America During World War II

1. America During World War II

2. December 7, 1941 • “A date which will live in infamy”

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. America During World War II • Revenue Act of 1942 extended the income tax to include most Americans • Tax rates went up also.

8. 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.”

9. America During World War II • “Rosie The Riveter” • Women entered “non-traditional” occupations

10. 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

11. 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.”

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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

18. 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.

19. America During World War II • “Big 3 Diplomacy” during the war • BIG 3: Churchill, FDR, Stalin

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. America During World War II • CASABLANCA CONFERENCE, 1943 • FDR and Churchill only • Pledged to accept nothing less than full unconditional surrender by Axis Powers.

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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.

28. 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

29. 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)

30. 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”

31. 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

32. 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”

33. 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.

34. 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

35. 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

36. America During World War II

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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

42. 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

43. America During World War II • First bomb • August 6, 1945 • Hiroshima

44. America During World War II • Second bomb • August 9, 1945 • Nagasaki

45. 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

46. 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

47. 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)