AMERICA & WORLD WAR II

1. AMERICA & WORLD WAR II U.S. HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 12

2. BUILDING THE MILITARY • FDR expanded army to 227k after Hitler invaded Poland • SEE CHART PG. 287 • After Pearl Harbor, 60k men enlisted • Department of Agriculture provided 350k acres of land to War Department for new bases (i.e. Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, FL) • Recruits lived in tents, given physical exams, injections, & trained together as a team.

3. SEGREGATED MILITARY • Basic training promoted unity but segregation still existed • Pushing for “Double V”: African Americans supported the war & win against Hitler’s racism abroad & racism at home • FDR was pressured to put African Americans into combat. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. Tuskegee Airmen (99th Pursuit Squadron) helped win the Battle of Anzio in Italy. They protected American bombers. The 761st African American Tank Battalion assisted in Battle of Bulge

5. MINORITIES IN THE MILITARY • Hispanics – 500k; 17 received Congressional Medal of Honor • Japanese – 33k; 100th Infantry Battalion & 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Most decorated in history of U.S. military • Native Americans – 25k. More than 400 Navajo Indians will survive as Marines & provided assistance as “code talkers” using their language that the Japanese could not crack (Windtalkers) • Jewish Americans – 500k. 52k decorated for bravery • President Truman desegregates the military in 1948

6. WOMEN JOIN THE ARMED FORCES • Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) 1942: allowed for women to be a part of the armed services – a non-combative role. Oveta Culp Hobby was WAAC’s first director in the War Department. • Women received official status, a salary, but few benefits given to men. • Named changed to Women’s Army’s Corps (WAC) in July 1943 & women were given full army benefits • Jobs: nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians, & pilots – Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs)

9. Awarding of Congressional Gold Medal

10. AMERICAN ECONOMY • FDR establishes the National Defense Advisory Committee. Goal: to establish incentives to help produce goods quickly & mobilizing the war effort • Cost-plus contracts were offered to companies who wanted to produce war materials. Government paid costs plus a percentage above that for their profit • Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was authorized to provide loans to companies who converted to making war materials

11. AMERICAN INDUSTRY • Production: Factories converted from producing consumer goods to war materials • Cars to tank/planes/command cars • Mechanical pencils to bomb parts • Bedspread to mosquito netting • Soft drinks to filling shells with explosives/gun powder • Ship building will increase with the use of pre-fabricated parts (i.eLiberty Ships) • SEE CHART PG. 288

13. AMERICAN INDUSTRY • FDR sets up War Production Board to assist in settling controversies & to decide which companies began producing war materials instead of consumer goods. They would allocate raw materials, set production goals, & organize nationwide drives to collect raw materials • Office of War Mobilization settled controversies between different agencies involved in war effort

14. LIFE ON THE HOME FRONT • Mobilizing of the economy officially brings an end to the Great Depression • The cost to the improvement of the economy was to families who moved to where the work was: living in horrible housing conditions, experiencing race riots, rising juvenile delinquency, high taxes, & rationed goods • Unemployment down to 1.2%. Men were finding jobs. Price & wage controls were in place but still saved $. Farmers’ crop production rose 50%, income tripled, & many paid off mortgages before the end of the war

15. LIFE ON THE HOME FRONT • Women: More than 4 million will prove to company owners that they could do the job of a man – Rosie the Riveter. Women made up 35% of workforce. Over 10% were in defense plants. Many lost jobs at end of war but proved they could do it • BraceroProgram: employed Mexican farm workers in Southwest. 200k Mexicans will work in agriculture & railroad industries. Program continued until 1964

18. LIFE ON THE HOME FRONT • African Americans received only 15% of jobs offered. • A. Philip Randolph, head of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union organized a march on Washington D.C. to voice disapproval. FDR talked him out of it by issuing Executive Order 8802: every defense industry or government agency had to be equitable in their hiring practices. • Fair Employment Practices Commission was assigned to enforce the order

19. NATION ON THE MOVE • Sunbelt is formed (Southern CA & Deep South) as Americans migrated to where jobs were • National Housing Agency 1942 created to deal with housing issues by providing government housing

20. RACISM LEADS TO VIOLENCE • Civil Rights made little gains during the war • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), founded by James Farmer, confronts urban segregation in the north. First sit-in was in a restaurant in Chicago in 1942 • Detroit 1943: Tensions between black & white teenagers on a beach escalated. White sailors joined in. Fighting went on for 3 days & FDR sent in troops

21. RACISM LEADS TO VIOLENCE • Mexican Americans experienced prejudice in Lost Angeles. • Summer 1943: Sailors said that they were attacked by Mexican Americans wearing the “zoot-suits”. Thousands of servicemen & civilians went into Mexican neighborhoods attacking any youths wearing the “zoot-suit”

22. GERMAN &ITALIANS • Thousands of German & Italian descent would be deemed as enemy aliens & were given travel restrictions or had their personal property seized. Some were sent to live in military internment camps

24. JAPANESE • After attack on Pearl Harbor many believed that Japanese Americans were planning to attack, bomb, or sabotage U.S. FDR issued an executive order for all Japanese Americans (Nisei) to be placed in relocation centers (internment camps) • Shortly after this a Japanese sub surfaced in Santa Barbara, CA & shelled an oil refinery.

25. In Canada

28. JAPANESE • Korematsu v. United States 1944: U.S. Supreme Court decided that the action of internment was justified on the basis of military necessity – SEE ANALYZING SUPREME COURT CASES PG. 291

29. JAPANESE • Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) pushed for the government to compensate those sent to camps for lost property. • In 1965 Congress spent only $38 million • In 1978, JACL pushed for reparations towards each individual who was in an internment camp. President Reagan signed a bill in 1988 to pay $20k to each person. Payments were made in 1990

31. DAILY LIFE IN WAR TIME • FDR puts the following economic controls in place to avoid inflation: Office of Price Administration & Civilian Supply (OPACS) & Office of Economic Stabilization (OES). They controlled inflation by freezing prices on most goods & rationing goods/resource materials • Americans will contributed by rationing everything, planting Victory Gardens, purchasing war bonds

35. OSRD • Office of Scientific Research and Development: • Created to bring scientists together • Improved radar, sonar, drugs (penicillin) • Created new weapons. Biggest one: the atomic bomb (Manhattan Project)

36. HOLLYWOOD & THE WAR • Office of War Information (OWI) improved the public’s understanding of the war & served as a liaison to various media outlets • Filmmakers had guidelines that had to be answered prior to making & releasing a film • News reports about the war would air prior to a film being shown

37. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • Admiral Chester Nimitz leads the U.S. Navy in the Pacific against Japan using aircraft carriers that were out to sea at the time Japan bombed Pearl Harbor • Japan attacks Philippines bombing their airfields & landing troops. General Douglas MacArthur would be forced to retreat to Bataan Peninsula. FDR orders MacArthur to evacuate to Australia. MacArthur vowed to return. • Philippines surrenders to Japan May 1942

38. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • Lt. Colonel James Doolittle will lead 16 B-25 bombers in the bombing of Tokyo on April 18, 1942. These raids will become known as the “Doolittle Raids” (featured in film Pearl Harbor) • The successes of the raids encouraged Americans & hurt the morale of Japan

39. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • Japan’s original strategy was to cut U.S.’s supply lines to Australia by capturing New Guinea. After Doolittle raids, Admiral Yamamoto convinced Japanese Leaders to attack Midway Island & lure the U.S. navy into battle as he believed he could defeat them. • Japan will attack New Guinea with only 3 aircraft carriers but sent the rest with Yamamoto to attack Midway Island

40. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • Battle of the Coral Sea – May 1942: • Americans based in HI were successful in cracking Japan’s navy code. • Admiral Nimitz would send the Yorktown & Lexington (aircraft carriers) • 5-day battle where Australians & Americans join forces to stop the advancement of Japanese towards Australian shores. • Most of fighting was airstrikes launched from aircraft carriers. • U.S. was able to prevent the Japanese from taking New Guinea & Australia, keeping supply lines open

42. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • Navajo Code Talkers – “Windtalkers”: • Navajo Indians were recruited into the Marines to use their native language in communication • Their language had no written alphabet & was only known to them & very few others. • Language proved difficult for the Japanese to “crack” thus providing the U.S. with an advantage in doing what needed to be done to defeat the Japanese

43. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • Battle of Midway – June 1942: • Led by Admiral Chester Nimitz. • Island is northwest of HI • Allies broke Japan’s code & learned they were going after the island. Nimitz moved to defend the island. • When Japanese fleet was found, he launched an attack against them severely damaging their navy • Victory was seen as a turning point & Allies began taking back territory from Japan, island by island • SEE MAP PG. 297

45. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • To defeat Japan two things were done: Nimitz advanced through Central Pacific by “island hopping” & MacArthur advanced to take Solomon Islands, New Guinea, & retake Philippines

46. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • Island-hopping: • Fall 1943: Tarawa Atoll, part of Gilbert Islands is invaded by 5k Marines. Many perished as they waded ashore due to ships running around on reefs in shallow water. One group reached shores by using amphtrac, amphibious tractor • Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, was next. Amphtracs were used in landing troops. They also captured Eniwetok Island. Success in Marshall Islands allowed for U.S. to set up air bases • Mariana Islands: Nimitz invaded Saipan, Tinian, & Guam where Japanese resistance was strongest. Islands fell in August 1944. Islands served as the new base for the B-29 Super fortress bomber • SEE MAP PG. 298

47. WAR IN THE PACIFIC • MacArthur: • Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands – August 1942: first offensive by MacArthur. Japan’s first defeat on land. MacArthur then moved troops north to capture the north coast of New Guinea. Once secured, MacArthur took the island of Morotai • Battle of Leyte Island, Philippines – October 1942: 3-day battle. Japanese used kamikazes to defend the island. MacArthur led the Allies to victory in retaking Philippines. Japanese lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers, & over 500 planes. Japan’s Imperial Navy is shattered. • MacArthur then captured Manila, Philippines' capital, March 1945

48. WAR IN EUROPE • FDR & Winston Churchill (British PM) meet at the White House to discuss war plans. They decide to strike against Germany & Italy first then go against Japan. • Invasion becomes known as OPERATION TORCH • SEE MAP PG. 304

49. WAR IN EUROPE • Battle for North Africa • FDR invades North Africa to give army some experience in fighting as well as to secure British supply lines that came through the Suez Canal. • Erwin Rommel (“Desert Fox”), German general in charge of “Afrika Corps”. • General Dwight D. Eisenhower invades North Africa through Tunisia. Eisenhower than used General George Patton, prominent tank commander, to achieve victory in May 1943

50. WAR IN EUROPE • Battle of the Atlantic: • Hitler continues to use U-boats to attack U.S. along the eastern coast & all ships in Atlantic. • Allies began using the convoy system. Ships that were equipped with sonar will be used on outside to help detect the U-boats. Ships with planes equipped with radar will assist as well to find the U-boats & sink them. • Ship production in U.S. increased dramatically to out number the sinking caused by U-boats.