers they faced.

Hollywood made a series of patriotic films that featured soldiers and workers on the home front.

Manpower & Womanpower

15 million men enlisted 216,000 enlisted women
Non-combat duties WAACs, WAVES, SPARs

(Army, Navy, Coast Guard)

Labor shortage:
6 million women
Took jobs outside of home never worked outside home before 2/3 left jobs at wars end

Manpower & Womanpower

Labor shortage (continued):
Braceros
Mexican agricultural workers Agreement w/Mexico to cross border to harvest crops in the west

Wartime Migrations
15 million men in uniform chose not to return home
Moved to Los Angles,

Detroit, etc. CA population grew by 2 million

Sunbelt growth of South

FDR used defense

budget spending to disproportionately help the South

Wartime MigrationsRacial Issues

1.6 million Blacks left South
Work in the North & West Racial tension developed

A. Philip Randolph
African-American head of

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Marched on Washington, D.C. (1941)

Equal opportunities for blacks in war jobs & armed forces

FDR issued executive order in

response:

Forbids discrimination in defense industries Established the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to monitor compliance

Wartime MigrationsRacial Issues

Double V slogan
Victory abroad & at home over racism

NAACP
Membership rose to almost million

Congress of Racial Equality

Militant organization to insure black

rights

Mechanical cotton picker (1944)

Work of 50 people at 1/8 the cost 5 million black tenant farmers moved

north

One of the great migrations in history By 1970s of lived outside the South and in cities

Did lead to some violence in North

Detroit race riots (1943) 43 killed; 600 injured

African-Americans Soldiers in War II

AfricanAmericans served in segregated units during the war. Some regiments saw action but many worked to build roads & as clean up crews, etc.

"Above and Beyond the Call of Duty. Dorie Miller with his Navy Cross at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942. (Library of Congress)

African-Americans Soldiers in War II

Wartime MigrationsRacial Issues

Native Americans
War prompted leaving of

Reservations 25,000 served in the armed forces Unlike African-Americans, they served in integrated units

Code Talkers
Hundreds of Native Americans of the Navajo nation served in the Marines as code talkers. They translated messages into a coded version of the Navajo language. It was the only code used in WWII that was never broken.

Wartime MigrationsRacial Issues

Mexican-Americans
Zoot Suit Riots
Series of riots that broke out in Los Angles, CA Several robberies of US servicemen U.S. sailors & marines retaliated by beating up any Zoot suiters they saw

Anti-Semitism at Home
America was not free of anti-Semitism
I.E. New Immigrantslate 1800s early

1900s

St. Louis, 1939

Ship with 936 Jewish refugees fleeing

from Germany Cuba, U.S. & Canada refuse to let them in

FDR had some willingness (despite 1924 Immigration Act) Became a political issue from Southern Democrats & FDR gave up

England let in 288 The rest were let in by France,

Belgium, & Holland

All of these countries will be occupied by Nazi Germany Therefore chance of survival was very small

Home Front Prosperity

War ended the depression
1940 GNP >$1 billion 1945 GNP < $2 billion Disposable personal income

doubled

Government spending
War cost more than $330 billion
10x WWI 2x ALL federal spending since 1776

2/5 funded through revenue 3/5 borrowed

Americans bought millions of dollars worth of war bonds Over half of the population did their civic duty and bought war bonds. National debt
1941=$49 billion 1945=$259 billion

 Pearl Harbor
Significant damage to the U.S. Pacific

The Japanese then won a quick string of impressive victories :

Wake Island & Guam
Drove out American forces

Fleet Took months to overcome the attack.

Hong Kong
Captured the British stronghold

Dutch East Indies (known as

Damaged the Allied fleet

Indonesia today) & British Borneo Battle of Java Sea

Burma

Japanese soldiers were highly trained & skilled with excellent equipment

Took British controlled location

Containing the Japanese

In the need for oil, rubber, and other raw materials the Japanese extended south. After quick victories, historians say that they over-extended themselves because they caught the victory disease.

The Philippines
Japan invaded in December 8, 1941.
General Douglas MacArthur 20,000 U.S. troops + larger

untrained Filipinos held off Japanese for 5 months Retreated to the Bataan Peninsula

Had no supplies: Reduced to eating mules & monkeys Called for reinforcements but few even available MacArthur ordered to leave behind troops
Proclaims, I shall return!

April 1942, troops on Bataan

surrendered

The Philippines
Bataan Death March
POWs forced to

march 80 miles in jungle heat to prisoner-of-war camps Without water or food 1000s of captured soldiers died Horrible atrocities on march & in camps

Containing the Japanese

Containing the Japanese

Battle of Coral Sea
North of Australia May 7-8, 1942 Japan prepared to

invade New Guinea. U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz sent two aircraft carriers to stop the attack.
U.S. lost an aircraft carrier in the battle Stopped the Japanese attack.

First time the Japanese

advance had been halted

Containing the Japanese

Midway
June 3-6, 1942 Japanese wanted crush

Pearl Harbor

Tried to lure the U.S. into a large sea battle around Midway

U.S. Naval officers

Broken a Japanese code and learned of the plan Americans had some losses but

Destroyed 3 of the 4

Japanese carriers and won a major victory.

Midway

U.S.S. Yorktown

Hiryu under B-17 attack

U.S.S. Yorktown is hit by an aerial torpedo

Midway

The poorly designed Avenger's first experience of war was in June of 1942 at the Battle of Midway, and it was truly horrific. Of the six Avengers which took off to attack the Japanese fleet, only one returned.

Perhaps the most famous Avenger pilot was former American President George Bush, who was shot down over Chichi Jima and rescued by an American submarine called the Finback. At the time he was the Navys youngest pilot.

 Guadalcanal: 1st U.S. offensive move Allied goal:

Take Southern Solomon

Islands to protect Australia Key: Island of Guadalcanal

August 1942takes 6 months of brutal fighting By mid 1943 Japanese advance had come to a stop

Guadalcanal

Wrecked Japanese freighter the Kyusyu

Maru

Guadalcanal

US Strategy in the Pacific

Goal:
Get close enough to

Japan for aerial bombings

Problem:
Japanese had dug-in on nearly every island in

the Pacific It would take many months & bloodshed to take each island

Solution:
Leap Frogging or Island Hopping The US chose to go to less-defended and sometimes more strategic islands in their quest to take Japan

US Progress in the East

Gained control of territory in the Solomon Islands to protect Australia Used powerful combination of land, sea, and air forces to capture key islands

Gilbert Marshall Caroline And

US Progress in the East

Mariana islands (including Guam), June 19, 1944
Goal: Round trip

bombing of Japans home islands by new B29 superbombers Great Mariana Turkey Shoot
Hellcat fighter planes & antiaircraft technology
Destroyed 243 Japanese aircraft with only 29 U.S. lost planes

The U.S. navy were waiting for the Japanese fleet on the island of Saipan in the Marianas. In a short battle 243 Japanese planes were shot down for the loss of 29 American aircraft

US Progress in the East

Battle of the Philippine Sea
June 20, 1944 U.S. navy sunk several

Japanese aircraft carriers

American industrial power could replace ships and aircrafts Japan was unable to recover losses Major islands of Marianas fell in July & August 1944
U.S. forces met fanatical

resistance

Suicide cliff:
Island of Saipan in Marianas Mass suicide of surviving Japanese soldiers & civilians

U.S. can do 24/7 bombing of

Japan as of November 1944

Halting Hitler
German wolfpacks
Attacked U.S. shipping
Spring 1943: US finally had upper hand
Added aircraft to convoys Attacked submarine stations Cracked Enigma Knew location of U-boats

Land-air raids against Germany

May 1942: Cologne
British: 1000 plane raid

August 1942:

American bombers join British

Halting Hitler
Northern Africa (Nov. 1942)
El Alamein
British forces need to control North Africa for shipping in the Mediterranean Needed Suez Canal to control oil shipping Stopped German Marshal Erwin Rommel (The Desert Fox) advance to the Suez Canal

American forces come

from the west Allies act as pincers

World War II in North Africa and Italy: The Allied Counteroffensive 1942-1943

Halting Hitler

Halting Hitler
Stalingrad

Halting Hitler
Stalingrad
Winter 1942-43 Red Army finally able to stop Hitlers eastern offensive So far the war had cost
12 million soldiers live 8 million civilian lives

Holding Off the GermansNorthern Africa

World War II in North Africa and Italy: The Allied Counteroffensive 1942-1943

Halting Hitler
Second Front
Stalin had been demanding one

since the Germans had attacked Russia Casablanca (Morocco) Conference:

FDR & Churchill decide cant open a 2nd front, but Would attack soft underbelly of Europe (Mediterranean Campaign) FDR also shocked Allies by announcing unconditional surrender policy

Teheran, Iran Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1943

Big 3
Roosevelt, Winston Churchill & Joseph Stalin finally met for 1st time Promise is made to Stalin at Teheran that a true second front will be opened

Halting Hitler
Allies go from Tunisia to Sicily then Italy
Jan-Aug. 1943 Mussolini deposed

right before Allied advance slowed

Delay & confusion German troops sent to Italy

Rome finally fell June 4, 1944

Halting Hitler

The fall of Rome

D-Day
Liberating France or Operation Overlord D-DayJune 6, 1944
Led by Dwight D.

Eisenhower Allied force of 3.5 million soldiers Germans were slow to respond Estimated 10,000 Allied casualties, including 6,600 Americans Land almost 1 million soldiers and 180,000 vehicles 1st day 4000 ships Secure France by August 25th

Beaches of Normandy

Utah Beach

German POWs from Utah Beach

The Defeat of the Axis

August 25, 1944

Paris, France: American soldiers in victory parade

Election of 1944
Republicans Thomas E. Dewey Governor of NY Liberal Republican who fought the graft & corruption of NY VP Senator John W. Bricker, Ohio
isolationist

Democrats FDR again (4th term) War was progressing well Big fight was for VP
Henry A. Wallace VP

was considered too liberal

He was a socialist
From Missouri

End war & establish a new international organization to establish peace

Harry S. Truman

Gets support from CIO

Last Days of Hitler

Battle of the Bulge
Dec. 1944 Allied troops along Rhine River German surprise counter-

offensive along 50 mile stretch by Ardennes Forest Bulgearea where Germans pushed forces back
Stopped at Bastogne, a Belgium city When Bastogne asked to surrender, U.S. General responds, Nuts!

Symbol of American

strength and determination

Last Days of Hitler

After the Battle of the Bulge, Germany had few soldiers left to defend the homeland.

Yalta Conference:
The Big Three

Faced 4 million Allied troops on its western border Millions more Soviet troops to the east
Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin Met in Yalta to make plans for the end of the war and the peace that was to follow

Allied forces made their way across the Rhine River, which was a key barrier to the center of Germany.

Last Days of Hitler

Germany Defeated
Some Allies

wanted to get to Berlin before Soviets did Already discussion of how to divide Berlin Hitler, knew he was defeated
Killed himself April 30, 1945

Berlin fell May 2,

1945

VE Day: May 8, 1945

The Holocaust
World War II brought many of Europes 9 million Jews under the control of the Nazi SS. Hitler in Power
Began campaign against Jews

soon after becoming chancellor Established a series of antiSemitic laws intended to drive Jews from Germany
Laws stripped Jews of their citizenship and took away most civil and economic rights.

Discrimination and violent

attacks against Jews began

Anti-Jewish riots broke out in an attack called Kristallnacht. Jews were sent to concentration camps, killed, and fined for the attack

The Holocaust
Concentration camps
Were built in Germany and

in other countries that the Germans occupied Were prisons for Jews and others considered enemies of Hitlers regime. Conditions in the camps were horrific.

Ghettos
Nazis also created ghettos

to control and punish Jews. Life in the Jewish ghettos was desperate. The worst ghetto was in Warsaw, Poland.

The Holocaust
The Final Solution
In 1941 Hitler called for the total destruction of all of Europes Jews, or Genocide: The killing of an entire group of people At first mobile killing units--Einsatzgruppenmassacred Jews.

Death Camps
Involved building 6 new extermination camps for Jews Inmates were exposed to poison gas in specially built chambers. 3 million Jews died in extermination camps. Another 3 million Jews and 5 million

others were killed by the Nazi using other means

The HolocaustAmerican Reaction

American immigration limited the number of Jews
Even though Americans knew of

Hitlers policies

Final Solution, 1942

Began to Americans officials

began to hear about what was happening to the Jews in Americans were doubtful at first and thought the reports might just be war rumors

Finally in 1944, Roosevelt created the War Refugee Board. Through this board, the United States was able to help 200,000 Jews.

The HolocaustAmerican Reaction

Liberating the Nazi Camps
In 1944, Soviet troops began

to discover some of the Nazi death camps. By 1945 they reached the huge extermination camp at Auschwitz.

Reports gave proof of Hitlers plan.

Also in 1945, American soldiers came upon concentration camps. Many camp inmates died after being rescued, but some were still strong enough to survive.

The HolocaustAmerican Reaction

The HolocaustAmerican Reaction

The HolocaustAmerican Reaction

The Nuremberg trials
Court in Nuremberg,

Germany Many Nazis faced trial for their roles in the Holocaust. The court was called the International Military Tribunal. 22 Nazis were tried for war crimes, including Hermann Gering. Since Nuremberg, several Nazis have been captured and tried in different courts, including Israel.

Ending the War with Japan

Ending the War with Japan

Ending the War with Japan

Ending the War with Japan

 Debating the Bombs Use Hiroshima

August 6, 1945 Enola Gay dropped atomic bomb Despite the horror-Japanese did not surrender.

The Atom Bomb

Nagasaki
August 9 Even this did not bring

an end to the war.

August 15, 1945

Japanese emperor Hirohito announced the end of the war. V-J Day: September 2, 1945 (day they signed the surrender)
Hiroshima, September 1945

Challenges After the War

United Nations
Representatives from 50 countries met Meant to encourage cooperation & to prevent wars.

Potsdam Conference
Allied leaders met in the German city Discuss the spread of communism and Soviet influence in the postwar world. Truman hoped to get Stalin to live up to his promises from Yalta.
Stalin did not do this

Rebuilding
MacArthur led efforts to help Japan rebuild its government and economy.
Seven Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

Rebuilding Europe caused tensions between the U.S and the Soviet Union. (Cold War)

European Map, 1945