World War II

Chapter 36

Allied Strategy

• Axis Powers - Germany, Italy, Japan• Allied Powers - U.S., G.B., France,

U.S.S.R.,# of others– Many in the U.S. wanted to go after Japan

b/c of Pearl Harbor– Decided to begin the main thrust in Europe

Getting Ready for WWII

• Country was more united behind the wareffort….why?

• Needed to prepare for war before it was toolate– Had to feed and arm the U.S. military and Europe

and also fight a two theatre war• Was very little witch-hunting compared to

WWI– The HUGE exception was U.S. treatment of

Japanese Americans

Japanese Internment• Was a great deal of suspicion towards

Japanese-Americans and sabotage– Combined with long-standing racism

• Thousands of Japanese-Americans andJapanese were placed in internment campsthroughout the U.S.– Some actually asked to serve in the Army - Nisei– 442nd Regiment - most decorated in history

• Was found constitutional in the SupremeCourt case Korematsu v. U.S.– Was a “military necessity”– U.S. govt. later apologized and gave $200,000 to

each camp survivor

Building the War Machine

• War Production Board– Oversaw production of war materials– Halted the manufacture of non-essential materials– Rationing - meat, butter, nylon, rubber

• Office of Price Administration– Dealt with inflation– People were making lots of $ and was nothing to

spend it on

World War II & Labor• War Labor Board

– Dealt with labor issues during the war– Placed ceilings on wages to help with

inflation• Labor Union membership went way up

– Large # of walkouts– Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act

• Govt. could seize and operate industries tied upwith labor disputes

• Strikes against govt. operated industries wereillegal

Manpower & Womanpower

• 15 million men were in the military– 216,000 women (WAACS, WAVES,

SPARS)• Workers in certain key industries were

exempt from the draft– Still short of personnel

• Braceros - was a deal made with Mexico forimmigrant workers to come to the U.S.

• Agreement lasted for 20 years

Manpower & Womanpower

• Much of the labor loss in factories wasfilled by women– 6 million women worked during WWII– Were paid less than men– ”Rosie the Riveters”– Not just single women anymore either– About 2/3 left the workforce after the war

• Still, most women stayed home

Shifting Population

• WWII caused a huge demographic shiftin the U.S.– From rural to urban areas– Migration North by many Southern blacks

to fill factory jobs• This made race more of a national issue

African-American Rights DuringWWII

• A. Philip Randolph– Threatened a march on D.C. to protest

discrimination in the workplace & hiring– FDR want to prevent this

• Created the Fair Employment Practices Comm.• Monitored compliance with Exec. Order that

prohibited discrimination in defense industries

• Blacks were drafted, saw little action– Served in segregated units

• Membership in the NAACP & CORE wentup

Other Minority Groups DuringWWII

• Native Americans– Also left reservations for urban areas– Some served in the military

• Navajo Code Talkers

• Hispanic Americans– Conflict in the SW– Zoot-Suit Riots

Changes in America After WWII

• The U.S. came out of WWII morepowerful than ever– Business healthy, people had lots of $

• Govt. became more involved in dailylives of Americans– Draft, rationing, jobs in defense industries,

govt. health care, etc.– Govt./University partnership in research

Major Battles - Europe• Battle of the Atlantic - sonar• Battle of El Alamein

– stopped German advance in North Africa• Battle of Stalingrad

– Soviets stopped the German advance in the east• Soviets wanted a second front opened to

ease their fight - Europe or Africa?• Operation Torch

– Allied invasion of N. Africa - against E. Rommel– British pushed from the East (Egypt), U.S. from

the West (Morocco)

Major Battles - Europe• Decision was made to open a second front in

N. Europe– up against the Atlantic Wall - defenses set up by

Rommel• Operation Overlord - D-Day invasion

– Largest invasion of its type in history• Battle of the Bulge

– Hitler’s last ditch effort at winning• Was running out of supplies and oil

– A major counter-offensive to the Allied advance– Eventually pushed back - Battle of Bastogne

WWIIEurope

Map

WWIIin thePacific

Midway

Coral SeaGuadalcanal

Leyte Gulf

WWIIin thePacific

Iwo Jima

Okinawa

Use of the Atomic Bomb

• Used first on Hiroshima and thenNagasaki

• Why?– Saved lives from an invasion of main

islands of Japan– Stop the war before the Soviets got too

involved– Should it have been used?

Wartime Conferences• Tehran Conference

– The Big Three ( FDR, Churchill, Stalin)– Agreed to open a second front and attack

simultaneously with the Soviets• Potsdam Conference

– FDR has died, new Prez Truman attends– Agree to give an ultimatum to Japan

• Surrender or face total annihilation… bomb?