World War II Comes to the US

1. World War II Comes to the US

2. Pearl Harbor from the cockpit of a Japanese plane

5. 7 Future American Presidents Views of the World Were Formed by Their Service in World War II 5 million volunteers Selective Service provides another 10 million • 8weeks of basic training turned civilians into GIs

6. Federal war spending greater than all New Deal agencies combined Huge GNP increases Major personal income increases (combined w/shortage of consumer goods meant big savings to be spent later – post war economic boom) Pacific Coast/West benefitting disproportionately (shipyards, factories, infrastructure to support them) Fastest growing post war region

7. Life on the Home Front - Industry Factories shift to war production – no more cars & less consumer goods New ship yards built – ships produced in days not months

9. Labor & War Concern over 15 million civilians (men & women) moving into military 7 million still unemployed now had jobs The too old, too young, & women Union membership increases but restrictions agreed to in order to keep econ. moving Give up major econ. gains in return for automatic unionization of new workers (no strike pledge) Work stoppages and wildcat strikes War Labor Disputes Act (May 1943)

10. Balancing the Boom Office of Price Administration – made inflation less of a problem than was in WWI Resentment of its controls & rationing Black market very active Need to offset increasing nat’l debt ($49 billion in ‘41 $259 billion in ‘45) $100 billion in war bonds Revenue Act of 1942 – increased tax rates on highest bracket & began taxing lowest - payroll deductions begin for 1st time in 1943

12. Get Your Ration Cards

13. Save the silk – no stockings!

14. Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy a Bond

15. Office of Scientific Research & Development Improvements in radar & sonar Better planes (bigger payloads & more accurate targeting) Pesticides (body lice gone!) Miracle drugs Ultra & Magic– intelligence gathering Manhattan Project

16. Minority Groups & the War Effort Half million Mexican Americans – fought in All-Latino units – suffered high casualties More than 700,000 African Americans fought in segregated units – initially were not allowed in Marine & Army Air Force or combat deployments More than 13,000 Chinese Americans 33,000 Japanese Americans – many as spies or translators 25,000 Native Americans – disproportionately high volunteer rates – “code talkers”

17. Life on the Home Front - Labor Racial discrimination in regard to military work A.Philip Randolph – labor leader – organized march on DC FDR concerned about the march – issues exec. order requiring equitable access regardless of race, creed,color, nat’l origin in defense industries • Fair Employment Practices Commission – limited pwr but symbolic win

19. Life on the Home Front – African American Labor More movement to cities than during Grt. Migration Urban tensions result in continued segregation & violence Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) – more aggressive/visible resistance in public facilities

20. Life on the Home Front –Mexican American Labor Braceros agreement btwn US & Mexican gov’ts – limited period for work opportunities in US Urban tensions & conflicts Zoot Suit Riot (LA police does little to stop violence perpetrated by sailors on teenagers but teens arrested & zoot suits banned)

21. Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) General George Marshall (Army Chief of Staff) supported idea of women in military No fighting positions (office/administration/air force/radio) 250,000 women served in some auxiliary branch

22. Women’s Army Air Corps Pilots

23. Life on the Home Front - Labor Concerns of labor shortage put to rest in part by women joining work force in large #s Most women in service jobs More than 6 million women – trained for unfamiliar physical work Made up 1/3 of all workers More likely married & older than in past Paid 40% less than men Problems in child care

25. Hollywood Pitches In

26. Betty Grable: Allied Pinup Girl She Reminded Men What They Were Fighting For

27. War Themed Escapist Themed

28. The Andrew Sisters Singing“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”

29. USO & Military Entertainment Not supposed to “fraternize” but often did

30. Internment of Japanese Americans • War Relocation Authority (WRA) - 100,000 moved to interior • Little public outcry about policy • Korematsu v USA (1944) - constitutional Most “enemy” ethnic hostilities kept to minimum (Germans & Italians ok – their gov’ts were bad but not the people)

32. Politics of War at Home Conservative trend (S. Dems & Republican coalition) dismantling New Deal programs believed to be unnecessary & blocking new attempts @ reform Midterm elections brought more Repubs. in to both Senate & House FDR positioning himself as world peace keeper rather than domestic reformer

33. 1944 Election Party wanting liberal Wallace replaced with conservative Truman (chair of Senate War Investigating Committee – popular in his success of uncovering waste & corruption) Thomas Dewey (Repub. governor of NY) Campaign concerned w/domestic econ issues & president’s health (indirectly)

34. Fighting In Europe Defeating Germany is first goal If they control Atlantic, LA could be threatened Germany more likely to produce more threatening weaponry Britain more accessible assistance than China Germany dividing forces between west & east was more “vulnerable” US leaning toward a cross channel invasion Soviets calling for opening of western front to siphon off German troops Brits calling for weakening Germany from “edges” (northern Africa & southern Europe)

36. Operation Torch General Eisenhower put in charge of invasion El Alamein – Erwin Rommel against Brits Nov. ‘42 Anglo-Amer invasion successful bringing Vichy forces over & forcing Hitler to reallocate troops By May ‘43 Allied troops control N. Africa and Mediterranean

37. Italian Campaign British pressure for a move through Italy instead of stage a channel invasion July ‘43 Sicily, September ‘43 Italy Slow and costly move up thru Italy – German forces resisting Allied advance Soviets still calling for opening of a western front – combined with challenges of Italy lead US & Brits to move on channel invasion plans

38. Operation Overlord June 1944 – invasion of Normandy beaches By July thru German lines & taking Paris by August Combined with bombings of Germany & Soviet’s move to offensive positioning German forces becoming desperate

39. Chicago Tribune, Dec. 10, 1941

40. l Leatherneck, March 1945

41. Winner of a “This is the Enemy” poster contest, 1942. Printed in Life Magazine

42. Japanese Campaign “island hopping” – MacArthur & Nimitz April ‘42 - Bataan May ‘42 – Coral Sea (1st defeat, carrier based air fight) June ‘ 42 – Midway Aug. ‘42 – Guadalcanal Oct. ’44- Leyte Gulf March ’45 – Iwo Jima April ’45 - Okinawa

44. Thoughts on a Post-war World Differences in visions of post war US ideas in Atlantic Charter (FDR’s Four Freedoms) – no traditional alliances/spheres of influence – work the dem. process w/each other thru international diplomatic body SU/Brit view had grt powers w/significant strategic holdings – new balance of power would “keep them honest” Casablanca (Jan. ’43) – nothing short of “unconditional surrender” of Axis Powers DC & Quebec Tehran (Nov. ‘43) – FDR, Churchill, Stalin – agreement on direction fighting (Euro & Pacific) –future of Germany/Berlin as divided & jointly occupied- future of Poland unresolved & conflicted

45. Yalta Feb. ‘ 45 – FDR, Churchill, Stalin (The Big Three) Soviet Union will enter Pacific fight 3 months after Germany surrender in return for Pacific (Japanese territ & China economically Occupied part of Poland would remain Soviet but “free” elections in independ. Poland once Lublin & London coalition was stabilized • France included in German supervision (territory came out of US/Brit sectors) • Agreement to form UN

46. Battle of the Bulge Last great offensive by German forces – falls quickly (Dec 1944) Reason for US/Brit/Sov alliance quickly fading Distrust already rising- Soviets accused of obstructing free elections in Poland & Romania – in turn accused US/Brits of angling for separate German peace Amers moving faster than expected eastward Sovs moving in from West (occupying Czechoslovakia & E.Germany on the way)

47. Holocaust & Liberation Huge topic of controversy over who knew what & when- could more have been done to stop the systematic killing Xenophobia, anti-Semitism, isolationism, Grt. Depression, refugee policy (Sect. of St. Hull) all influenced US attitude St. Louis – German ship carrying Jewish refugees to Cuba – once in Havana harbor denied entry – US rejects entry too Forced back to Europe (England, Netherlands, Belgium, France) Brits survive (-1), only half in other nations did

48. Soviet forces first reach Majdanek (summer ‘44) will get to many camps first American forces liberate Mauthausen

49. April ‘45 – FDR dies in Warm Springs, Georgia April ‘45 – Hitler commits suicide as bunker is about to be taken by Sovs May 8 – remaining German forces unconditionally surrender (V-E Day)

50. Manhattan Project Leslie Groves – head of project Robert Oppenheimer – head of Los Alamos testing Trinity Bomb