United States Reacts to WarDebate 1940:

Isolationist or Internationalist

• Isolationists• America First Committee• Charles A Lindberg• “Intervention is detrimental to American

interests”

• Internationalists• Committee to Defend America• Best way to keep US out of war is to Help allies

fight the Germans• Roosevelt is sympathetic

FDR Aids the Allies

• Summer 1940 FDR asks congress to allow trade of 50 destroyers in exchange for 99 year leases for bases in the Atlantic

• Although population does not want to enter the war, 73% support aid to Britain.

1941 Lend Lease

• 1941 Lend Lease:• Program to offer aid to Brits• FDR in a “Fireside Chat” “If a neighbor’s home were

on fire…”• “lease, lend or otherwise dispose of” any items not

vital to the nation’s defense.• US is closer to the War- (US Ships secretly were

supporting the British Navy by searching and reporting on U-boat locations)

• Hitler afraid to attack American Ships

Atlantic Charter AUGUST 14, 1941• The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill,

representing His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world.

• First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;• Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed

wishes of the peoples concerned;• Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they

will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them;

• Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;

• Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security;

• Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want;

• Seventh, such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance;• Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment

of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measure which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments.

Election of 1940 then the Draft• FDR decides to Run for a third term• The Nation Needs emergency situation:– War in Europe– Problems in Asia– Wants to protect New Deal reforms

• Ran against Wendell Willkie

• FDR Wins- then begins the process• Prepare for War:– Draft– Armament build up

FDR Wins Unprecedented 3rd Term

Four Freedoms• “The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere

in the world. • The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his

own way--everywhere in the world. • The third is freedom from want--which, translated into world

terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world.

• The fourth is freedom from fear--which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.”

Significance of “Four Freedoms” Speech

• Represents FDR’s view that America needs to prepare for war and support Britain.

• FDR Prepares for War– Increased Military appropriations– Aliens are fingerprinted – Peace time draft to raise 2 million troops

Key Ideas: America’s Response to Pearl Harbor and War

• US had started to prepare 1940• Airplane production/design• Draft/Selective Service-1940• Build the “Arsenal of Democracy”-Harness the Industrial and

Economic power of the US- and focus it toward War. • Focus on building War material- Speficially Air power,

Bombers, B17, B24, B29• Germany was the biggest threat, Focus of first phase of War• Then Japan

Meeting Before the War

• Before US enters War: August, 1941 Newfoundland– Secret, FDR and Churchill meet to coordinate – Create the Atlantic Charter (a statement of

principles agreed upon)• Condemned Aggression• Endorsed National Self Determination

Pearl Harbor

• American Reaction to Pearl Harbor American reaction to Pearl Harbor was swift and violent.

• Immediate calls for war and revenge were heard throughout the country.

• Congress declared war and thousands of soldiers volunteered to fight.

• Americans were mad and they would never forget the treachery of the Japanese.

Japan Offensive• Hitler and Mussolini both declared war on the United

States as a sign of support for the Japanese. • Japan Attacks Polynesian Asia

Immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor Japanese forces began a systematic invasion of the Pacific. Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, French Indochina, and the Philippines were overrun. American forces in the Philippines were outnumbered and overwhelmed by Japanese forces.

• 12,000 American prisoners were taken in the fall of the last Philippine strong hold called Bataan.

• “Bataan Death March”

American “Arsenal of Democracy”

• America Mobilizes for War= (WPB) • War Production Board- goal is to transform industrial

production to War production, organize all industrial output

• Board had much power to control resources:• Limited civilian goods- Rationing of food, fuel… • Cars stopped being produced• Conservation and recycle movement, rubber, metal,

grease,

“Arsenal of Democracy”

• $320 Billion government spending- 1940-1945• Huge amount was 6 times that of Roosevelt’s

first two terms.

Financing the War

• Taxes increase• Income– 1941 7 million people file taxes– 1944 42 million people file taxes– Government starts a withholding $ from workers

• Loans/War Bonds– $100 billion in bonds sold

Internment of Japanese Americans

• Japanese immigrants had increased in the United States with the since early 1900

• When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor a great backlash was directed at Japanese Americans

Japanese Relocation

• 120,000 Japanese lived on the West coast • Were accused of potentially aiding Japanese

espionage• Some people, racist, and wanted to use the

opportunity to take Japanese land • February 1942 FDR signed an executive order • “Remove any and all persons who might pose a

threat to national security.”• Camps (Manzanar) were set up in the deserts of

Japanese Internment Camps

• Japanese were relocated in Camps:

• Some Japanese sued for their rights:

• Korematus v. the United States

• Supreme Court upheld the • Internment of the Japanese

War in Europe• Allies agreed that Europe was first priority• North Africa-November 1942• 1942 Bombing campaign against Germany begun• 1942- Sicily-• September 1943 Italy Surrenders (German Army occupies and

holds Northern Italy)• 1944 Rome Falls• June 6, 1944 D-Day- Allied Invasion of Normandy France, the

Second Front is opened.• December 16, 1944 Battle of the Bulge (German counter

attack in the Ardennes Forrest, 200K Germans attack Allies)• May 7, 1945 Germany Surrenders (Hitler is dead, Russians

conquer Berlin)- May 8, 1945 V-E Day

War in the Pacific

• Strategy of Island Hopping: bypass some islands controlled by Japanese and attack specific islands, to obtain air bases in an effort to bomb Japan more efficiently and to build up forces in an effort to invade Japan.

• 1942 Major victory at Midway Island US takes out Japanese aircraft carriers

• Timeline of WWII (everything you wanted to know and more)

Women and the War• Rosie the

Riveter:• Women go to

work in munitions factories, other jobs, and the military

Wartime Conferences• FDR (and later Truman) will coordinate the effort with Allied

leaders Churchill, and later Stalin• Casablanca-1943 FDR, Churchill, agreed on war aims: Sicily

invasion, Unconditional Surrender- of Japan and Germany• Cairo-1943- FDR and Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek- discussed war

aims in Asia, Japan will lose all islands acquired, Korea independent

• Teheran-1943 The “Big Three” discussed 2nd front in Europe (France), Postwar Germany,

• Yalta-February 1945 “Big Three” Discussed the fate of Poland, Stalin asserted need for “Buffer Zone” and sphere of influence; Stalin promised to allow free elections; planned for the division of Germany after the war; Stalin promised to declare war on Japan in exchange for Japanese land/Kurile Islands; (FDR is dying and will be criticized for being manipulated by Stalin and “selling out” Eastern Europe to the Russians.

• Potsdam- Germany, July 1945, FDR dead, Truman, Churchill gone, new Brit- Clement Atlee, Stalin- discussed boundaries for Germany, German resources would pay for the war,

“GI Bill of Rights”

• GI is the term used for American soldiers in WWII. (G.I. means General Issue)

• The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act• Provided veterans a series of benefits:– Low interest loans for homes, business, and farms– Aid for education

FDR Dies April 12, 1945

• FDR dies and Harry Truman takes over• FDR was elected to an unprecedented 4 terms• He was a extremely beloved leader.• “Roosevelt had filled their lives through

depression and war for more than a dozen years, allying their years and giving them hope. Now he was gone…”

• Election of 1944 running mate Harry S. Truman, from Missouri, a Democratic Senator, becomes President.

Atomic Bomb Production

• FDR authorized a secret program code named “Manhattan Project”

• 1943, J. Robert Oppenheimer, led the team of physicists to develop and atomic weapon, to split the atom

• Los Alamos, New Mexico• July 1945, the bomb was ready (Truman had no idea

any bomb like this was being worked on, when he took office)

• September 2, 1945 VJ Day

Nagasaki, Japan

• Before the atomic bomb

• After the atomic bomb