America Debates
Involvement
Unit 4 Lesson 2
11.7.1 Examine the origins of American involvement in the war,
with an emphasis on the events that precipitated the attack on
Pearl Harbor
11.7.2 Analyze Roosevelt’s foreign policy during WWII FOUR
FREEDOMS SPEECH
Vocabulary
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Isolationism
Interventionism
Winston Churchill
Neutrality Act 1939
Tripartite Pact
Lend-Lease Act
Atlantic charter
Hideki Tojo
Pearl Harbor
WAC
Douglas MacArthur
Bataan Death March
Battle of Coral Sea
14. A. Philip Randolph
15. Executive Order 8802
16. Executive Order 9066
Focus Questions
1. Examine FDR’s Quarantine Speech. Identify what he is
willing to do and provide a hypothesis at to why
2. Why did people move during WWII?
3. What problems occurred because of the migration?
4. How did the federal government control resources needed
for the war effort?
5. How did the media help in the war effort?
Japanese Aggression
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1937 Japan attacks China
Shocked Americans
Rape of Nanking
FDR Oct. 5, 1937 critical of Japan’s aggression
“Quarantine Speech” Oct. 5, 1937
• “When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the
community against the spread of disease…. War is a
contagion, whether it be declared or undeclared. It can engulf
states and peoples remote from the original scene of
hostilities. We are determined to keep out of war, yet we
cannot insure ourselves against the disastrous effects of war
and the dangers of involvement
Reaction
• This speech signaled to isolationists that FDR is willing to go to
war.
• This angered many people.
• FDR then backed off his interventionist stance
Isolationists v. Interventionists
• Want neutrality
• Congress passes Neutrality Act of 1939
• Interventionists not pleased
Four Freedoms speech
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After REELECTION, FDR increases his support for Britain.
Why AFTER THE ELECTION?
Jan. 6, 1941, addressed Congress
“Four Freedoms Speech”
Freedom of speech, worship, from want and from fear.
Four Freedoms Speech
• Who was threatening our four freedoms?
• Nazi Germany and Japanese militarism
• Best way to stay out of war was to help Britain.
Tripartite Pact
• Nightly broadcasts about the dire situation in London
• Many Americans begin to believe U.S. should prepare to
defend itself
• Sept. 1940 France falls
• Germany, Italy, Japan sign Tripartite Pact
reaction
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Congress debates isolationism v. interventionist
Selective Service Act passes
Increase in reserve troops
FDR give Britain WWI battleships
Result
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Lend Lease Act
Three months after the speech passed
“sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease to”
Who ever FDR thought it was necessary to in the interests of
the defense of the USA.
Atlantic Charter
• Aug 1941
• Atlantic Charter
• Solidified the relationship
between the U.S. and
Great Britain
Pearl Harbor
11.7.1 Examine the origins of American
involvement in the war, with an
emphasis on the events that
precipitated the attack on Pearl Harbor
Problems in Pacific
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Empire for Japan
We stopped selling oil, rubber and other
goods to stop their goal for an empire
Saw U.S. as intervening
FDR signed and embargo in 1940
What been Japan doing?
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EXPANDING
Rape of Nanking
Invasion of Manchuria
Taking over Philippines
The need RAW GOODS!
War Begins
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Pearl Harbor – December 7, 1941
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Results
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2,500 dead
8 battleships severely damaged
6 cruisers destroyed
288 planes damaged or destroyed
US Declares War on Japan
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Germany and Italy declare war on US
Gearing up for War
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More than 16 million Americans served in the
military during WWII
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Minorities
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Nearly 1 million African Americans
300,000 Mexican Americans
25,000 Native Americans
Women’s Army Corps (WAC) created in 1943
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Clerical workers, truck drivers, lab techs, etc..
Women Go to Work
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Women go to work in White Collar jobs and in
factories with Heavy Machinery
For the first time middle class American
families have 2 working parents (making child
care provided by gov’t necessary)
Many women did not leave the workforce at
the end of the war
Rosie the Riveter seen as the icon
Early Battles
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Guam, Wake Island, and Hong Kong taken
quickly
Philippines attacked December 22 under
General MacArthur
MacArthur ordered evacuation but 75,000
Allied troops held out in Bataan until May
1942
Bataan Death March -Troops forced to march
for 63 miles, killing 7000
Allies try to strike back
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By summer of 1942 – Japan controlled Indian
Ocean and half the Pacific.
Colonel James Doolittle leads raid on Japan
killing 50 people and destroying 100 buildings
Battle of the Coral Sea May 7 and 8, 1942
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1st sea battle where ships couldn’t see each other
Fought using aircraft, giving advantage to US due
to production capacity
Allies Turn the Tide
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America pursued victory in Europe before the
Pacific
Japan attacked at Midway – the last large
US base West of CA
Arthur Nimitz (commander of US Navy in
Pacific) found out and sent aircraft carriers to
Midway
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US lost 1 carrier
Japan lost 4 Carriers including 250 of their most
experienced pilots
Americans Take the Offensive
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1st offensive took place at Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Islands in June 1942
After 3 months US forces won
US Navy, Marine, and Army forces worked in
both the southwest and central Pacific forcing
Japan to fight on two fronts
US began fighting towards Japan using the
Island Hopping technique
WWII on the Home Front
11.7.5. Discuss the constitutional issues and impact of events on the U.S. home front,
including the internment of Japanese Americans (e.g., Fred Korematsu v. United States of
America) and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens; the response of
the administration to Hitler’s atrocities against Jews and other groups; the roles of
women in military production; and the roles and growing political demands of
African Americans
Women Work for Victory
• Women found jobs in heavy industry
• (they break a sweat!)
• Women didn’t quit because they were
married anymore
• ¾ women were married
• 60% were older than 35
African Americans
• A. Philip Randolph
fought for the “Double
V”
– Victory against
fascism
– Victory against
discrimination
Executive Order 8802
• Executive Order 8802 – assured fair hiring
practices in any job funded with gov’t $.
Created Fair Employment Practices
Commission
• NAACP grew to 50,000 members and
others started fighting for equal rights with
non-violent protests
Population Shifts
• African Americans move to factory cities in
North like Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland
• Bracero program legally brought Mexican
immigrants to work in California
Migration Triggers Conflict
• Summer of 1943 – Detroit has racial riots
starting in a park 34 end up dead
• Mexican-Americans attacked in Los
Angeles during the Zoot Suit Riots
Civil Liberties Restrictions
• Aliens from Axis powers forced to
register and millions were deported
• 11,000 German immigrants and
hundreds of Italians were held in Camps
• Japanese faced internment due to
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066
• Many lost their homes and businesses.
• Japanese faced harsher times because:
– there were fewer
– had less political clout
– were relatively isolated
Government & Economy
• Gov’t spent almost 90% of budget on
WWII
• Raised $ by implementing a 5% tax on all
workers
• Citizens also bought war bonds
$ $ $ $ $
Rationing
• As more goods were sent to soldiers for the war,
consumer goods were hard to find
• People were rationed and used coupon books to
get goods
• Black markets were created
$ $ $ $
$
Media boosts morale
• Office of War Information
• Spotlighted common needs
• minimized racial and economic divisions
• downplayed problems of poverty and crime
• Radio, print, and film were patriotic and reminded everybody
that we were in a war between democracy and dictatorship
• People planted victory gardens, collected scrap metal, and
paper.