The United States

1. The United States The Home Front at War

2. Racial Segregation and the War • 15 million in the armed forces • 1 million were African Americans • Marine Corps • By the end of the war had 17,000 “leathernecks” enlisted • Air Force • Trained black officers as pilots (80 Distinguished Flying Crosses)

3. Racial Segregation Cont. • Navy • Had taken African Americas for kitchen staff and waiters • Dorie Miller • Pearl Harbor – took control of a anti-aircraft gun during the attack • Shot down 4 planes • Received the Navy Cross • Helped break down the racial barriers in the Navy

4. Racial Segregation Cont. • Death doesn’t discriminate • Many examples of African Americans performance led to Action by Harry S. Truman • Truman • Appointed a national committee to recommend action to bring racial equality into the armed services. • By 1949 the Army, Navy, and Air Force, had abolished racial quotas • “A Jim Crow army cannot fight for a free world.” • Korean War they would fight side by side

5. Japanese Americans are Intended • Japanese Americans/Immigrants had long faced discrimination on the West coast • After Pearl Harbor their situation got worse • They were blamed for Pearl Harbor • Western Politicians and Military Men • Pressured FDR to remove them from the coastal states • 1942- 110,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps

6. Internment Camps • Japanese Americans • Forced to sell their • Homes • Businesses • They were confined to camps • Guarded by U.S. soldiers • Treated as if dangerous and hostile • Released in 1944

7. Why America Is America • Despite this humiliating treatment • 1200 men volunteered from the camps to serve in the U.S. armed forces. • Segregated Units • Fought mainly in Italy

8. Women and the War Effort • With 15 million men serving in the armed forces • Women found economic opportunities in the workplace • 6 million women join the already 12 million in the labor force • Women became • Lumberjacks, blast furnace operators, stevedores, blacksmiths, operated airplane factories, shipyard equipment, dentist, doctors, chemists, and lawyers • Rosie the Riveter became and inspiration to all Americans

9. Women Cont. • Black Women also benefitted • Nearly ½ a million black women who had worked as domestics left that work to take positions in factories • When WWII ended women were not force out of the workplace like they were after WWI • Women would remain in the workforce

10. Raising Money • War is expensive • From 1941-1945 the Federal Government spent $321 billion • Twice as much that was spend between 1789 and 1914 • Americans were paying the highest taxes in the nations history • Income tax – Top 1% = 94% • Taxes still only brought in 41% of the money needed to fund the war

11. Raising Money • When everyone was employed • Wages were high • With few goods to buy • Prices went up rapidly • Government issued War Bonds ($100 billion) • This kept prices down • Excess money spent on war bonds = less money in the pockets of people • Prices of goods stay resonable

12. Raising Money • In addition to war bonds prices were • Frozen by the government in 1942 • Even with these measures the price of living increased 29% • Manufacturing wages went up 50% • Farmers earned more then ever before • Depression was ancient history • War brought prosperity at home

13. The Election of 1944 • Politics in the United States • Continued as usual • Liberation of France – FDR was unanimously nominated for his forth term • He said he only wanted to go home to Hyde Park • War was taking a toll on FDR who health had been in question for some time • FDR (Dem.) w/ Truman Win • Gov. Thomas E. Dewy (Rep.) lost • Won by 3.6 million votes (432 to 99 electoral votes) • Just like Abe Lincoln U.S. did not change Pres. during war

14. The Failure to take Berlin • Back in Europe • Allies closed in for the kill • American forces moved acrossethe Rhine region and towards the heart of Germany • Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower • Directed the invasion of Europe

15. Failure to take Berlin • Gen. Eisenhower • He could do one of two options • Push forward quickly and secure Berlin, Prague, etc. and capture strongholds that would help enforce Stalin’s promise to let democracy expand in Europe • Or • Could mop up the German troops that were behind his own lines and let the Russians overrun more of Eastern Europe. Helping them foster and grow their dictatorship. They would act as “Satellite countries”

16. Churchill • Said that we should fear Russian Expansion • Eisenhower feared loss of more American Lives • FDR did not interfere • Eisenhower stopped 50 miles west of Berlin • Stalin applauded • Got both Berlin and Prague

17. Death of Roosevelt • Worn down by wartime • FDR died April 12th 1945 • Died of a brain aneurism • Never saw the German Surrender • U.S. citizens wept and mourned for the life of FDR

18. Germany Surrenders • Hitler committed suicide in Berlin before allied troops had arrived • Mussolini was captured • Body hung up by the heels for all to see • May 8th 1945 • Germany unconditionally surrendered • V-E- Day • Victory in Europe Day