The US Enters WWII

December 7, 1941 “A date which will live in infamy”

Remember…

• The US managed to stay out of WWII at first– Peacetime draft– Be ready for WWII

December 7, 1941

• US entered WWII when Japan attacked navy fleet at Pearl Harbor– On the island of Oahu in Hawaii– Surprise attack

Entering WWII ended

the Great Depression

Pearl Harbor

• Japanese bombs: – Sank American ships

– Destroyed planes

– More than 2,300 American soldiers, sailors, and civilians were killed

USS ArizonaMore than 1, 100 individuals

went down with the ship.

Roosevelt’s Reaction

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States was suddenly

and deliberately attacked by naval air forces of the Empire of Japan”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VqQAf74fsE

End of the Great Depression

• Automobile companies stopped making cars– Started making tanks and military

trucks

• Shipyards operated 24 hours a day– Quicker than Japan and Germany

• Airplane industry biggest industry in 1945 Gave Allies a major

advantage in WWII

Relocation Camps

• Prisonlike camps in which Japanese Americans were held after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

• Executive Order #9066

Changing Roles during WWII

After the US entered the war…• Women took over

jobs men had filled

• “Rosie the Riveter”

• 350,000 women served in military during WWII

• Nurses, pilots, airplane operators, and mechanics

After WWII started…

• Rationing – limiting what Americans could buy, so that more supplies could be sent overseas

• Government coupons for butter, sugar, meat, heating oil, and even gasoline