AP U.S. History Unit 10

1. AP U.S. HistoryUnit 10 America’s Involvement in World War II

2. Focus on While Reading: • The Rise of Fascism, militarism, and imperialism as answers to the Great Depression. • Signs of, at best, marginal U.S. neutrality. • The continually deteriorating relationship between the United States and Japan. • U.S. treatment of Japanese-Americans in the west as compared to treatment of German-Americans and Italian-Americans in the East • Key military “turning points” of both the War in Europe and the War in the Pacific. • Events related to the Holocaust • Circumstances that led to the use of two Atomic Bombs against the Empire of Japan. • How Post-War conditions led to the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union.

3. Introduction to World War II • As the world searched for answers to the economic crisis that gripped the globe during the Great Depression some nations sought peaceful answers while others turned to increased imperialism, militarism, and more aggressive political systems such as fascism. • The penalties imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles created a climate in Germany that was conducive to the rise of Adolf Hitler. • The Rise of Dictatorships in Germany, Italy, and Japan gave rise to fears that the world was once again on the brink of war. • The United States had turned to a foreign policy of Isolationism during the interwar years and continued to embrace neutrality seeing these issues as uniquely European and Asian problems. • The fate of the world would soon rest on how long the U.S. was willing to cling to that policy of neutrality.

4. Unit 10.1: The Rise of Dictatorships • How did the Treaty that ended World War I contribute to the Rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany? • How did Benito Mussolini rise to power in Italy and what led to a connection between Mussolini and Hitler? • How did Mussolini and Hitler’s aggressive aims join together in the protection of fascism in Spain? • What led to the rise of the military class in Japan?

5. Unit 10.1: The Rise of Dictatorships • How did the Treaty that ended World War I contribute to the Rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany? • Hitler in 1923 was simply another World War I veteran and a third-rate artist. • He joined an obscure political party, the Nationalist Socialist Party (Nazi Party) and began a meteoric rise to the Chancellorship of Germany in 1933. • Hitler fueled his rise to power by charging that weak political leadership, defeatism at home, and the economic machinations (conspiracies) of Germany’s Jewish population had led to Germany’s hardships following World War I. • Hitler cultivated a “cult of personality” in which ultimately he would state that “Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler” (that Hitler was greater than the nation of Germany itself) • Feeding off the anger and bitterness of the German people Hitler promised to return economic success, military power, and the honor of the German people despite the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations, and Kellogg-Briand Pact. • In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler shared a plan to unify German-Speaking peoples living in other parts of Europe, “cleansing” the German population of Jewish people and other non-Aryans, and rebuilding the German Military.

7. Unit 10.1: The Rise of Dictatorships • How did Benito Mussolini rise to power in Italy and what led to a connection between Mussolini and Hitler? • Labor Strikes, a breakdown of law and order, and clashes between fascists and communists led to the rise of Benito Mussolini in Italy. • Mussolini’s “Black Shirts”, much like his colleague Hitler’s “Brown Shirts” used political intimidation and bullying to catapult Mussolini to dictatorship in Italy. • Mussolini promised the return of the Old Roman Empire and pledged to make the Mediterranean Sea an “Italian Lake”. • Mussolini’s aims of conquest in North Africa and the common ground of Fascism led to the Rome-Berlin Axis (which would later become the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis).

9. Unit 10.1: The Rise of Dictatorships • How did Mussolini and Hitler’s aggressive aims join together in the protection of fascism in Spain? • Fascist General Francisco Franco led a revolution to overthrow the Leftist Republican government of Spain. • 52,000 volunteers, including the famous Abraham Lincoln Brigade of Americans, came to Spain to support the Loyalists fight against Fascism. • Both Hitler and Mussolini sent ground and air units to Spain to support Franco’s Revolutionary Movement. • Joseph Stalin, Communist Dictator of the Soviet Union, sent substantial war materials and money to the Loyalists fighting General Franco’s Army. • Although FDR was sympathetic to the Loyalists, he was severely limited in what assistance he could send to Spain by the Neutrality Act of 1937 which forbade sending arms shipments to belligerent nations. • FDR did make his famous “Quarantine Speech” urging the world to isolate aggressor nations through trade restrictions and unified military action if necessary. • General Franco won his revolution in 1939, the Fascists had won this “Dress Rehearsal” for World War II and confidence was riding high. Spain would remain a Fascist neutral throughout the war.

11. Unit 10.1: The Rise of Dictatorships • What led to the rise of the military class in Japan? • U.S. contact with Japan began in earnest in 1854 when Commodore Matthew Perry led an expedition to Japan to work out a trade agreement. Perry’s use of bullying tactics (gunboat diplomacy) to achieve the treaty also began the resentment of the Japanese toward the United States. • The Japanese initiated an intense policy of industrialization, westernization, and militarism in the years following 1854. • Their victories in the Sino-Japanese War (Sino = China), Russo-Japanese War, and World War I (acquired Chinese territory and all of Germany’s Pacific Colonies) increased Japanese confidence. • The Japanese military felt that despite their achievements in the Russo-Japanese War and in World War I they were being largely overlooked as a world power and blamed much of that on the United States. • During the 1930s Japan embarked on a campaign to establish hegemony over Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, known as the Co-Prosperity Sphere. • During this period the Japanese military, under the leadership of Hideki Tojo, rose to dominance in the Japanese government (virtually reducing the Emperor to a mere figurehead until 1945).

13. Unit 10.2: The weakening of American Neutrality • How did the results of World War I and subsequent investigations into American involvement lead many Americans to once again support neutrality? • What events led President Franklin Roosevelt to begin requesting greater U.S. military expenditures and greater assistance provided to the Allies? • What was the intended purpose of American aid sent to Great Britain and the Soviet Union?

14. Unit 10.2: The weakening of American Neutrality • How did the results of World War I and subsequent investigations into American involvement lead many Americans to once again support neutrality? • By the 1930s the general perception amongst Americans was that entry into World War I had been a terrible mistake. • The Nye Committee, led by Gerald Nye of North Dakota, presented evidence they claimed showed that the only purpose of American involvement in World War I was to serve the greed of Bankers and Arms Manufacturers. • The Findings of the Nye Committee led to: • The Neutrality Act of 1935: Banned all arms shipments to belligerent nations and Americans were prohibited from travel on ships under the flags of belligerent nations. • The Neutrality Act of 1936: Forbade the extensions of credit and loans to belligerent nations. • The Neutrality Act of 1937: Forbade the shipment of arms to either side in the Spanish Civil War. • The Neutrality Acts led to their being virtually no American assistance provided in the fight against Fascism in Spain and the victory of General Franco in 1939. • After the outbreak of World War II in 1939 the Isolationists formed the America First Committee to build up the American public’s opposition to U.S. entry into this “European” conflict.

15. Unit 10.2: The weakening of American Neutrality • What events led President Franklin Roosevelt to begin requesting greater U.S. military expenditures and greater assistance provided to the Allies? • In 1931 the Japanese invaded Manchuria, a northern province of China. • In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia. • In 1936 Hitler marched troops into the Rhineland in open defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. • In 1937 Japan declared war on neighboring China, then “accidentally” bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay for which they apologized. The U.S. quickly accepted the apology. • In 1938 after forcing an Anschluss (annexation) of Austria Hitler set his sights on the Sudetenland, a strip of Czechoslovakia with a large German-speaking population. • Hitler sent in his thugs to start trouble and spark arrests so that he could say that Germans were being persecuted by the Czech government. • FDR urged Britain and France to meet with Hitler and find a peaceful resolution to the problem. • The four parties met in Munich, Germany and it was ultimately agreed, against Czech objections, that Germany would occupy the Sudetenland unopposed and Hitler promised there would be no further aggression. • Within six months Hitler had invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and the British and French were threatening war if Hitler committed any further acts of aggression. • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain foolishly proclaimed that they had achieved “Peace in our time” upon returning from Munich.

17. Unit 10.2: The weakening of American Neutrality • What was the intended purpose of American aid sent to Great Britain and the Soviet Union? • The ultimate failure of the policy of Appeasement adopted by the United States, Britain, and France toward the Fascist Axis came when Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939 resulting in a declaration of war by Britain and France against Germany. • FDR had already asked for and received increased funding for the Army and Navy in hopes that the increased military spending would be used to defend against a possible invasion of the Western Hemisphere. • After the defeat of France, FDR began actively seeking ways to aid the British and, later, the Soviets so that they could fight the Nazis in hopes we would not have to. • “Cash and Carry”: A belligerent nation could purchase arms from the U.S. as long as they paid up front and transported the material themselves. • The Lend-Lease Act: exchanged leases to Naval Bases for credit to purchase war materials. FDR also authorized the United States Navy to secretly escort British shipping and attack German Submarines “on sight”. The U.S. was now fighting an undeclared war with Germany on the North Atlantic. • “Destroyers for Bases”: In exchange for 50 U.S. Navy Destroyers (a class of warship designed for anti-Submarine Warfare) the U.S. gained rights to build naval bases on Britain’s Caribbean possessions. • The Draft: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 established a peacetime draft that many isolationists viewed as a prelude to U.S. entry into the War in Europe.

18. Unit 10.2: The weakening of American Neutrality • What was the intended purpose of American aid sent to Great Britain and the Soviet Union? • In the Summer of 1941, FDR met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland. • In what became known as the Atlantic Charter the two pledged their nations to protection of the Four Freedoms, Self-determination for all nations, opposition to territorial expansion, and arms control. • The Four Freedoms included Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Seas, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. • They were, in essence, pledging themselves to behavior that represented the total opposite of that of the Axis powers. • The Atlantic Charter was the World War II equivalent of World War I’s Fourteen Points (only that it came prior to American involvement). • It established the aims of American involvement and pledged the would-be victors to working for lasting post-war peace. • The Atlantic Charter would later have a dramatic influence on the formation of the United Nations.

20. Unit 10.3: The Deterioration of the U.S./Japanese relations • Where did the relationship between the United States and Japan first begin to fracture? • What events furthered the rift between the U.S. and Japan leading up to actual war? • Why was Pearl Harbor the natural target for the Japanese Military as they made a final decision to initiate war with the United States?

21. Unit 10.3: The Deterioration of the U.S./Japanese relations • Where did the relationship between the United States and Japan first begin to fracture? • One could argue that the relationship between the United States and Japan first began to fracture when Commodore Perry implemented “gunboat diplomacy” to essentially threaten the Japanese into signing a trade agreement with the United States. • The relationship further deteriorated when the Gentlemen’s Agreement was signed pledging the Japanese to limit the emigration of unskilled workers to the United States. • Further still, the Japanese military class resented Theodore Roosevelt’s mediation of the Russo-Japanese War. They believed that victory was imminent and mediation was unnecessary. They also viewed the concessions won by the mediation as not representative of their achievements in the war. • Even after being awarded part of China and all of Germany’s Pacific Colonies after World War I, the Japanese resented the Five Power Treaty’s restriction on production of Japanese Warships. • At the root of much of this discontent was the United States.

24. Unit 10.3: The Deterioration of the U.S./Japanese relations • What events furthered the rift between the U.S. and Japan leading up to actual war? • With interests in Guam, American Samoa, Wake Island, Midway Island, the Philippines, and Hawaii the United States became increasingly concerned about Japanese aggression in the Pacific and Asia through the course of the 1930s. • After the Japanese invasion of China, the signing of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, and the occupation of French Indochina it was clear that Japan would not stop until it controlled all of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. • The U.S. and Britain responded by declaring a trade embargo with emphasis on rubber, scrap metal, and oil (all critical to the Japanese war machine). • In order to reinvigorate its war machine the Japanese would need the resources of Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, Indonesia) and to do this the Japanese would have to neutralize the United States Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii. • The Japanese launched a surprise attack to do just that on December 7th, 1941. • The United States responded quickly by declaring war on the Empire of Japan.

26. Unit 10.3: The Deterioration of the U.S./Japanese relations • Why was Pearl Harbor the natural target for the Japanese Military as they made a final decision to initiate war with the United States? • In order for Japan to succeed in acquiring the resources from Southeast Asia that she desired she would have to eliminate the U.S. presence in the Philippines. • To do this they would have to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. • December 7th, 1941 was labeled “A day that would live in infamy” by President Roosevelt and the American people now found themselves squarely at war with Japan, Germany, and Italy. • After crippling the Pacific Fleet the Japanese expanded their empire to encompass most of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. • The great fear was that they now stood in threat of India, Australia, and the West Coast of the United States.

27. Unit 10.4: Civil and Human Rights Abuses During WWII • How did the outbreak of war affect the rights of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Women? • How did the threat of a Japanese invasion (real or perceived) affect Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast as opposed to the treatment of German-Americans and Italian Americans in the East? • What led to worst abuse of human rights in History, the Holocaust?

28. Unit 10.4: Civil and Human Rights Abuses During WWII • How did the outbreak of war affect the rights of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Women? • African Americans • Over 1.5 million African Americans left the South looking for factory jobs in the North. • 1 million African Americans left home to serve in the military. • Facing resentment over job competition and discrimination in the military African Americans were encouraged to adopt a “Double V” mentality. “V” for Victory over Fascism and Supremacy in Europe and “V” for Victory over discrimination and segregation at home. • Membership in the NAACP grew during the War. • The Congress On Racial Equality (CORE) formed to work more militantly for Civil Rights in America. • In the Case of Smith v. Alwright the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans could not be excluded from Political Parties to keep them from voting in primary elections and having a voice in the selection of candidates.

30. Unit 10.4: Civil and Human Rights Abuses During WWII • How did the outbreak of war affect the rights of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Women? • Women • 200,000 women served in the United States Military during World War II. • 5 Million women entered the workforce taking industrial jobs. One of the most endearing images from World War II was “Rosie the Riveter”. • Women still faced issues with “equal pay for equal work” even during wartime. • Hispanic Americans • 300,000 Mexican Americans served in the Military • Many Mexican Americans worked in the War Industries. • Many Mexican migrant workers (Braceros) were allowed to come to the United States during harvest season without going through normal processing. • The heavy influx of Mexicans into the Southwest United States led to the infamous Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles, California in the Summer of 1943 • Native Americans • 25,000 Native Americans served in the U.S. Military, some as vital code specialists (“wind talkers”) in the Pacific Theatre. • Once having left the Reservations, many never returned.

33. Unit 10.4: Civil and Human Rights Abuses During WWII • How did the threat of a Japanese invasion (real or perceived) affect Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast as opposed to the treatment of German-Americans and Italian Americans in the East? • More than any other ethnic group, Japanese Americans suffered from their association with a wartime enemy and the perceived threat of a Japanese invasion of the West Coast and suspicion of espionage and sabotage. • In 1942 the United States Government forced 100,000 Japanese Americans to leave their homes and businesses to reside in the Barracks of Military Internment Camps. • In the case of Korematsu v. United States the Supreme Court ruled the U.S. Government’s internment policy as necessary during wartime. • In 1988 Ronald Reagan authorized the payment of financial reparations to the families of those interned in an attempt to right this injustice. • 20,000 native born Japanese Americans served with distinction during World War II in the European Theatre.

35. Unit 10.4: Civil and Human Rights Abuses During WWII • What led to worst abuse of human rights in History, the Holocaust? • Hitler successfully blamed European Jews for many of Germany’s problems prior to World War II, using them as a “scapegoat” in his rise to power. • Initially, German Jews were harassed and encouraged to emigrate to other nations. The worst of these episodes occurred in 1938 when Synagogues and Jewish Businesses were destroyed as part of the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht). Worse still the Jews were blamed for this event and forced to pay massive reparations. • Kristallnacht led to the systematic rounding up of the Jewish population and forcing them into forced-labor Concentration Camps or segregated into Ghettos where food was deprived and disease was rampant. • Still not seen as an adequate answer to the “Jewish Problem”, Hitler authorized what became known as the “Final Solution”. This featured the construction of six “Death Camps” and the systematic genocide of the European Jewish population. • Ultimately 6 million Jews and 5 million other “enemies of the state” were executed as part of the Final Solution. • The Allied Armies became aware of the atrocities of the Holocaust about midway through the war, but the full extent of the tragedy was known until the discovery of the Death Camps at the end of the war. • The end of the war also revealed Japanese atrocities in Prisoner of War Camps and in their treatment of Chinese civilians. • Both Nazi (in the Nuremburg Trials) and Japanese leaders were placed on trial for crimes against humanity and either executed or sentenced to long jail terms for their crimes.

38. Practice Question #1 • Which of the following is not associated with the Axis Powers? • Adolf Hitler • Benito Mussolini • Hideki Tojo • Charles De Gaul • Francisco Franco

39. Practice Question #2 • In the Munich Conference: • Hitler agreed to form an alliance with Italy and Japan • The Big Three agreed to demand “unconditional surrender” from the Germans and Japanese • Britain and France gave in to Hitler’s territorial demands • The United States promised Germany it would remain neutral in the war. • The Nazis worked out the details of the Final Solution

40. Practice Question #3 • Which future Allied nation provided support to the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War? • United States • Great Britain • France • China • Soviet Union

41. Practice Question #4 • The America First Committee: • Was strongly in favor of providing economic assistance to Britain, but opposed to military aid. • Believed the United States should enter the war only if its ships were attacked by German submarines • Was strongly in favor of the assistance President Roosevelt gave to the British • Believed “Cash and Carry” would not jeopardize American neutrality • Strongly opposed U.S. intervention in the war in any way, shape, or form.

42. Practice Question #5 • At which conference did the Big Three first meet? • Casablanca • Munich • Potsdam • Yalta • Teheran

43. Practice Question #6 • “It was like lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house was burning.” This statement by President Roosevelt is consistent with all of the following U.S. policies except: • The Neutrality Acts • The Destroyers for Bases Deal • The Lend-Lease Act • The Cash-And-Carry Plan • “Sink on Sight”

44. Practice Question #7 • Which of the following best represents an expression of isolationism in the 1930s? • Roosevelt’s “Quarantine” Speech • The Good-Neighbor Policy • The Nye CommitteeReport • The Recognition of the Soviet Union • “Cash and Carry” policy

45. Practice Question #8 • On the “Home Front”, U.S. involvement in World War II brought about: • Increased labor violence • Increased spending on consumer goods • Strict limits on corporate profits • Increased employment of women • An end to deficit spending by the Federal Government

46. Practice Question #9 • In Korematsu v. United States the Supreme Court upheld the government’s practice of: • Placing quotas on Japanese immigration • Embargoing trade with Japan • Providing financial compensation for victims of discrimination • Placing Japanese Americans in wartime internment camps • Drafting men into the armed services in peacetime

47. Practice Question #10 • Which of the following phrases accurately describes Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy? • Search for improved relations with Canada • Abandonment of the Open Door Policy in China • U.S. pledge not to intervene in Latin America • Diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union • Commitment to the democracies of Europe

48. Answer Key • D • C • E • E • E • A • C • D • D • C

49. Unit 10.5: The War at Home • How did the United States mobilize industrial production to provide for the military needs of both our Army and those of the Allies as well? How were worker effected by entry into World War II? • How did the government pay for the war and encourage the people to conserve resources? • In what ways did they government gather support for the war effort from within the population?

50. Unit 10.5: The War at Home • How did the United States mobilize industrial production to provide for the military needs of both our Army and those of the Allies as well? How were worker effected by entry into World War II? • As it did in World War I, the government created specific agencies to mobilize the nation for war. • The War Production Board was created to manage the nation’s war industries. • The Office of War Mobilization set production priorities and controlled raw materials. • By 1944 American military production was more than twice that of all the Axis Powers combined. • By 1944 tanks and fighter planes were flowing off the assembly lines and onto the battlefield. Henry Kaiser’s giant shipyard in California was producing “Liberty Ships” in as little as 14 days. • Also important was controlling prices and wages, as well as dealing with Labor Unions. • The Office of Price Administration set prices, wages, and rent. This agency was also in charge of rationing meat, sugar, gasoline, and car tires. • Although the Unions and Businesses agreed there would be no strikes during the war, there was a wide discrepancy between frozen employee wages and profits earned by corporations under the government’s “cost-plus” contracting system. • After John L. Lewis called for strikes at a few coal mines, Congress passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act which allowed the government to take over industries threatened by strikes. • Although he vetoed the Act, FDR used the law to take over the nation’s railroads for a short period.