Chapter 35 America in World War II

1. Chapter 35America in World War II

2. America’s Motivation • United States was plunged into the inferno of World War II with the most humiliating defeat in history. • U.S was looking to avenge the devastating attack in Pearl Harbor • Americans adopted “Get Japan First” motto • However the government had adopted “Get Germany First” motto

3. Allies Trade Space for Time • The Allies had the great mass of world’s population. • Allies had the largest number of people while Germany had fewer number of people • U.S had the mightiest military power on earth. • Also, expense was no limitation for the allies. • The only thing that the Allies didn’t have was time.

4. Allies Spread Trade Space for Time • America’s task was far more complex • It had to feed, clothe, and arm itself • it also had to transport it forces to regions as separated as Britain and Burma • It had to send a vast amount of food and munitions to desperate allies

5. Burma is located in Asia and has changed its name to Myanmar.

6. The Shock of War • WWII speeded the assimilationof many ethnic groups into American society. • Japanese people in America were forcibly herded together in internment camps • Even though two-thirds of them were American born U.S citizens • The camps deprived the people from dignity and basic rights • Supreme Court in 1944 upheld the constitutionality of the internment camps in Korematsu vs. U.S • In 1988, more than 4 decades later, the government officially apologized for its actions and approved the payment of reparations of $20,000 to each camp survivor

7. Japanese Internment Camps

8. Location of the Camps

9. Japanese American Internment Camps

10. Building the War Machine • American factories poured forth an avalanche of weaponry • 40 billion bullets, 300,000 aircraft, 76,000 ships, 86,000 tanks and 2.6 million machine gun • Lowered productions of nonessential items • Farmers also increased their output • Armed forces drained the farms of workers • New heavy investments in agriculture machinery and improve fertilizers made up the difference

11. Building the War Machine • Labor Union increased from 10 millions to 13 millions • Resented the government dictated wage ceiling • Had many walk-outs which plagued the war • In June 1943, Congress passed Smith- Connally Anti-Strike Act • Allowed federal government to seize and operate tied up industries • Strikes against any government-operated industry were made a criminal offense

12. Manpower and Woman Power • Armed services enlisted nearly 15 million men and 216,000 women for noncombatant duties • Needed many workers so they brought in women to work in factories • more than 6 millions women took up jobs outside of their homes • At the war’s end. Two-thirds of women war workers were left in the labor force

13. Rosie the Riveter became a symbol for women workers in American Defense Industries Women’s Role in WWII

14. Wartime Migrations • War industries sucked people into boomtowns like Los Angeles, Detroit, Seattle, and Baton Rouge • South experienced dramatic changes • Received a disproportionate share of defense contracts • 1.6 million blacks left south for west and north

15. Segregation in the Armed Forces • Black people were drafted into armed forces • Assigned to service branches rather than combat units and subjected to petty degradations • in general, the war helped embolden blacks in their long struggle for equality

16. Holding the Home Front • The war invigorated America’s economy and lifted the country out of a decade-long depression • Gross national product vaulted from less than $100 billions in 1940 to $200 billions in 1945 • The debt also skyrocketed from $49 billion in 1941 to $259 billions in 1945 • The war was costing about $10 million an hour

17. The Rising Sun in the Pacific • Japanese launched widespread and uniformly successful attacks on various Far Eastern bastions • Included Guam, Wake, and the Philippines • Also seized Hong Kong, British Malaya and cut off the critical Burma Road

18. Far Eastern Bastions Guam Wake The Philippines

19. Japan’s High Tide at Midway • Japan also pushed southward • Invaded New Guinea, Australia, Solomon Islands • Finally lost the battle at Midway Island to U.S • All the fighting was done by carrier-based aircraft • Didn’t fired a shot directly at each other

20. Admiral Nimitz “Hellcat” Fighter Plane

21. American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo • Admiral Nimitz skillfully coordinated naval, air and ground units • America’s new weapon “Hellcat”, a fighter plane, destroyed 250 Japanese aircraft while only losing 29 American planes • On November 1944, round the clock bombing of Japan began

22. The Allied Halting of Hitler • Hitler had formidable fleet of submarines in the Atlantic Ocean • At first getting the upper hand was difficult • But British code-breakers broke the German’s Enigma codes and track the U-boats lurking the North Atlantic

23. The Allied Halting of Hitler • The turning point of the land-air war was in 1942. • British and America were cascading bombs on German cities • On October 1942, British general Bernard Montgomery delivered a withering attack at El Alamein • The success gave a new lift to the Allied cause especially for the Soviet • In November 1942, Russians unleashed a crushing counteroffensive • A year later, Stalin regained about two-thirds of the Soviet land

24. D-Day: June 6, 1944 • Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met in person to coordinate their attack plan in Teheran, the capital of Iran • Went on from November 28th to December 1st, 1943 • Preparations for the cross-channel invasion of France were gigantic • In Britain, more than 3 millions men were readied • U.S provided majority of the Allied warriors • Overall command was entrusted to General Eisenhower • The attack was pinpointed to French Normandy which was held by Germany

25. Stalin, Churchill and FDR

26. D-Day: June 6, 1944 • Germans were tricked into expecting a blow to fall farther north • The Allies were able to block reinforcements by crippling the railroads • Germans retreated in August 1944 when American-French force swept northward • In August 1944, Paris was liberated • In October 1944, the first important German city, Aachen, fell to the Americans

27. Map of Germany

28. Victory-starved Republicans met in Chicago and nominated Thomas E. Dewey for President and John W. Bricker of Ohio for Vice President FDR was the “indispensable man” of the Democrats He was nominated on the first ballot by applause Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri was nominated for Vice-President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) Harry S. Truman FDR: The Fourth-Term of 1944

29. Roosevelt Defeats Dewey • Roosevelt won his fourth term as President over Thomas Dewey • A sweeping victory: 432 to 99 in the Electoral College • 25,606,585 to 22,014,745 in the popular vote • He mostly won because the war was going well

30. The Last Days of Hitler • By the end of December, Germany seems to be losing its strength • Desperate, Hitler staked everything on one last throw of his reserves • On December 16, 1944, he attacked the Ardennes Forest • Objective was the Belgian port of Antwerp • Americans were caught off guard but they stabilize

31. The Last Days of Hitler • In March 1945, American troops reached Rhine River and found a bridge that led to Elbe River in April 1945. • In Berlin, they found concentration camps where Nazis had murder the “undesirables” including 6 millions jews.

32. The Allies didn’t know the extent of the Holocaust until the discovery of the concentration camps Holocaust

33. Tragedy Struck America • On April 12, 1945, FDR, while relaxing at Warm Springs, died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage • Bewildered, unbriefed Vice President Truman took the oath • On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally • May 8 was officially proclaimed V-E (Victory in Europe)

34. The Atomic Bombs and Japan’s Defeat • America was planning on an all-out invasion of Japan • Albert Einstein was pushed ahead to unlock the secret of an atomic bomb • “The Manhattan Project” or the atomic bomb pushed forward • Originally intended for Germany but now Japan • Robert Oppenheimer invented the bomb

35. Hiroshima Bombing • On August 6, 1945, a lone American bomber dropped one atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan • 180,000 were killed, wounded or missing • 70,000 died immediately • 60,000 more perished from burns and radiation disease

36. Hiroshima Bombing

37. The Atomic Bomb and Japan’s Defeat • Two days after the bombing, Stalin entered the war against Japan • However, Japan didn’t surrender • 2nd atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki on August 9th. • 80,000 people were killed or missing • Finally, on August 10, 1945, Tokyo sued for peace on one condition: • Hirohito would be allowed to remain on his throne as nominal emperor • On September 2, 1945, official surrender ceremonies were conducted • America celebrated V-J (Victory in Japan Day) after the most horrible war in history that ended with two mushrooming atomic clouds

38. Japan surrender on USS Missouri on Sept 2, 1945

39. The Allies Triumphant • WWII was terribly costly but profitable for U.S • American lost 1 millions casualties • Soviet Union lost 20 millions people • America was untouched and healthy while the rest of the world was destroyed • American military leadership proved to be of the highest order • America industrialized more • American people preserved their precious liberties without serious impairment.

40. America Celebrate Victory