Americans and the World in Crisis 1933-1945

1. Americans and the World in Crisis1933-1945 Chapter 25

2. Foreign Policy 1933-1939 • Latin America • Hoover • Actively pursued friendly relations with Latin America, toured region before inauguration • Ended troop occupation in Nicaragua and Haiti • Good Neighbor Policy • Pan American Conference 1933 • Formal convention signed • Withdrew American troops • U.S. pledged to never interfere in internal affairs of L.A. again • Renounced Platt Amendment • Economic interference instead of military • 2nd Pan Am Conference 1936- Roosevelt attended • Tested • Cuba • Economic crisis 1933 • No direct intervention • Roosevelt and Congress nullified Platt Amendment, except Gitmo Bay • Mexico • Reform government in power 1936 • Seized US and British oil companies • Compensation agreements reached • Roosevelt refused to intervene

3. Rise of Aggressive states in Europe and Asia • Soviet Union • Formally recognized in 1933 by US • To increase trade and boost economy • Joseph Stalin leader • Communist • Japan • Hideki Tojo • Wanted natural resources • Invasion of China 1931 • Defied open door policy and League of Nations • Took over Manchuria • U.S. refused to recognize • Stimson Doctrine 1932 • Rape of Nanking 1937 • Full scale war • Italy • Benito Mussolini • Fascist leader • Idea that people should glorify nation/race through aggressive show of force • Wanted new Roman Empire • Starts with Ethiopia 1935 • Germany • Totalitarian government • Equivalent of Fascists • Adolf Hitler • Starts rearmament of Germany • Starts in Rhineland 1936 • Sudetenland 1938 • “allowed” to take Czechoslovakia • German speaking • Munich Conference 1938

4. America stays NEUTRAL • Keeping with the Trend • Isolationist since 1920s • America First Committee • Charles Lindbergh, Coughlin • Gerald Nye • WWI investigations • “merchants of death” • Gathering Storm • Neutrality Acts 1935-1937 • FDR’s “quarantine aggressors” • Axis Actions • Japan violates naval treaties 1936 • Germany violates Munich Pact • FDR’s response • Actions “short of war” • $300 million war appropriations • 1.3 billion defense budget • “preparedness”

5. War in Europe • Germany invades Poland 9/1/1939 • Breaks Treaty of Versailles • Secretly agrees to share with Soviet Union • Britain and France declare war • German invades Baltic • spring 1940 • Use of Blitzkrieg (lighting war) • Denmark/Norway surrendered in a few days • US response • Stay neutral but amend acts • “cash and carry” policy • Amended Neutrality Acts • US economy benefitted • France surrenders 6/22/1940 • Only took one week • Hitler turns to Britain • Air raids and u-boats • Reelection • FDR limited in order for reelection • Unprecedented 3rd term • Reasons: • Economic recovery • Fear of war, people wanted an experienced leader • Defeats (R) Wendell Willkie • Action • Selective Service Act 1940 • “Lend-lease” program • Cash provision scrapped • Atlantic Charter 1941

7. Pearl Harbor 12/07/1941 • Lead up • US threat to Japan’s global policy • 1940 US ended treaty with Japan • Japan signs Tripartite Act with Germany and Italy 1940 • Invades French Indochina • FDR freezes Japanese assets in US • Imposes oil embargo • Coming War • Japan increasingly threatening to US • Oil sanctions the issue • Codes broken, attack imminent • Attack • Pearl Harbor attack technically victory for Japan • 350 aircraft destroyed, 2,400 killed, 1,200 wounded • In less than two hours • Japan continues attack on Philippines, Malaya, and Hong Kong • Response • US Declaration of War 12/08/1941 • 12/11/1941- Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.

9. Mobilizing for War • Selective Service Act 1940 • Four Freedoms Speech • 1941 • 1.6 million in Armed Forces • 15% industrial output • War Powers Act • Unprecedented presidential authority • Joint Chiefs of Staff • Army, Navy, and Air Force • Office of Strategic Services • Forerunner to CIA • Combated espionage

10. Wartime Industry • War Production Board (WPB) • Managed war industries • Allocated materials • Directed conversion of peacetime industries to war industries • $100 million in contracts in 1st ½ of 1942 • War Manpower Commission (WMC) • Supervised mobilization • National War Labor Board (NWLB) • Mediated disputes between labor and management • Unions asked not to strike • Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act 1943 • Government could take over if strike threatened production • Roosevelt used on the railroads • Office of Price Administration (OPA) • Rationed scare products • Imposed price controls on meat, sugar, gasoline, auto tires, etc.

11. Wartime Industry • 1942 Justice James Brynes • “Assistant President” • In charge of Domestic war effort • Assembly Line • 1942 ½ economy geared for war • Equaled Germany, Italy, and Japan’s output combined • Created synthetic rubber • Greatest Weapons manufacturer • Henry Ford • Henry Kaiser “liberty ships” • 14 days per ship with assembly line • 1944 Economic Bill of Rights • Not enacted by Congress • Consequences • Powers of government swelled • Defense spending increased • Federal budget soared • Fed. Civilian employees increased • ** By 1944 unemployment virtually gone!!! **

13. War Economy • $320 billion cost • $100 billion spent in 1945 alone • Paid by: • Increasing income tax • 1st time all Americans had to pay • War bonds • Ended depression • Unemployment vanished • Stimulated industrial booms • Doubled output and GNP • Real wages increased • Investment in America • West • $40 billion investment • LA 2nd largest manufacturing center • South • Textile, oil, natural gas • Shipyards, aircraft plants • A New America • Per capita income tripled • Only shift EVER towards greater equality • Middle class created • Large scale farmers profited • Higher prices • Increased productivity • Farm consolidation • 1st income tax • Labor Unions • From 9 to 14.8 million • “maintenance of membership” • Limited wildcat strikes • Smith-Connally War Labor Disputes 1943 • Limited union power • Inflation • Congress gave FDR control • Combated with rationing • Raised taxes

14. Propaganda • Office of Censorship • Suppression of information • Banned photos of American dead until 1943 • Office of War Information • Employed 4,000 artists, writers, advertisers • Norman Rockwell • Countered enemy propaganda • Moral struggle between good and evil • Hollywood helped • Reinforced through movies, on radio • News programs • Cartoons, Superheroes

16. Men and Women in Uniform • WWII mobilized 16.4 million Americans into the armed forces • Before the war • Majority of 200,000 men employed in the Armed Services served as military police • At beginning of war only U.S. Marine Corps ready to fight • Mobilization • After U.S. entered war, minimum age was lowered to 18 • Rejected soldiers for • Physical issues • Mental issues • Profound illiteracy • Officer corps created • New officer training schools developed • Soldiers became known as Gi’s • Meant government issue • Mainly only draftees • Women • Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) created in May 1942 by the Army • Non-combat missions • Nurses • Flew planes • Administration • African-Americans • No longer excluded from Marine Corps and Coast Guard • Still faced discrimination

17. The Battlefront 1942-1944 • Europe • Operation Torch Nov. 1942 • North Africa • Led by Gen. Eisenhower • Surrender of Rommel • Battle of Stalingrad • Huge Russian victory • Italy 1943 • Allied invasion • Occupied Sicily summer 1943 • Spread to Peninsula • Difficult campaign • D-Day June 6, 1944 • Allied invasion of France • Paris liberated by August • Largest sea-land operation • Operation Overlord • Led by Eisenhower • Battle of the Bulge Dec. 1944 • Month-long battle • Desperate German counterattack • Decisive Allied victory • Asia • Philippines 1942 • MacArthur leaves troops • Hides in Australia • 78,000 surrender • Bataan Death March • Battle at Coral Sea May 1942 • 1st all-plane battle • Stop Jap invasion of Australia • Midway 1942 • Crucial US outpost • Broke Jap signal • Destroyed large portion of Japanese army • VERY important victory • Guadalcanal Aug.1942 • Had to deal with Malaria • 6 bitter months of battle • Two-pronged advanced • Island-Hopping • new strategy • By-passed Jap strongholds and isolated them with naval and air power

20. Politics Abroad And At Home • Casablanca 1943 • 1st conference of “big three” • Meet to define goals • Teheran • 2nd meeting • Goals: • FDR • Total defeat of Axis powers • Establishment of world order strong enough to preserve peace and open-trade • Churchill • Balance of power in Europe • Retain imperial possessions • Soviet Union • Permanently weakened Germany • Sphere of influence in Eastern Europe • 1944 Election • Wallace dropped as VP • Truman more conservative • Republican challenger Thomas Dewey • Strong reputation for prosecuting corruption in NY • Couldn’t really offer an alternative to F.D.R.’s leadership • Smallest margin of victory for FDR • Many still concerned with change of leadership during a war

21. American Society • Home Front • Mass internal migration • New job opportunities • Urbanization • Housing shortages • Prosperity after depression • Conservation • Victory garden • Consumer goods shortage • Psychological effects • High divorce rates • Family violence • Juvenile delinquency • Traditional conventions strengthened

22. Women on the Home Front • More opportunities • Thousands of jobs opened • 5 million women in the workforce • Pay still unequal • Not just “white collar” • More married women hired • 200,000 served non-combat military roles • “Rosie the Riveter” • “making history while working for victory” • Education • Teachers, students leave schools • Colleges forced to admit more women

25. African American Life • Status • 9/10 lived below poverty line • Earned only 39% of white income • Unemployment will drop 80% during WWII • 1.5 million left South for jobs in North and West • “Double- V” campaign 1942 • Victory over Axis powers AND discrimination • NAACP membership at 500,000 • CORE 1942 • Congress of Racial Equality • Non-violent methods • Against Jim Crow laws in north • A. Philip Randolph • Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters • “thundering march” 1941 • End discrimination in Armed Services • FDR compromised • Beginning of Civil Rights movement • Victories • Smith v. Allwright 1944 • Unconstitutional to deny membership in political parties as a way of excluding African-Americans from voting in primaries • Executive Order 8802 • 1st presidential directive on race • Prohibited discriminatory employment practices by federal agencies • 1 million served in Armed Forces • Restricted jobs • Few units • 7,000 officers • 761st tank battalion • Segregated units • Home Front Violence • Race Riots • Harlem 1943 (Mobile, Beaumont) • Detroit • 32 hours • 34 dead, 700 injured • $2 million in damage

28. Other Ethnicities • American- Indians • 25,000 served in Armed Forces • More than half never returned to reservations • Navajo “code-talkers” • Iwo Jima • Worked in defense industries on west coast • Incomes tripled • Discrimination • National Congress of American Indians 1944 • Mexicans • Braceros, temporary workers • 1942 agreement • Didn’t have to have go through formal immigration for harvest seasons • Hostility against “zoot suits” • Riots 1943 • 350,000 served • Not segregated • Very decorated • Gays/Lesbians • New opportunities • Freedom • Veteran’s Benevolent Association 1945 • 20,000 served in military • Japanese • Suffered most • Over 100,000 interned or placed in relocation camps • Reflected 40 years of anti-Japanese sentiment • Supreme Court upheld with Korematsu case 1944 • “justified” during war time • $2 billion in property loss • Later compensated

32. The Holocaust • When did America know? • Leaked early 1942 • No photographs • Not believed • Nov. 1942 State Department admits knowledge • How much could have been done?

33. Finishing the War • Europe • March 1945 • Crossed into heartland • V-E Day • Berlin surrounded • Hitler's suicide April 30th, 1945 • Surrender May 8th, 1945 • FDR dies April 12, 1945 • Yalta Conference • End of War in sight • US • Wants to pressure GB about India • Wants free elections in Eastern Europe • Dollar replaces pound • Soviet Union • Has advantage • Wants Manchuria • Wants Eastern Europe • Japan/ Asia • Kamikazes 1st used Oct. 1944 • 1945 Iwo Jima • “meat grinder” • June 1945 Okinawa • Brutal war, mass casualties • 50,000 Americans • 100,000 Japanese • Japan holds to “bitter end” • How many Americans would die? • Potsdam Conference • Truman announces Atomic Bomb • Japan warned • Enola Gay 8/6/1945 • Destroys Hiroshima • Nagasaki 8/8/1945 • 90,000 + dead • 130,000+ injured • Japan’s surrender • Unconditional August 14, 1945 • Officially September 2, 1945 to McArthur on the U.S.S. Missouri

35. Was it Justified?

36. Costs of the A-Bomb

37. Conclusion • Deadliest war in history • 20 million dead, 25 million civilians • 7.5 million Russians • 3.5 million Germans • 1.2 million Japanese • 2.2 million Chinese • 6 million Jews • 300,000 Americans • 800,000 wounded • Asia/Europe in rubble • United Nations created in 1945 • America • Middle class created • “can-do” attitude • World superpower • $250 billion debt