WORLD WAR ii

1. Mobilization/ Early Struggles WORLD WAR ii

2. Roosevelt’s War Message • What were some of the points that FDR was trying to get across in asking Congress to go to war?

3. Advantages for Each Side

4. Setting the Stage • 26 Allied Nations vs. 8 Axis Powers • Major Allied Powers – Great Britain, Soviet Union & the U.S. • Major Axis Powers – Germany, Italy & Japan • Four fronts of battle • Eastern Europe – USSR vs. Germany • North Africa – Italy and Germany vs. Allies • Western Europe – Allies protect England and France from Germany • Far East – Allies (led by U.S.) vs. Japan

6. Mobilization for War • Mobilization • Switching from a peacetime to wartime economy • Government and private business agree to increase production, unions agree not to strike

7. Mobilization for War • Production boom • Number of workers producing ammunition increases 25 times from 1940 to 1943 • Built 300,000 aircraft and suspended car production • Depression finally ends – Massive production created an economic boom • Unemployment – fell from 14.6% in 1940 to 1.2% in 1944 • Earnings doubled from 1939 - 1945

8. Mobilization for War • Government expansion • War Production Board (WPB, created Jan. 1942) – meant to increase military production • Directed factory conversion to wartime production and supervised creation of new plants • Office of War Mobilization (OWM, created May 1943) – coordinated the production and distribution of consumer goods (i.e. regulated clothing to save fabric)

9. Mobilization for War • Directing the Economy • Government expanded control over the economy • Income tax – number of Americans required to pay increased by nine times, almost everyone paid • War bonds (liberty bonds) – up to $150 billion sold, helped keep inflation down

10. C. Mobilization for War • Office of Price Administration – also fought inflation by setting maximum prices on most goods • Rationing – when the government controls the available number of consumer goods; military gets top priority • Households received ration books for meat, sugar, butter, shoes, gasoline, tires, other items

11. Mobilization for War • Raising an Army • Selective Service and Training Act – passed in Sept. 1940, just over 450,000 in military at this time • First peacetime draft in U.S. history • Required all men ages 21-35 (later 18-45) to register • 5 million people volunteer, 10 million more drafted • Women – 300,000 volunteer, many as nurses • Others worked other jobs to allow men to serve in active duty

12. Promoting the War • Most Americans supported US involvement in the war • Window banners – Blue star = loved one in service, Gold star = death in combat • Moviemakers, songwriters & radio stations participated in keeping up morale • Office of War Information – controlled the flow of news at home • Propaganda – information, ideas, or rumors spread to help or harm a person, group, movement, nation, etc. • Often played the role of mocking the enemy

13. Life During Wartime • Americans cut back consumption of luxuries and necessary items • Victory gardens returned • “God Bless America” – song written by Irving Berlin became the country’s unofficial anthem • Paperback books – appeared first in 1939, quickly surpassed hardcover books • West Coast blackouts – • cities practiced nighttime blackouts, feared lit cities would be an easy Japanese target

14. Rosie the Riveter • Shows the importance of female workers during WWII • 1940 – 1944 female workers increased by 6 million • Replaced soldiers at war by taking jobs at factories

22. Early Battles in the Pacific • Philippines • Japanese attack the day after Pearl Harbor (along with many other places in the Pacific) • Gen. Douglas MacArthur – commander of U.S. and Filipino troops, eventually became commander of all Army troops in the Pacific • U.S. ships and troops overpowered by Japanese, had to withdraw

24. Early Battles in the Pacific • MacArthur ordered by FDR to Australia – “I shall return.” • Bataan Death March – • 70,000 POW’s forced to march to prison camps, 10,000 die under brutal conditions and treatment • Why did Japanese treat POW’s so poorly?

26. Early Battles in the Pacific • Bombing of Tokyo – April 1942 – Colonel James Doolittle, little damage but huge emotional lift for Allies • Battle of the Coral Sea – May 1942 – Allied victory stopped Japanese advance toward Australia • Battle of Midway – June 1942 – U.S. breaks Japanese code, sinks four carriers, first big blow to Japanese navy

27. Early Battles in the Pacific • Aleutian Islands – Japan tries to draw Navy away from Hawaii and Midway • Only U.S. land in North America captured during the war • Guadalcanal – Aug. 1942-Feb. 1943 – U.S. Marines launch first major offensive, things start to turn in Allies’ favor • Highlighted in early episodes of The Pacific

37. Japanese American Internment • What is internment? Forced relocation and imprisonment • Issei – people born in Japan, ineligible for U.S. citizenship • Nisei – people of Japanese descent born in U.S., thus they were American citizens

38. Japanese American Internment • Executive Order 9066 – Feb. 1942 – ordered relocation of over 100,000 Japanese Americans living on West Coast to camps across the country • Those relocated had to sell their property & businesses at a great loss, over 60% were U.S. citizens, one-third were under 19 • Hawaii placed under martial (military) law for remainder of the war

39. Japanese American Internment • Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) – Supreme Court ruled need to protect against espionage outweighed individual rights • 1988 – US government granted $20,000 to those “war prisoners” who were still alive • Why do you think were Japanese residents of the West Coast removed but German and Italian Americans did NOT receive similar treatment?

45. I. Early Battles in Europe/Africa • Battle of the Atlantic • German U-Boats dominate early • Sank more than 500 ships off U.S. East Coast in first half of 1942 and almost cut off British supply lines • Turning it around – U.S. used convoy system, radar and sonar to destroy U-boats • U.S. began to crank out new ships and destroy U-boats faster than Germans could make them • By mid-1943, battle turned in Allies’ favor

46. I. Early Battles in Europe/Africa • North Africa • Erwin Rommel – the “Desert Fox”, German commander in North Africa • Battle of El Alamein – British stop German push towards Suez Canal • Operation Torch – Allied offensive in French North Africa (currently Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) • Led by U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, moved eastward toward Egypt to link with British • May 1943 – Germans surrender in North Africa • Churchill – “Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.”

47. I. Early Battles in Europe/Africa • Stalingrad (Sept. 1942-Feb. 1943) • Target – 250,000 German troops sent to take Soviet oil fields in southern Russia and cut off supply routes to Moscow • Sept. 1942 – Germans take 90 percent of city demolished by airstrikes and artillery • Winter 1942 – Soviets hold on, eventually get edge on Germans who are forbidden to surrender by Hitler

48. I. Early Battles in Europe/Africa • Feb. 1943 – Germans finally surrender • Casualty count • Germans – 150,000 died, 91,000 captured, 45,000 died marching to POW camps, only 7,000 survived the war • Soviets – 1.25 million soldiers and civilians killed, more than all Americans during the entire war