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The US Drifts Toward War. The Neutrality Acts (1935-37) “Cash and Carry” First peacetime draft (1940) All men 21 to 35 had to register for one year’s military service Lend-Lease Act (1941). The US Drifts Toward War.
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The US Drifts Toward War • The Neutrality Acts (1935-37) • “Cash and Carry” • First peacetime draft (1940) All men 21 to 35 had to register for one year’s military service • Lend-Lease Act (1941)
The US Drifts Toward War British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965) (1940-1945) (1951-1955)
The US Drifts Toward War • USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland • Atlantic Charter (14 August 1941)
Some Points of the Charter • No aggrandizement, territorial or other • Freedom of the seas • A new system of general security • Right of all peoples to choose their form of government
The US Drifts Toward War Empire of Japan and its Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere
The US Drifts Toward War Roosevelt imposed an embargo on exports of strategic resources, such as oil and metal, to Japan (September 1941)
Japan Brings the US into the War • Pearl Harbor Sunday, 7 December 1941 • Battleship Row—USS Arizona and Oklahoma destroyed
Japanese mistakes: • Fixated upon the battleships
Fuel dumps were not bombed • Repair facilities untouched
USS West Virginia and California refloated and repaired • USS Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Nevada repaired
No aircraft carriers were present, specifically USS Lexington, Saratoga, and Enterprise
US declared war on the Empire of Japan (8 December 1941) “With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.” — FDR
Nazi Germany declared war on the US (11 December 1941) • Japanese attacked multiple targets: • Philippines attacked by air
World War II in the Pacific • Guam (10 December) • Wake Island • Philippines fell (8 April 1942)
World War II in the Pacific General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
World War II in the Pacific • The Doolittle Raid • LTC Jimmy Doolittle (1896-1993)
World War II in the Pacific • Why the Doolittle Raid? • Psychological for Japan and the US • Japan protected by the kamikaze (divine wind)
World War II in the Pacific 16 B-25 Bombers brought into striking distance of Japan by the carrier USS Lexington
World War II in the Pacific Naval task force was spotted by a Japanese fishing boat
Doolittle Raid bombed pre-assigned targets in Tokyo-Yokohama, Nagoya, and Osaka-Kobe areas (18 April 1942)
Doolittle received a hero’s welcome in the US and a promotion to Brigadier General
Coral Sea (7-8 May 1942) Battle was fought by Naval aviators who took off from the decks of aircraft carriers Japanese Carrier HIJMS Shoho after torpedo hit
In addition to Mikuma, Japan lost four carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu Japanese Heavy Cruiser HIJMS Mikuma burns at Midway
US Strategy in the Pacific • General Douglas MacArthur • Southwest Pacific
US Strategy in the Pacific • Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (1885-1966) • Central Pacific • Island hopping
Admiral Nimitz Admiral Leahy President Roosevelt General MacArthur Roosevelt’s Chief of Staff 1944
Tarawa (20-24 November 1943) • Code of Bushido • Saipan (15 June-13 July 1944)
Leyte Gulf—Japanese introduced kamikaze pilots Battleship USS Missouri under attack
FDR’s failing health was obvious at the Yalta Conference (12 Feb 1945)
Death of Franklin Roosevelt • FDR died on 12 April 1945 • Harry S Truman (1884-1972) (1945-1953)
The Atomic Bomb Trinity test, the first nuclear explosion (Alamogordo, New Mexico 16 July 1945)
The Atomic Bomb B-29 Super Fortress Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima (6 August)
The Atomic Bomb • 60,000 killed • Four-square miles destroyed
The Atomic Bomb Bock’s Car dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki (9 August)
The Atomic Bomb • 70,000 killed • Japan surrendered (15 August)
Japanese Surrender Official surrender aboard the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Harbor (2 September)