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Explore the aftermath of Pearl Harbor attack, home front mobilization, impact on minority groups, and diplomacy during World War II in America. Witness the pivotal events shaping generations.
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December 7, 1941 • “A date which will live in infamy”
The Effects of Pearl Harbor • Unified Americans • “Pearl Harbor Thinking” affects generations of future foreign policy • Justified the crusade – “the noble fight” • Japanese Internment • Leads indirectly to Korean and Viet Nam Wars
America During World War II • December 8, 1941: Congress declared war on Japan • January 1, 1942: 26 nations met in Washington and signed the “Declaration of the United Nations” • Pledged to agree to the ideals of the Atlantic Charter, and to remain allies with each other.
America During World War II • Tripartite Pact nations (Germany, Italy, Japan declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941. • US and Great Britain opened “Joint Chiefs of Staff” to coordinate their war effort. • Note that the USSR was NOT included in this joint planning, even though it had also declared war on the Tripartite Pact nations in 1940.
America During World War II • “Home front” mobilization for war was similar to WW I: • War Production Board regulated use of raw materials • Wage and price controls were put in place to curb inflation • Wartime shortages of gas, sugar, rubber, steel, etc. could drive prices high and over-inflate the economy
America During World War II • Revenue Act of 1942 extended the income tax to include most Americans • Tax rates went up also.
America During World War II • Draft now extended to all men age 18-40 • The immediate need for a wartime draft took men out of the job force • New PR (“public relations”) move urged women to “join the war effort” • Glorified the image of “Rosie the Riveter.”
America During World War II • “Rosie The Riveter” • Women entered “non-traditional” occupations
America During World War II • Many higher-paying jobs opened to black men • More black migration to northeastern industrial cities making war products • Some racial tensions increased • Especially in the “motor cities” of the Midwest
America During World War II • Congress passed Smith-Connolly Act in 1943 • Allowing the federal government to take control of any factory hit by a strike. • Similar to what Coolidge had threatened with the coal strike of 1922 • But this time there was little public complaint because “there’s a war on.”
America During World War II • Issei and Nisei • Issei (first generation) were Japanese immigrants living in America • Nisei (second generation) were children born in America of Japanese immigrant parents
America During World War II • 1942: FDR issued an executive order to resettle Americans of Japanese descent to “internment camps” in the far west, away from the western seacoast • They remained “relocated” until 1946. • There was little complaint in California over this system • California Governor (later Chief Justice) Earl Warren enforced the order.
America During World War II • Nisei lawsuit Korematsu v. United States challenged FDR’s authority, citing 4th and 14th amendment violations. • 1946, Supreme Court upheld FDR’s and Warren’s actions. • The Japanese Garden in Overton Park was destroyed after Pearl Harbor
America During World War II • World War II • USA faced a “two front war:” • The Atlantic Front (ETO, or “European Theater of Operations”) was against Germany and Italy • It was fought primarily by the Army. • The Pacific Front was against Japan • It was fought primarily by the Navy and Marine Corps
America During World War II • ETO strategy • Italy was considered the weak link in the Axis • Plans were to invade Europe from the south, through Italy • Then eventually invade Germany itself through France.
America During World War II • ETO major battles: • Axis powers were driven out of Africa by summer 1943 • Italy invaded by US Army July 1943 • Italy surrendered by Fall 1943 • USSR began invasion of Nazi-held eastern European countries in March 1944
America During World War II • “Operation Overlord” (code name of invasion of Nazi-occupied France) was being planned as early as 1942. • Stalin urged allies to send assistance directly to Russia • FDR and Churchill both felt too dangerous to do so. • Stalin felt “abandoned by allies” • Furiously angry, possibly vowing revenge.
America During World War II • “Big 3 Diplomacy” during the war • BIG 3: Churchill, FDR, Stalin
America During World War II • Once France was liberated, it became the “Big 4” with inclusion of Charles de Gaulle • Directed wartime strategy at several conferences • Some conferences were secret, some were not
America During World War II • MOSCOW CONFERENCE 1943 • Secretary of State Cordell Hull convinced Stalin to promise to join the war against Japan, once Hitler was defeated.
America During World War II • TEHERAN CONFERENCE 1943 • First time all of the Big 3 met face-to-face • Stalin re-stated pledge to fight against Japan • But FDR and Churchill didn’t believe him. • The three also discussed big strategic moves • Stalin insisted on direct support to the Eastern front • FDR and Churchill resisted.
America During World War II • CASABLANCA CONFERENCE, 1943 • FDR and Churchill only • Pledged to accept nothing less than full unconditional surrender by Axis Powers.
America During World War II • CAIRO CONFERENCE 1943 • FDR met with Chinese president Chiang Kai-Shek • China pledged whatever assistance it could give against Japanese • FDR pledged that all Chinese lands taken by Japan would be returned, not held by the Allies
America During World War II • Allied invasion of Europe was in the planning stages for some time • Operation Overlord finally began June 6, 1944 • “D-Day,” for “debarkation day” • American, British, and other troops made an amphibious landing on the beaches of Normandy
America During World War II • US Army freed France from German control by winter 1944 • Invaded Germany immediately after. • Germans fought fiercely at the “Battle of the Bulge” in January 1945 • But this was last major German effort
America During World War II • YALTA CONFERENCE 1945 • By early spring 1945, war was all but over • Allies discussed how to run the peace, what do to with countries liberated from Nazi control • Agreed to administer them jointly • Stalin insisted that USSR get “charge” of those countries in Eastern Europe • FDR and Churchill reluctantly agreed.
America During World War II • Allied forces had already invaded Italy and were moving up from the south • Now, after “Operation Overlord,” (6/44) the Allies are moving in from the north and west • With USA and Great Britain pushing from the north, west and south . . . • And the USSR pushing from the east . . . • Nazi Germany was being squeezed
America During World War II • Hitler and his staff insisted on continued resistance until the end • But knew victory was a hopeless cause • With the Allies closing in on his bunker in Berlin, Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945 • Berlin captured by the Allies • Germany surrendered May 7, 1945 (V-E Day)
America During World War II • Pacific Theater strategy: re-claim the islands that Japan had seized, one-by-one • If necessary, an actual invasion of Japan would take place • IF that country could not be forced to surrender. • This strategy called was “Island-Hopping”
America During World War II • Pacific Theater operations (ATO): • Most Pacific Theater battles were naval engagements and amphibious landings by the Marines, followed by ground fighting • War went badly through most of 1942 • USA lost Guam and Wake Island to Japanese in 1941 • Lost the Philippines in 1942
America During World War II • Big victories for US Navy at the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway in late 1942 kept Japanese from taking Australia • “The tide has turned”
America During World War II • In the Pacific, fierce fighting continued • Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines cost Japan most of its naval power. • Kamikaze flights began by Japanese after this loss. • By Summer 1945, it was obvious that Japan would never surrender.
America During World War II • FDR re-elected to unprecedented 4th term in November, 1944 • No president had ever served more than two terms before • FDR died in April 1945 • Vice-President Harry S Truman succeeded to the presidency
America During World War II • ATO battle at Iwo Jima showed that Japan would fight to last man. • Japanese attitude: We will not win, we will all be killed, but each of us will kill ten of them before we die • “Letters from Iwo Jima” (excellent motion picture by Clint Eastwood) • By this time, FDR had died and Truman was President
America During World War II • POTSDAM CONFERENCE August 1945 • Truman now in the “Big 3” due to FDR’s death • Churchill had been voted out of office • Great Britain now represented by Prime Minister Clement Atlee
America During World War II • Stalin the only “old hand.” • Had contempt for others. • Stalin full of rumors about atomic bomb • Truman wouldn’t discuss. • “Big 3” planned war crimes trials of Nazis
America During World War II • By summer 1945, it was apparent to Truman that: • Great Britain and France were too weakened to assist with defeat of Japan • USSR was unwilling to commit to any assistance, as the threat to the USSR was now over • And Stalin was still angry over being kept “in the dark” by FDR and Churchill
America During World War II • It was obvious to Truman that Japan would have to be invaded • This was likely to make war last about 1 more year (after V-E Day) • Joint Chiefs estimated that the invasion would cost over 1 million American lives. • Unreasonable delay and risk for Truman
America During World War II • USA, Great Britain and captured rocket scientists from Nazi Germany had been perfecting the atomic bomb • Code name: Manhattan Project • Stalin was suspicious that there was such a weapon under development • But was never told this formally by FDR, Churchill, or Truman
America During World War II • Weapon tested in July 1945, above ground in Los Alamos, New Mexico. • Destructive power confirmed. • Truman approved use of weapon against Japan
America During World War II • First bomb • August 6, 1945 • Hiroshima
America During World War II • Second bomb • August 9, 1945 • Nagasaki
Effects of the Atom bombs • “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” devastated Japan • 80,000+ died instantly in Hiroshima • Radiation gets in food, soil • Military refuses to surrender • Emperor Hirohito seizes control and surrenders
America During World War II • Japanese surrender August 15, 1945 (V-J Day) Signed aboard the USS Missouri Docked at Pearl Harbor, September 2, 1945
America During World War II • Huge numbers of casualties • Leningrad: 850,000 • Stalingrad: 750,000 • Berlin: 250,000 in three weeks • Okinawa: 148,000 (35,126 on a single day)
