CHAPTER 25
THE UNITED STATES AND
WORLD WAR II
What happened at after Pearl
Harbor?
• 5 million men
volunteered for the
armed services
• Draft was in place to
complete the 10
million needed to join.
• Basic training to a
group of men with no
experience
How was the military expanded?
• George Marshall pushed
for the formation of the
Women’s Auxiliary
Army Corps (WAAC)
• Women in noncombat
positions. (nurses, drivers,
radio, operators,
electricians, and pilots.
How did minority groups
contribute to the military?
• 25,000 American
Indians, 1 million
African Americans,
50,000 Asian
Americans, and
300,000 Mexican
Americans served in
segregated units.
How did businesses help the war
effort?
• Plants retooled machines
to produce tanks, planes,
boats, cars, and various
war supplies.
• Women and minorities
were millions of the
workers in the factories.
• A. Philip Randolph- called
for equality in the
workplace and was
supported by FDR.
Rosie the Riveter
What was the purpose of the
Manhattan Project?
• Office of Science
Research and
Development to improve
sonar and radar.
• Manhattan Projectcreated the atomic
bomb.
• Led by scientists Albert
Einstein and J. Robert
Oppenheimer.
• Secret operation
How did the government take
control of the economy?
• Office of Price
Administration- freezing
prices on goods.
• Encouraged buying of
war bonds
• Rationing- meat, shoes,
sugar, coffee, gas, material
collection sites.
• War Production Boarddecided what companies
would convert factories to
war time production.
War Bonds
World War II Collection Bins
Gas Rationing
What was the Battle of the
Atlantic?
• Germans wanted to
prevent food and
supplies from reaching
Great Britain and the
Soviets.
• Last 46 months and by
mid 1943 the Allies
were winning.
• 681 Allied ships were
destroyed.
What happened at the Battle of
Stalingrad (Leningrad)?
• Turning point of the war
in Eastern Europe.
• Soviet people defended
the city in horrible
conditions from the
Germans.
• Held off the Germans for
over 900 days and over ½
the city’s population died.
(Over 1 million Soviets
dead)
What was happening in North
Africa?
• Operation Torchinvasion of North
Africa led by Dwight
D. Eisenhower.
• Faced German general
Erwin Rommel
(Desert Fox)
• El Alamein (1942)Battle in North Africa,
Egypt.
Who were the heroes of World
War II?
• Tuskegee AirmenDefeated both Italian and
German Air Force.
• Buffaloes- African
American regiment that
won many honors.
• Mexican Americans won
17 Congressional Medal
of Honors.
• Nisei Regiment- Japanese
American 442nd
Regimental Combat Team
most decorated in History.
Who were the Navajo Code
Talkers?
• Served in Marines from
1942-1945.
• Talk and transmit
information on tactics,
troop movements, orders
and other vital battlefield
information via telegraphs
and radios in their native
dialect.
• Helped win the Battle of
Iwo Jima in the Pacific.
What was the importance of DDay?
• June 6, 1944- Allied
Invasion of Normandy
(France)
• Turning Point of the War
in Western Europe
• Lead generals were
Eisenhower, Bradley, and
Patton.
• 3,000 American dead,
6,000 wounded.
• Beginning of the end for
the Germans.
What was the Battle of the
Bulge?
• Battle in December
1945 in Germany.
• Germans lost 120,000
troops, 600 tanks and
1,600 planes.
• All the Germans could
do is retreat.
How did the war in Europe end?
• American soldiers
liberated Nazi death
camps
• Hitler shot himself and his
wife took poison.
• FDR dies on April 12,
1945 and Harry Truman
becomes President.
• V-E Day- May 8 1945
victory in Europe Day
Who was Douglas MacArthur?
• Lead American General
in the Pacific.
• Americans faced heavy
losses in 1941-1942.
• Doolittle’s Raid- Pearl
Harbor style raid over
Japan.
• Battle of Coral Sea- May
1942 Americans began to
turn back the Japanese
What was the Battle of Midway?
• Turning point of
World War II in the
Pacific- June 1942
• Admiral Charles
Nimitz was the lead
general.
• Used island hopping
strategy
Who were the kamikazes?
• Japanese suicide plane
attacks
• Supreme sacrifice for
Japan and the
Emperor.
What happened at the Battle of
Iwo Jima?
• More than 6,000 U.S.
Marines died. (1945)
• Only 200 Japanese
troops survived
• American victory with
a high cost in lives.
What happened at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki?
• August 6 1945- the plane
the Enola Gay drops
atomic bomb on
Hiroshima.
• August 9, 1945- Atomic
bomb is dropped on
Nagasaki
• Over 200,000 Japanese
civilians die
• Forces Japan’s surrender
What was decided at the Yalta
Conference?
• February 1945- Stalin,
Roosevelt, and
Churchill meet.
• Decided to divided
Germany postwar.
• Creation of the United
Nations postwar.
What were the Nuremberg
Trials?
• Nazi war criminals
were brought to trial
on charges of crimes
against humanity.
• Could not use defense
“just following orders”
• Individual
responsibility was now
part of international
law.
After World War II, what
happened to Japan?
• Japan was occupied by
U.S. military.
• More than 1,100
Japanese were put on
trial for treatment of
prisoners of war.
• General MacArthur
helped Japanese write
a new constitution.
What was the Geneva
Convention?
• 1949- established rules
for countries keeping
prisoners of war.
Who was James Farmer?
• Founded the Congress
of Racial Equality
(CORE)
• Started to protest
against segregation
What were the Zoot Suit Riots?
• Summer 1943- AntiMexican riots in Los
Angeles
• Servicemen attacked
Mexicans because it
had been reported that
Mexicans attacked
other servicemen.
What was Japanese Internment?
• Feb. 1942 Executive Order
9066- 110,000 Japanese
Americans who lived on the
West Coast were put into
internment camps.
• 2/3 were Nisei or American
born Japanese ancestry
• Lost homes and businesses.
• Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)internment was a military
necessity
• 1988- Japanese Americans
received government
reparations.
Japanese propaganda
Japanese Propaganda
Japanese Propaganda