US Perspective: WWII

Causes of WWII

• Treaty of Versailles severely punished Germany:
  • Lost colonies
  • Had to pay reparations
  • Humiliated and demilitarized
• World-wide depression:
  • Increased debt
  • Made countries and leaders desperate for solutions
• Rise of Fascist and militarist governments
  • Fear of communism from capitalist countries
• USA was in a state of isolation because of the Great Depression
  • Didn’t intervene when Germany was expanding
• European appeasement → Munich Pact
  • Gave Germany land and resources for promise of no war (Hitler lied about that)

Beginning of WWII

• Hitler invades surrounding lands
  • Used these lands’ resources to strengthen the German army
  • Germany invades Poland (Sept. 1, 1939)→ WWII officially begins (Sept. 3, 1939)
• Hitler (Germany) joins forces with Mussolini (Italy) and Tojo (Japan)
  • Both are communist and expansionist
  • USA’s opinion about joining the war are changing
• US Neutrality Acts + ways around them
  • Cash & Carry →sell arms to Britain and France
  • Destroyers for Bases → Lend destroyers in exchange for the right to build bases in Europe
  • Lend-Lease Act → arms and territories for lease
• Japan bombs Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941) → US joins war

Home Front

Government & Economy

• Created boards and agencies to manage America’s war efforts, many of which are the same from WWI
  • War Production Board (WPB): transitioned American production from consumer to military items
  • National War Labor Board (NWLB): ensured labor and industry rights to avoid disruptions and strikes
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA): controlled prices to avoid inflation
  • Office of War Information (OWI): created propaganda

Society

• Many Americans joined the war effort from their homes
  • Rationed food, fabric, metal, and more
  • Created victory gardens (grew their own food)
  • Recycled and reused items
  • Carpooled to save gas for military purposes
  • Donated and bought bonds
  • Joined the military or workforce
  • Paid higher taxes

Military

• Government issued peacetime drafts → 16 million registered
• 6 million volunteered
• Still segregated

Women

• Military
  • Women’s Auxiliary Corps (1942)
  • 1300 women served non-combat roles
• Workforce
  • 18 million working
  • Took traditionally masculine jobs
  • Welders
  • Mechanics
  • Lumber jacks
  • Lawyers
  • Physicists
  • Unfair wages in non-defense industries
  • Lost these jobs when the men returned from war
• Farms
  • Women’s Land Army (WLA): 2.8 million women farmed local land
• At home
  • Still expected to take care of the family, hence often called working a “double shift”
  • Carried out personal war efforts listed in the society category above

African Americans

• Opportunities
  • War industry offers higher wages
  • Executive Order 8802 banned discrimination in war industries
  • Second Great Migration: many moved north and west in search for better pay and treatment
  • The Double V campaign: African Americans fought for democracy and equality both overseas and at home
  • Tuskegee Airmen: the first African American pilots served as escorts for bombers
  • Incredibly successful
  • Upon return, achievements were ignored
• Hardships
  • Urban cities have high racial tension
  • Military is still segregated
  • Forced into non-combat service roles

Mexican Americans

• Workforce
  • Higher wages → moved to cities
• Military
  • Serving led to respect and benefits post war
• Zoot Suit Riots (Los Angeles, 1943)
  • Racial attacks on Mexican Americans
  • Initially caused by fashion of Mexican American youth → the zoot suit: baggy pants = against rationing fabric
  • Fueled by racist reports and police department

Mexicans

• Bracero Program: relocated Mexicans to work in agriculture
  • Needed because of lack of workforce

Japanese Americans

• Japanese Americans were detained and sent to interment camps
  • Executive Order 9066 authorized interment
  • Reasoning = national security
• Life in the camps
  • Attempted normalcy
  • Schools
  • Libraries
  • Gardens
  • Camp councils
  • Offenses
  • One room barracks for each family
  • Shared bathrooms, living space, and dining space
  • Dusty and isolated
  • Always under watch
• Some served in the military to prove loyalty
  • 442 Regimental Combat Team
• Challenges to the order
  • Korematsu vs. US: challenged internment in general → denied
  • Endo case: challenged internment after loyalty test → won
• Aftermath: Reagan apologizes and pays $20k to survivors (1980)

Fighting WWII

Europe

• USA agreed to a Europe first strategy
  • Hitler = bigger threat
  • Britain is the only ally left and needs help
• Invade North Africa first
  • Want British to keep Suez canal (supply source)
  • Not ready to invade Europe yet
  • Africa = weakest German colony = practice fighting Nazi forces
  • Gateway to attacking Italy (second weakest)
• USSR joins the war in the battle of Stalingrad
  • Why: protect land after Germany attacked
  • Impact: puts Germany on defense + creates and eastern battle front for Germany
  • Has to fight both sides and split troops
• D-Day
  • Why: need to reduce stress on USSR, no progress in Italy → need new entry point
  • Impact: turned the tide of WWII, lead to liberation of France and other countries
• Battle of the Bulge
  • Why: final push towards Germany
  • Impact: last offensive by Germany, final goal = capture Berlin
• European battle ends May 8th 1945 when Soviets capture Berlin

Japan

• Expansion was fast and violent.
  • Took much of China
  • Bataan Death March: Japan marched prisoners of war in the Philippines and beat/bayoneted 7000+ to death
  • Captured Burma → great loss for Allies because China lost its supply route
  • If Japan defeated China, they could send troops elsewhere
  • Captured majority of Pacific down to Indonesia
• America used leapfrogging to slowly take back islands while fighting in Europe simultaneously.
  • Leapfrogging: skipping a strong island, taking a weaker one, then using that weak one as an airbase to attack the stronger one
• Doolittle Raids: weak air strike on Tokyo that increased American morale
• Battle of the Coral Sea
  • Fought entirely by aircraft over open water
  • US barely wins
  • Impact: blocks Japanese expansion to Australia
• Battle of Midway
  • Why: Japan was getting dangerously close to Hawaii
  • Impact: USA victory here put Japan on defense
• Battle of Iwo Jima
  • Why: eliminate Japan’s defensive barrier
  • Impact: showed Japanese determination, island secured as air base
• Battle of Okinawa
  • Why: eliminate Japan’s final stronghold, use as staging area
  • Impact: USA wins, major losses on both sides, Americans rethink an invasion of Japan to avoid further losses
• Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs
  • Invasion = enormous losses
  • Japanese cities = rubble → millions of Japanese suffering
  • Japan refuses to surrender unconditionally
  • Truman doesn’t want the Soviets to get involved
  • End the war quickly
• Impact of the bombs
  • Hiroshima (Aug 6, 1945): 80,000 died instantly
  • Nagasaki (Aug 9, 1945): 40,000 died instantly
  • Total death: 250,000
  • Japan surrenders unconditionally