Chapter 26

The United States During the

Second World War

1. Overview 2. Rise of Aggressor States3. Isolationism4. Interventionist Sentiment5. Japan and China6. Europe7. US Response8. US and UK9. December 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor10. War in Europe11. War in the Pacific12. War at Home: Economic13. War at Home: Social

i. Propagandaii. Genderiii. Racial

14. Consequences

1. Overview

2. Rise of Aggressor States1920s – 1930s: worldwide economic instability

ultranationalistic

Japan 1931

Manchuria / Manchuko

Germany 1933

National Socialist Party

Italy 1935 - 1939

Ethiopia – October 1935

Albania – April 1939

3. Isolationism

Literature and Films

Senate hearings 1934 – 1936 - WWI

Neutrality Act 1935

Neutrality Act 1936

Neutrality Act 1937

America First Committee - opposed U. S. involvement.

Cash and Carry Policy

1936 – Rhineland

4. Interventionist Sentiment

SpainGermany and Italy sent weapons and soldiersUnited States, Britain, and France - policy of noninvolvement.

FDR’s attempts to quarantine belligerents – 1937

September 1941, Senator Burton K. Wheeler – Hollywood movies

5. Japan and China

1936 – alliance between Germany, Italy, Japan

1937 – Japan China, Beijing

Nanking

US gunboat

1939 – US attempts to halt Japanese aggression

6. Europe

March 1938 - Austria- desire to annex the Sudetenland

Sept 1938 – Tea Party: Chamberlain and Daladier meet Hitler.

March 1939 – Czech.

Aug 1939 – non-aggression pact / Soviets

Sept 1939 – Poland.

Sept 3, 1939 – Declaration of war

April 1940 - German blitzkrieg Luftwaffe.

June 1940 – Germany to the Atlantic.

6 weeks

“There will be peace in our time"

7. US Response1939 – 1941: FDR tries and fails.

Americans NOT interested

1939 – Congress, lift ban on Neutrality – Cash and Carry

Selective Training and Service Act 1940

1940, US began to supply arms to Britain

1940 – Battle of Britain

Sept 1940 – Lend Lease / Destroyers for bases

Continuing isolationism

Election of 1940 - Wendell Willkie

8. US and UK

Britain – bankrupt

Lend Lease – Arsenal for Democracy

US agreement – enter war in Europe – defeat Germany

March 1941 – USSR

US extended Lend Lease to Soviets

Senate hearings on influence of films on public sentiment

Aug 1941 – FDR and Churchill - Atlantic Charter

OCT 1941 – Germans sink US Destroyer Reuben James

9. December 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor

US aid to China

1939 - US terminated treaty of commerce and navigation with Japan.1940 – ban on sale of fuel and iron to Japan.

Mid 1941 – Japanese assets in US frozen.

Nearly entire US fleet in Pearl Harbor

Japanese analysis

Warnings

December 8, 1941, Congress declared war against Japan.

Germany, Italy declared war on the US, Dec 11, 1941

Hitler’s mistake

10. War in Europe

Peacetime to war footing

Soviets

Churchill

US entered war

Stalin not happy

North Africa

OPERATION OVERLORD

Paris.

11. War in the Pacific6 months – success goes to Japan

Battle of Coral Sea May 1942

Racial prejudices reinforced brutality

Chinese: Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai Shek (Jiang Jieshi)

1944-1945 – US would accept ONLY unconditional surrender

July 16, 1945 – 1st atomic weapon tested in New Mexico.

Fire bombing of Tokyo and other major cities – most deadly

Land invasion, Soviets planning to enter Pacific war.

Hiroshima (Aug 6, Fat Man ) and Nagasaki (Aug 9, Little Boy)

12. War at Home: EconomicFederal bureaucracy

Women – workforce

GNP rose more than 15% each year of warAverage weekly earnings rose by nearly 70 %

Govt subsidies for new industries - War Production Board

Smith-Connally Act - seize plants or mines if strikes interrupted war production

Govt spending rose from 9 billion in 1940 to 98 billion in 1944.

National debt in 1941 was $48 billion. In 1945 - $280 billion

Personal savings increased (up to 25% of income)

Consumer goods became scarce because of war

Social programs withered

Minorities were hired, Unions strengthened due to scarcity of workers

13. War at Home: Sociali. Propaganda

WWI – a more democratic world and permanent peace.WWII- the American way of life

Hollywood – WHY WE FIGHT

Print advertising – freedoms …

1942 – Office of War Information

Films, posters, radio broadcasts

ii. Gender

Women took male roles-raised children

350,000 women joined the military, 1000 were civilian pilots.

“Women can do anything if she knows she looks beautiful doing it” (ad)

femininity and masculinity

iii. RacialRacial segregation – Mexican and BlackEthnic segregation – Italians, English, Irish

African-Americans:Disenfranchised in South, early stages of making gains in North

Nazism – racial inequality biological

Migration northward – many.

A. Philip Randolph – March on Washington, 1941Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Segregation in military units

Mexican:LA – Zoot Suit riots 1943.

American Indians:Approx 25,000 served in militaryNavajo

Japanese AmericansFeb 1942 – Exec Order 9066 – relocating and internment of 1st and 2nd generation Japanese / Japanese Americans. Nearly 130,000.

100th Battalion – many Japanese and Hawaiian – nearly wiped out in battle.

442nd Regimental Combat team – 57% killed or wounded.

Urban v Rural.

14. Consequences

Truman took over for FDR – despite being poorly prepared for the office, having seldom met with Roosevelt or been included in the decision-making process

War ended Great Depression.

US became international power with a more powerful national government.

Cooperation between government and private companies

Shaped debate over liberty and equality

Return of troops after war