World War II, Japanese Internment, and The Bomb

1. World War II, Japanese Internment, and The Bomb

2. The War Begins • In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. • France and England declare War on Germany • WWII has officially begun • Japan invades China and much of the South Pacific • United States places an Embargo on Japan, refusing to sell them oil or aluminum—resources Japan desperately needed

3. Pearl Harbor • Despite peace talks, Japan viewed war with the United States as inevitable. • Dec. 7, 1941 • Japanese Navy hit Pearl Harbor with a sneak attack with over 300 aircraft in an attempt to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet. • “A date which will live in infamy” – Franklin D. Roosevelt • “I fear we have but awakened a sleeping giant” – Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

4. The United States Mobilizes • Now that the U.S. was in the war, industry increased. • War-time created more jobs than the New Deal ever could have • The PNW was a major shipping center and shipbuilding location for the Pacific War • Washington’s War Industries • Aluminum mills built in Spokane, Tacoma, Longview • Shipyards across WA built over 50 aircraft carriers and countless support ships during the war.

5. War-time Production David M. Kennedy et al., The Library of Congress World War II Companion. (New York: Simon and Schuster), 2007, 203.

6. Boeing Aircraft Co. • America needed long-range bombers to defeat Japan and Germany, and Boeing answered. • B-17 “Flying Fortress” • The workhorse of the American Airforce, Boeing’s Seattle plant produced 16 aircraft a day at its peak • B-29 “Super Fortress” • The most technologically advanced bomber of WWII, the B-29 was able to hit the Japanese Mainland from islands in the South Pacific. • Dropped both Atom Bombs on Japan • Boeing employed 50,000 people during the war; half of them were women.

7. The Manhattan Project • Albert Einstein warned FDR that the Nazis were attempting to make an atom bomb. • Roosevelt ordered the construction of one for the U.S. • Plutonium for the bomb was refined at the Hanford Nuclear site in WA. • Rural, easy to secure area • Reactors got power and water from the Grand Coulee Dam/Columbia River. • Hanford was so secret, that most of the 15,000 people working there did not even know what the final product of their work was supposed to be.

8. Japanese Internment • Pearl Harbor created racism towards people of Japanese ancestry. • Feared that Japanese-Americans were enemy agents and would help Japan. • May 2, 1942, FDR signed executive order 9066, forcing Japanese Americans to move to relocation/internment camps. • Most in WA sent to Minidoka Camp in Idaho. • 10,000 citizens were detained there for the duration of the war. • 120,000 American Citizens were stripped of their rights and property.

9. The War Ends • By May, 1945, the Nazis had been defeated, but Japan was still at war. • President Truman ordered the dropping of atom bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. • In Hiroshima, 70,000 people were killed instantly. • Japan surrendered shortly after the second bomb was dropped.

10. Women in WWII • As men left to fight, women went into the factories. • 19 million women served in the U.S. labor force. • 65% of workers in the aviation industry were women. • Women also served in support roles in all military branches • Womens Army Corps- ~150,000 • 7 Divisions worth of troops • Navy WAVES- ~100,000 • 38 Essex Class Aircraft Carriers • Women’s Airforce Service Pilots- ~1,000 • Army/Navy Nurse Corps- ~68,000