IB Americas
Unit 1: WWII and the Americas 1933-1945
Review Guide
Hemispheric Reactions to Europe
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Good Neighbor Policy: to create better relations with Latin America
BRAZIL
o Trade Partner w/ Germany
o Vargas wanted to diversify economy
o Volta Redonda Steel Mill
o Foreign Minister Oswaldo Aranha gets USA $
o Washington Accords 1942 (RUBBER)
o $154 Lend-Lease to modernize army/navy
o Brazil fights in Italy 1944
MEXICO
o Cardenas 1938 nationalize foreign oil companies in Mexico
o FDR against Standard Oil
o Refusal of US naval/air bases
o Neutrality
o Sends forces to fight in Pacific
ARGENTINA
o Close ties to Germany
o Beef trade FDR problems with Congress
o 1943 Agricultural Conference…
Criticisms of Good Neighbor Policy
o Cost a lot
o US controlled Western Atlantic
o Evil Dictators
o Didn’t influence or stop wars within or between LA countries: Chaco War,
Maranon War…
o Long term consequence was growth of anti-americanism
Latin American Reactions to GNP
o Rulers able to prosper…at a price (new colonialism)
o Pan-American Highway incomplete
o Trade was increased
HAVANA CONFERENCE (1940)
o Resisting imperialism from outside the hemisphere
o As a whole, the Americas would assist in repelling an OUTSIDE aggressor
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o NO official treaty
RIO CONFERNCE (1942)
o FDR wants everyone to break diplomatic ties with Japan
o Argentina and Chile refuse
Declaration of Panama 1939
o 21 countries agreed on a Pan-American security zone around the hemisphere
o Guarded by US ships
Ogdensburg, NY, (1940) - Canada and US form Permanent Joint Board on Defense to
defend the continent and coordinate forces
Hyde Park Declaration (1941) – US buys more raw/manufactured materials from Canada
under the Lend-Lease act
Canada & US on the A-bomb
Japanese Internment
Act of Chapultepec (1945)
o Collective effort to defend hemisphere
NEURTALITY CANADA
o September 10th 1939 – declares war on Germany (1 week after Britain)
o BCATP
o Limited Liability
NEUTRALITY LATIN AMERICA
o Argentina
o 1935 – Latin American Anti-Comintern Pact, backed Nazi Germany
o 1944, under pressure, severed ties from Germany and Japan
o NEUTRALITY BRAZIL
o 1942 – severed ties with Germany and Italy, declares war on them
o Cooperated with US, allowing military bases
o BOLIVIA
o Neutal until 1942, declares war on Germany Italy and Japan…no fighting
o CHILE
o Broke relations in 1943
o COLUMBIA
o 1941 – severed ties with Germany, Italy ad Japan. Declared war 9143
NEUTRALITY USA
o Neutrality Acts 1935-1937
o Destroyers for Bases w/ Britain
o Lend-Lease Act 1941
o Pearl Harbor ends neutrality
Diplomatic/Military Role of Canada during WWII
DIPLOMATC ROLE
 Reaction to Hitler’s aggression
 Isolation/Pacifists…Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)
 1931 Statute of Westminster
 Limited Liability
 Department of Munitions and Supply (1940)
 Friendly with FDR: Hyde Park and Ogdensburg
 Combined Food Board (force US to acknowledge Canada)
 National Resources Mobilization Act (1940)
 Privy Council Act 1003 ( Unions double)
 Gov. intervened in daily life: rationing, controlling production/wages
 Wartime Prices and Trade Board work to avoid a depression after the war
 Gov. aided in construction of plants, high taxes, but high profit
 Transforms unnecessary industries to wartime industries
 Living Standards improved: GNP rises
 Victory Bonds
 CCF rises in influence due to need/want for social programs
MILITARY ROLE
 Department of Munitions and Supply (1940)
 Limited Liability – nearly done after Hitler takes all of Europe
 3 Key Roles: Infantry division sent to Europe, Royal Canadian Navy protects
convoys across the Atlantic and Royal Canadian Air Force creates BCATP
 Britain’s principal ally
 Battle Blunders: Hong Kong (1941) and Dieppe France (1942)
 D-Day
 Campaigns in Sicily and Italy, captured Rome
 Conscription
 Death toll: 22,917 (army) 17,101 (RCAF) and 2,204 (Navy)
 End of war, Canada had 3rd largest Navy and 4th largest air force in the world
Diplomatic/Military Role of the United States during WWII
DIPLOMATIC ROLE
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Neutrality Acts 1935-37
Cash and Carry (1939)
Ludlow Amendment (not passed)
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Good Neighbor Policy (Hemispheric cooperation against Axis Powers)
Lend-Lease program (1941)
Atlantic Charter with Britain (1941)
Four Freedoms Speech by FDR
Arsenal of Democracy – transform industrial production to wartime production
War Production Board
Office of Price Administration
National War Labor Board
Office of War Mobilization
Local Draft Boards
Rations/Victory Gardens and Victory Bonds
Internment of Japanese-Americans Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 8802 – AA in the war industries
Manhattan Project
Class taxation to Mass taxation
5th Freedom
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Tehran Conference Nov/Dec. 1943 – discuss 2nd front against Germany
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Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
MILITARY ROLE
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Rape of Nanjing…Invasion of Ethiopia…Take-over of Europe by Hitler…
Pearl Harbor Attack And German declaration of War
Early battles in the Pacific (BAD for US)
Abandonment of the Philippines and the Bataan Death march
Battle of Coral Sea (1942)
Battle of Midway (1942)
Island Hopping
North Africa (1942)
Atlantic (Spring 1943)
Guadalcanal (1943)
Invasion of Sicily (1943)
D-Day (June 6th 1944)
Battle of the Bulge (1944)
Tokyo Bombing Raids (1945)
Battle of Iwo Jima
Navajo Code Talkers
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Unconditional Surrender
Social Impact of WWII on minorities in Canada
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Held strict restrictions on allowing Jewish refugees in, even after knowledge of
the Holocaust
Interned Japanese-Canadians the entire war
3,000 1st Nation Canadians (Aboriginals) served in WWII
Had entrance restrictions on allowing Aboriginals into the Air Force and Navy
Aboriginal men joined to gain employment and carry on tradition f fathers who
served in WWI
Tommy Prince of Manitoba
Aboriginal soldiers still faced discrimination when got home
2nd class citizens, no right to vote
Women entered the work force in larger numbers
50,000 women enlist in Women’s Army Corps, RCAF woman’s division and Royal
Canadian Naval service
4,500 became nurses overseas
War did not emancipate them, but it did increase opportunities for them
Social Impact of WWII on minorities in the United States
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Internment of Japanese-Americans after WWII
Jewish refugees were limited, but FDR made attempts to help
Women join the Workforce in large numbers
Propaganda for women to work, but made it known this was temporary
Once men came home, women would go back to the home, many did not agree
with it
Working was difficult for some women, still had to take care of the household
and children too
Many women joined the army reserves and many became nurses
“Rosie the Riveter”
Propaganda told women to marry a soldier (even if you don’t know each other
well) to send the men of happy and give them something to fight for.
AA were still discriminated against and FDR wasn’t keen on changing things
Randolph pressures FDR with a black march on Washington EX. Order 8802
8802  some breakdown of discrimination, but also leads to race riots in Detroit,
and other cities
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Race riots used as propaganda for the enemy
Double V campaign: Victory at home and Victory Abroad (precursor to Civil
Rights)
Discrimination in the army, used intelligence tests which kept AA enlistees at the
bottom of the hierarchy, many did not see combat and thus made it difficult for
them to get promoted
AA had most dangerous jobs of loading ammunition onto ships (navy) w/out
proper training
AA Tuskegee Airmen
Latinos also entered the war effort 500,000 in armed forces, 65,000 Puerto
Ricans and they served on all fronts
17 Mexican-Americans awarded medal of honor
Many LA served in Philippines because they spoke Spanish
Suffered discrimination at home, but were integrated into armed forces unlike AA
Many had broken English and the youth were associated with gang crimes (Zoot
Suiters)
Zoot Suiters were seen as anti-American (rationing)  clash with sailors  Zoot
Suit Riots in LA and other Western states.
LA youth felt they didn’t belong to their culture and didn’t belong to America
Bracero Program – agreement between US and Mexico allowing Mexicans to
come to America to work in the fields and factories. Not treated well and not
fully paid their compensation  problems between US and Mexico
Treatment of Japanese Canadians
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Long history of anti-Asian sentiment
JC denied basic rights (vote)
War made racism patriotic
38 JC arrested using the War Measures Act
Politicians wanted internment on a large scale, Military didn’t think it was
necessary
Navy agreed the JC were neutralized if not on fishing
Interns JC 2 months BEOFRE the US (January 1942)
By Feb. All JC were interned
Detained proportionately more Japanese than the US
Kept in camps until the end of the war
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JC were given 2 choices after war: (1) Move east of the Rockies (super far from
original home) WITHOUT any government assistance or (2) Move back to Japan
and Canada will pay your way back home.1/2 went back to Japan
JC were able to vote after 1949
Offered partial reparations in 1988 after the US did
21,000 per survivor
Treatment of Japanese-Americans
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200,000 JA lived in Hawaii…120,000 on the mainland
Pearl Harbormartial law in Hawaii, habeas corpus suspended, many imprisoned
on suspicion f spies
No internment in Hawaii (JA = ½ the population there)
Inflammatory rumors spread about broadcasts being sent to Japan. FCC said
they were unfounded
Japanese early successes in war lead to more uneasiness
Genera DeWitt (in charge of securing the West Coast) called for removing JA
from the West Coast
Executive Order 0966 & War Relocation Authority
15,000 move voluntarily and are met with racism. ATT. Gen. of Idaho said “We
want to keep this a white man’s country.”
Assembly centers created for detainees: horse stalls
Camp Manzanar receives 1st evacuees in June 1942
o Barbed wire, 2 fences, guard towers, search lights, machine guns, camps
became little cities
o Riot at Manzanar over stool pigeons
o Newspaper, firemen, police, markets and schools
1943 begins loyalty interrogations: (1) foreswear allegiance to Japan? (2) Willing
to serve in armed forces? – those disloyal sent to Camp Tule Lake
3,000 recruited into 442nd regiment for combat, fought in Italy
Hirabayashi vs. US – court upheld legality of internment based on loyalty issue
Korematsu vs. US – once loyalty had been established relocation is
unconstitutional…many had already been released (before end of war)
JA lost $400 million in property, 1948 congress pays $37 in reparations…40 years
later gave 20,000 to each survivor
Internment experience cracked customs allowing Nisei to break free and climb
the social ladder
Canada’s Reaction to the Holocaust
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Jews were still discriminated against and subjects of mob violence
Jews had to change their names to get jobs
Jews were not allowed in as refugees, only took in >5,000
Minister of Immigration: none is too many
1938, gov. denied St. Louis, 907 Jews sent back where majority died in
Holocaust
Canada pressured to attend a conference on refugees in Evian, they refuse to
commit to allowing refugees in
Didn’t want refugees because they would be a “burden” to society
1942, knowledge of the Holocaust, King said it wasn’t a Canadian problem, the
solution was to defeat Hitler
1945-47 – immigration still remained tight amongst pressure to open
Canada still unmoved and hostile to Jews
1941-1951 admitted 16,275 refugees
The United States Reaction to the Holocaust
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FDR issued al available visa by combining Germany and Austrian quotas
(27,000)
Hesitated rescuing Jews
Emergency Committee to save Jewish People of Europe
Secretary of Treasury, Henry Morganthau pushed for Executive Order 9417 –
War Refugee Board
Refused to bomb Nazi concentration camps or Rail Roads
1938 – Us also denied St. Louis
Aug. 1942 Gerhart Riegner (World Jewish Congress) sent information about the
Nazi’s Final Solution
Dec. 1942 – US, Britain and 10 other countries issue a declaration
revealing/denouncing the Final Solution
FDR prompts Churchill and Stalin to try war criminals (Nuremburg Trial)
1943 – FDR calls for conference in Bermuda to discuss refugees, Britain refuses
to use Palestine as a destination
Romania wanted to allow 70,000 Jews to be ransomed (to go to Palestine) US
deferred to Britain who refused it
March 1944 – WRB sends Raol Wallenberg to Hungry under Swedish diplomatic
cover and saves thousands of Jews
WRB drops air leaflets of war crimes
Broadcast radio announcement appealing to Catholics that persecution of Jews
was a sin
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SS officer Eichmann offered to stop deportation in exchange for trucks, deal
collapsed but 20,000 were saved
After the war, Nazis are put on trial for war crimes at Nuremberg
Impact of Technological Developments in WWII and the Atomic Age
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Airpower: bombers, pilotless rockets
Radar/GPS technology
Aircraft Carriers (Pacific)
Anti-Aircraft guns
Computers
Amphibious landings
Mass production of Penicillin
Plastics, Plywood, Acrylics
D-Rations
Manhattan Project
V-1 ( Cruise Missile) and V-2 Rockets (Ballistic Missile)
DDT
Research and Development labs in Universities
Manhattan Project
o Multiple cities and scientists secretly worked on the project
o Robert Oppenheimer
Economic and Diplomatic Effects of WWII in the United States
ECONOMIC
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Economy recovers from the Great Depression
Draft employed many young men
Factories open up and give new opportunities to women and minorities
Industrial productivity rises 96% while economy grew 11-12% each year
Increased government regulation to handle the war effort and prevent another
GD after the war
1/3 of industrial output for the war
America was the only nation to also increase consumer goods
Fairer income distribution
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Converted nonessential products to wartime products (lingerie to camouflage
netting)
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War Bonds aid in production
Class taxation to Mass taxation
South was opened up for industry and war factories
Development of the Sun Belt and the rise of Atlanta, Dallas and Houston
Mortgages become more affordable
Prices rose, made it possible to sustain economic growth w/out inflation
G.I. Bill allows service me to get an education, start a business or buy a home
Reconversion, shift away from wartime to peacetime economy
After War, Europe is destroyed and needs American goods and services
DIPOMACY
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Beginning of war, US became big supplier of materials to Britain
“Arsenal of Democracy”
Good Neighbor Policy and US relations with LA
Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
World Super Power…Cold War
Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe
Truman Doctrine
NATO