Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War
 The
U.S. Transformed by War
– “Big-Picture” Effects of the War
 Unprecedented level of government control over
people’s lives
 Roles of many women transformed both at work and
at home
 Nation’s industrial landscape transformed
 U.S. thrust into a position of global leadership that it
has maintained ever since
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
War on Two Fronts
– Containing the Japanese
 Japanese Victories: Soon after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese seemed
unstoppable in the Pacific. Shortly after the Peral Harbor attack, Japanese
planes struck American airbases in Manila. Allied possessions in the
Pacific then quickly fell in the winter and spring of 1941-1942:
• U.S.: Guam (Dec. 10, 1941); Wake Island (Dec. 23, 1941); Philippines (May
8, 1942)
• Britain: Hong Kong (Dec. 25, 1941); Fortress of Singapore (Feb. 15, 1942);
Burma (late April/early May)
• Netherlands: Dutch East Indies (March 9, 1942)
 American Strategy: Two-pronged approach in the Pacific
• The Army force led by General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964 would
sweep north from Australia through New Guinea to the Philippines.
• The Marine force led by Admiral Chester Nimitz would move west from
Hawaii through “island-hopping” to mainland Japan.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
War on Two Fronts
– Containing the Japanese
4
 Battle of Coral Sea: Just northwest of
Australia, the Allies had their first victory
against the Japanese navy on May 7-8, 1942.
Yorktown damaged
 Battle of Midway: Northwest of Hawaii, American forces won a decisive
battle four-day battle (June 4-7, 1942) against the Japanese at the Battle
of Midway, despite terrible losses. Most significantly, the U.S. destroyed
four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing just one (the U.S.S.
Yorktown). American code-breakers had figured out where the Japanese
were going to attack, and thus were able to set up an ambush. The
crushing defeat at Midway put the Japanese navy at a disadvantage in
airpower from which it never recovered.
 Solomon Islands: In August 1942, U.S. forces—alongside those from
Australia and New Zealand—invaded three of the Solomon Islands near
New Guinea—Gavutu, Tulagi, and Guadalcanal—beginning the arduous
and bloody process of moving toward the Philippines.
Chapter Twenty-six:
America in a World at War
World War II in
the Pacific
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
War on Two Fronts
– Holding Off the Germans
6
Eisenhower in
late 1943
 Cross-Channel Invasion: General George C. Marshall (1880-1859)
supported a plan for a cross-Channel invasion in Spring 1943. The
Soviets, who bore the brunt of the fighting against the Nazis in the
East, wanted the invasion right away to provide some relief. But the
British wanted to launch offensives on the edges of the Nazi empire:
from North Africa into southern Europe. FDR backed the British plan,
seeing a secured North Africa as a stage for an invasion of Western
Europe from the south.
 Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969): This little-known general
distinguished himself in the invasion of Vichy France’s North African
territories by U.S. and British forces in November 1942 and the Allied
invasion of Sicily in July-August 1943. He then was chosen over
Marshall by FDR to command “Operation Overlord”: the invasion of
France by Allied forces in June 1944.
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

War on Two Fronts
– Holding Off the Germans
 North Africa Campaign: The Allied effort in North Africa precluded an invasion
of France in the spring or summer of 1943, despite angry complaints from Stalin.
 Battle of Stalingrad: From Aug. 1942 through Feb. 1943, the Soviets fought a
fierce, brutal battle against the Germans in the city of Stalingrad (now
Volgograd) in Southern Russia (a gateway to the oil reserves in the Caucus).
Hitler committed huge numbers of troops to this battle, and between 500,000 and
850,000 Axis soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured; it could have been
over 1 million for the Soviets. The loss of manpower made it impossible for the
Germans to carry out their eastern offensive any further.
 Italy Invaded: In January 1943, FDR met Churchill in Casablanca in Morocco,
and agreed upon an invasion of Italy. On July 9-10, 1943, Allied forces invaded
Sicily, capturing the islands within a month, which triggered the collapse of
Mussolini’s government. But progress on the mainland was slow, and the Allies
did not capture Rome until June 4, 1944. Further delays in invading France
angered Stalin even more.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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German troops undertaking the hated streetby-street urban warfare that characterized the
Battle of Stalingrad (Aug. 1942 – Feb. 1943)
.
8
U.S. troops landing in Sicily on July 10, 1943
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War
World War II in North
Africa and Italy: The
Allied Counteroffensive,
1942-1943
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
War on Two Fronts
– America and the Holocaust
10
 Knowledge of the Holocaust: As early as 1942, federal officials had
evidence that the Nazis were rounding up Jews (as well as Poles,
homosexuals, and communists) across Europe, and sending them to
camps in eastern Germany and Poland for to be systematically killed, and
knowledge began to spread to the general public soon thereafter. Despite
building pressure to do something, the Allies did nothing even though
they were flying bombing missions near Auschwitz by mid-1944. They
refused to try to hit the crematoria or rail lines leading up to the camp.
And the U.S. refused to admit large numbers of Jewish refugees
attempting to flee Europe.
 Moral Failure: More forceful action from the U.S. and other Allies
definitely would have saved more lives, but the Allied military command
consistently said that none of its resources could not be diverted from the
aim of winning the war.
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

The American Economy in Wartime
– Prolonged and Arduous Conflict
 Unprecedented in Recent History: The U.S. had not experienced such a
prolonged and difficult war since it own Civil War in the 1860s.
– Prosperity and the Rights of Labor
 Depression Lifted: By mid-1941, the main problems of the Depression—
unemployment, deflation, and industrial sluggishness—were gone due to
the wave of industrial expansion fed by federal money.
 Massive Government Spending: War preparation meant the injection of
more federal money into the economy than all New Deal programs
combined. The federal government’s budget was its highest ever in
1939—$9 billion—but then rose to $100 billion by 1945. The GNP went
from $91 billion to $166 billion in 1945, and some personal incomes
increased by as much as 100 percent.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The American Economy in Wartime
– Prosperity and the Rights of Labor
 The American West Benefits: As a launching point for the war with
Japan, the West received $40 billion for capital improvements
(factories, military and transportation facilities, and power plants)
from the federal government. By the end of the war, the West Coast
had become the home of the U.S.’s growing aircraft industry and a
major shipbuilding area. Los Angeles became a major industrial
center as well as home to Hollywood.
 Workforce Expansion: The war effort took 15 million people out of
the workforce, but the labor force increased by 20 percent by adding
people who had previously been viewed as inappropriate for certain
positions: the very young, minorities, the elderly, and especially
women.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The American Economy in Wartime
– Prosperity and the Rights of Labor
 Union Membership Boosted: Union membership rose from 10.5
million in 1941 to over 13 million in 1945. Unions received a
“maintenance of membership” agreement from the government—
meaning all workers entering a workplace were automatically
enrolled—in exchange for a “no strike pledge” (although 15,000 work
stoppages did take place, mostly as “wildcat” strikes unauthorized by
the union).
 Public Sentiment: During the early 1940s, public sentiment began to
turn against big unions. The Smith-Connally Act was passed in May
1943 over FDR’s veto. It forced union to wait thirty days before
striking, and gave the president the right to seize struck war plants.
Many state legislatures passed laws to limit union power during this
period.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The American Economy in Wartime
– Stabilizing the Boom and Mobilizing Production
 Office of Price Administration (OPA): The fear of deflation gave way
to a fear of inflation as prices rose by 25 percent in the two years after
Pearl Harbor. FDR created the OPA in August 1941 to deal with the
problem. It succeeded in keeping inflation manageable, but its
rationing policies caused considerable resentment, and it could not
effectively combat the widespread black market.
 Federal Deficit: From 1941 to 1945, the federal government spent
$321 billion, which was twice as much as it had spent in its previous
150 years of existence. The debt went from $49 billion in 1941 to
$259 billion in 1945. It financed he debt by selling $100 billion in
war bonds and through the high income taxes imposed by the
Revenue Act of 1942 (which provided for the first payroll
deductions).
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The American Economy in Wartime
– Stabilizing the Boom and Mobilizing Production
 War Production Board: In January 1942, FDR created the War
Productions Board (WPB) to bring some order and control over
the chaotic military purchase process. It never managed to do
so—the military branches always found ways to circumvent
it— and it also favored large corporations over small
businesses. FDR gradually transferred much of its operations to
the Office of War Mobilization in the White House. Despite
this, the U.S. had indeed become the “arsenal of democracy”
by 1944, with an industrial output twice the size of the Axis
Powers combined.
15
Chapter Twenty-six:
America in a World at War
Women workers “trim” transparent noses for A-20J attack bombers at Douglas
Aircraft's factory in Long Beach, California, in October of 1942.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
Vannevar Bush
The American Economy in Wartime
– Wartime Science and Technology
 National Defense Research Committee: The federal government poured
$100 million into research for military technology through this body (later
called the Office of Scientific Research and Development headed by MIT
scientist Vannevar Bush (1890-1974), an early computer researcher.
 Axis Edge: Germany especially had superior tanks and mechanized armor,
which it perfected during the Spanish Civil War. The Germans also had
better submarine technology. Japan had perfected excellent naval-air
capacities, as the attack on Pearl Harbor demonstrated. Near the end of the
war, the Germans developed V1 and V2 rockets.
 Allied Advantage: Techniques of mass production in the U.S. were more
efficient than those of the Axis powers; the Allies had more plentiful
tanks, aircraft, etc., and by 1942, they were comparable technologically.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The American Economy in Wartime
– Wartime Science and Technology
Centimetric Radar Antenna
 Sonar: Allied sonar technology—pulses of sound used to detect
objects underwater—had become so good by 1943, that it
essentially neutralized the German submarine threat in the North
Atlantic.
 Radar: The creation of “centimetric radar” in 1940 gave the Allies
a big advantage. The new radar sent out beams of short
wavelength, making the radar more efficient. It could also be
miniaturized effectively and installed on airplanes.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The American Economy in
Wartime
– Wartime Science and Technology
B-17 bomber
 Long-Range Bombing: The British and Americans developed bombers, like
the Lancaster B1 and the Boeing B17 “Flying Fortress” that could carry
6,000 pounds of bombs 1,300 miles. In March 1942, the Allies installed the
Gee navigation system on 80 bombers, which used electronic pulses to help
pilots navigate toward targets at night or in bad weather with great accuracy.
 Code Breaking: The greatest Allied technological advantage was in code
breaking. German and Japanese coded military and diplomatic messages
using a device known as the “Enigma Machine.” Improving on a Polish
decoding machine, the British computing pioneer Alan Turing created a
high-speed device that could decode a German message in hours, not the
days as before. Allies maintained a code-breaking advantage throughout the
war, which especially helped preparing for the Normandy invasion.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
Race and Gender in Wartime America
– African Americans and the War
20
 A. Philip Randolph (1889-1967): This president of the influential
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union began to agitate in the
summer of 1941 for companies receiving government contracts not to
discriminate against blacks. He threatened a “March on Washington”
to get this, but he called it off when FDR agreed to create the Fair
Employment Practices Commission (FEPC).
 Wartime Race Riots: Migration from the rural South to industrial
cities continued among African Americans. It created better economic
opportunity for blacks, but also caused increasing racial tensions. On
June 20, 1943, a large race riot in Detroit broke out, leaving 34 people
dead (25 were black).
 Congress of Racial Equality (CORE): This civil rights organization
formed in 1942 to organize sit-in boycotts and boycotts of “whites
only” restaurants and movie theaters.
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

Race and Gender in Wartime America
– Native Americans and the War
 Navajo “Code Talkers”: Roughly 25,000 Indians served during
WWII, including “code-talkers,” mostly Navajos who would
speak their own language on radio communications, which the
enemy could not translate.
 Reservation Life: Little war work reached those who stayed on
the reservation, and federal subsidies dwindle. The government
emphasis on national unity eroded the reestablishment of
collective tribal identity that had been legislated with the 1934
Indian Reorganization Indian Act. The director of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, John Collier, resigned in frustration in 1945.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
Race and Gender in Wartime America
– Mexican American War Workers
 Mexican Migrants: Large numbers of Mexicans crossed the border to get
jobs during the labor shortage in the Southwest and West Coast.
 Braceros Program: The American and Mexican governments came up
with a program for “guest workers” to cross the border legally to work
for a limited period. Many settled on the West Coast and in the
Southwest, but others settled in industrial cities like Chicago and Detroit.
 “Zoot-Suit Riots”: Many whites became alarmed by the activities of
Mexican American teenagers who joined street gangs (pachucos) and
wore big, loose jackets with padded shoulders, baggy pants, long watch
chains, and broad-rimmed hats; together this ensemble was known as a
“zoot suit.” Cloth was being rationed at the time. In June 1943, white
sailors from Long Beach invaded a Mexican neighborhood and attacked
zoot suiters, ripping off an burning their clothes, causing a four-day riot.
22
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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Sailors looking for zoot-suiters above; a young
Mexican American models a zoot suit to the right.
The riots lasted from June 3 through 7, 1943. When
Mexican American teens fought back, they were
usually arrested.
23
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
Race and Gender in Wartime America
– The Internment of Japanese Americans
 Anti-Japanese Feelings: While people of German descent suffered
relatively little persecution in the U.S., much public anger was directed at
the Japanese Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack. There were about
127,000 Japanese Americans in the U.S., a third of whom were
unnaturalized first-generation immigrants (Issei). Two-thirds were either
naturalized or native-born citizens of the U.S. (Nisei). All were suspected
of being engaged in conspiracies to help their ancestral homeland (no
evidence indicates that any were).
 “Relocation Centers”: In Feb. 1942, FDR signed Executive Order 9066
that forcibly moved 100,000 Issei and Nisei from the West Coast into
interior “relocation centers,” which were little more than prison camps
often located in desert or mountain regions, with no means of gainful
employment. The Korematsu Supreme Court decision in 1944 upheld
internment; no compensation was given by Congress until the 1980s.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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War Relocation Authority Center, Manzanar, CA
25
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

Race and Gender in Wartime America
– Chinese Americans and the War
 Alliance with China: The U.S. military alliance with China
against the Japanese improved both the social and legal status
of Chinese and Chinese Americans in the U.S.
 Declining Prejudice toward Chinese Americans: Government
propaganda began depict the Chinese in a favorable light, and
Chinese Americans began working in war plants due to the
labor shortage, moving out of their relative social isolation of
Chinatowns. A higher portion of Chinese Americans were
drafted compared to any other national group (22 percent of all
adult males).
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
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27
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

Race and Gender in Wartime America
– Women and Children in Wartime
 Women in the Workforce: The war saw a 60 percent increase of
women in the workforce, with many replacing male industrial
workers serving in the military. They were more likely to be
married and were a bit older than working women of the past.
 WAACs and WAVEs: The army enlisted women (“Women’s
Auxiliary Army Corps”) as did the navy (“Women Accepted for
Volunteer Emergency Service”), but they were mostly hired to
do clerical work. Some did work as supply pilots,
communication specialists, and air traffic controllers.
 Start of the “Baby Boom”: The return of prosperity increased
marriage rates and birth rates, beginning the “baby boom” that
would take off even more after the war.
28
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

Race and Gender in Wartime America
– Women and Children in Wartime
 “Rosie the Riveter”: In early 1943, a song
called “Rosie the River” became popular, and
it was followed by an image of “Rosie” by
famed illustrator Norman Rockwell on the
cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It
became socially acceptable for women to take
on heavy industrial jobs and join unions,
which they did in record numbers. Even
mothers began to work, which had been a
social taboo. But most women did not work
in factories, but rather in service sector and
clerical jobs. The bureaucratic needs of the
war effort were enormous.
29
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War
Women worker drilling on a B-24
Liberator bomber at Consolidated
Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas,
in October 1942
Female worker at the Republic
Drill and Tool Company,
Chicago, Illinois, August 1942
30
J. Howard Miller’s famed 1943
poster for Westinghouse and the
War Production Coordinating
Committee
Chapter Twenty-six:
America in a World at War

Anxiety and Affluence in Wartime Culture
 Anxiety: Families felt deep angst about the possibility of husbands,
fathers, brothers, and other relatives being killed in combat, while
women struggled to make ends meet on their own. Everyone
struggled with shortages of goods and labor, while people were also
anxious about the possibility of sabotage or invasion.
 Consumerism Reborn: With money in their pockets, people began
spending on consumer goods in a way that had not happened since the
1920s.
– Wartime Entertainment and Leisure
 Booming Mass Entertainment and Culture: Publishing, theater, and
movie industries all did great business during the war years. Pictorial
magazines like Life boomed as people sought information about the
war, as did the purchase of radios for the same reason.
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Chapter Twenty-six:
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32
Chapter Twenty-six:
America in a World at War

Anxiety and Affluence in Wartime Culture
– Wartime Entertainment and Leisure
 Leisure Time: Resort hotels, casinos, and racetracks all
did good business, as did dance halls. Soldiers and sailors
on leave would often flock to dance halls.
 Popularity of Swing: A relatively new form of jazz called
“swing” played by “big bands” became immensely
popular. Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy
Dorsey, and Glenn Miller were popular band leaders who
became major stars. Swing bands were also some of the
first to integrate: Benny Goodman began hiring black
musicians in 1935, and others followed suit.
33
Chapter Twenty-six:
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Duke Ellington and his Orchestra around 1945
34
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

Anxiety and Affluence in Wartime
Culture
– Women and Men in the Armed Services
 Importance of USOs: The army recruited thousands of
“wholesome” young women to serve as hostesses in United
Service Organization (USO) clubs. They were expected to
dress properly and dance and chat with lonely soldier and
sailors, but nothing more than that. The USO also staged
elaborate dance shows.
 Homosexuality Not Tolerated: Military authorities did
everything in their power to persecute gays or lesbians in the
armed forces, although illicit heterosexual affairs were
tolerated.
35
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

Anxiety and Affluence in Wartime Culture
– Retreat from Reform
 Shifting Gears: By late 1943, FDR stated that the war effort would take
precedence over New Deal reforms.
 Conservative Assault on the New Deal: Conservatives in Congress used
the war as an excuse to dismantle many key New Deal reforms. They
abolished the WPA and CCC, and were helped by Republican gains in
Congress: 47 seats in the House and 10 in the Senate in 1942.
 Roosevelt Reelected: In the 1944 election, Republicans ran the energetic
young governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey (1902-1971).
Democratic leaders did make FDR replace his Vice President, the radical
New Dealer Henry Wallace, for a more moderate candidate, Harry S.
Truman of Missouri, who made his name investigating waste and
corruption in wartime production. In the popular vote, FDR won 53.5
percent to Dewey’s 46 percent, and 432 electoral votes to Dewey’s 99.
The Democrats held on to control of both houses of Congress.
36
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The Defeat of the Axis
Dresden after
the firestorm
– The Liberation of France
37
 Turning Point of 1943: The Allies managed to stopped the Axis
advances this year, and beginning their own offensive drives.
 Intensive Bombing: By early 1944, American and British
bombers were hitting German industrial and transportation
targets around the clock. Massive bombings of the cities of
Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin. A February 1945 raid on Dresden
using incendiary devices created a massive firestorm that
incinerated three-quarters of the previously untouched city, and
killed 135,000 people, mostly civilians.
 Invasion of France
 Battle of the Bulge
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

The Defeat of the Axis
– The Liberation of France
 Invasion of France: For two years before the spring of 1944, a
massive force of 3 million troops and a gigantic naval flotilla had
been amassing in southern England. On June 6, 1944, the force
attacked not the narrowest point of the English Channel (Calais,
directly across from Dover) as the Germans expected, but on the
Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, about 175 miles to the east.
German forces were more heavily concentrated by Calais.
 D-Day: About 4,000 vessels landed the invasion force of mostly
Americans, British, and Canadian troops. The fighting on the
beach was intense, but within a week, the Germans had been
pushed off the Normandy coast due to superior Allied manpower
and armaments.
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39
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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Views from Allied landing craft on D-Day
40
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41
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

The Defeat of the Axis
– The Liberation of France
 Progress in France: Progress was slow for the first month until Gen.
Omar Bradley’s First Army broke through German lines at the by late
July, opening up a hole for General George S. Patton’s Third Army to
plunge into the French interior. By August, Allied forces liberated
Paris, and by mid-September, had driven out German troops out of
most of France and Belgium.
 Battle of the Bulge: The Germans stopped the Allied advance in
December 1945 with one last massive offensive, trying to push them
out from the Rhine Valley of Germany through the Ardennes Forest
of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. It was the last major battle on
the Western Front.
42
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The Defeat of the Axis
– Fall of Germany
 Germany Invaded: In January 1945, the Soviets launched a massive
offensive into eastern Germany toward Berlin by early spring. American
troops pushed from the West, while a British force of 1 million pushed
from the north, with both forces encircling the main German force of
300,000 in the Ruhr Valley. German resistance soon collapsed, and the
Allied forces went racing toward Berlin. But the Allied High Command
decided to stop the advance, thereby allowing the Soviets to take Berlin
and also Czechoslovakia.
 German Defeat: On April 30, 1945, with Soviet troops on the outskirts of
Berlin, Hitler committed suicide, seemingly by shooting himself in the
head in his bunker. By May 8, 1945, German forces surrendered
unconditionally.
43
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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World War II in Europe: The Allied Counteroffensive, 1943-1945
44
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

The Defeat of the Axis
– The Pacific Offensive
 Marshall Islands: In Feb. 1944, the American naval force led by Admiral
Chester Nimitz scored several major victories in the Marshall Islands,
cracking the perimeter of the Japanese Empire. American subs were also
decimating Japanese shipping, destroying Japan’s domestic economy.
Americans capture many of the heavily fortified Mariana Islands in June.
 Battle of Leyte Gulf: In October 1944, General MacArthur’s army force
landed on Leyte Island in the Philippines. The Japanese threw almost
their entire naval force against the Americans in what was the biggest
naval battle in history. The Americans won decisively, sinking four
aircraft carriers and ending Japan’s ability to conduct a serious naval war.
 Iwo Jima: American marines captured this tiny volcanic island in Feb.
1945 after the costliest battle in the history of the Marine Corps. Almost
7,000 marines were killed. Of the 22,000 Japanese troops on the island,
only 216 were taken prisoner.
45
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima
46
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The Defeat of the Axis
– The Pacific Offensive
 Battle of Okinawa: From April through June 1945, the Japanese put up
fearsome resistance in this battle over the island of Okinawa in the
Ryukyu Island chain south of Japan. Okinawa was only 370 miles from
the Japanese mainland. At this time, the Japanese sent waves of
kamikazes (about 3,500 during the last phase of the war) to attack
American ships, causing great destruction. The U.S. suffered 50,000
casualties by the time Okinawa fell in June, the Japanese lost 100,000.
 Invasion of Japan? By early 1945, it seemed unlikely that the Japanese
could resist much longer, having barely any planes or ships left to fight.
 Tokyo Firebombed: In March 1945, U.S. forces dropped napalm on
Tokyo, creating a massive firestorm which killed 80,000 people. This
event led many Japanese moderates to clamor for an end to the war.
47
Chapter Twenty-Six:
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
The Defeat of the Axis
– The Manhattan Project and Atomic Warfare
 Nazi Efforts: In 1939, exiled European scientists let U.S. authorities
know that Nazi scientists had begun work on an “atomic bomb.
 Albert Einstein (1879-1955): The work of early twentieth-century
atomic physicists, most notably Einstein, pointed to the idea that matter
could be converted into a tremendous force of energy. Einstein reminded
FDR of the German interest in atomic weapons around the time he
became a U.S. citizen, in 1940 (he had left Germany in 1933).
 Atomic Fission: The U.S. effort to build an atomic bomb focused on the
use of uranium, the atomic structure of which makes possible the
creation of a nuclear chain, a process in which atomic nuclei in
radioactive are split by neutrons. Each fission creates new neutrons that
cause new fission in surrounding atoms, causing an exponential effect.
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
The Defeat of the Axis
– The Manhattan Project and Atomic Warfare
 Enrico Fermi (1901-1954): This Italian-born scientist showed that atomic
weapons were feasible by discovering uranium’s radioactivity in the
1930s. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1938. In his lab at the University of
Chicago, he created the first controlled fission in December 1942.
 Manhattan Project: The army took control of the weapon development in
1942, and the federal government poured $2 billion into it over the next
three years. It took its name from the master plan being developed in a
Manhattan office of the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps coordinated
work at many secret laboratories: Oak Ridge, TN; Los Alamos, NM;
Hanford, WA; Berkeley, CA, etc. Scientists at Berkeley experimented
with a new fuel derived from uranium, called plutonium, which could be
harvested from reactors.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

The Defeat of the Axis
– The Manhattan Project and Atomic Warfare
 J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967): The construction of the actual bomb
was done at the Los Alamos laboratory under the direction of
Oppenheimer. The scientists pushed much faster than expected, and
readied a test bomb nicknamed “Trinity” on July 16, 1945, in a desert
near Almogordo, NM. The bomb caused a flash of brilliant light followed
by an enormous mushroom cloud. Oppenheimer later wrote that he was
reminded of a passage the god Vishnu says in the Bhagavad-Gita: “I am
become death, the destroyer of worlds.”
 Ultimatum: On July 26, while attending a conference of Allied leaders in
Potsdam, Germany, President Harry Truman co-signed a declaration
ordering the Empire of Japan to surrender or face “prompt and utter
destruction,” without mention of an atomic bomb.
50
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

The Defeat of the Axis
– The Manhattan Project and Atomic Warfare
 Persistent Controversy: Down to the present, there has been tremendous
controversy among historians about whether or not the atomic attack was
necessary, and what Truman’s real motives were. The argument that not
using the bomb would have meant a costly U.S. invasion of Japan has
come under considerable attack as of late.
 Hiroshima and Nagasaki Destroyed: Truman saw no reason not to use it;
he had been unaware of the Manhattan Project until he became president.
On Aug. 6, the American B-29, Enola Gay, dropped an enriched uranium
device known as “Little Boy.” It killed more than 80,000 people and
incinerated a four-square mile area of the city center. On August 8, the
Soviet Union declared war on Japan. On August 9, the B-29 “Bockscar”
dropped a plutonium device known as “Fat Man,” which killed 100,000
people. The initial target had been the port city of Kokura, but obscuring
clouds made it necessary to drop it on the alternate target, Nagasaki.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War
Ruins in
Hiroshima
after the
bombing on
August 6,
1945
Ruins in
Nagasaki
after the
bombing
on August
9, 1945
Trinity Test explosion on July 16, 1945
52
Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War

The Defeat of the Axis
– The Manhattan Project and Atomic Warfare
 Surrender of Japan: On August 14, 1945, the Japanese government notified
the Allies that it was ready to stop fighting. On August 15, Emperor
Hirohito (1901-1989) read broadcast an imperial address to the nation
declaring an end to the fighting. On September 2, a Japanese delegation
signed formal surrender papers on the deck of the American battleship,
Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.
 The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Truman himself claimed that the
bombings were necessary to avoid a costly invasion of the Japanese
mainland, a view that many historians still support. Others, like historian
Gar Alperovitz, has argued in two books that Japan would have
surrendered anyway, and that the use of the bomb was the first shot in the
Cold War—Truman wanted to intimidate the Soviets. Historian John W.
Dower has claimed that racism played a big role in the decision, although
there is little hard evidence to back this position up.
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Chapter Twenty-Six:
America in a World at War
Japanese delegation on the
deck of the U.S.S. Missouri
preparing to sign the
surrender agreement on
September 2, 1945. The two
figures in the front are
Foreign Minister Mamoru
Shigemitsu (wearing top
hat) and General Yoshijiro
Umezu, Chief of the Army
General Staff.
54