Chapter 35 - America in World War II

The Allies Trade Space for Time

• The U.S. went from being isolationist to being an avenger due to the attack on Pearl Harbor with it resisting pressures
• The U.S. sent just enough troops to Japan to keep it in check
• U.S. faced hardship mobilizing for war with it having to clothe, feed, and transport its forces worldwide

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The Shock of War

• ==National unity== ==was strengthened after the attack on Pearl Harbor==
• 110,000 Japanese-Americans on the Pacific Coast were put into internment camps which took away property and freedom
  • Japanese Internment Camps were constitutionalized by 1944 in the case of Korematsu v. United States and it took more than 40 years before the U.S. admitted to fault and made $20,000 reparation payments to survivors
• Many of the New Deal programs were wiped out

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Building the War Machine

• Large military orders ended the depression by creating a demand for jobs and production
• ==War Production Board== ==stopped the manufacture of nonessential items==
• ==Farmers== ==produced more food, making prices soar with this being regulated by the Office of Price Administration==
• Labor Unions promised not to strike during war but some still did, nonetheless

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Manpower and Womanpower

• Armed forces had approximately 15 million men and 216,000 women
• Mexican workers were brought to the United States as resident workers due to the draft
• Women took up jobs in the workspace and ⅔ of women returned home after the war

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Wartime Migrations

• FDR used war as an excuse to pump money into the South, in order to revitalize it
• Randolph threatened “Negro March to Washington” in 1941 to get better rights and treatment
• ==Fair Employment Practices Commission== ==was meant to discourage racism and oppression in the workplace==
• Native Americans left their reservations during the war and found work in cities or joined the army \n

Holding the Home Front

• ==America== ==was the only country to emerge from World War II unscathed with it better off than before going to war==
• The abundance of spending during WWII lifted the United States from the Great Depression
  • The national debt rose, with most costs being borrowed

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The Rising Sun in the Pacific

• The Japanese conquered Guam, Wake, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Burma, etc.
• After fighters in the Philippines surrendered, they had to make the infamous 85-mile Bataan death march

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Japan’s High Tide at Midway

• Japanese onrush was checked in Coral Sea by American and Australian forces in the world’s first naval battle with this being fought with aircrafts via carriers
  • Japan had taken over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska
• ==Midway== ==was a turning point in the Pacific War with U.S. success in Midway helping in halting the Japanese==

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American Leapfrogging towards Tokyo

• Americans won at Guadalcanal in August of 1942 and got New Guinea by 1944
• American sailors shelled beachheads with artillery
• The ==Marshall Islands== ==fell to the United States in January and February of 1944==
• The assault on Marinas began on June 19, 1944 with superior planes

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The Allied Halting of Hitler

• United States, at first, had trouble against Germany as German U-boats were very effective
• The British launched a large raid on Cologne, France and were joined by U.S. air corps in August of 1942
• Russians launched a counteroffensive and regained ⅔ of the land they’d lost

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A Second Front from North Africa to Rome

• ==Soviets== ==begged the Allies to open the second front against Hitler with Americans being eager to comply and British being reluctant==
• FDR and Winston Churchill met and agreed on terms of “unconditional surrender” at the Casablanca Conference
• Sicily fell in August of 1943 and Mussolini was deposed a new government was set up
• Allies took Rome on June 4, 1944 and the Axis troops in Italy, surrendered on May 2, 1945

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D-Day: June 6, 1944

• FDR, Churchill, and Stalin met at Tehran Conference and agreed that Soviets and Allies would launch simultaneous attacks with the plan for cross-channel invasions being entrusted to General Eisenhower
  • The point of attack for the cross-channel invasions was French Normandy with D-Day beginning on June 6, 1944
• ==Paris== ==was freed in August of 1944==

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FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944

• Republicans nominated Dewey, a liberal governor of New York
• FDR was the democratic presidential nominee and the vice president nominee was Harry S. Truman, with him being chosen due to FDR’s age and him winning over Henry A. Wallace

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Roosevelt Defeats Dewey

• Dewey went on offensive campaign while FDR stuck to addressing WWII problems
• Roosevelt won 433 to 99 electoral votes

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The Last Days of Hitler

• Hitler, losing and retreating, started the Battle of “the Bulge”
• Americans reached Rhine River of Germany in March of 1945 and joined Soviet troops and marched towards Berlin
  • Allies found concentration camps upon entering Germany, where millions of Jews and “undesirables” had been slaughtered in attempted genocide
• Hitler, knowing he’d lost, committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945
• FDR died on April 12, 1945 and Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945

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Japan Dies Hard

• American submarines and fire-bomb raids on Tokyo were wearing Japan out
• General MacArthur returned to the Philippines on October 20, 1944
• Okinawa was won and was captured at the cost of 50,000 American lives

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The Atomic Bombs

• ==Allies== ==issued ultimatum at Potsdam Conference: surrender or be destroyed==
• The ==first atomic bomb== ==was tested on July 16, 1945==
  • Americans dropped A-bombs on to Hiroshima and Nagaski when Japan refused to surrender which killed 180,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 people in Nagasaki
  • The war formally ended with the surrender of Hirohito on September 2, 1945

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The Allies Triumphant

• America suffered 1 million casualties and the number of people killed by disease and infections were low due to penicillin
  • Success in the war was partly thanks to the United States’ generals, admirals, and leaders
• The industry rose significantly with the U.S. being better prepared for war compared to others as it had a year and half to prepare

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