The U.S. in World War II

The U.S. in World War II

Who was on each side Allied Powers Great Britain Soviet Union United States (1941) France Surrendered to Germany in 1940 after 6 weeks Axis Powers Germany Italy Japan

Mobilization on the Home Front Americans join the war effort The Selective Service & the G.I.: after Pearl Harbor, 5 million men volunteer for military service 10 million more are drafted to meet war needs Women in the military: the WAAC: (Women s Auxiliary Army Corps): women in noncombat positions

Dramatic Contributions by Minorities 300.000 Mexican Americans join the military 1 million African Americans serve, but have to live & work in segregated units 13.000 Chinese Americans; 33.000 Japanese Americans join 25.000 Native Americans enlist Why die for democracy for some foreign country when we don t even have it here? - African-American Editorial Our liberties, our homes, and our lives [are] directly threatened by Fascism We are also children of the United States. We will defend her. - Congreso del Pueblo de Habla Espanola

Life on the Home Front The Industrial response Factories convert from civilian to war production Shipyards & defense plants expand: they produce ships & weapons rapidly Labor s contribution +18 million people work in war industries; over 6 million were women A. Philip Randolph leads the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters They demand the right to work in war industries; organizes march on D.C.; FDR executive order forbids discrimination in war industries

Mobilization of Scientists OSRD (Office of Scientific Research & Development): working on the Manhattan Project, which develops the atomic bomb

The Federal Government Takes Control Internment of Japanese Americans Government calls for a mass evacuation of Japanese Americans from Hawaii Followed by the removal of all people with Japanese ancestry from California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona

Economic Controls OPA (Office of Price Administration) This administration fights inflation by freezing prices on goods Raised income taxes & promotes the purchase of war bonds WPB (War Production Board) They decide which companies go from peacetime wartime production Allocates raw materials for certain uses Organizes collection of recyclable materials Rationing: fixed allotment for civilians of goods needed by military

The War for Europe & N. Africa The U.S. & Britain join forces War plans: the defeat of Germany will be the Allies top priority why? Roosevelt thinks Hitler is the #1 enemy of the US Stalin needs help against German forces Only after Germany is defeated can the U.S. ask for help fighting Japan Will only accept unconditional surrender

The Battle of the Atlantic Hitler orders submarine attacks against supply ships sailing to Britain The Allies organize convoys of cargo ships w/ escorts Destroyers are armed with sonar; planes have radar detection

The Eastern Front The Battle of Stalingrad Hitler wants Soviet oil fields & the industrial city of Stalingrad By September, Germans have taken over 9/10 of the city Winter comes & the Soviets defeat the Germans in bitter warfare Over 230.000 Germans & 1.100.000 Soviets die Battle marks a turning point in the war; now the Soviets start moving toward Germany German Army Russian Army 1,011,500 men 1,000,500 men 10,290 artillery guns 13,541 artillery guns 675 tanks 894 tanks 1,216 planes 1,115 planes

The North African Front General Dwight D. Eisenhower commands the Allied invasion of North Africa They are fighting Hitler s Afrika Korps, led by Erwin Rommel (the Desert Fox ) German troops in North Africa surrender May 1943

The Italian Campaign King Victor Emmanuel III strips Mussolini of power Hitler seizes control of Italy & orders troops to defend Underground resistance partisans aid Allies: capture & hang Mussolini

Mussolini & His Mistress, Claretta Petacci Are Hung in Milan, 1945

The Allies Liberate Europe D-Day: June 6 1944: Normandy, France Prior to the attack, Allies set up a phantom army & send fake radio messages to fool Germans as to the location of the attack Eisenhower directs the Allied invasion of Normandy: June 6 1944 Omaha Beach: an area of brutal German resistance Allies manage to hold the beachheads; from here, they can advance through France D-Day is the largest land-sea-air operation in history

The Allies gain ground Gen. George Patton leads Third Army & reached Paris in August FDR reelected for 4 th term w/ VP Harry S. Truman

The Battle of the Bulge By September 1944, the Allies freed France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands from Nazi control By October the Allies have invaded Germany The Battle of the Bulge (Dec 1944): German tanks drive 60 miles into Allied territory This is the desperate last ditch offensive by the Germans They suffer irreplaceable losses

Liberation of the Nazi Death Camps Allies in Germany & the Soviets in Poland liberate concentration camps as they find them SS guards work frantically to hide evidence & force prisoners on death marches The Allies find starving prisoners, corpses, & evidence of mass killings when they come upon the camps

Unconditional Surrender By April 1945, the Soviet army is in Berlin Hitler marries his mistress Eva Braun & they both commit suicide V-E Day: May 8 1945: Victory in Europe Day Gen. Eisenhower accepts the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich

The Führer s Bunker Mr. & Mrs. Hitler

Roosevelt s Death FDR dies on April 12, 1945 Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes president

War in the Pacific Japanese advances Japan conquers a huge empire after the first 6 months of the war General Douglas MacArthur leads Allied forces in the Philippines; forced to abandon the islands Battle of the Coral Sea May 1942, U.S. & Australian soldiers stop the Japanese drive to Australia This is the 1 st time the Japanese invasion is turned back

Bataan Death March: April, 1942 76,000 prisoners [12,000 Americans] Marched 60 miles in the blazing heat to POW camps in the Philippines.

The Battle of Midway Allies break the Japanese Code, win Battle of Midway & stop the Japanese advance again Island Hopping: the Allied offensive strategy MacArthur first takes over less fortified islands; then Americans can cut Japanese supply lines Japanese Defense: Japan uses kamikaze attacks pilots crash bomb-laden planes into ships: suicide planes

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima is critical as a base from which planes can reach Japan 6.000 marines die taking island; of 27.700 Japanese, 200 survive Battle for Okinawa April 1945: U.S. Marines invade Okinawa April June: 7.600 U.S. troops, 110.000 Japanese die The Allies next step would be invading Japan, but they fear an invasion of Japan may mean 1.5 million Allied casualties

US Marines on Mt. Surbachi, Iwo Jima [Feb. 19, 1945]

The Atomic Bomb Ends the War The Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer is the research director July 1945, atomic bomb is tested in New Mexico Truman orders the military to drop 2 atomic bombs on Japan

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all felt that one way or another. - J. Robert Oppenheimer

Hiroshima & Nagasaki Aug 6 1945: the Enola Gay drops Little Boy over the city of Hiroshima, a major military center Japan hesitates to surrender On Aug 9, Fat Man is dropped on Nagasaki V-J Day: Sep 2 1945: formal surrender by Japan

Hiroshima: 70,000 killed immediately. 48,000 buildings. destroyed. 100,000s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later. Nagasaki: 40,000 killed immediately. 60,000 injured. 100,000s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.

V-J Day in Times Square, NYC

Rebuilding Begins The Yalta Conference (Feb 1945) Roosevelt, Churchill, & Stalin meet in Yalta They temporarily divide Germany into 4 parts; the city of Berlin is also divided into 4 parts Stalin promises to allow free elections in E. Europe Creation of the United Nations (based on Atlantic Charter) April 1946: San Francisco: UN is established a General Assembly is created; there will also be an 11 - Member Security Council The U.S., Great Britain, Soviet Union, France, & China have permanent seats on the Security Council; the other seats rotate

Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin Eden, Truman, Stalin

The Creation of the U. N.

The Nuremberg War Trials Nuremberg Trials: 24 Nazi leaders are tried in court and sentenced They are charged with crimes against humanity, against the peace, & other war crimes

The Nuremberg War Trials: Crimes Against Humanity

The Occupation of Japan MacArthur commands the U.S. occupation of Japan MacArthur & the United States reshape Japan s economy & govt. Japan recovers from the war rapidly

Impact of the War Opportunity & Adjustment Economic gains: Defense industries boom, unemployment drops, average pay rises Farmers prosper from rising crop prices; can pay off their mortgages Number of women in the work force rises Population shifts The war triggers mass migrations to towns/cities with defense industries

Social adjustments Families adjust to fathers in the military; mothers raise kids alone Many couples rush to get married before the man is sent overseas why could this lead to problems? 1944: G.I. Bill of Rights Pays for education for veterans; guarantees loans for new homes & new businesses for veterans

Discrimination & Reaction Civil Rights Protests Racial tensions rise in crowded Northern cities James Farmer founds Congress of Racial Equality (CORE): Works on eliminating racial segregation in North

Mexican-Americans Served in segregated units in the military Los Angeles, 1943: Zoot-Suit Riots Zoot Suits = Clothing adopted by Mexican- Americans: anyone wearing one was attacked during the anti-mexican riots Zoot Suits are banned after the riots are over

Japanese Americans In 1942, FDR had initiated the removal of Japanese-Americans in 4 states The U.S. Army forced 110.000 Japanese Americans into prison camps After the war, the Japanese American Citizens League pushes for compensation from the government In 1988, Congress grants $20.000 to everyone who had been sent to a relocation camp during WWII

War Costs Quick Facts US Debt 1940 - $9 Billion US Debt 1945 - $98 Billion WWII cost $330 billion 10 times the cost of WWI & equivalent to all previous federal spending since 1776

Losses of the Major Wartime Powers in WWII, 1939-1945 Germany 4.5 million military 2 million civilian Japan 2 million military 350,000 civilians Italy 400,000 military 100,000 civilian China 2.5 million military 7.4 million civilians USSR 10 million military 10 million civilians Great Britain 300,000 military 50,000 civilians France 250,000 military 350,000 civilian United States 274,000 military

The U.S. & the U.S.S.R. Emerged as the Two Superpowers of the later 20 c

7 Future American Presidents Served in World War II