Essential Questions:
How did the United States become involved
in world War II?
How do you think populations in the US,
such as women, African Americans, and
Japanese Americans responded to the war?
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 Sept. 1939, FDR
persuades congress to
pass the “cash-and-carry” provision
• Countries in war could buy US arms as long as
they pay in cash and for transportation
• He argued this would help France and Britain
and keep us out of war – isolationists attack
 After
6 weeks, Congress passes the
Neutrality Act of 1939 – Cash-and-carry
• Too little too late?
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

Summer 1940, France had fallen and Britain was under
siege
FDR provided “all aid short of war”
• sent 500,000 rifles and 80,000 machine guns
• Traded 50 old destroyers for leases on British military
bases in Caribbean and Newfoundland

Sept. 27, Germany, Italy, and Japan sign a mutual defense
treaty – The Tripartite Pact
• Rescue and help should be given if needed between the 3
• Aimed at keeping US out of war. How?
• They knew that the last thing America wanted was to be in a war
that was in both the Atlantic and Pacific

The three nations became known as the Axis powers
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 1940
Nazi victories lead to increases in
defense spending
 1st peace time draft enacted- Selective
Training & Service Act
• 16 mil men between 21-35 were registered
• 1 mil from them would be drafted for 1 year but
would only serve in the Western Front
• FDR announces to a listening nation the first
number drawn from the draft
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 1940-
FDR runs for 3rd term against republican
Wendell Willkie
 Both had almost identical policies, so the public
voted for the one they were most familiar with
 FDR reelected with 55% of votes
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 FDR
tells nation if Britain falls, Axis
powers will be free to conquer the world
• To prevent this, U.S. must become “the great
arsenal of democracy”
• Late 1940 Britain has no more cash to buy arms
• 1941- Lend Lease Act- U.S. to lend or lease
supplies for defense
• Compared it to lending a hose to a neighbor
whose house was on fire – isolationists disagree
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 1941, Hitler
broke his agreement he
made in 1939 with Stalin to not invade the
USSR
• An “enemy of my enemy is my friend”
 FDR
begins sending supplies to Soviets
• Many Americans are not happy with this
• Churchill says, “If Hitler invaded hell, the British
would be prepared to work with the devil
himself”
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So . . . Sending supplies to USSR is one thing. . .
Getting there is a little trickier
 Hitler deploys 100s of U-boats to prevent the
delivery of those supplies by attacking ships
 Attacks became known as “wolf pack attacks”

• Groups of 40 subs would patrol at night in North Atlantic
• Sunk up to 350,000 tons of shipment within 1 month

Sept. 1941, FDR grants navy permission to send
warships out to attack U-boats
• Sonar was a relatively new technology used to find U-
boats and bring them down “You sunk my battleship!”
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FDR
calls for “Quarantine” of the
aggressor nations.
75% of Americans want to vote on
war
FDR & Congress said no
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 FDR
& Churchill meet on the USS Augusta
to develop & issue the Atlantic Charter- a
declaration of war aims:
• Collective security, disarmament, self-
determination, economic cooperation, and
freedom of seas
 Allies
– nations that fight Axis powers
• Signed by 26 nations
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 Germans
fire on U.S. ships
 FDR orders navy to shoot U-boats on
sight
 U-boat attacks lead Senate to repeal ban
on arming merchant ships
 Undeclared naval war
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 Hideki
Tojo
• Chief of staff for Japanese army that invades
China
• Seizes French and British bases in Indochina
(Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)
• U.S. cuts off trade with Japan
 Included oil to fuel boats
 Placed embargo on oil
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 Tojo
meets with Japanese Prime Minister
and promises to ease conflict with US
 Instead, Nov. 5th, Tojo orders Japanese
navy to prepare an attack on US soil
 US is able to break the code about the
attack, but they do not know where and
when it will be
 FDR sends a military war warning to
bases in Hawaii, Guam, and the
Philippines
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 Dec. 7th, 1941, the
Japanese war planes attack
US’s largest naval base in the Pacific
 Over 180 war planes dropped bombs in early
morning.
 US was taken by surprise and was unprepared
for the attack
Now lets see a
video about Medal
of Honor recipient
John Finn as it truly
happened in Pearl
Harbor
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Attacked targets:
1: USS California
2: USS Maryland
3: USS Oklahoma
4: USS Tennessee
5: USS West Virginia
6: USS Arizona
7: USS Nevada
8: USS Pennsylvania
9: Ford Island NAS
10: Hickam field
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 Lasted
less than 2 hours
 killed 2,403 Americans
• wounded 1,178 more
 sunk
or damaged 21 ships
• 8 battleships,
 destroyed/damaged
300 aircrafts
 3 aircraft carriers avoided any damage
• proved crucial to war’s outcome
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• Dec 8th FDR ask Congress to
declare War against Japanthey do
• Germany & Italy declare
war on the U.S.
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 Choose
the dictator:
• Was in prison after WWI?
• Fascist leader who created a private army called
the black shirts?
• Wrote the famous book Mein Kampf that was the
source of policy for his party?
• Communist leader who killed or exiled anyone
who spoke against his regime?
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 What
organization failed to do anything to stop
Axis powers and their imperialism before
WWII?
 What event started WWII in Europe?
 What countries made up the Axis powers?
 What countries made up the main Allied
powers?
 What phrase did FDR use to describe The Pearl
Harbor Attack?
 Provide a definition for The Holocaust.
 What word can describe a hatred for Jews?
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 After
the attack on Pearl Harbor, The
Japanese thought we would just shrink
 The Japan Times boasted that the US had
been reduced to a third-rate power and
was “trembling in her shoes”
 We were trembling with RAGE though,
NOT fear
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 After
the attack, the
military lines filled up
with young men
wanting to be heroes
 5 million volunteer, but
it was not enough
 The Selective Service
System expanded the
draft and provided
another 10 million
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There was so much need for a military
work force that the Army Chief of staff,
George Marshall pushed for the
formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Army
Corps

•
•

•
May 15, 1942, Non-combat positions, thousands
enlist
Paid salary, but not the same benefits as men
In July 1943, Auxiliary is dropped and
the WAC are granted full military
benefits
Nurses, radio operators, electricians,
pilots
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 Minorities
question their rights.
 “Why fight for democracy in another
country, when we don’t even have equal
rights?” wrote one African-American
newspaper
 Reader responded: “Just carve on my
tombstone, ‘Here lies a black man killed
fighting a yellow man for the protection
of a white man’”
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 Despite
the discrimination, 300,000
Mexican Americans enlist
 1 million African Americans join
• Lived and worked in segregated units and were
limited to non-combat roles
 13,000
Chinese Americans and 33,000
Japanese Americans
• Served as spies and interpreters
 25,000
Native Americans (800 women)
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 In
Feb. 1942, end of the automobile
production for private use
 Within weeks of the shutdown, the plants
retooled for production of tanks, planes,
boats, and command cars
 Not the only ones
• Mechanical pencils – bomb parts
• Bedspreads – mosquito netting
• Soft-drinks – filling shells with explosives
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 Factories
convert from civilian to war production
 Shipyards, defense plants expand, new ones built
 People work at record speed
 18m workers in war industries- 6 m women- 2m
minorities
 Propaganda like “Rosie the Riveter” were created
to encourage women to get jobs in war industries
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 Founder
of the Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters pushes against
discrimination
 Organizes a walk on Washington on July
1, 1941
 Banner read “We Loyal Colored
Americans Demand the Right to Work
and Fight for Our Country”
 FDR calls him and backs out fearing a
conflict in DC
 Leads to new jobs opportunities
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Executive order 8802 “to provide for the
full & equitable participation of all workers
in defense industries, without
discrimination because of race, creed,
color, or national origin”
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 1941, Office
of Scientific Research &
Development (OSRD) to help with War Effort
• Technology – sonar
• Chemicals – DDT to rid soldiers of body lice
• Medicine – penicillin for injuries
 Secret
New Weapon
• Germany had discovered that splitting uranium
atoms released tons of energy
• Einstein wrote to FDR warning him of this
knowledge
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 First
Look into technology
• Would take 3-5 years to create an
atomic bomb
• To speed this time up FDR created a
secret project in 1942
 Manhattan
Project
• Development of Atomic Bomb as
quickly as possible – Oak Ridge, TN
• Einstein, Fermi, Oppenheimer
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 Because
all factories were making war
products and none for consumers, demand
decreased and prices were expected to
increased
 FDR created the Office of Price Administration
OPA
• Freezes prices, fights inflation
 Higher
taxes, and nation encouraged to
use excess money to buy War bonds
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 Government
needed to ensure that the
armed forces received the resources they
needed to win the war
 WPB
• Allocates raw materials
 Tin cans, paper, rags, cooking fat, scrap iron
• Collection of recycled materials
• Children scouring attics
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 In
addition the OPA set up a system of
rationing- fixed allotments of goods
needed by military
 Under this system, households received
coupon books for buying scarce goods
such as:
• Sugar, meat, coffee, shoes, gasoline
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 Choose
the dictator:
1. Was in prison after WWI?
2. Fascist leader who created a private army
called the black shirts?
3. Wrote the famous book Mein Kampf that was
the source of policy for his party?
4. Communist leader who killed or exiled anyone
who spoke against his regime?
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5. What organization failed to do anything to stop
Axis powers and their imperialism before
WWI?
6. What event started WWI in Europe?
7. What countries made up the Axis powers?
8. What countries made up the main Allied
powers?
9. What phrase did FDR use to describe The Pearl
Harbor Attack?
10. What word can describe a hatred for Jews?
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