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America in World War II: Key Events and Impacts

Explore the pivotal moments of World War II, from V-E Day to the Bracero Program, showcasing significant battles, homefront changes, and social shifts, including women's wartime contributions and racial equality demands. Discover the transformation of the US economy, the impact of the War Production Board, and the era of Big Government ushered in by the war. Learn about key military campaigns, such as the Pacific Island Hopping strategy and the battles in Europe, including D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. Delve into the political landscape with the "Big 3" conferences and the challenges faced by different communities during this tumultuous period.

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America in World War II: Key Events and Impacts

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  1. MR. LIPMAN’S APUS POWERPOINT CHAPTER 35 World War II

  2. Keys to the Chapter • Get Germany First • Suspension of Civil Rights at Home • War Production Board (economy) • Increased Taxation and Deficit Spending • Executive Order on Discrimination • Key Military Battles • The Big 3 Conferences (Teheran, Yalta & Potsdam) • V-E Day and V-J Day

  3. Attack on Pearl Harbor unites country but America needs military provisions and supplies. • Despite attack by Japanese, it is agreed that stopping Hitler takes priority • Suspension of Civil Rights – Japanese Americans

  4. Japanese-Americans in an Internment Camp

  5. Korematsu v. US (1944) • Upheld constitutionality of Japanese internment • 1988 – US government apologized • Payment of $20,000 made to each survivor Non-citizen Germans and Italians were also forced to register.

  6. US economy changed because of the war • Run by War Production Board • Massive military orders ended Depression *Manufacture of nonessential items stopped • National speed limit; gasoline rationing • Synthetic rubber factories • Farm laborers left to work in factories • Machinery increases productivity • Problems include inflation; rationing; wage controls on workers; anti-strike laws

  7. US Wartime Production

  8. Women and the war • 6 million women worked outside home • Government-run day-care centers • Experienced new freedom • After war many women left labor force • Some forced out to make room for men • Suburban family life and baby boom after war Bracero Program brings Mexican farm workers into California to replace field hands who left for war

  9. “Rosie the Riveter”does “her” part for the war effort

  10. Race became national issue • Blacks start to demand equality (employment, housing, end segregation) • A. Philip Randolph threatened march on Washington to demand equal opportunities • FDR issued executive order • Blacks drafted but subject to segregation • Double “V” – victory over dictators abroad and racism at home

  11. Postwar migration of African Americans • 1940s – 1970s – 1/2 of all blacks gave up South for urban centers in North • Many Native Americans leave reservations for war work or military service

  12. War Introduces the Era of Big Government • Paying for the war ($330B) • Income tax • Expanded to tax 4 times number of people • Raised to high of 90% (on the very rich) • Debt increased from $49 to $259 billion during war • Introduction of “warfare-welfare state” • Postwar economy continued to depend dangerously on war spending for its health

  13. The National Debt, 1930–1950

  14. Military Aspect of WWII • Japan’s early successes in the Pacific: • Guam, Wake, and Philippines • Hong Kong • British Malaya (rubber and tin) • Burma • Dutch East-Indies (oil) • Philippines (April, 1942) and MacArthur vows “return” • Bataan Death March follows capture of islands

  15. US Prisoners Carrying Soldiers Who Had Dropped Along the Way on the Bataan Death March

  16. USA TURNS THE TIDE IN THE PACIFIC • Coral Sea in May, 1942 • Midway, June 1942 • Guadalcanal, landing August, 1942, but not capture until February, 1943 • Losses were 10 (Jap) to 1 (U.S.)– • 20,000 to 1,700 on Guadalcanal

  17. World War II in the Pacific, 1941-1942

  18. Leapfrogging (aka island hopping) strategy • Bypass heavily fortified Japanese islands • Attack Japanese bases with heavy bombing • Taking every island would have taken much longer and cost many more lives

  19. SITUATION IN EUROPE - Fall of 1942 • Air bombing raids hit inside Germany • Allies push back Rommel in North Africa • Russians stop German troops from advancing past Stalingrad and Hitler makes big mistake in not allowing Germans to retreat and regroup. Despite success FDR unable to keep promise of opening a second front in Europe to help Russia

  20. Germans Stopped at Stalingrad Winter 1942-43-----------This will become the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front

  21. November 1942 – Operation Torch • Eisenhower led Allied forces to victory in North Africa • Allies move to Southern Europe in 1943 • August 1943 – Italy surrendered • September 1943 – German troops rescue Mussolini from exile and put him back in power in northern Italy where German troops control country. Italy itself switches sides and joins the Allies but doesn’t mean much since Germany controls the Country. • Germany will not surrender Italy until May, 1945

  22. The “Big 3” at Teheran (IRAN) in November 1943- Agreement on 2nd Front & future Russian help with Japan

  23. D-Day: June 6, 1944 • 4,600 ships across English Channel • Germans believed attack would come further north • Allies blocked reinforcements by railroad • Allied troops slowly move in to France and eventually drive to Germany • August 1944 – Paris liberated • Non stop bombing of Germany will begin in fall 1944

  24. Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944

  25. Battle of the BulgeDec. 1944–Jan. 1945-------------Germany’s Last Gasp

  26. Bombed-Out Berlin, May 1945

  27. Soviet Soldiers Raise Flag of USSR over the Reichstag in Berlin

  28. Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun----------------They will both commit suicide April 30th in the “Bunker”-----------18 days after death of FDR

  29. The Holocaust • Troops find evidence of the murder of 12 million people (including 6 million Jews) • US had known of genocide, but not the extent • Allies had done little to help the Jews • Barred Jewish immigrants who sought to escape May 7, 1945 – Germany surrendered unconditionally • May 8, 1945 – V-E (Victory in Europe) Day

  30. Liberated Concentration Camp Prisonersseveral days after being fed

  31. Victims of the Holocaust Awaiting Burial

  32. German Concentration Camps

  33. Battles in the Pacific • US surrounds Japan • Islands used as bases to attack from the air • March 1945 – island of Iwo Jima • Fierce fighting left 4,000 US casualties • April – June 1945 – island of Okinawa • Japanese fight fiercely; 50,000 US casualties • Japanese Kamikaze pilots used against ships

  34. Raising the American Flag on Iwo Jima {the second time}

  35. Atlee, Truman, and Stalin at Potsdam- July 1945- Planning for Japan Invasion

  36. The Manhattan Project • FDR approved it in early 1940 • $2 billion spent • Use exiled scientists from Europe • July 16, 1945 – first atomic bomb tried New Mexico • Germany tried but abandoned similar project • War against Germany ended before bomb was ready • DEBATE CONTINUES SHOULD WE HAVE INVADED OR RIGHT TO DROP BOMBS?

  37. Arguments for use of Bomb • Japanese refused to surrender. Estimated an invasion would be needed to end the war. • Estimated invasion would take up to 2 years. • Estimated Allied casualties at 1 million • Japanese leaders told of power and nature of the bomb and offered a chance to surrender but declined.

  38. Arguments against use of Bomb • "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" were untested • Both cities were not military targets and many civilians would be killed. • Radiation poisoning, birth defects and contamination would have negative effects on the population. • Would set a precedent about using weapons of mass destruction as allowable in war

  39. Fat Man and Little Boy

  40. Destruction in Hiroshima 9/6/45

  41. Death and Injury from Bombs

  42. August 8, 1945 – USSR enters the war against Japan and Japan surrenders August 14th • Exact date previously agreed upon by Allies (90 days after fall of Germany) • Soviet armies grab land in Manchuria and Korea for post war territorial influence • Stalin wanted armies in Asia to have voice in peace settlement after war • {could he see the cold war coming?}

  43. August 14, 1945V-J Day in Times Square

  44. Japan Official Surrender: September 2, 1945

  45. Human Cost of World War II

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