AMERICA IN WORLD WAR II

CHAPTER 36

The Allies Trade Space For Time

After Pearl Harbor, the free world was on the edge of disaster
Japan Germany What do most Americans want?

FDR decides to go after ____________ first. Why? Plan:

Revving the Economic Engine

US had massive economic potential, but needed time to get geared up.

Convert factories

Fear of new German weapons. Americas main problem:

The Shock Of War

National unity wasnt a problem Isolationists?

Communists/socialists?

West-Coast Japanese Relocation camps

Korematsu

v. U.S (1944)

End of the New Deal

Building The War Machine

War snapped US out of the depression. Full employment. War Production Board Henry J. Kaiser -Ship-building king

Rationing

War industries had first priority in transport and raw materials Saving oil/rubber: Food Rationing Farmers have bumper crops and boom time. Why?

Do Your Part

Economic Bumps

War caused Inflation. Why? Unions gave no-strike pledge, BUT:

John L. Lewis
Roosevelts

response?

1943 Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act

Manpower Shortage

15 Million men 216,000 women served in military in one capacity or another

WAACS (Army) , WAVES (Navy)

Severe manpower shortage at home.

Braceros.

Rosie the Riveter

6 Million women took jobs outside the home.

Rosie the Riveter. Effect on Womens movement?

2/3 left or lost their jobs after war.

Wartime Migrations
Reason for wartime migrations. Cities Sunbelt- 1.6 million blacks

Treatment? FDRs

response?

Internal Migration in the United States During World War II

Blacks Demand Fairness

Blacks adopt the Double V slogan.

V over what?

NAACP membership

Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) Move north continues after the war.

Economic Effect of War

Americans at home suffered very little from the war War invigorated the US economy GNP? Paychecks Disposable income.

Result?

Federal Spending

All the federal spending finally cures the depression.

War

cost-

Where did money come from?

Top

brackets Amount of people paying taxes? National debt--

Figure 36.1: The National Debt, 19301950

Rising Sun in the Pacific

Simultaneous attacks in the Pacific Guam Wake Philippines

Hong Kong Malaya Burma East Indies China

Japans High Tide at Midway

Midway (June 3-6, 1942) Defeated by US and Aussie troops

TURNING POINT!!!!

American Leapfrogging to Tokyo

Leapfrogging/island hopping

8/1942Guadalcanal Aleutians Gilbert Islands Marshall Islands Marianas Philippines (June 1944)

The Allied Halting Of Hitler

Battle of North Atlantic

German subs were sinking merchant ships faster than they could be built.. Enigma

9/42 Russia stalls the German steamroller on the outskirts of Stalingrad High-water mark for Hitler

The North African Second Front

Soviets beg Allies to open second front. Stalins concerns and fears
Allies

concerns

1942Americans want crosschannel invasion, but Churchill says no. British argue for an attack at the underbelly of Europe in the Mediterranean.

Operation Torch

Invade North Africa 11/42. US Germany Biggest sea-born invasion up to that time. US loses in Kassarine-takes over. U.S. and Brits begin to drive Germans East. Forced Germans to surrender in Tunisia 5/43

Casablanca

Churchill and Roosevelt Jan. 1943. Agree to:

Why unconditional surrender?

Sicily

Sicily invaded and falls 8/43. Mussolini

Italy

Germans dont leave and carry on fight in Italy

Invasion of Italy

9/43 Allies invade toe of Italy and start fighting up the boot. Bogs down; amphibious invasion

Very slow going b/c of mountains

Allies finally get Rome 2 days before D-Day. Do not finish in Italy until 5 days before German surrender.

Italy Assessed

Benefits:

Diverts some German troops and provides Allies with airbases to bomb Germany. Opens the Mediterranean to Allies, greatly restricting Germans.

Problems:

Delayed the cross-channel invasion by many months, giving Soviets a chance to get further into Eastern Europe before the war ends. Increased Soviet suspicion

Tehran Conference

Late Nov. 1943 Purpose First meeting of Big Three Placate Stalin
Patton?

Eisenhowers D-day Invasion Of France

Eisenhower is given command of D-day landing. June 6, 1944. Biggest sea-borne invasion in history. Land near Normandy. Five beaches. Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah, Omaha

D-Day

Very hard fighting; Have to break out before Germans bring in reinforcements and drive invasion back into the ocean.

US has Air superiority.

August, 1944, invasion of southern France opens a second front. Patton breaks out and races to the German border, but is forced to stall.

Election of 1944

Election of 1944 comes at a bad timethe war is reaching its climax Republicans nominate Thomas E. Dewey

VP, John W. Bricker

Democrats nominated FDR (of course)

VP, Henry Wallace, dumped and replaced by Truman. Why?

Roosevelt Again

FDR stays in the White House running the war for most of the election.

Dewey is hurt by his VP candidate who has been a staunch isolationist. FDR wins by 3 Million votes and 432-99 in the Electoral College. Reasons?

Battle of the Bulge

December 1944, Germany was wobbling. Dec. 16, 1944. Battle of the Bulge.

Ardennes Forest

Allies are thrown back in disarray.

Battle of the Bulge

German problems Low on fuel No air support US101st Airborne is surrounded but refuses to surrender at Bastogne. Constantly shelled, low supplies, no winter clothing. Patton drives north in record time and relieves Bastogne.

V-E Day

March 1945Rhine River April, 1945 US forces meet Russian forces outside Berlin Discover the concentration camps. April 12, 1945, Roosevelt dies. Truman is hastily sworn in. April 30, 1945, Hitler commits suicide as Berlin is falling around him. May 7, 1945, Germany surrenders unconditionally.

Japan Dies Hard

American subs devastate Japans merchant fleet. Massive fire-bomb raids of Japanese cities. March, 1945Tokyo

MacArthur recaptures New Guinea (8/1944).

Leyte Gulf and Philippine

October, 1944, biggest naval battle in history. Leyte Gulf.

Japans naval power is destroyed. First Kamikazes.

Douglas MacArthur returns to Philippines

Jan. 1945, recapture Philippine mainland.

Okinawa and Iwo Jima

March 1945Iwo Jima

April-June 1945 Okinawa

Japanese fight to the last man Impact on US strategic thinking?

Atomic Awfulness

Why not invade Japan?

Potsdam conference July 1945

Manhattan project. Very secret. First atomic bomb in New Mexico July 1945. A-bombsHiroshima (8/6) and Nagasaki (8/9) Hiroshima70,000 instant deaths and 60,000 more over next months due to radiation. Soviets enter the war just after the first bomb and overrun Manchuria and Korea (hence North Korea) Japan surrenders August 10, 1945

Why Does Truman Use the Bomb?

Avoid US casualties To show Soviets what we have To prevent Soviets from being involved in Pacific longer and grabbing more territory and having a say in rebuilding of Japan.

Probably most important

The Allies Triumphant

America Penicillin Soviets Japan Impact on America Pride industry