World War II
The ‘Good War’ at Home and
Abroad
Background, Causes





Leftover strains, economic problems from
WWI
Failure of democracy in Germany, Italy,
USSR
Authoritarian govts in Italy, Japan, Germany,
Spain
Rise of Hitler and Nazis, legally gained
power, support of German people
Fascism = belief in superior race, party rule,
extreme nationalism, dictatorship, world
domination, expansionism (Lebensraum)
Lead-up to U.S. Involvement










1930s, Japanese colonialism in Pacific
1930s, Rise of fascism in Europe
1936, Axis formed (Germany, Italy, Japan)
1938, Germany annexed Austria, Czech.
1939, Hitler-Stalin Pact
1939, Hitler invaded Poland
June, 1940, France fell
Summer-fall, 1940, Battle of Britain (bombing)
June, 1941, Hitler invaded USSR (mistake)
Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, U.S. entered war
From Isolationism to War


American criticism of WWI, “merchants of
death” – 1935 Neutrality Act;
‘cash-and-carry’ law
America First movement
From Isolationism to War





Charles Lindbergh and others
sympathetic to Nazis
But FDR and many Americans
sympathized with Britain and Allies –
pressure to join war
Changed laws to allow trade with allies
Lend-lease, Jan. 1941, allowed arming of
Allies, moving U.S. closer to participation
Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 – united
Americans in entering and winning war
Fighting the War: Basics

Allies, Big Three (U.S., GB, USSR) + France and
China



Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan)







FDR, Churchill, Stalin – Big Three Leaders
Strained relations over war aims and strategy
Hitler, Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito/Military leaders
Two Wars: Europe and Pacific
War in Europe
USSR vs. Germany, 1941, the Eastern Front
Allies entered Europe through Africa/Italy first
(1942/43)
Then D-Day invasion at Normandy on French coast
(1944), push towards Berlin
V-E Day, May 8, 1945
Fighting the War: Basics




War in the Pacific: naval, air, jungle combat
Japanese empire throughout Pacific
Midway naval battles: U.S. victories in 1942 halted
Japanese advance on Australia and hurt Japanese
navy
Island-hopping towards Japanese islands





Guadalcanal, 1942-1943
Iwo Jima and Okinawa, 1943
Fire-bombing of Tokyo, Spring 1945
Predictions of mass slaughter if U.S. invaded
Japanese homeland
August 6 and 9, atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrendered shortly
after
The Big Three
Expanded Govt. Power







Similar to WWI experience
Dollar-a-year men, corp. leaders, guaranteed
profits
Bigness a benefit – large bureaucracies and
businesses favored for high productivity – top
100 comp. from 30% (1940) to 70% (1945)
WPB – powerful, contracts, conversion, control
OPA – controlled consumer prices
Paying for war: taxes, debt, bonds
Military drafted 31 million men; half failed
Idealism of Allies



FDR’s Four Freedoms:
Atlantic Charter – U.S. and GB – war a fight
for freedom, free trade, collective security,
national self-determination
Music of Popular Front:




Aaron Copland
George Gershwin
Woody Guthrie
Big Band
Four Freedoms
Four Freedoms
Mobilization at Home: Unity
and Sacrifice
Mobilizing Workers: Creating
an ‘Arsenal of Democracy’






Labor shortage: women,
blacks entered workforce,
industrial jobs, moved north
Workers continued to join
unions during war
Gained higher wages and
income
NWLB handled disputes
Labor’s no-strike pledge for
war
Tension and strikes:
disputes over wages vs.
corp. profits led UMW to
strike in 1943
Problems of WWII:
War as Crucible






War challenged nation and people to define
themselves: ideals, who belonged, goals
Problems of race and racism
Inclusion or exclusion of immigrants
Economic and social equality: equal sacrifice
for war effort?
War goals and methods: do they fit with
national ideals?
Long-term effects of war on society
Good War, Race War?

Rationale for WWII as ‘Good War’:





As framed by FDR, WWII was a fight for freedom,
against tyranny
A war against fascism, racial superiority
Continuation and completion of New Deal
Fight for economic and racial liberalism at home
and abroad
Holocaust made war even more just – fascism
was evil, based on racial superiority and cleansing
A War of Possibilities:
Racial and Economic Liberalism




Economic Liberalism: Social and economic
equality (The Four Freedoms)
Equality of sacrifice in wartime (fair wages
and profits)
Racial Equality: Incorporation of blacks and
immigrants into nation – the right to fight, to
be patriotic, to join the nation
Racial Equality: Ability of all Americans to
serve country and gain benefits of service
Racial Liberalism During War
WWII Civil Rights: Realities

Fight for equality at home and in war
effort:

Black newspapers and organizations: Double V
campaign: war against fascism abroad AND racism
at home
FEPC created in 1941 after A. Philip Randolph’s
threat of March on Washington – equal opportunity
U.S. armed forces segregated throughout war, even
in other countries
War as hothouse for civil rights:






Disappointments of wartime experience led to black
mobilization of 1950s and 1960s
Women reluctant to return home after war-work, fought
1950s domestic culture
Gays became less isolated, found others, organized
WWII Civil Rights: Realities

Tendency towards suspicion and conformity
on the home front


Private Snafu films
Problems of racism at home and abroad:





Conflict between war aims and realities of racism in
U.S. society and military
Discrimination against black Americans: segregated
armed forces, workplaces, lower pay
Japanese internment
Anti-Hispanic attacks in Los Angeles led to “zoot suit
riots”
Racial war against Japanese
Double Victory over Racism
Band, The Ink Spots, supported Double V campaign
Legacy of Wartime Racism







Why no black soldiers in Saving Private Ryan?
Structural and legal
racism had long-term
effects
Segregated armed
forces, bases
Unable to prove
heroism/loyalty
Discouraged from
using G.I. Bill
G.I. housing loan
discrimination; redlined black neighborhoods
Desegregated armed forces, in 1948: wars with black soldiers on
front lines = losses, dishonorable wars
Race War in the Pacific





War against Japanese diff. than war against
Germans: racism on both sides
History of white anti-Asian racism in U.S. and
abroad (Chinese/Japanese exclusion, Filipino war)
Japanese internment within U.S.
“Japs” portrayed as particularly sneaky (rats) and
bloodthirsty
Racial aspect, along w/ nature of jungle combat, led
to atrocities on both sides



Take no prisoners
Taking of souvenirs (body parts, skulls)
Would U.S. have used atomic bomb against the
Germans?
Anti-Japanese Propaganda
Anti-Japanese Propaganda
Anti-Japanese Propaganda
Ethics and Morality of War



‘The Good War’?
Effects of WWII military tactics and culture on later
U.S. and world history?
German and Japanese war machines, atrocities on
civilians:



Nazis, Guernica, bombing of London, Holocaust
Japanese, Rape of Nanking, kamikaze, enslavement
Methods of war:



mass mechanized war
targeting of civilians
inciting terror and demoralization

U.S. bombing of non-military civilian German targets:
Dresden (Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five)

U.S. intentional firebombing of Tokyo; ¼ of city
burned
U.S. use of atomic bombs

Summary Questions:






Why did U.S. join WWII?
How did it win the war?
What was life like on the home front?
What ideals did U.S. support and oppose
during the war?
Did WWII remake U.S. society?
Did the U.S. live up to its ideals during WWII?