•Students will explain the impact World War II had on America politically, economically, and socially•Students will explain the role America played in defeating Germany, Italy, and Japan

• Industrial output of US astounded world• US workers twice as productive as

Germans and five times as productive as Japanese• US had begun building up military

before Pearl Harbor• Government used Cost-Plus

Contracts – paid companies cost of product and percentage of cost as profits

• Before Pearl Harbor some businesses were making war materiel but most produced consumer goods

• After Pearl Harbor 200,000 companies began producing war goods

• Automobile factories began producing tanks, trucks, and jeeps

• Henry Ford produced bombers using the assembly line

• Automobile manufacturers eventually produced 1/3 of all war materiel

• Henry Kaiser’s shipyards also used mass production methods• Liberty ships – main cargo ships

of the war; welded – hard to sink• War Production Board –

established to control production and allocate resources• Office of War Mobilization –

settled arguments between agencies

• After the fall of France, Congress passed Selective Service and Training Act – first peacetime draft in US history• Equipment shortages• GI – Government Issue• Vets later complained training

was useless – too rushed and too much physical training

• US military units segregated – with white officers• Double V Campaign – blacks

wanted to fight to win victory over enemy but also victory over racism at home• FDR encouraged black combat

units and appointed Benjamin O. Davis first black general

• African-Americans in Combat 99th Pursuit Squadron (Tuskegee

Airmen) - Mediterranean 761st Tank Battalion – Battle of the

Bulge 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion –

won 8 Silver Stars, 28 Bronze Stars, and 79 Purple Hearts

US military bases integrated in 1943

• Women in WWII Women enlisted for first time –

barred from combat Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps

(WAAC) replaced by Women’s Army Corps (WAC)

Oveta Culp Hobby – first director

• Japanese attacked US bases in Philippines same day as Pearl Harbor• Commander of US forces, General

Douglas MacArthur, decided to retreat to Bataan Peninsula• US and Filipino troops held out 3

months before surrendering – 78,000 men marched into captivity• March became known as Bataan Death

March• Last US base in Philippines at

Corregidor surrendered May 1942

• The Doolittle Raid FDR wanted to raise US morale by

hitting back at Japanese US planned on launching bombers

from aircraft carrier to bomb Tokyo Bombers commanded by James

Doolittle Bombers attacked Tokyo April 18,

1942 Pilots forced to bail out or crash land

in China Chinese punished for helping US

pilots

• Japan planned to attack US supply lines to Australia by seizing New Guinea• US and Japanese forces met in

Battle of Coral Sea• US lost an aircraft carrier (USS

Lexington) but caused Japan to call of attack on New Guinea

• US broke Japanese naval code• Knew Japan was going to attack

US base at Midway Island• US carriers ambushed Japanese

Navy June 4, 1942• US sank 4 Japanese carriers• Battle was turning point in war –

Japan now on defense

• Josef Stalin asked US to open second front against Germany to relieve pressure on USSR• US and Britain not strong enough to hit

France – attacked North Africa• North Africa was vital for Britain – Suez

Canal link to empire• Battle of Kasserine Pass – Germany

embarrassed US• US forces placed under command of

General Patton – forced Germany out of North Africa

• Battle of the Atlantic Germany had sunk hundreds of US

cargo ships going to and from Britain

US Navy set up Convoy system – cargo ships traveled in large groups protected by US warships

US built more ships than Germans could sink

New technology helped US track and sink subs

• Battle of Stalingrad Germans attempted to capture

Russian city of Stalingrad Fierce house-to-house fighting Hitler ordered Germans to fight to the

death Almost 250,000 German soldiers

trapped Over 91,000 Germans surrendered

(only about 5,000 survived POW camps)

Battle was turning point in Eastern Europe – Germans on defense

• WWII ended the Great Depression• Almost 19 million new jobs

created• Women and minorities hired due

to labor shortage• Even married women hired to

work in factories• Rosie the Riveter

• Factories reluctant to hire blacks• A. Philip Randolph, head of

Sleeping Car Porters Union, threatened to have union march on Washington• FDR signed Executive Order 8802

– declared there shall be no discrimination in hiring

• To help farmers, US introduced Bracero Program• US imported Mexican

farmworkers to help harvest crops• Program continued to 1964• Migrant farmworkers became

part of US Southwest agricultural system

• Navajo Code Talkers Radio codes often broken by

enemy Navajo language “hidden” – no

written alphabet Navajos developed simple code

and spoke in Navajo language Made communication in battle

more efficient Navajos were secret weapon

• Industrial production for war effort caused migrations of people across country• Sunbelt - Deep South became

new industrial area • Housing shortage – many people

lived in tents or trailers• Government created cheap

fabricated housing

• Great Migration resumed in WWII• Racial tensions increased as

people competed for scarce resources and jobs• Worst racial violence of the war

occurred in Detroit June 1943• Fight started between white and

black girls• Riots resulted in 25 blacks and 9

whites dead

• Zoot Suit Riots Racial tensions rose along with

teenage crime Racism against Latinos in LA Zoot suit versus victory suit June 1943, rumors spread that

Latinos attacked servicemen About 2,500 servicemen attacked

Latino neighborhoods Many Latinos served in military –

17 Mexican-Americans earned Medal of Honor in WWII

• Japanese-American Internment Attack on Pearl Harbor caused

anger at Japanese People discriminated against

Japanese-Americans Many feared Japanese-Americans

would be disloyal FDR signed Executive Order

allowing military to remove Japanese-Americans to relocation camps

Korematsu v. United States – US Supreme Court ruled relocation was constitutional

442nd RCT – unit of Japanese-Americans fought in Italy; most decorated US unit

Japanese American Citizens League – established to help internees recover property after the war

• Wage and price controls• Rationing – food, gasoline, tires,

meat, etc.• Blue Coupons – processed foods• Red Coupons – meats, fats, and

oils• Victory Gardens• Scrap Drives• E-Bonds – over $100 billion in

bonds bought

• Strategic bombing – US and Britain bombed Germany night and day• Did not succeed in destroying

German economy or morale but did cause some shortages• Bombing campaign controversial

– destroyed major cities like Dresden

• The Italian Campaign Allies attacked and took Sicily Attacked Italy Italy’s king arrested Mussolini and

Italy surrendered Allies continued fighting Germans in

Italy – stopped at Cassino Hitler freed Mussolini (later killed by

partisans) US invaded Italy at Anzio – hoping to

bypass Cassino / capture Rome Italy fight still going when Germany

surrendered May 1945

• Meeting at Tehran FDR, Churchill, and Stalin Allies agreed to split up Germany

after the war Stalin agreed to help against Japan

after Germany defeated All agreed to FDR’s proposal for

establishment of United Nations

• D-Day Code-name Operation Overlord Allied deception plan as to location of

invasion Invasion at Normandy – June 6, 1944 Largest naval armada in history Landings at five beaches

Omaha - USUtah - USGold - BritainSword - BritainJuno - Canada

• Driving the Japanese Back – US Navy

Led by Admiral Chester Nimitz Island-Hopping strategy Tarawa – Coral reefs impede

landings causing high casualty rate Islands taken provided air bases to

strike Japanese bases Navy taking islands closer and

closer to Japan – Saipan and Guam

• Driving the Japanese Back – US Army

Led by General Douglas MacArthur Guadalcanal – first island taken Attacked New Guinea Invaded Philippines Invasion resulted in heavy US and

Filipino civilian casualties First Japanese use of Kamikazes –

“Divine Wind” suicide planes used to sink US ships

• D-Day was success but Allies took month to take western France due to hedgerows –dense trees & bushes bordering French fields• Paris liberated August 1944• Battle of the Bulge

Last major German offensive in west

Tried to take Allied supply port “Battling Bastards of Bastogne”

• Bridge at Remagen• Russia advances into Germany –

takes Berlin• Death of Hitler – FDR died two

weeks earlier• Unconditional German surrender

April 1945 – VE Day

• War in Pacific continued• Airfields needed closer to Japan

for bombers• Iwo Jima invaded – brutal battle• General Curtis LeMay orders fire

bombing of Japanese cities using napalm – jellied gasoline• More Japanese killed in

firebombing of Tokyo (80,000 +) than in later atomic blast

• Island of Okinawa invaded – 350 miles from Japan• Brutal battle – 12,000 Americans

killed• US demanded Japan’s

unconditional surrender – many in Japanese government wanted to keep fighting• Emperor must stay in power

• The Manhattan Project Einstein wrote letter to FDR

warning of German attempt to build atomic bomb

US begins massive effort to build atomic bomb

If US forced to invade Japan – massive US and Japanese casualties expected

President Truman to decide if bomb should be dropped on Japan

Fat Man

Little Boy

• Little Boy – Hiroshima 6 August 1945• Fat Man – Nagasaki 9 August

1945• USSR declared war on Japan –

overran Manchuria and Mongolia• Japan surrendered 15 August

1945 – VJ Day

• United Nations General Assembly Security Council – permanent

members – veto powerUnited StatesUSSRGreat BritainFrance China (Nationalist)

Charter – constitution / rules

• International Military Tribunal• Nuremberg Trials

Trials of Nazi war criminals Crimes against humanity Trials also conducted in Japan Emperor Hirohito not tried