U.S. II
Ch 17.3 &17.4
17.3 War in the Pacific
•Do Now: How
different would it be
to fight a war in
Japan rather than in
Europe?
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Dec. 41: Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur
• March 11, 42: Leave the Phil. “I Shall
Return”
17.3 War in the Pacific
• What American actions surprised the
Japanese?
• Spr. 1942: Apr. 18th: raid on Tokyo
• Main Allies: US & Australia: Battle of
Coral Sea: May 1942, 5days, Airplanes
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Battle of Midway: Midway (island N. of
Hawaii), Navajo broke Japanese code
• Adm. Chester Nimitz: Commander of naval
forces in Pacific
• What was the importance of the Battle of
Midway?
• “Island Hopping”
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Offensive: Aug 1942: Guadalcanal in
Solomon Island
• Called: “Island of Death”
• Jpn: 1st defeat on land
• Oct. 44: Leyte Island, Philippines: Mac
Arthur “People of Phil: I have returned”
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Jpn: fleet: Battle of Leyte Gulf
• New Tactic: Kamikaze: suicide plane:
• Means “Divine Wind”
• Jpn: lost Battle
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Iwo Jima: “Sulfur Island”
• Why did the Japanese fight so hard on
Iwo Jima?
• Critical to US as a base, heavily loaded
bombers could reach Jpn
• Most defended island-21,800 out of
22,000 Japanese soldiers killed
• Jpn: lost island
17.3 War in the Pacific
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Apr. 1945: US invade Okinawa
• Fighting ended June 21, 1945
• Ritual suicide: shame of surrender
• 7,600 Americans killed; 110,000
Japanese
• A forecast of a invasion of Japan?
• Open door to attack Japan
• Jpn: huge army: avoid invasion, use
bomb
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Gen. Leslie Groves & research director
amer. Sci. J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Best kept war secret
• 1st test: July 16,1945: Alamogordo, N.
Mex.
• July 25, 1945: Final Plans drop 2
atomic bombs
• US warned Jpn: surrender or be
destroyed
• Japan refuses
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Hiroshima: Jpn mil’t center: 43 sec.
buildings to dust (ceased to exist)
• Jpn: hesitated to surrender
• 3 days: 2nd Bomb: code name: Fat
Man, Nagasaki: level half the city
• Sept 2: formal surrender
17.3 War in the Pacific
The famous Life magazine photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt
on August 14, 1945
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Feb. 1945: FDR, Churchhill, & Stalin:
Yalta, SU (Big 3)
• Why does the US & GB compromise
with SU?
• United Nations
17.3 War in the Pacific
• Nuremberg Trials
• Is it legitimate to hold people accountable
for crimes committed during wartime?
17.4 The Home Front
• Eco. Gains: defense indust. boom &
unemployment fell to a low
• Average weekly pay rose, invest in war
bonds
• Women: many lost jobs & took adv. of
openings
• Pop. shift
17.4 The Home Front
• How did wartime activities affect
families?
• Men, Women, Children, & Teenagers
• Period of adjustment: return
• New families
• 44: Servicemen’s Readjustment Act,
GI Bill of Rights: return to civilian life
• Edu, training, & loans
17.4 The Home Front
Music in the War:
“You Belong to Me.”
See the pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sunrise from a tropic isle
Just remember darling all the while
You belong to me
See the market place in old Algiers
Send me photographs and souvenirs
Just remember when a dream appears
You belong to me
“We’ll Meet Again.” by Vera Lynn
We'll meet again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day
17.4 The Home Front
Music in the War:
“G.I. Jive” by Louis Jordan
This is the G. I. Jive
Man alive
It starts with the bugler blowin' reveille over your bed when you arrive
Jack, that's the G. I. Jive
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” by Bing Crosby
I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents on the tree
Christmas Eve will find me, where the love light gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.
17.4 The Home Front
• How did Amer. React to progress in
acceptance of Afr. Amer.?
• 42: Civil Rights leader James Farmer
founded CORE: interracial org.
• 1st sit-in Chicago Rest.
• 43: racial violence across the country
• June, Sunday: Detroit: 3 day riots
• Serious racial tensions
17.4 The Home Front
• Summer 43: Los Angeles: AntiMexican “Zoot-suit” Riot
• Zoot Suit: style of dress (long jacket,
pleated pants, & broad brimmed hat)
• 11 sailors in LA reported being
attacked
• Lasted a week
17.4 The Home Front
• Why were Jpn. Amer. Placed in
interment camps?
• 42: War Dept. Mass evacuation
• Feb. 19,42: FDR: removal of people of
Jpn ancestry (CA, Wash, Ore, & Ariz):
relocation centers: Nisei
• 44: Korematsu vs. US
• JACL: 65: 38 mill, 78: ind, Reagan:
$20,000 ind & 90: G. Bush