Chapter 34: American in WWII (1941-1945)

War Production Board (WPB)

U.S. government agency oversee war production during WWII

• civilian industries to military production → steel, rubber, oil, aircraft, tanks, weapons

  • regulate + allocate resources

• helped outproduce the Axis powers

Women’s Army Corps (WACs)

Female organization for WWII involvement (gender role shift)

• non-combat roles → clerical work, communications, medical aid

  • open up men for front-line duty

Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES)

Female organization for WWII involvement (gender role shift)

• Navy branch for women → aviation, intelligence, administrative positions

Coast Guard’s (SPARs)

Female organization for WWII involvement (gender role shift)

• handle logistics, coding, and other essential wartime duties as Coast Guard

Bracero Program

Agreement between U.S. and Mexico

• bring Mexican laborers to U.S. to address wartime agricultural and railroad labor shortages

  • migrant labor while American men fought

  • Braceros → highly discriminated, resented, leading to labor rights

Navajo Code Talkers

Native American Marines who made unbreakable code based on Navajo language

• maintained secure communications in Pacific Theater (especially Iwo Jima + Guadalcanal)

  • Discriminated at first, later recognized by Congressional Gold Medals

  • Inspired military programs using indigenous language for encryption

Douglas MacArthur

Prominent military leader of WWII → commanded Allies in Pacific Theater

• Island-hopping strategies against Japan

  • liberation of Philippines and occupation of Japan

  • U.S. Leadership → medal of honor, brilliant strategist, democratic reform

Battle of Midway

Turning point in WWII in Pacific Theater

• naval forces defeated Japanese fleet with codebreakers leading trap and ambush

  • halted Japanese expansion → force Japan into defensive position, allow for island-hopping campaigns, and demonstrate intelligence and air superiority

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII + 34th President

• Successful invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch)

• Planning of D-Day Invasion of Normandy

  • liberation of France and defeat of the Nazis

    • desegregation, interstate highway, diplomacy

D-Day

Massive Allied Invasion of Nazi-occupied France

• beginning of the liberation of Western Europe

  • deception + air superiority

• forced Germany into two front war (Soviet Union other side)

  • boost morale, liberate Europe!

Teherán Conference

1st wartime meeting between FDR, Winston, Stalin

• discuss military strategy and postwar plans

  • Soviet offensive alongside D-Day (2-front war)

  • hint at ideological divisions → East Europe → Cold War looms

V-E Day

Victory in Europe day → official surrender of Nazi Germany and end of WWII in Europe

• Celebrations across Europe and U.S. → … but still war in the Pacific

Potsdam Conference

Meeting between leaders of Allied Powers → Truman, Churchill (then Attlee), Stalin

• discuss postwar world

  • division of Eastern Europe (Cold War looms)

  • Stalin learns the A-bomb’s existence (Cold War tensions)

Harry S. Truman

33rd President after FDR’s death in April 1945

• authorized A-bombs on Hiroshima + Nagasaki → Marshall Plan (rebuild Europe + L communism)

• Truman Doctrine: help democratic nations fight authoritarianism (stop communism)

  • defined Cold War relations

Albert Einstein

Wrote letter to FDR warning Nazi Germany might develop atomic weapons

• led to creation of Manhattan Project

  • would come to severely regret his involvement in nuclear weapons

Manhattan Project

Project led by U.S. (w/ British and Canadian support)

• top-secret initiative to develop nuclear bombs → led by J. Robert Oppenheimer

  • led to bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki → start of nuclear age

Hiroshima

August 6, 1945 → U.S. dropped first atomic bomb "Little Boy” in this area of Japan

• instantly killed thousands of people (unbelievable destruction)

  • Japan still didn’t surrender leading to 2nd bomb on Nagasaki 3 days later

  • led to Japan’s surrender

    • ushered in the era of nuclear diplomacy and the Cold War arms race

V-J Day

Victory over Japan Day → Japan’s unconditional surrender, officially ending WWII

• after A-bomb and Soviet invasion of Manchuria (resistance impossible)

  • celebrations worldwide EVERYWHERE

• ushered in occupation of Japan and Cold War Tensions