Prohibition
• The 18th Amendment went into effect in
January of 1920, banning all alcoholic
beverages.
• Many believed that alcohol caused too many
problems such as crime, wife and child abuse,
and accidents on the job.
• It was impossible to enforce the law.
• People went to underground to hidden
saloons or nightclubs called Speakeasies to
obtain alcohol.
Al Capone
• Centered in Chicago Al Capone killed off his
competition and controlled all of the illegal
sale of alcohol in Chicago.
• He made $60 million a year.
• He was sent to jail for tax evasion for 11 years.
(Alcatraz)
• Once released he became mentally ill, some
say it was due to syphilis. Died due to
complications from the disease.
Science and Religion Clash
• Fundamentalism- a protestant movement that
believed that all stories in the Bible were true
and should be taken literally.
• They believed that evolution was not true.
• They began to call for laws that would prohibit
the teaching of evolution.
• The Scopes Trial- AKA the Monkey Trial- In
1925 Tennessee passed a law that made the
teaching of evolution illegal.
• The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
promised to defend any teacher who would
challenge the law.
• John T. Scopes accepted the challenge and
taught evolution. He was arrested.
• He was found guilty and fined $100.
• Many began to accept that the Bible can be
interpreted in different ways.
The Flapper
• Flapper- young women who embraced the
new fashions and urban attitudes of the day.
• Many women became more assertive and
wanted equal status with men.
• Some begun smoking, drinking in public, and
talking openly about sex.
• The growth of business and industry produced time
saving appliances that freed women from some
household chores and created jobs for millions of
women.
• During this time there were more stores that offered
ready-made clothes, sliced bread, and canned food.
(Time saving inventions)
• More women worked and more kids went to school
who began to spend less time with their families and
became rebellious.
Mass Media
• Huge national chains of Newspapers and magazines
came about such as Readers Digest and Time
Magazine.
• Radio became the most powerful communications
medium to emerge in the 1920’s.
• Radio allowed more people to experience life and
history while it happened. One could listen to
Presidential speeches or hear the World Series live.
Original Cost: $85.00, which
would cost $922.42 in 2005!
Original Cost: $65.00
(What cost $65.00 in 1928
would cost $693.18 in 2005
dollars)
Speaker Type:
Headphones
Original Cost: $69.00.
With tube $76.50
A $69.00 radio in 1922
would cost $714.25 in
2005!
Authors
• Sinclair Lewis- First to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature. Wrote Babbitt, which dealt with
Americans conformity and materialism.
• F Scott Fitzgerald- coined the term “Jazz Age,” and
“Flapper.” Wrote the novel The Great Gatsby.
• Zora Neale Hurston- was an author during the time
of the Harlem Renaissance, best known for the novel
Their Eyes Were Watching God.
• W. E. B. Du Bois- a founding member of the
NAACP lad a parade of 10,000 African
American men in New York to protest racial
violence.
• NAACP- continued its campaign through
antilynching legislation.
• Marcus Garvey- founded the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA).
• Garvey also encouraged African Americans to
return to Africa and help native people there
throw off white colonial oppressors, and build
a mighty nation.
• During the Great Migration many African
American families moved to Harlem, New
York.
• Harlem Renaissance- It was a literary and
artistic movement led by well-educated,
middle class African Americans who expressed
a new pride and wrote with defiance about
the trials of being black in a white world.
JAZZ
• Jazz was born in the early 20th century in New
Orleans.
• Louis Armstrong- Trumpet player that became
the most important and influential musician in
the history of jazz.
• Duke Ellington- Jazz pianist and composer
became one of the greatest composers of the
20th century.
• Bessie Smith-became the highest paid black
artist in the world.
The Nation’s Sick Economy
Industries in Trouble
• Railroads lost business to new forms of
transportation such as trucks, buses and
automobiles.
• The housing industry began to fall and when
housing falls so do jobs related to it such as
furniture, lumber, appliances and so on.
• The Farming industry went form making $10
billion to $4 billion in two years.
Living on Credit
• Many Americans were living beyond their means.
They bought goods on credit and increased their
debt.
• Because many Americans were in debt, they stop
spending as much.
• Uneven Distribution of Income- 70% of families
earned $2500 a year.
• Families earning $5000 could not afford to buy many
of the household products that were around at the
time.
• The Economic boom of the 1920’s was enjoyed by
the rich.
Stock Market
• Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow)- measures the
health of the stock market by measuring the stock
prices of 30 large companies on the New York Stock
Exchange.
• Sept. 1929-Stock Market Prices peaked and then fell.
• Oct. 24, 1929- Stock Market takes a plunge and
panicked investors tried to sell all of their shares.
• Oct 29, 1929- Is now known as Black Tuesday was
when stock prices fell sharply and investors sold a
record of 16.4 million shares.
Great Depression
• The stock Market Crash signaled the beginning of the
Great Depression from 1929 to 1940
• During the Great Depression unemployment
skyrocketed and many people made a run on the
bank to take out their money.
• However, many banks invested in the stock market
and over 600 banks closed.
• By 1933, 11,000 banks had failed and millions of
people lost their savings accounts.
• Over 13 million people lost their jobs and
those that kept their jobs faced pay cuts and
reduced hours.
• Countries that traded with the U.S. also
suffered from the G.D.
Hardship During the Depression
People’s Lives
• Because so many people lost their jobs, many were
evicted from their homes and lived in the streets.
• Shantytowns- little towns consisting of shacks made
up of cars, boxes, cardboard or whatever junk they
can put together.
• Soup Kitchens- offered free or low cost food
• Bread lines- lines of people waiting to receive food
provided by charitable organizations.
• African Americans and Latinos suffered more during
the great depression because their unemployment
was higher and when they were employed they were
paid less.
• Racial violence increased due to whites competing
for the same job.
• 24 African Americans were lynched in 1933.
• Many whites demanded that Mexicans be deported
even if they were born in the U.S. Hundreds of
thousands relocated in Mexico due to deportation or
they left voluntarily.
The Dust Bowl
• Many farmers removed the grasslands of the Great
Plains so they can grow their crops. After several
years, the land was not suitable for growing crops.
• When a drought and wind began in the Great Plains
there was little grass to hold the soil down.
• A wind storm in 1934 carried dust all the way to the
East Coast.
• Many families packed their stuff and headed to
California down Route 66. Those that migrated
became known as Okies (became a negative word for
all migrants).
Effects on the Family
• Many men could not provide for their families and
would wander the streets in search for jobs.
• After 2-3 years of searching for a job many men
became discouraged, stopped searching for jobs, and
even abandoned their families.
• As many as 300,000 “hoboes” wandered the streets,
hitched rides on railroad boxcars, and slept under
bridges.
• During the early years of the Great Depression the
Federal Government did not offer direct relief- or
cash payments like welfare.
Women and Children of the Great
Depression
• Many married were not hired during the Depression
because many believed they had no right to work
when there were men who were unemployed.
• Children with poor diets began to develop serious
health problems.
• Many schools also shut down, and children went to
work.
• “Wild Boys” were teenagers that hopped on freight
trains in search of work, adventure, and an escape
from poverty.
• “If I leave my mother, it will mean one less mouth to
feed.”
Social effects
• Many people lost their will to survive and
committed suicide and many were admitted
to mental hospitals.
• Many people also developed habits of saving
and thriftiness.
Hoover Struggles with the Depression
Hoover’s Cautious Steps
• Herbert Hoover asked employers not to cut wages or
lay off workers, and workers not to demand raises or
go on strike.
• During this time he also got approval from Congress
to build Boulder Dam (AKA Hoover Dam).
• Because prices of farm products dropped, many
farmers grew frustrated and burned their corn and
dumped their milk on highways rather than sell it at
a loss. This was called a “Farm Holiday.”
• They did this to lower the supply of farm products
which would raise the price.
• Shantytowns became known as Hoovervilles.
• Newspapers became Hoover Blankets
• Empty pockets turned inside out were
“Hoover Flags.”
• Many saw Hoover as a heartless leader that
wasn’t doing enough for the people by not
offering direct relief or federal welfare.
Hoover Takes Action
• Federal Home Loan Bank Act- Lowered mortgage rates
and allowed farmers to refinance their farm loans and
avoid foreclosure.
• Bonus Army- WWI veterans that had not been
compensated for their wartime service marched on the
nations capitol.
• They hoped that they would convince Congress to pass
the Patman Bill that would give them $500 each.
• Hoover later sent 1,000 soldiers to get rid of the Bonus
Army. They used tear gas, which killed an 11 month
old baby and blinded an 8 year old boy. Two people
were shot and many Americans could not believe how
the government was treating its veterans.
• Guess who won the next presidential election?
A New Deal Fights the Depression
The New Deal
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) became president
and began working with a team of professors,
lawyers, and journalist known as the “Brain Trust.”
• They designed a program to alleviate the problems of
the Great Depression called the New Deal.
• The New Deal had three goals: relief for the needy,
economic recovery, and financial reform.
The Hundred Days
• From March 9 to June 16, 1933, Congress
passed 15 major pieces of New Deal
legislation.
• A day after taking office, Roosevelt declared a
bank holiday and closed all the banks to
prevent further withdrawals.
• He passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act,
which would authorize the Treasury
Department to inspect banks.
Fireside Chats
• Fireside Chats were 30 radio talks about issues
of public concern, explaining in clear, simple
language his New Deal measures.
Regulating Banking
• Glass-Steagall Act- established the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
• Federal Securities Act- required for corporations to
provide complete information on all stock offerings
and made them liable for any misrepresentations.
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)regulated the stock market by preventing people
with inside information about companies from
“rigging” the stock market for their own profit.
• In 1933 the 21 Amendment was passed which repeal
prohibition. The tax of alcohol was then more
expensive.
Rural Assistance
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)- raised
crop prices by lowering production.
• The government paid farmers to leave land
unseeded.
• It also paid farmers to slaughter 6 million pigs
and 220,000 pregnant cows .
• Many Americans protested the destruction of
food when many people were going hungry.
Work Projects
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)- Put young men
aged 18 to 25 to work building roads, developing
parks, planting trees, and soil-erosion and floodcontrol projects.
• The CCC paid workers $30 a month, in which $25 was
automatically sent home. It supplied free food,
uniforms, and lodging in the work camps.
• The CCC planted over 200 million trees in the Great
Plains area to prevent another Dust Bowl.
NIRA
• National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)- provided
money to states to create jobs in construction of
schools and other community buildings.
• NIRA failed to make sufficient jobs for the
unemployed.
• Therefore, Roosevelt established the Civil Works
Administration (CWA), which created 40,000 schools
and paid 50,000 teachers in rural areas.
New Deal Under Attack
• By the end of the Hundred Days, many had
benefited from the New Deal.
• Roosevelt agreed to a policy of deficit
spending- spending more money that the
government receives in revenue.
• The Supreme Court struck down the AAA on
the grounds that agriculture is a state matter
not to be regulated by the federal
government.
• Fearing that the Supreme Court might
dismantle the New Deal, Roosevelt proposed
a court reform bill that would allow him to
appoint six new Supreme Court Justices.
• Many Justices retired and Roosevelt was able
to was able to appoint seven new justices.
The Second New Deal
Helping Poor Farmers
• The Second New Deal came after Roosevelt
was reelected for a second term.
• It attempted to help poor farmers by
providing loans so they may buy the land
which they are working.
Helping the Youth
• Works Progress Administration (WPA)- created as
many jobs as possible and as quickly as possible.
• They are responsible for hiring 8 million workers to
build 850 airports, construct or repair 650,000 miles
of roads, and construct 125,000 public buildings.
• Although many people criticized such projects as
“make-work projects,” the jobs gave people a sense
of hope and purpose.
Eleanor Roosevelt
• The presidents wife traveled the country,
observing social conditions and would remind
her husband of the suffering of the nation’s
people.
• Eleanor made sure that the WPA made special
efforts to help women, minorities, and young
people.
Helping Labor
• The Wagner Act- prohibited unfair labor
practices such as threatening to fire workers
for unionizing.
• Fair Labor Standards Act- set the minimum
wage, 40 hour work week, set rules for
workers under the age of 16, and banned
hazardous work for those under 18. (Still in
effect today!)
Social Security Act (1935)
Three Major Parts:
1. Old-age insurance for retirees 65 or older
and their spouses.
2. Unemployment compensation system
3. Aid to families with dependent children and
the disabled
“Let there be Light”
• The Second New Deal also included laws to
promote rural electrification and to regulate
public utilities.
• Rural Electrification Administration (REA)brought electricity to rural and isolated areas.
• By 1945, 45% of the nation’s farms had
electricity. By 1949, that figure rose to 90%.
The New Deal Affects Many Groups
Ch 15-3 to 15-5
Pedro J. Gonzalez
• Was the first Spanish language disc jockey in
Los Angeles.
• He used his radio program to condemn
discrimination against Mexicans.
• For his efforts he was arrested, jailed, and
deported even though he was a U.S. citizen.
• Frances Perkins became the first female cabinet
member as secretary of labor. She played a major
role in creating the Social Security System.
• Mary McLeod Bethune- Was hired by FDR to take
lead of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National
Youth Administration. She also helped organize the
“Black Cabinet,” to advise FDR on racial issues.
FDR Fails to Support Civil Rights
• FDR did not support federal antilynching laws
and an end to poll taxes.
• Many New Deal Programs such as the CCC
discriminated against people of color.
• Why do you suppose FDR did not back up Civil
Rights?
• VOTES
AFL-CIO
• American Federation of Labor (AFL)- restricted
craft unions such as carpenters and
electricians.
• Therefore, a new committee was formed
called the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO).
• In 1955, they joined and became known as
AFL-CIO. They are currently the largest
federation of unions.
• Many writers received support through the WPA
program, the Federal Writer’s Project.
• Richard Wright, an African American author, wrote
Native Son (1940), about a young man trying to
survive in a racist world.
• John Steinbeck, published the novel The Grapes of
Wrath (1939), about the Oklahomans that left during
the Dust Bowl towards California.
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) harnessed
water power to generate electricity and to
help prevent disastrous floods in the
Tennessee Valley.
Dictators Threaten World Peace
Failures of WWI Peace Settlement
• The Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for
starting WWI.
• Germany was stripped of their overseas
colonies and territories.
• The Soviet Union resented parts of their land
being taken away.
Joseph Stalin
• After Lenin Died in 1924, Joseph Stalin took control
of the Soviet Union.
• As in many communist countries, the government
took all privately owned lands and replaced them
with large government owned farms.
• All economic activity was placed under state
management.
• By 1937, the Soviet Union was the second largest
industrial power, surpassed only by the U.S.
Totalitarian
• Stalin eliminated anyone who threatened his
power.
• It is estimated that Stalin is responsible for the
deaths of 8 million to 13 million people.
• Totalitarian- a government that has complete
control of its citizens.
• In Stalin’s totalitarian government, individuals
has no rights, and the government does away
with all opposition.
Fascism in Italy
• Benito Mussolini-established a totalitarian
regime in Italy.
• Mussolini established the Fascist Party, which
places the interest of the state above those of
individuals.
• Just as Stalin had done, Mussolini crushed his
opposition and made Italy a totalitarian state.
Nazis Take Over Germany
• After WWI, Adolf Hitler joined a struggling
group called the National Socialist German
Worker’s Party (Nazi).
• Hitler wrote a book titled Mein Kampf (my
Struggle), where he outlined the beliefs of
Nazism.
• He believed in uniting all German speaking
people.
• Hitler also wanted to enforce racial purification.
• In his views Germans (especially blue-eyed, blonde
hair “Aryans”) formed a master race. All other races
were fit to serve the Aryans.
• Many men that were out of work joined Hitler's
private army , the storm troopers or brown shirts.
• Once Hitler became prime minister he established
the Third Reich, or Third German Empire.
Japan…Germany…Italy
• Japanese militarists launched a surprise attack on
Manchuria in 1933, which is located in China.
• The League of Nations, which was established after
WWI to prevent nations attacking each other,
condemned Japan for its attack.
• Japan just quit the League of Nations. Germany
followed, and began to rebuild their military.
• Mussolini invaded and took over Ethiopia.
• The League of Nations did very little to stop all of
this.
Spain
• Spanish Civil War began and Hitler and
Mussolini backed General Francisco Franco’s
rebellion.
• The civil war allowed Germany and Italy to
become allies.
• After Franco’s victory in Spain, there was
another totalitarian government in Europe.
• (Spain, Germany, Italy, Soviet Union)
Neutrality Acts
• In an effort to keep the U.S. out of future
wars, Congress passed a series of Neutrality
Acts.
• The first three acts outlawed the sale of
weapons to countries at war, including civil
wars.
War In Europe
Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
• Hitler declared that to grow and prosper Germany
needed the land of its neighbors. His plan was to
absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third
Reich.
• The Majority of Austria’s 6 million people were
German and wanted to unite with Germany.
• On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into
Austria. A day later Germany announced it union.
Czechoslovakia
• Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia in order to
provide more living space for Germany as well as to
control its important natural resources.
• Hitler accused the Czechs with abusing the Germans
in the Sudetenland, the western region of
Czechoslovakia.
• France and Great Britain promised to protect
Czechoslovakia if Germany invaded.
Munich Agreement
• French premier Edouard Daladier and British prime
minister Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler in
Munich.
• Hitler promised them that Sudetenland would be his
last territorial demand. They believed him!
• On September 30,1938, they signed the Munich
Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to
Germany without a single shot being fired.
• Winston Churchill, Chamberlain’s political rival in
Great Britain, believed they had adopted a shameful
policy of appeasement-or giving up to pacify an
aggressor.
The German Offensive
• Churchill warned that Hitler was not done
expanding the Third Reich.
• On March 15, 1939, about 6 months after the
Munich agreement, Germany took over all of
Czechoslovakia.
• Hitler now wanted Poland and he declared
that Poland was mistreating Germans in that
country.
• Nobody believed that Hitler would attack Poland
because then the Soviet Union, Poland Neighbor
would attack Germany.
• Then Germany would be attacked by France and
Great Britain.
• This would be a two front war (a war to the east and
west of Germany).
• Stalin signed the nonaggression pact, which meant
that neither Germany or the Soviet Union would
attack each other.
• A second secret pact was signed in which the two
countries agreed to divide Poland amongst each
other.
Poland = WWII
• On September 1, 1939, the German Luftwaffe (air
force) attacked Poland.
• The blitzkrieg, or lightning war was Germany’s
newest technology, in which it used fast tanks and
aircrafts.
• On September 3, Britain and France declared war on
Germany.
• Major fighting was over in 3 weeks way before
France and Britain could mount a defense. The
Blitzkrieg tactic worked.
• In the last week of fighting the Soviet Union attacked
Poland, grabbing some of its territory.
• WWII had begun.
• Junker planes introduced in 1936 and
retired in 1945, used mainly by the
German air force (Luftwaffe)
The Phony War
• For several months after the fall of Poland, the
French sat on their border waiting for Germany to
make a move. Germany waited for them too.
• It became known as a sitting war.
• While the French and the Germans waited, the
Soviets took over Estonia, Latvia, Finland, and
Lithuania.
• The Phony War was over when Hitler invaded
Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxemburg, and the
Netherlands.
Fall of France (No French Fries)
• The German offensive forced the French and the
British towards the English Channel.
• Italy then entered the war on Germany’s side and
attacked France from the South.
• The Battle of Britain- Since Germany’s naval fleet
could not compare to that of the British, Germany
decided to attack Great Britain from above.
• Great Britain had newer Technology (radar). Britain’s
Royal Air Force (RAF) fought off Germany. On a
single day there were about 2,000 German fighter
planes bombing Great Britain.
The Holocaust
• In 1933, after Hitler took power in Germany, he
ordered all “non-Aryans”
to be removed from government jobs.
• This was the first step that eventually led in a
campaign of racial purity called the Holocaust.
• Many Germans blamed the Jews for many of
Germany’s failures including their loss in WWI.
• The Nuremberg Laws stripped the Jews of their
German citizenship.
Kristallnacht
• November 9-10, 1938, became known as
Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).
• Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes,
businesses, and synagogues by breaking
windows or burning them down.
• 100 Jews were killed, 30,000 were arrested
and the Nazi’s blamed the Jews for the
destruction.
No Place to Go
• Many Jews fled to other countries but many Jews
had trouble finding nations that would accept them.
• Many countries began to limit the number of Jews
entering their country.
• The United States accepted 100,000 Jews of
“exceptional Merit,” like Albert Einstein.
• Many Americans did not want more immigrants
because of the lack of jobs during the Great
Depression.
The Plight of the Saint Louis
• A ship by the name of the St. Louis had 943
passengers, 740 of them had U.S. immigration
papers. The Coast Guard did not let them
disembark in America and the ship was forced
to return to Europe. France accepted them
and more than half of the passengers later
died in the Holocaust.
Hitler’s “Final Solution”
• Hitler wanted to rid Europe of all Jews.
• He imposed what he called the “Final Solution,”
which genocide- or the killing of an entire
population.
• Although Jews were the main target, many others
were included as unfit to be part of the master race
including: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics,
homosexuals, the mentally ill, the physically disabled,
and gypsies.
Forced Relocation
• Jews were segregated into over-crowded, ghettos.
• The Nazis sealed off the ghettos with barbed wire
and stone walls.
• Concentration Camps- Many Jews were forced onto
trains headed to labor camps.
• Life in the camps was a cycle of hunger, humiliation,
and work usually led to death.
• Jews worked 7 days a week, from dawn to dusk, until
they collapsed. If they were too weak to work they
were killed.
Mass Extermination
• The Germans built six death camps in Poland
which had gas chambers that could kill 12,000
people a day.
• Auschwitz was the largest death camp.
• Those that looked healthy enough to work
were separated from those that would die.
• Those that would die were given soap and
told to undress for a shower. They were then
led to a gas chamber.
• The bodies placed in huge burial pits.
• In order to cover up the evidence of the
slaughter, the Nazis would burn the bodies in
the pits or in huge crematoriums.
• Some Jews died as a result of horrible medical
experiments.
America Moves Toward War
Cautiously Moving
• Roosevelt wanted to help France and Great
Britain fight against Hitler in order to keep the
U.S. out of war.
• Therefore, FDR passed a “cash-and-carry”
provision that allowed warring nations to buy
arms as long as they paid cash and
transported them on their own ships.
• The U.S. had sent 500,000 rifles, 80,000
machine guns, and 50 destroyers.
The AXIS Powers
• Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a mutual
defense treaty and became known as the Axis
Powers.
• This meant that if the U.S. declared War on
any of the Axis Powers, it would have a twoocean war, with fighting in the Pacific and
Atlantic (Japan and Europe).
• During this time, FDR ran for a third term and
won. He broke George Washington’s tradition
of a two-term presidency.
FDR’s Plan
• FDR warned that if Britain fell to Germany
then the AXIS Powers would conquer the
world.
• Lend Lease Plan- the president would lend or
lease arms and other supplies to any country
whose defense was vital to the U.S.
Supporting Stalin
• Hitler broke his agreement with Stalin and
invaded the Soviet Union. Therefore, FDR
began sending lend-lease supplies to the
Soviet Union.
• “If Hitler invaded Hell” the British would be
prepared to work with the devil himself.
(Winston Churchill)
German Wolf Packs
• To prevent delivery f lend-lease shipments,
Hitler deployed hundreds of submarines to
attack ships.
• FDR allowed the navy permission to attack the
U-boats in self defense.
Atlantic Charter
• The Atlantic Charter became the basis for “A
Declaration of the United Nations.”
• The term “United Nations” express the
common purpose of the Allies or those
nations that fought the Axis Powers.
Hideki Tojo
• Hideki Tojo wanted to unite
Asia by taking the French,
Dutch, and British colonies in
Asia.
• The British were too busy
fighting Hitler to stop Japan’s
expansion.
• Japan took over Indochina
(Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and
the U.S. protested by cutting off
trade with Japan.
• They stopped trading oil to fuel
its war.
Peace Talks with Japan
• Tojo promised Japan’s emperor, Hirochito, that he
would keep the peace with the Americans.
• On Nov. 5, 1941, Tojo ordered the Japanese navy to
prepare for an attack on the U.S.
• The U.S. broke Japan’s secret communication codes
and learned that Japan was preparing for a strike, but
did not know when or where.
• The U.S. and Japan’s peace talks went on for a month
and on Dec 6, 1941, FDR received a decoded
message that said that Japan would reject all
American peace proposals.
December 7, 1941
• For 1 ½ hours, 180 warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii.
• Japan killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178.
• The next day FDR addressed Congress with his
famous infamy speech: “Yesterday December 7,
1941, a date which will live in infamy…”
• Congress then approved FDR’s declaration of war
against Japan.
• Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on
the U.S.
Mobilizing for Defense
The War Effort
• After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japan
Times boasted that the United States, now
reduced to a third-rate power, was “trembling
in her shoes.” But if Americans were
trembling it was with rage, not fear. Uniting
under the battle cry “remember Pearl
Harbor!” they set out to prove Japan wrong.
Expanding the Military
• WAAC or WAC- Under the Woman’s Auxiliary
Army Corps women volunteers would serve in
noncombat positions.
• WAC’s worked as nurses, ambulance drivers,
radio operators, electricians, and pilots.
Discrimination
• Because they were being segregated, African
Americans, Native Americans, Mexican
Americans, and Asian Americans questioned
whether it was their was to fight.
• An African American newspaper published
“Just carve on my tombstone, ‘Here lies a
black man killed fighting a yellow man for the
protection of a white man.’”
• Despite discrimination in the military, more
than 300,000 Mexican Americans joined the
armed forces.
• Many minorities were limited to noncombat
roles.
• 33,000 Japanese Americans served and many
volunteered as spies and interpreters.
Production
• 1942 ended the year for automobile
production as many factories retooled to
produce tanks, planes, boats, and command
cars.
Some call this a 1943
Cadillac. It had two
Cadillac V-8 engines.
Inside the tank there was a
plaque that proudly
displayed a that this was a
product of Cadillac.
Labor’s Contribution
• Many industries believed that women lacked
the stamina for factory work and would not
hire them.
• Once women proved that they were capable
of welding and riveting they began to hire
them and pay them 40% less then men doing
the same job.
• Many people refuse to hire African Americans
as mechanics and aircraft workers.
• A. Phillip Randolph called all African
Americans to Washington D.C. and march for
their “right to work and fight for our country.”
• FDR asked him not to march on Washington.
Randolph did not back down. FDR then made
an executive order “to provide the full and
equitable participation of all workers in
defense industries, without discrimination
because of race, creed, color, or national
origin.
WPB
• The War Production Board (WPB)- organized
nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans,
paper bags, and cooking fat for recycling into war
goods.
• Rationing- Households received ration books wo be
used for buying scarce items such as meat, shoes,
sugar and gasoline.
• Many people walked or rode their bikes to work to
do their part in the war effort.
• Some people cheated and purchased rationed items
on the black market.
The War for Europe and North Africa
Heroes in Combat
• Some of the most famous pilots that fought in Italy
were the all black 99th Pursuit Squadron called the
Tuskegee Airmen.
• Many Mexicans served in segregated units and had a
Regiment become one of the most decorated of the
war.
• Japanese Also served in Italy. Many were Nisei
(American citizens whose parents were from Japan).
The 100th battalion became the most decorated in
U.S. history.
D-Day
• Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike)- gathered a force of
nearly 3 million British, American, and Canadians.
• Ike planned to attack Normandy in northern France.
• He radioed messages that the Germans could hear,
stating that he was going to invade the French port
of Calais. Hitler ordered his men to Calais.
• D-Day June 6, 1944- the largest land-sea-air
operation in army history.
• September 1944-Allies freed France, Belgium, and
Luxemburg.
• The victory allowed FDR to be reelected for a fourth
term.
• The key to the success of D-Day was the ability to
deliver so many men at the same time.
• 1,200 ships, 4,126 landing craft, 804 transport ships,
10,000 planes, and 23,000 parachutists.
Liberating Death Camps
• The Soviets were the first to reach the Nazi
death camps in Poland.
• When the Soviets entered they found Nazis
trying to cover up what they had done, 1,000
starving prisoners, the worlds largest
crematorium, and a storehouse containing
800,000 shoes.
Unconditional Surrender
• April 25, 1945-the Soviet army storms Berlin
and many Nazi soldiers retreated. They were
shot on the spot or hanged with a placard on
their chest reading “We betrayed the Fuhrer.”
• April 12, 1945 FDR dies.
• April 29, Hitler marries, blames the Jews for
the war, and a day later he shot himself while
his wife drank poison.
• Hitler wrote out his last address to the
German people. He stated “I die with a happy
heart aware of the immeasurable deeds of our
soldiers at the front. I myself and my wife
choose to die in order to escape the disgrace
of capitulation.”
• A week later Eisenhower accepted the
unconditional surrender of the Third Reich.
• On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E DayVictory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was
over.