America and World War II
Chapter 20
Sections 1-5
Mobilizing For War
• Converting the Economy
– U.S. industrial output was twice that of
Germany and 5 times that of Japan
– Turned the tide of the war for the Allies
– Success due to government mobilizing for the
war before U.S. entered
– Government gave incentives and loans to
companies to make products for the war
American Industry Gets the Job
Done
• All American industries and 20,000 businesses convert to war
production
• Auto factories
–
–
–
–
Made trucks, jeeps, tanks
Helmets, rifles, mines, etc.
Ford made B-24 bombers
1/3 of all military equipment
War Production Board
• Similar to World War I
and the Great
Depression, agencies
were created to set
production, and
control raw materials
Building An Army
• Peace time draft
already in existence
• Soldiers (GIs) went
through training that
was too short, but
built camaraderie
Minorities in the Army
• African Americans
– Segregated units (military integration in 1948)
– Many units receive awards (Tuskegee
Airmen)
– Racism at home against African Americans
• “Double V” campaign: African Americans to join
the war to fight racism in Germany (Hitler and the Jews)
and at home (themselves)
• Women
– Women allowed in armed forces, but not in combat
On the Home Front
• World War II had
positive effect on
American society
– ended the Great
Depression
– Creation of 19 million
new jobs
– Doubled the income of
most families
Minorities on the Home Front
• Women
– Labor shortage forced factories to hire married
women into jobs mostly for men
– “Rosie the Riveter”
• African Americans
– Still discriminated against by factories
– Roosevelt declares no discrimination in defense
industry work place
• Mexicans
– Federal program to bring them to U.S. to harvest fruits
and vegetables
Nation on the Move
• Sunbelt
– New industrial region in the south and west
where millions of people moved to be close to
jobs
• Great Migration
– African Americans continue to move north
• Racism
– Crimes committed by youth rise dramatically
• Zoot suit worn by Mexicans seen as unpatriotic
Discrimination against Japanese
• Roosevelt declares the
west coast a military zone
• Removes Japanese
Americans to 10
internment camps
• Seen as possible spies
• Reagan apologizes in
1988 and reimburses
those affected
Daily Life in America
• Raise money for war
by raising taxes and
selling bonds
• Government
regulated wages and
some prices
• Government worked
to prevent strikes
Rationing
• Limited availability
of goods occurred as
the demand for raw
materials and
supplies increased
and created
shortages
• Ration coupons
given for processed
foods, meats, fats and
oils, gas
Helping out the War Effort
• Victory gardens
• Scrap drives
– Spare rubber, tin,
aluminum, steel
– Bacon grease and
meat drippings used
for production of
explosives (fats & oils)
Holding the Line Against Japan
• Japan’s Strategy:
– Cut supply lines and destroy American Pacific
Fleet
• Japan attacked Americans on their bases
in the Philippines
– Trapped on the Bataan peninsula
– Thousands surrender and die on the Bataan
Death March to Japanese prison camp
– General MacArthur evacuates to Australia
• American Strategy:
– Island hop getting close enough to bomb islands of
Japan
– Doolittle Raid: bomb Japan from aircraft carrier
• American advantages
– Could decode Japanese messages and aware of
Japanese offences
• Battle of Midway: turning point in the Pacific
– Stopped Japanese offence, on defense for rest of war
Turning Back the German Army
• Attack the “soft under belly” (periphery)
– American strategy to fight in Northern Africa
– Trapped the “Desert Fox”: German General Erwin
Rommel
• Battle in the Atlantic
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–
–
–
German subs in American coastal waters
East coast told to dim lights
Convoy system helps against sinking ships
American and British shipyards replaced more ships
than were sunk
Stalingrad: Turning Point of
War
• Hitler wanted to cripple
Soviet economy by
capturing major city on
river
• Soviets protected city at
all costs
• 91,000 Germans
surrender by Feb. 1943
• Only 5,000 prisoners
survive
• Germans on the
defensive the rest of the
war
Striking Back at the Third Reich
• Allied Strategies:
• 1. Roosevelt and Churchill decided to increase
bombing of Germany to destroy military,
industrial and economic systems
– Successful in destroying RR, aircraft, and created oil
shortage
• 2. Allies strike Sicily (Italian island) successfully
– Italy surrendered and arrested Mussolini
– Germany seized control of Italy and put Mussolini
back in power
D-Day
• Operation Overload: key
name for invasion
• Advantage of surprise:
Germany thought the
attack would happen Pasde-Calais, shortest route
across the Channel
• June 6, 1944
• Utah Beach immediate
success, Omaha Beach
intense German defense
The Third Reich Collapses
• Allies liberate Paris in August
1944
– Within three weeks they are
20 miles from German
border
• Battle of the Bulge: last
German offensive
– Caught Americans off guard
and raced west bulging
forward
– U.S. won in one month
• Hitler committed suicide when
realized end was near
• Germany unconditionally
surrendered May 7, 1945 = V-E
Day (Victory in Europe)
War in the Pacific
• America’s Two Strategies:
• 1. Island Hopping:
– Marshall Islands
– Mariana Islands: bomb Japan
from there
• 2. Retake Philippines
– Guadalcanal
– New Guinea
– Leyte Gulf: largest battle in
navy history, use of kamikaze
attacks by Japanese
– All said and done: 100,000
Filipino civilians dead and
Manila in ruins
Japan is defeated
• Roosevelt died and Harry
Truman (VP) became
president
• Attack Iwo Jima to make
bombings more effective
• Tokyo firebombing:
– bombs filled with napalm
– 80,000 killed , very controversial
• Okinawa attacked
Unconditional Surrender?
• Japan would not unconditionally
surrender because they wanted their
emperor to remain in power. Americans
wanted him out of power.
Building the Bomb
• Manhattan Project: code name
• J. Robert Oppenheimer in charge (Einstein
warns President)
• Truman’s perspective:
– Use every weapon available to save American
lives
• Claims would have saved 600,000 soldiers
– Allies threaten Japan with “utter destruction”- no
response
• Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima on August 6,
1945 (tens of thousands die instantly and
more later from radiation)
• 2nd bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August
9 (35,000 to 74,000 die instantly)
• V-J Day (Victory over Japan) on August 15
Revisionist Historians
Reasons to Drop the Bomb
1. show Soviets who is
boss
2. Justify $2 billion spent
on bomb
3. Crush a brutal enemy
(Pearl Harbor, Bataan
Death March, kamikazes,
treatment of POWs)
Little Boy
Effects of the Bomb
Building a New World
• United Nations created
– General Assembly made up of all countries
who each have a vote
– Security Council has veto powers: China,
Britain, France, Soviet Union, and U.S.A.
• International Military Tribunal created to
punish leaders of Japan and Germany
through the Nuremberg trials