Unit #10
WWII
Chapters 34-35
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• The American public was still suffering
from the great depression and wanted
little to do with the pending issues in
Europe
• London Economic Conference
• 66 nations met in 1933
• Goal was to discuss ways to beat the global
depression
• The other nations wanted to stabilize the
value of the dollar
• Roosevelt undermined the Conference
when he refused to agree to the
stabilization policy
• As a result of Roosevelt’s withdrawal a
trend towards extreme nationalism and
isolationism strengthened
• This actually allows the strength of Fascist
dictators to grow
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• Foreign relations
• In Roosevelt’s first term he made a formal
recognition of the Soviet Union
• He also promised to grant the Philippines
independence
• This was because Roosevelt felt that the islands
were economic liabilities
• The net effect of these policies was that the
US was giving up ambitions to be a world
power in order to concentrate on the
Western Hemisphere
• The Good Neighbor Policy
• Roosevelt was eager to employ this policy
because he wanted Latin American allies to
defend the Western Hemisphere against
rising dictators
• Roosevelt renounced armed intervention
and reversed the Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine put in by Teddy Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• Secretary Hull’s Reciprocal Trade
Agreements
• 1934 Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
increased America’s foreign trade
• Roosevelt’s foreign trade policy lowered tariffs
to increase trade
• Did not eliminate the Hawley-Smoot tariff but it
lowered the rates by 50%
• Totalitarianism spreads throughout Europe
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Stalin in USSR
Mussolini in Italy
Hitler in Germany
Hirohito and Tojo in Japan
• In the 30’s the American people responded
to the Aggressive actions of Germany, Italy
and Japan by retreating further into
isolationism
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• Japan seizes Manchuria – 1931
• Mussolini invades Ethiopia - 1935
• Italy was expected to win in a week but find
themselves in a brutal stalemate until Mussolini
decides to employ chemical warfare
• Spanish Civil War
• US did nothing to prevent the spread of fascism in
Spain (1936-1939)
• In the US Roman Catholics supported Franco’s fascist
rebels while the Abraham Lincoln Brigade provided
active support for the Spanish Republican Gov’t
• Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis created
• Neutrality Acts passed by U.S. Congress
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Abandoned the policy of freedom of the seas
Reduced the size of the navy and other armed forces
Made no distinction between aggressors and victims
Allowed aggressors to continue their path of
conquest
• American ships would be prohibited from sailing on
the ships of warring nations
Hitler’s path to conquest
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• Hitler systematically eliminates the Treaty of
Versailles
• Rearms Germany and returns troops to the
Rhineland
• Annexes Austria and the Sudetenland
• Invades the rest of Czechoslovakia
• Many nations allowed Hitler to do this because
the treaty of Versailles was so lopsided
• Munich conference 1938
• Neville Chamberlain gives in to Hitler’s
requests and grants Germany the Sudetenland
• Hitler Vows to Chamberlain that he would stop
there
• Six months later he takes the rest of
Czechoslovakia – Monty Python Clip
• Chamberlain knows that Appeasement did not
work
• British politician Winston Churchill – reaction –
“They had to choose between war and
dishonor. They chose dishonor; they will have
war.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• Germany signs the Non-Aggression Pact
with the Soviet Union
• Hitler wanted to avoid a two front war
• He could now invade Poland with the
Blitzkrieg effectively starting WWII (1939)
• Germany then goes on to conquer Norway,
Denmark, The Netherlands and France by
the end of 1940
• Many Jewish refugees from Europe had a
difficult time fleeing to the US due to
restrictive immigration laws and
opposition from Southern Democrats and
the State Department
• In the 1930’s almost no Jewish refugees were
allowed to immigrate to the US
• Exceptions were made (Albert Einstein 1933)
• Franklin Roosevelt’s War Refugee Board helped
Hungarian Jews escape
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• After the invasion of Poland, France and
Britain waited behind the Maginot line
for Hitler to attack
• Nothing occurred for months earning the
title of “Phony War”
• Hitler was mobilizing his armies for the full
onslaught of France
• France Falls – 1940
• The weight of the Blitzkrieg collapses
France in six weeks
• Churchill takes over as Prime Minister of
Britain
• Southern portion of France becomes a
puppet state of Nazi Germany known as
Vichy France
• “The Miracle at Dunkirk” – Hundreds of
ships help evacuate friendly troops across
the English Channel
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• US Congress’s first response to the fall of France was
to pass a conscription law (the draft)
• America’s attempt to remain neutral had now come to
an end
• In 1940 Britain gave the US eight valuable naval bases
in exchange for 50 American Destroyers
• Direct violation of the Neutrality Acts
• A strong majority of the American public favored
providing Britain with “all aid short of war”
• Election of 1940
• Franklin Roosevelt seeks election for a third term
(unprecedented)
• Republicans nominate Wendell Willkie to run against him
• Roosevelt never intended to run for a third term but felt
that the US needed his experienced leadership during
international crisis
• Willkie avoided deepening the sharp divisions among the
American people when he avoided attacking Roosevelt
for his increasingly interventionist policies
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• After the failed attempt to conquer Britain
the German’s shifted their focus to the
Soviet Union
• Catastrophic mistake by Hitler
• Lend-Lease Act
• Increased the debate over interventionists vs
isolationists
• Was a direct challenge to Axis dictators
• Gave nonmilitary aid to the USSR
• Made lend-lease aid available to the USSR
• Roosevelt announces that the US will be
the “Arsenal of Democracy”
• Seinfeld Clip
• Roosevelt knew that American involvement
was inevitable, now he had to convince the
American public
• An American propagandist Theodor Seuss
Geisel creates anti-isolation cartoons
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• Atlantic Charter (Aug. 1941)
• Roosevelt + Churchill met secretly in the
Atlantic to set goals for the war
• destroy the Nazi regime before Japan
• people of all nations should choose their own
govt. (self-determination)
• permanent system of general security (United
Nations)
• American merchant ships fired upon
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Greer fired upon
Kearny crippled
Reuben James sunk
Congress allows the arming of merchant
ships
• Roosevelt insists that Japan must leave
China
• Japan needed the resources of China to
build their imperialistic empire
• When Japan refuses the US cuts Japan’s oil
supplies and freezes all Japanese assets in
the US
FDR and Churchill- Atlantic
Charter
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
• Japan’s surprise attack on
Pearl Harbor
• Pearl Harbor clip
• Invasion of Pearl Harbor was
a short term success for
Japan
• Japan seizes the Philippines
• MacArthur is forced to
abandon his men in Corregidor
and flee to Australia
• MacArthur’s men are forced
on the Bataan Death March
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
America in World War II
• Once at war, America’s first great
challenge was to retool its industry
for all-out war production
• Unlike WWI, during WWII, the
United States was nearly
unanimous in support of the war
• Most ethnic groups were further
assimilated into American society
• Although Japanese Americans were
placed in internment camps during
WWII as a result of anti-Japanese
prejudice and fear
• The general American attitude
toward WWII was less idealistic and
ideological and more practical than
the outlook in WWI
America in World War II
• Conservative Congress elected in
1942 eliminates many “New
Deal” programs
• Despite the demands of the
wartime economy, inflation was
kept in check during the war by
federally imposed wage and
price controls
• In December of 1941 many
Americans had no real clue what
the war was about
• All they knew was Japan attacked
us
• The US government had to
commission production in rubber
due to the fact that most of it
came from Southeast Asia
America in World War II
• Wartime Agencies
• War Production Board – assigned priorities with
respect to the use of raw materials and
transportation facilities
• Office of Price Administration – controlled
inflation by rationing essential goods
• National War Labor Board – Imposed ceilings
on wage increases
• Fair Employment Practices Commission – saw
to it that no hiring discrimination practices
were used against blacks seeking employment
in war industries
• While most American workers were strongly
committed to the war effort, wartime
production was disrupted by strikes led by the
United Mine Workers
• During WWII labor unions substantially
increased their membership
• The employment of more than six million
women in American industry during WWII led
to the establishment of day-care centers by the
government
• Rosie the Riveter
• Most women were forced to reluctantly leave
the workforce after WWII due to family
obligations and men returning to their factory
jobs
America in World War II
• African Americans in WWII
• Serve in the Army Air Corps (Tuskegee)
• Form a militant organization called the
Congress of Racial Equality
• Move North and West in large numbers
seeking work
• Rally behind the slogan “Double V”
(victory over dictators abroad and racism
at home)
• Many Native Americans left their
reservations to find work or join the
military
• Navajo Code Talkers
• During WWII most Americans experienced
economic prosperity and a doubling of
their income
• The National Debt increased the most
during WWII (up to that point)
• Most of the money raised to finance WWII
came through borrowing from the
American public (war bonds)
America in World War II
• Pacific Campaign
• Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942) – First
naval battle in history that took place
entirely in the air
• Saved Australia
• Battle of Midway (June 1942) – Battle
for a tiny air field that saved Hawaii
• Turning point of the Pacific campaign
• Japanese made a crucial mistake in
1942, in their attempt to control the
Pacific they overextended themselves
instead of digging in and consolidating
their gains
• After Coral Sea and Midway the US
relies on a strategy known as “island
hopping”
• The US seizes Guam which now allows
US aircraft to conduct round-trip
bombing raids on Japanese home
islands
War At Sea
• May 1942- Battle of
the Coral Sea
• Northeast of
Australia, this was
the first naval battle
carried out entirely
by planes
• Aircraft carriers and
battleships never saw
each other!
Battle of Coral Sea
• This battle lasted 5
days
• Both sides lost half of
their aircraft
• 1 US carrier sunk,
another bad damaged
• 1 Japanese carrier
sunk, 1 put out of
action and a third lost
all its planes
• Militarily a draw,
prevented the
Japanese from
establishing a base in
Australia
Midway
Pacific Theater
America in World War II
• Pacific Campaign
• Guadalcanal – horrifically bloody battle to
protect the lifeline from America to Australia
• An early naval defeat inflicted by the
Japanese shortened American supplies
dangerously
• After several desperate sea battles for naval
control, the Japanese troops evacuated
Guadalcanal in February 1943
• Japanese losses were 20,000, compared to
1,700 for the Americans
• That casualty ratio of more than ten to one,
Japanese to American, persisted throughout
the Pacific war
• The US seizes Guam which now allows US
aircraft to conduct round-trip bombing raids
on Japanese home islands
• Things become so desperate for the
Japanese that Kamikaze pilots begin their
assault
• Japanese begin to use civilians as decoys and
“cover”
• Japanese civilians commit suicide by the
thousands in Saipan
• “Suicide Cliff”
Saipan
Leyte Gulf
America in World War II
• European Campaign
• After the Battle of Britain and until 1943
Hitler’s greatest opportunity to defeat
Britain was with German U-Boats
destroying allied shipping
• Instead of opening up a second front in
France, Britain and the US attack Hitler’s
forces in North Africa and Italy
• US first taste of the war in North Africa
was a slaughter in Morocco
• The allies were not ready or mobilized
for an invasion in France until 1944 and
any invasion earlier than that could have
been a major disaster
• The British were also fearful of becoming
bogged down in a ground war in France
reminiscent of WWII
• Roosevelt and Churchill agreed that
nothing short of Germany’s
unconditional surrender would be
accepted
• They felt this was the only way that
Germany could be totally reconstructed
after the war
America in World War II
• North Africa
• British General Montgomery holds the
Suez canal
• Rommel was commanding the German
forces
• Mostly tank warfare
• The US came on the opposite flank and
forced Rommel to retreat through Sicily
and then Italy
• “Soft Underbelly” Campaign
• Mussolini is overthrown and Italy
surrenders
• Mussolini later found in hiding with his
mistress – they are shot, bayoneted and
their bodies displayed in Milan
• Italy’s surrender allowed D-Day to be
delayed and the Soviet Union to push
the Germans back out of the USSR
• The Soviets wanted a second front in
France in 1941 – They felt that the delay
until 1944 was a deliberate strategy to
weaken the USSR
• Cold War rivalry is already developing
America in World War II
• European Theatre
• Teheran Conference – plans were made for
the opening of a second front in France
• Dwight D. Eisenhower was the Supreme
Allied Commander
• D-Day, June 6th, 1944
• Months of preparation led to the invasion –
soldiers were quarantined once the plan was
announced
• Weeks of decoy operations had been run to
throw off the Germans
• Fake army in Dover led by Patton
• Paratroopers (82nd & 101st) were to be
dropped in the night before in order to take
out artillery, MG-42 nests, seize bridges and
outflank the enemy in the morning
• Nearly every drop was a disaster
• At dusk the Allies would land on five different
Normandy beaches assisted by tanks
• Utah, Omaha (bloodiest), Gold, Juno, Sword
• Tanks never made it – weather was horrible
• Saving Private Ryan
D-Day: June 6, 1944
• Just after midnight…
• Operation Overlord
begins
• On this day, the largest
landing by sea in the
history of the world
will commence
• 4,600 invasion craft
make their way from
England to the
Normandy coast
Throughout the Night…
• 1,000 RAF (Royal Air
Force) bombers pound
the Normandy beaches
and German
strongholds
• Meanwhile, 23,000
American and British
paratroopers are
dropped behind enemy
lines (paradummies;
Rupert!)
Calais
Omaha and Utah Beach
• On Omaha beach,
there will be 2,000
American casualties
alone
• Within a week,
500,000 Allied troops
will be in France
• By July, there will be
2,000,000
America in World War II
• The Election of 1944
• It was a forgone conclusion that FDR
would win the election because the
war was now going so well
• The real concern was who was going
to be his VP
• FDR releases his three term VP Henry
Wallace for Senator Harry S. Truman
• Battle of the Bulge
• Hitler’s last ditch effort to swing the
tide of the war
• Last major German Offensive
• “Rupert”
• “Killroy was here”
The Nazis Defeated cont.
• The Air War
• Germany under constant bombing
• Raids on Dresden – Feb. 1945 – 135,000
casualties
The Nazis Defeated cont.
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On to Berlin
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March 1945 – Allies crossed Rhine River
into Western Germany, Red Army closed
in on Berlin from the East
April 1945 – Mussolini captured –
executed, Hitler committed suicide
The Nazis Defeated cont.
• May 7th, 1945 –
Germany surrendered,
May 8th is VE day –
Victory in Europe
• Potsdam Conference – A
conference to decide
how to rebuild Europe
• Also issued a warning
to Japan to surrender
or face utter and
complete annihilation
• The unconditional
surrender policy
toward Japan was
finally modified by
guaranteeing that
defeated Japan would
be treated decently by
American occupiers
Defeat of Japan
• Invasion vs. the Bomb
• Invasion of Japan might cost a million or more casualties on both
sides
• development of the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project)
Defeat of Japan
• July 1945 – 1st successful test in New
Mexico
III. Defeat of Japan
• Hiroshima
• Aug 6th, 1945 – A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima –
flattened 4 square miles, instantly killed 76,000
people
• Aug 8th, 1945 – USSR declared war on Japan,
invaded Manchuria Japan refused to surrender,
2nd bomb dropped on Nagasaki on Aug 9th
Little Boy and the Enola Gay
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Defeat of Japan cont.
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Sept. 2nd – formal surrender signed in Tokyo Bay on the USS
Missouri
Defeat of Japan
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Why use bomb?
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Truman – only other option was to invade Japan, costing enormous losses
Truman may have hoped the bomb would impress the Soviets with
American Power
During WWII the Americans:
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Were a group of highly effective military and political leaders
An enormous effort in producing weapons and supplies
Caused a higher percentage of military casualties than any other allied
nation
Maintained and reaffirmed the strength of American Democracy