Transcript Slide 1

Chapter 35
• America in World War II, 1941–1945
I. The Allies Trade Space for Time
• Now that America was in the war, the
question was whether or not the Allies
would be able to stand long enough for
America to retool itself for war production.
• Among America’s tasks were to: feed, clothe,
and arm itself, as well as transport its forces
to countries all over Europe.
– They were also to send food and munitions to its
allies, who stretched from Russia to Australia.
II. The Shock of War
• Executive Order No. 9066, After Pearl Harbor,
Washington feared that Japanese Americans
might act as saboteurs for Japan in case of
invasion.
– The order effected some 110,000 Japanese
Americans as they were sent to internment camps
(2/3 of which were born in America.)
• The war also wiped out many New Deal
programs to spend money on the war.
– Roosevelt said that “Dr. New Deal” was retiring and
“Dr. Win-the-War” was its replacement.
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III. Building the War Machine
• Massive military orders poured in to the tune of
$100 billion in 1942 alone.
– This created a huge demand on industry which
instantly fixed any idle industrial problems left over
from the Great Depression.
– Under the direction of the War Production Board
(WPB), factories poured out: 40 billion bullets,
300,000 aircraft, 76,000 ships, 86,000 tanks, and 2.6
million machine guns.
• Full employment and scarce consumer goods
brought on sharp inflation in 1942.
– The Office of Price Administration (OPA) eventually
brought prices down with extensive regulations.
– Rationing held down domestic consumption.
– The National War Labor Board (NWLB) imposed
ceilings on wage increases.
• Threats of strikes began to worry Congress so
they passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
in 1943.
– This gave the federal government the authority to
seize and operate industries if need be.
• It also made strikes against any government operated
industry a criminal offense.
IV. Manpower and Womanpower
• About 15 million men and over 200,000
women were enlisted for noncombat duties
during the war.
• Many women joined the cause in WWII, the
best known were the WACs (Women’s Army
Corps), WAVES (Women Accepted for
Volunteer Emergency Service), and SPARs
(U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve)
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• Even with a work force this size the draft left
farmers and factories needing help.
– In 1942, The Bracero Program was an agreement
with Mexico which brought thousands of Mexican
agricultural workers, called braceros, across the
border the harvest fruit and grain crops in the West.
• Over 6 million women also entered the
workforce, half of which had never earned a
paycheck outside of the house.
– “Rosie the Riveter” was performing tasks from
drilling the fuselage of heavy bombers to joining the
links for tank tracks.
• When the war ended they were in no hurry to put down
their tools.
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• At war’s end 2/3rds of women workers left the
labor force, many by force.
– While many of them said they quit their jobs
voluntarily because of family obligations.
• The immediate postwar period saw people
rushing to the suburbs and the baby boom,
which produced tens of millions of new babies
between 1945 and 1960.
V. Wartime Migrations
• Southern States received a larger share of the
Federal defense contracts, including $6 billion
of the federally financed industrial facilities.
– Seeds of the postwar “Sunbelt”.
• As blacks threatened a march on Washington in
1941 to demand equal rights, Roosevelt issued
an executive order banning all discrimination in
defense industries.
– He then established the Fair Employment Practices
Commission (FEPC) to monitor compliance.
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• The invention of the mechanical cotton picker
in 1944, did the job of 50 people at 1/8 the
cost.
– The south no longer needed the 5 million black
tenant farmers and share croppers.
– They headed North in one of the greatest
migrations in American history.
• Native Americans played a unique role in the
war as “code talkers”.
– They transmitted messages in their native
languages, which boggled the German and
Japanese.
• Their codes were never broken.
Map 35-1 p805
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VI. Holding the Home Front
• WWII was an extremely expensive war.
– The bill amounted to over $330 billion – which
was ten times the direct cost of WWI and twice
as much as all previous federal spending since
1776.
– The income tax was expanded to help pay and
the remainder was borrowed.
• The national debt went from $49 billion in 1941 to
$259 billion in 1945.
Figure 35-1 p808
VII. The Rising Sun in the Pacific
• The Japanese knew right away that they
would have to win quickly or lose slowly.
• As Japan was attacking Pearl Harbor, they
were simultaneously hitting American
territories in the Far Eastern i.e. Guam,
Wake, and the Philippines.
• Seldom, if ever, has so much territory been
taken in so little time.
• As the Japanese landed in the Philippines, an
American force of about 20,000 (supported by a
larger but ill-trained Filipino force) held off the
Japanese until April 9, 1942.
– As MacArthur was ordered to Washington (just
before his men were to surrender,) he proclaimed,
“I shall return.”
– After his men waved the white flag, they were
forced on the infamous 80 mile Bataan Death
March to a prisoner of war camp.
• Conditions of the march were intensely cruel.
VIII. Japan’s High Tide at Midway
• As the victorious Japanese threatened Australia
after taking New Guinea and the Solomon
Islands, they were checked by a an American
carrier task force in the Coral Sea.
• Japan then moved on to seize Midway Island.
– If they were able to take the Island they could
launch attacks against Pearl Harbor and potentially
weaken the Pacific fleet.
– Admiral Chester Nimitz, a naval strategist, put up his
smaller fleet against the powerful Japanese invasion
force.
Map 35-3 p811
– On June 3-6, 1942, the Battle of Midway took
place.
• All of the fighting was done by aircraft and the Japanese
finally broke off after losing four vitally important
carriers.
• The battles of Midway and the Coral Sea
successfully halted the Japanese juggernaut.
IX. American Leapfrogging Toward
Tokyo
• In August 1942 America gained control of the
Solomons, in an effort to protect the America
lifeline to Australia.
• U.S. and Australian forces under General
MacArthur had been fighting to hold on to the
Southeastern tip of New Guinea.
– As the scales of war began to tip toward the
Americans, the U.S. Navy devastated Japanese
supply and troop ships.
– By August 1944, MacArthur had fought his way
West through the jungle until the held New Guinea.
X. The Allied Halting of Hitler
• Hitler entered the war with ultramodern
submarine “wolf packs.”
– During 1942, more than 500 merchant ships were
reported lost – 111 in June alone.
• Not until 1943 did the Allies get the upper hand
against the U-boat.
– New technology enabled the Allies to defend
against the U-boats.
• Radar, sonar and breaking the “Enigma” codes all played
a major role in the defense.
• The turning point of the land-air war against
Hitler came in late 1942.
– The British launched a 1,000 plane raid on Cologne
in May, and in August they were joined by the U.S.
air force to drop bombs on German cities.
• The Germans under Marshal Erwin Rommel –
the “Desert Fox” – marched across the North
Africa into Egypt, and almost made it to the
Suez canal before getting stopped by a joint
British and American force.
– After getting beat up a bit, the Allies pushed
Rommel’s forces back to Tunisia, more than a 1,000
miles away.
• On the Soviet front…
– By September 1942 the Russians had stalled the
German advance at rubble-strewn Stalingrad.
– In November 1942 the Russians unleashed a
devastating counteroffensive.
• Within a year’s time Stalin had regained about 2/3rds of
the Russian territory taken by the Germans.
XI. A Second Front from North Africa to
Rome
• By 1942 Soviet losses were already in the
millions. By war’s end their causalities would
exceed 20 million.
– There is little wonder why the Kremlin pushed so
hard for the Allies to open a second front in the
West.
– FDR was worried that the Soviets would make a
separate peace with Germany if they couldn’t hold
out (much like they did at the end of WWI.)
• FDR promised in early 1942 that he would open a second
front by the end of the year… a promise that proved to be
impossible to keep.
• The British, remembering their losses in WWI,
were not interested in attempting a frontal
assault against Germany.
– They preferred the “soft underbelly” of the
Mediterranean.
– Facing British opposition to the frontal assault and
the lack of resources, the Americans reluctantly
agreed to postpone the invasion of Europe.
– The Allies began the campaign in Northern Africa
that eventually pushed the Dessert Fox back
through Tunisia and into Italy.
– Mussolini was deposed in late September 1943, and
Italy unconditionally surrendered shortly after.
• With victory in the North African campaign, the
Allies turned to that not-so-soft underbelly of
Europe.
XII. D-Day: June 6, 1944
• Preparations for the invasion were gigantic.
– Almost 3 million troops with their supplies poured
into Britain.
• Because the U.S. was providing the majority of the
fighting men, Dwight D. Eisenhower was chosen as the
overall commander for European forces.
• Normandy France, being less heavily defended
than other parts of the European coast was to
be the invasion point.
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• D-Day, June 6, 1944, the invasion took place.
– The troops hitting the beach faced stiff resistance
but were eventually able to overrun the defense.
• The German’s were tricked into believing the invasion
was happening further North by a fake air drop.
• The Allies had already obtained air superiority over
France, which enabled them to destroy railroad
shipments of reinforcements and bomb gasoline
production plants.
– After desperate fighting on the beaches, Armored
division started to lunge across France, the most
notorious was the profane General George S.
(“Blood ‘n’ Guts”) Patton.
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XV. The Last Days of Hitler
• With the Allies making round-the-clock
bombings against German cities, industries, and
transportation arteries, Hitler staked everything
on one last blow.
• December 16, 1944, Hitler pushed everything
he had against the thinly held American line in
the Ardennes Forest.
– His objective was to take the port of Antwerp which
would give him access to fuel for his armored
divisions, while cutting the Allies off from their key
supply operation.
Map 35-5 p816
– Caught off guard, the Americans were driven back,
creating a “bulge” in the line… hence the name,
“Battle of the Bulge.”
– Their advance was checked only by hastily
transporting airborne units by truck to the line.
• The 101st Airborne, Commanded by General A. C.
McAuliffe, became surrounded by the enemy.
• After a month of fierce fighting and bombardment the
German commander demanded McAuliffe to surrender
or be annihilated. The American General responded with
one word: “Nuts.”
• Not long after General Patton broke through the German
lines and relieved the 101st Airborne at Bastogne.
• As the Americans pushed the enemy back
across the Elbe River and into Germany, they
were horrified to find concentration camps
stinking of death.
– The Nazis engaged in the extermination of Jews and
“undesirables” that totaled around 11 million in all.
• As the Soviets moved into Berlin in April 1945,
the desperate house to house fighting for the
city, turned into merciless pillaging and rape.
– After the city fell, Hitler killed himself in an
underground bunker (April 30, 1945.)
• May 7, 1945, what was left of the German
government surrendered unconditionally.
– May 8th was officially proclaimed V-E (Victory in
Europe) Day.
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XVI. Japan Dies Hard
• America submarines began destroying Japanese
merchant ships as fast as they set sail.
– Destroying about 50% of Japan’s entire merchant
fleet.
• March 9-10, 1945, massive firebomb raids on
Tokyo annihilated the city destroying over
250,000 buildings and taking an estimated
83,000 people.
• General MacArthur completed his conquest of
New Guinea and headed back to the
Philippines.
– He brought 600 ships and 250,000 men to the
island, and when he stepped on shore he said,
“People of the Philippines, I have returned… Rally to
me.”
– Japan’s navy made one last effort to destroy
MacArthur’s fleet at the battle of Leyte Gulf.
• It was actually three separate battles, but MacArthur won
all three… Japans navy was no more.
– The Japanese held up in holes as the Allies
attempted to take back the Philippines causing over
60,000 American causalities.
• The Philippines were not conquered until July.
– As the American’s began to squeeze Japan they
needed to take the tiny island of Iwo Jima.
• It was needed as an air field for returning bombers that
were hitting Japan.
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• Americans lost over 4,000 men during the 25 day assault.
– Okinawa, a well defended Japanese island was next.
• Fighting dragged on from April to June, costing over
50,000 American causalities.
• During the assault on Okinawa, the U.S. Navy took severe
damage from Japanese suicide pilots known as,
“kamikazes.”
XVII. The Atomic Bombs
• Strategists were planning an all-out invasion of
Japan and were expecting to take hundreds of
thousands of American casualties.
• The Potsdam Conference, held near Berlin in
July 1945, President Truman met with Joseph
Stalin and the British leaders (which didn’t
include Churchill.)
– After the conference the leaders issued an
ultimatum to Japan… surrender or be destroyed.
• The Manhattan Project pushed to create an
atomic bomb.
– Congress put $2 billion toward the project.
– July 16, 1945, experts detonated the first atomic
device.
• When Japan refused to surrender, the Potsdam
threat was fulfilled.
– August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima.
• 70,000 people died instantly and some180,000 people
were left killed, wounded, or missing. 60,000 more died
soon after from burns and radiation disease.
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• Two days later, on August 8, Stalin entered the
war against Japan (the last day of their deadline
given by the Allies.)
• August 9, dropped a second atomic bomb on
the city of Nagasaki.
– Result = 80,000 people killed or missing.
• August 10, 1945, Tokyo sued for peace as long
as hirohito, the son of heaven, be allowed to
remain emperor.
– Dispite their “unconditional surrender” policy, the
Allies accepted this condition on August 14, 1945.
• September 2, 1945, was the official V-J (Victory
in Japan) Day.
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XVIII. The Allies Triumphant
• The losses during WWII were astronomical.
• The percentage killed by wounds and disease
dropped dramatically from previous wars. In
part because of blood plasma and drugs like
penicillin.