Chapter 36 Notes AP US History Mrs. Marshall

FDR decided to concentrate on the war in Europe and place the Pacific on hold.

African Americans and WWII

Continued to serve in segregated units, sent to segregated training camps Civil rights organizations pressured military to allow them to serve in combat. Finally were given the opportunity 1942, civil rights leader, James Farmer formed a new interracial organization to fight discrimination-CORE-Congress of Racial Equality African Americans moved to west coast and crowded cities of the north. Tensions among races grew and led to race riots

Japanese Americans: FDR signed Executive Order 9066 which rounded up 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage and placed them in 10 internment camps/relocation centers.

2 landmark Supreme Court cases: Hirabayashi v US and Korematsu v US In both cases US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government saying it was justified for “military necessity”

War Production Board (WPA)

Assigned priorities with respect to the use of raw materials and transportation facilities. It rationed fuel and materials vital to the war effort such as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubber and plastic.

Office of Price Administration (OPA)

May 1942 froze prices on practically all everyday good. War Ration Books issued to each American family Rationing was implemented to control inflation.

National War Labor Board (NWLB)

It imposed a limit on wage increases. Union membership grew during war years. Even though there was a no-strike pledge several unions did strike.

Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act

1943 Limited the right to strike in industries crucial to the war effort and it gave the President power to take over striking plants.

“GI’s” name given to soldiers (“Government Issue”) 15 million men served in armed forces Nearly 216,000 women served in non combat military jobs.

U.S. made an agreement with Mexico in 1942 bringing thousands of Mexican agricultural workers to the US, called braceros.

“Rosie the Riveter” name given to women who worked in the labor force. Many of these jobs were in the heavy manufacturing industries. More than 6 million women took jobs outside of home during WWII, over ½ had never worked outside the home before

Majority of women left the labor force after WWII because Forced out by employers and unions eager to employ returning servicemen Family obligations

“code talkers”

term used to describe Native Americans who served in the military during WWII. They transmitted messages over military telephone and radio using codes built in their native language.

Impact of WW II on south

Received defense contracts and federally financed industrial facilities.

Nearly 1.6 million African Americans moved to the north and west.

A. Philip Randolph

African American labor leader responsible for Roosevelt issuing an executive order banning discrimination in defense industries.

WWII was financed primarily by borrowing money.

Defense Bonds were sold. After Pearl Harbor attack they were called War Bonds.

WW II Generals

General Dwight David Eisenhower General George S. Patton General Douglas MacArthur Admiral Chester Nimitz Omar Bradley

Unconditional Surrender-FDR and Churchill felt that complete victory was necessary to protect human rights.

“Big Three”

Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin Were the largest suppliers of goods and troops for the war effort.

Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point from then on Soviet forces moved steadily west towards Germany.

November 1942 Allies invaded North Africa.

Allies then invaded Italy and captured Sicily.

Mussolini was stripped of power and arrested.

Hitler seized Italy. Allies eventually drove Germans out of Italy.

Teheran Conference

Big 3” met Nov28-Dec 1, 1943 Plans were made from the opening of a second front in Europe

D-Day at Normandy

General Eisenhower commander in charge June 6, 1944-Invasion was known as Operation Overlord. Allies crossed English Channel and landed in Normandy, France. Largest land-sea-air operation in history.

Over 1 million Allied troops landed in France and began to advance. American general George Patton and his army liberated Paris in August.

By September, Allies had liberated other European nations and had entered Germany.

November 1944 FDR elected to a 4th term with a new Vice President-Harry S. Truman

December 1944 Hitler began a counterattack. Following the Battle of the Bulge the Germans could only retreat.

Soviets pushed through Poland toward Germany.

Soviets were the first to liberate the death camps and describe the horrors they saw.

By April the Soviets were in Berlin.

April 1945 Hitler committed suicide.

Germany surrendered May 8, 1945 V-E Day Victory in Europe-the day General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Germany

Nuremberg Laws

1935 laws which took away Jew’s civil rights and their property.

Kristallnacht

German word meaning “crystal night” of night of broken glass. Nazis attacked/destroyed Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues across Germany and then blamed the Jews for the destruction

Genocide-the deliberate and systematic killing of an entire people.

Holocaust

The term used for the mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis during WWII. Called it the “Final Solution” Over 6 million Jews were killed by 1945 of that number more then 1½ million were children under the age of 6.

A total of 11 million were killed across Europe.

Nuremberg Trials

An international tribunal was held to try Nazi leaders. First time a nation’s leaders were held legally responsible for their wartime acts.

Asia and the Pacific

After Pearl Harbor Japan conquered large parts of Asia and the Pacific.

General Douglas MacArthur-commander of American and Filipino troops-tried to defend the Philippines but it fell to Japanese in April 1942.

June 1942 Americans won an important victory at Midway Island under Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Japan was put on the defensive for the first time.

Allies began to retake important Pacific islands from the Japanese.

“island hopping”-they would attack only key islands and skip over the smaller, less important ones or the Japanese strongholds.

Guadalcanal- August 1942. This was Japan’s first defeat on land.

Kamikaze raids-suicide fighter plans

Battle of Leyte Gulf located in the Philippines-Oct. 1944 Japanese lost so many ships that the navy was essentially knocked out of the war.

Americans took island of Iwo Jima in March 1945. It gave the U.S. a base to launch heavy bombers that could reach Japan.

June 1945 the Allies took Okinawa.

April 12, 1945 FDR dies. Harry Truman becomes President

Manhattan Project

The secret development of the atomic bomb. Project led by J. Robert Oppenheimer

Reason Truman made decision to drop bomb

He wanted to prevent a US invasion of Japan in order to save lives. He wanted to show the Soviets that the US had nuclear weapons. He believed the bomb would force Japan to surrender.

August 6, 1945 an atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Japan did not surrender, August 9, 1945 a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

Japan asked the Allies for peace.

September 2, 1945 on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay Gen. MacArthur accepted Japan’s formal surrender and WWII was over. VJ Day- victory in Japan

Yalta Conference

February 1945 “Big Three” Discussed postwar world. They agreed to create a new international organization based on the Atlantic Charter. The United Nations was established in April 1945

United Nations

is an international peace keeping organization to which most of the nations of the world belong. Its aim is to promote world peace, security and economic development.

US Secretary of State Cordell Hull

Potsdam Conference

in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945 “Big Three”-Stalin, Truman and Clement Atlee Drew up a blueprint for disarming Germany and eliminating the Nazi regime. Germany was divided into 4 zones with each zone occupied by an Allied Power. The capital, Berlin, was divided the same way.