Chapter 25 - West Davidson High School

OUT OF MANY A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Chapter 25 World War II 1941-1945

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Part One:

Introduction

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Chapter Focus Questions How did World War II force the United States to adopt a more global outlook? How did the government marshal the nation’s resources to fight the war? What impact did this mobilization have on the federal bureaucracy and its relationship to business? What major changes occurred in American society as a consequence of wartime mobilization? What was the Allies’ strategy for fighting the war in Europe? What role did science and technology play in the Allied victory? What strategy did the United States adopt in fighting Japan in the Pacific? How did the American government and military leaders respond to the Holocaust, and what knowledge did the American people have of the Nazi genocide? What factors were behind the decision to deploy the atomic bomb against Japan? © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Part Two:

American Communities: Los Alamos, New Mexico

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American Communities: Los Alamos, New Mexico The Manhattan Project created a community of scientists whose mission was to build the atomic bomb. The scientists and their families lived in the remote, isolated community of Los Alamos. They formed a close-knit community, united by antagonism toward the Army and secrecy from the outside world. Led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientists developed a strong sense of camaraderie as they struggled to develop the atomic bomb.

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Part Three:

The Coming of World War II © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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The Shadows of War Across the Globe Militaristic authoritarian regimes that had emerged in Japan, Italy, and Germany threatened peace throughout the world. Japan took over Manchuria and then invaded China. Italy made Ethiopia a colony. German aggression against Czechoslovakia threatened to force Britain and France into the war. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Isolationism By the mid-1930s many Americans had concluded that entry into WWI and an active foreign role for the United States had been a serious mistake. College students protested against the war. Congress passed the Neutrality Acts to limit the sale of munitions to warring countries. Prominent Americans urged a policy of “America First” to promote non-intervention. FDR promoted military preparedness, despite little national support.

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Roosevelt Readies for War The combined German-Soviet invasion of Poland plunged Europe into war. German blitzkrieg techniques quickly led to takeovers of Denmark, Norway, and later Belgium and France. As the Nazi air force pounded Britain, FDR pushed for increased military expenditures. FDR met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and drafted the Atlantic Charter—a statement of war aims.

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Pearl Harbor The Japanese threatened to seize Europe’s Asian colonies. FDR cut off trade with Japan. Japan attacked the base in Pearl Harbor. The United States declared war; declarations against Germany and Italy followed.

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On December 7, 1941, Japanese attack planes devastated the U.S. fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. This photograph shows the explosion of the USS Shaw, a drydocked destroyer, during the second wave of Japanese attack. The “sneak” attack on Pearl Harbor became a symbol of Japanese treachery and the necessity for U.S. revenge. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Part Four:

The Great Arsenal of Democracy

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Mobilizing for War Congress and FDR created laws and new agencies to promote mobilization. The Office of War Information controlled war news and promoted morale at home. War bonds were used to promote support as well as raise funds. As mobilization proceeded, New Deal agencies vanished. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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On the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and asked for an immediate declaration of war against Japan. The resolution passed with one dissenting vote, and the United States entered World War II. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. 14

Organizing the War Economy The industrial capacity of the United States was the decisive factor in the war. Civilian firms were converted to war purposes and American industries were primed for all-out production. An unprecedented economic boom pulled the country out of the depression. The largest firms, especially those in the West and South, received large shares of wartime contracts. The war increased farm profits, but thousands of small farms disappeared.

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New Workers The demand for labor brought Mexicans, Indians, African Americans, and women into the industrial labor force. The entry of these new female workers broke down many stereotypes. Workers’ wages went up, but not as fast as profits or prices. Prior to American entry, militant unions had led a number of strikes. Once the United States entered the war, the major unions agreed to no-strike pledges. African-American union membership doubled. Some illegal strikes did break out, leading to federal antistrike legislation. Table: Strikes and Lockouts in the United States, 1940-45 © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Facing a shortage of workers and increased production demands, the War Manpower Commission and the Office of War Information conducted a campaign to recruit women into the labor force. Women were encouraged to “take a job for your husband/son/brother” and to “keep the world safe for your children.” Higher wages also enticed many women to take jobs in factories. In this photograph, women are shown packaging powdered milk. SOURCE: Getty Images Inc.-Hulton Archive Photos. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Seeing History Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie, the Riveter”

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Part Five:

The Home Front

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Families in Wartime The war spurred marriage rates. Shortages of housing and retail goods added to the difficulties families encountered. With one-parent households increasing, child-care issues arose. Some day-care assistance was available, though it scarcely met people’s needs. The rise in unsupervised youths created problems with juvenile crime. The availability of jobs led to higher high school dropout rates. Public health improved greatly during the war. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Students at Officers’ Training School at Northwestern University, who were not allowed to marry until they were commissioned as ensigns, apply for marriage licenses in Chicago, August 20, 1943, shortly before graduation. These young couples helped the marriage rate skyrocket during World War II. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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The Internment of Japanese Americans In 1942, more than 112,000 Japanese were removed from their homes in the West to relocation centers, often enduring harsh living conditions. The Supreme Court upheld the policy, though in 1988 the U.S. Congress voted for reparations and public apologies.

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More than 110,000 Japanese Americans were interned during World War II, some for up to four years. This photograph, taken by Dorothea Lange (1895– 1965), the famed photographer of depression-era migrant families, shows young boys waiting in the baggageinspection line at the Assembly Center in Turlock, California. SOURCE: National Archives.

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“Double V”: Victory at Home & Abroad African-American activists launched a “Double V” campaign calling for victory overseas and equal rights at home. FDR responded to a threatened march on Washington by banning racial discrimination in defense industries. New civil rights organizations emerged while older ones grew. More than 1 million blacks left the South to take jobs in war industries. They often encountered violent resistance from local whites. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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This painting is by Horace Pippin, a self-taught African American artist who began painting as therapy for an injury suffered while serving with the U.S. Army’s 369th Colored Infantry Regiment during World War I. It is one of a series drawn during World War II illustrating the contradiction between the principles of liberty and justice, for which Americans were fighting abroad, and the reality of race prejudice at home. SOURCE: Horace Pippin (1888 –1946), “Mr. Prejudice,” 1943. Oil on canvas, 18 x 14 inches. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Matthew T. Moore. Photo by Graydon Wood. 1984 – 108 –1.

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Zoot-Suit Riots Whites’ bitter resentment against Mexican Americans exploded in 1943. The zoot-suit riots erupted when whites concluded that Mexican youths who wore the flamboyant clothes were unpatriotic. Most Mexican Americans served in the military or worked in war industries.

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Popular Culture and the “Good War” Popular culture seemed to bridge the racial divisions. Southerners moving to northern cities brought musical styles and changed the sound of popular culture. Popular entertainment, whether in film or comic books, emphasized the wartime spirit, as did fashion.

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Part Six:

Men and Women in Uniform © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Creating the Armed Forces Even before formally entering the war, the government had begun a draft. The officer corps, except for General Eisenhower, tended to be professional, conservative, and autocratic. Junior officers were trained in special military schools and developed close ties with their troops. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Women Enter the Military For the first time, the War Department created women’s divisions of the major services. Most women stayed in the country and performed clerical or health-related duties. Some flew planes and others went into combat with the troops. The military closely monitored sexual activity. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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New recruits to the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) pick up their clothing “issue” (allotment). These volunteers served in many capacities, from nursing men in combat to performing clerical and communication duties “stateside” (within the United States). Approximately 140,000 women served in the WACS during World War II. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Old Practices and New Horizons Despite suspicions of the military’s racism, 1 million African Americans served in the armed forces. These soldiers encountered segregation at every point. Many racial or ethnic minorities (along with homosexuals) also served and often found their experience made them feel more included in American society. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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The Marines recruited more than 400 Navajos to serve as code talkers by communicating in their own language. Deployed mainly to the Pacific Theater, they used radio and telegraph to transmit quickly vital information about battlefield activities, including troop movements. This photograph, taken in December 1943, show Corporal Henry Bake, Jr., and Private First Class George H. Kirk operating a portable radio unit in a jungle clearing near the front lines. SOURCE: National Archives. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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The Medical Corps The risk of injury was much higher than that of getting killed in battle. Battle fatigue also was a problem. The Army depended on a variety of medical personnel to care for sick and wounded soldiers. The true heroes of the battlefront were the medics attached to each infantry battalion. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Part Seven:

The World at War

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Soviets Halt Nazi Drive Map: The War in Europe During the first year of American involvement, FDR called the war news “all bad.” The burden of fighting the Nazis fell to the Soviets who blocked the German advance on Moscow. The Soviets broke the siege of Stalingrad in February 1943 and began to push the Germans back.

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MAP 25.1 The War in Europe The Allies remained on the defensive during the first years of the war, but by 1943 the British and Americans, with an almost endless supply of resources, had turned the tide.

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The Allied Offensive Although the Soviets appealed for the Allies to open up a “second front” in western Europe, they instead attacked North Africa and Italy. Churchill and FDR met in Casablanca and agreed to seek an unconditional German surrender. American and British planes poured bombs on German cities that: weakened the economy undermined civilian morale crippled the German air force © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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As part of the air war on Germany, Allied bombers launched a devastating attack on Dresden, a major economic center, in February 1945. Of the civilians who died, most from burns or smoke inhalation during the firestorm, a large number were women and children, refugees from the Eastern Front. The city was left in ruins. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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The Allied Invasion of Europe The Allied invasion forced Italy out of the war, though German troops stalled Allied advances. Uprisings against Nazi rule tied up German power. By early 1944, Allied units were preparing for the D-Day assault on France. Paris was taken on August 25, 1944. France and other occupied countries fell as Allied units overran the Germans. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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D-Day landing, June 6, 1944, marked the greatest amphibious maneuver in military history. Troop ships ferried Allied soldiers from England to Normandy beaches. Within a month, nearly 1 million men had assembled in France, ready to retake western and central Europe from German forces. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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The High Cost of European Victory The Battle of the Bulge temporarily halted the Allied advance. After Christmas Day 1944, the Germans retreated back into their own territory.

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The War in Asia and the Pacific Map: War in the Pacific In the Pacific theater Allied forces stopped Japanese advances by June 1942. Naval battles and island hopping brought U.S. forces closer to the Japanese home islands. Victories in the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa enabled the Allies to bomb Japanese cities. Britain and the United States pressed for rapid surrender to prevent the Soviets from taking any Japanese-held territories. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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MAP 25.2 War in the Pacific Across an ocean battlefield utterly unlike the European Theater, Allies battled Japanese troops near their homeland. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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Part Eight:

The Last Stages of the War

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The Holocaust The horror of the Nazi’s systematic extermination of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and other “inferior” races was slow to enter American consciousness. Although Jewish refugees pleaded for a military strike to stop the killings, the War Department vetoed any such plans.

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Belsen Camp: The Compound for Women, painted by American artist Leslie Cole, depicts Belsen as the Allied troops found it when they invaded Germany in 1945. SOURCE: Leslie Cole, “Belsen Camp. The Compound for Women .” Imperial War Museum, London. © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

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The Yalta Conference Churchill, Stalin and FDR attempted to hammer out the shape of the postwar world. The ideals of the Atlantic Charter fell before Soviet and British demands for spheres of influence. FDR continued to hold on to his idealism, but his death in April cast a shadow over hopes for peaceful solutions to global problems.

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The Atomic Bomb The new president, Harry S. Truman, lacked FDR’s finesse and planned a get-tough policy with the Soviet Union. At Potsdam, little progress was made on planning the future. Truman decided to use nuclear weapons against the Japanese. Truman was aware that the war could have been brought to a peaceful conclusion with only a slight modification in policy. Truman claimed the use of the bomb would substantially shorten the war and save American lives.

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Part Nine:

Conclusion

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