Bellringer:

Opening: Should we have dropped the atomic bomb?

1.Watch the clip

2.Read the Handout (President Truman's Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb)

3.Discuss!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuX7mx-PIY4&feature=related --- Overview 2min clip

The Pacific Theatre

America Steps into WWII• Japanese Agression: Japan under the leadership of

military leader, Hideki Tojo, invades China• US protests aggression by cutting off trade with Japan

– This embargo included OIL

• Tojo ordered an attack on the U.S.– Pearl Harbor– Dec. 7th, 1941 Japanese planes fly over, and bombed Pearl

Harbor, a U.S. naval base in Hawaii; resulted in a huge devastation to the base

• Effect: American isolationists now support going to war; America declares war the next day

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1niwxQgoY

Pearl Harbor• In an attempt to cripple the U.S. Navy’s Pacific

fleet, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, sinking or damaging 21 ships and killing over 2,400 Americans

• The U.S. declared war on Japan the following day

• Island Hopping: US troops practiced the policy of attacking and gaining control of islands in the Pacific Ocean in order to get close to Japan/Japanese controlled land.

Battle of Midway (June 1942) • The Japanese planned on invading Midway Island

in order to lure U.S. aircraft carriers into a trap, and destroy the remaining U.S. Pacific fleet

• Unknown to the Japanese, the U.S. had broken their secret code, and knew of the impending attack

Battle of Midway• The U.S. Navy sank four Japanese carriers, and shot

down 320 planes badly crippling the Japanese navy• This battle is considered the turning point in the war

against Japan. After Midway, the U.S. goes on the offensive against Japan

How did the Battle of Midway change the war in the Pacific?

http://www.history.com/videos/first-images-of-battle-of-midway#first-images-of-battle-of-midway ---1.5min

Japanese living in America: Internment

• In December 1941, Roosevelt required enemy aliens (Germans, Italians, and Japanese) to register with the police

• The order was lifted for all, except the Japanese

• Pearl Harbor made many Americans feel that the Japanese, including Japanese Americans were a threat

• Internment Camps: camps meant to relocate thousands of Japanese citizens suspect of supporting the Axis powers

Internment(Click on link for video)

• Under the order, 90% of the Japanese Americans living in California were forced to sell all their possessions and relocate to camps in several western states

• The internments were challenged in 1944 under Korematsu v. U.S., but were upheld by the Supreme Court

The Atomic Bomb• US secret project to build

a nuclear weapon: the Manhattan Project

• Tested 1st bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico 1945

• US wanted an “unconditional surrender” from Japan, but they refused

http://www.fogonazos.es/2007/02/hiroshima-pictures-they-didnt-want-us_05.html ---Graphic Images of Atomic Bomb Effects

Hiroshima and Nagasaki• USAAC Enola Gay bombed Hiroshima,

Japan on August 6, 1945

• August 9, 1945 2nd bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan

• Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945 V-J Day (Victory over Japan)