A.P.
U.S. History Notes
Chapter 36: “America in World War II”
~
1941 – 1945 ~
I.
The
Allies Trade Space for Time
1.
When
Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, millions of infuriated
Americans, especially on the west coast, instantly changed their views from
isolationist to revenge.
2.
However,
America, led by the wise Franklin D. Roosevelt, resisted such pressures,
instead taking a “get Germany first” approach to the war, for if Germany were
to defeat Britain before the Allies could beat Japan, there would be no
stopping Hitler and his men.
i.
In
the mean time, just enough troops would be sent to fight Japan to keep
it in check.
3.
America
had the hardship of preparing for war, since it had been in isolation for the
preceding decades, and the test would be whether or not it could mobilize
quickly enough to stop Germany and save the world for democracy (again).
II.
The
Shock of War
1.
After
the attack at Pearl Harbor, national unity was strong as steel, and the few
Hitler supporters in America faded away.
2.
Most
of America’s ethnic groups assimilated even faster due to WWII, since in the
decades before the war, few immigrants had been allowed into America.
i.
Unfortunately,
on the Pacific coast, 110,000 Japanese-Americans were taken from their homes
and herded into relocation camps, where their properties and freedoms were
taken away from them.
ii.
The
1944 case of Korematsu vs. U.S. affirmed the constitutionality of
this terrible act.
a.
It
took more than 40 years later before the U.S. admitted fault and began to make
$20,000 reparations to camp survivors.
3.
With
the war, many New Deal programs were wiped out, such as the Civilian
Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and the National
Youth Administration.
4.
WWII
was no idealistic crusade, as most Americans didn’t even know what the Atlantic
Charter (declaration of U.S. into the war and to fight Germany first, and
Japan second) was!
III.
Building
the War Machine
1.
Massive
military orders (over $100 billion in 1942 alone) ended the Great Depression
by creating demand for jobs and production.
2.
Shipbuilder
Henry J. Kaiser was dubbed “Sir Launchalot” because his methods of ship
assembly churned out one ship ever 14 days!
3.
The
War Production Board halted manufacture of nonessential items such as
passenger cars, and when the Japanese seized vital rubber supplies in British
Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, the U.S. imposed a national speed limit and
gasoline rationing to save tires.
4.
Farmers
rolled out more food, but the new sudden spurt in production made prices soar—a
problem that was finally solved by the regulation of it by the Office of
Price Administration.
5.
While
labor unions pledged not to strike during the war, some did anyway.
i.
The
United Mine Workers was one such group and was led by John L. Lewis.
ii.
In
June 1943, Congress passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act, which let
the federal government seize and operate industries threatened by or under
strikes.
iii.
Fortunately,
strikes accounted for less than 1% of total working hours of the U.S. wartime
laboring force.
IV.
Manpower
and Womanpower
1.
The
armed forces had nearly 15 million men and 216,000 women, and some of these
“women in arms” included the WAACS (army), the WAVES (navy), and SPARS
(coast guard).
2.
Because
of the national draft that plucked men (and women) from their homes and into
the military, there weren’t enough workers, so the Bracero Program
brought Mexican workers to America to work.
3.
With
the men in the military, women took up jobs in the workplace, symbolized by “Rosie
the Riveter,” and upon war’s end, they did not return to their homes as in World
War I.
i.
It
must be noted that the female revolution into the work force was not as great
as commonly exaggerated, since in other nations, more women were pressed into
factories, etc… than in America, and at the end of the war, 2/3 of the women did
return home; the servicemen that came home to them helped produce a baby
boom that is still being felt today.
V.
Wartime
Migrations
1.
The
war also forced many people to move to new places, and many young folks went to
and saw new cities far from home.
2.
F.D.R.
used the war as an excuse to pump lots of money into the stagnant South to
revitalize it, helping to start the blossoming of the “Sunbelt.”
i.
Still,
some 1.6 million blacks left the South for better places, and explosive
tensions developed over black housing, employment, and segregation facilities.
ii.
A. Philip Randolph, leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, threatened
a “Negro March to Washington” in 1941 to get better rights and treatment.
3.
The
president also established the Fair Employment Practices Commission to
discourage racism and oppression in the workplace, and while Blacks in the army
still suffered degrading discrimination (i.e. separate blood banks), they still
used the war as a rallying cry against dictators abroad and racism at
home—overall gaining power and strength.
i.
Membership
to the NAACP passed the half-million mark, and a new organization, the Congress
of Racial Equality (CORE), was founded in 1942.
4.
In
1944, the mechanical cotton picker made the need for muscle nonexistent, so
blacks that used to pick cotton could now leave, since they were no longer
needed.
i.
They
left the South and took up residence in urban areas.
5.
Native
Americans also left their reservations during the war, finding work in the
cities or joining the army.
i.
Some
25,000 Native Americans were in the army, and the Navajo and Comanches were
“code talkers,” relaying military orders in the own language—a “code” that was
never broken by the Axis Powers.
6.
Such
sudden “rubbing of the races” did spark riots and cause tension, such as the
1943 attack on some Mexican-American navy men in Los Angeles and the Detroit
race riot (occurring in the same year) that killed 25 blacks and 9 whites.
VI.
Holding
the Home Front
1.
America
was the only country to emerge after the war relatively unscathed, and in fact,
it was better off after the war than before.
i.
The
gross national product more than doubled, as did corporate profits.
ii.
In
fact, when the war ended and price controls were lifted, inflation shot up.
2.
It
was the plethora of spending during WWII that lifted America from its Great
Depression.
i.
The
wartime bill amounted to more than $330 billion—more than the combined
costs of all the previous American wars together.
ii.
While
income tax was expanded to make four times as many people pay as before, most
of the payments were borrowed, making the national debt soar from $49 billion
to $259 billion (war cost as much as $10 million per hour at one point).
VII.
The
Rising Sun in the Pacific
1.
The
Japanese overran the lands that they descended upon, winning more land with
less losses than ever before and conquering Guam, Wake, the Philippines,
Hong Kong, British Malaya, Burma (in the process cutting
the famed Burma Road), the Dutch East Indies, and even pushed into China.
2.
When
the Japanese took over the Philippines, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur
had to sneak out of the place, but he vowed to return to liberate the islands;
he went to Australia.
3.
After
the fighters in the Philippines surrendered, they were forced to make the
infamous 85-mile Bataan death march.
i.
On
May 6, 1942, the island fortress of Corregidor, in Manila Harbor,
surrendered.
VIII.
Japans
High Tide at Midway
1.
Japanese
onrush was finally checked in the Coral Sea, where American and
Australian forces check them, and when the Japanese tried to seize Midway
Island, they were forced back by U.S. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
during fierce fighting from June 3-6, 1942.
i.
Admiral
Raymond A. Spruance also helped maneuver the fleet around to win, and
this victory marked the turning point in the war in the Pacific.
ii.
No
longer would the Japanese take any more land, as the U.S. began a process
called “island hopping,” where the Allies would bypass heavily
fortified islands, take over neighboring islands, and starve the resistant
forces to death with lack of supplies and constant bombing saturation, to push
back the Japanese.
2.
Also,
the Japanese had taken over some islands in the Alaskan chain, the Aleutians.
IX.
American
Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
1.
Americans
won at Guadalcanal in August 1942 and then got New Guinea by
August 1944.
2.
By
island hopping, the U.S. also retook the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska
in August of 1943, and in November of that year, “bloody Tarawa” and Makin,
members of the Gilbert Islands, fell to the Allies.
3.
In
January and February of 1944, the Marshall Islands fell to the U.S.
4.
The
assault on the Marianas (including Guam) began on June 19, 1944, and
with superior planes such as the “Hellcat” fighter jet and a U.S. victory
the next day in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the U.S. rolled on,
taking the islands and beginning around-the-clock bombing raids over Tokyo and
other parts of mainland Japan.
X.
The
Allied Halting of Hitler
1.
The
U.S. also at first had trouble against Germany, as its U-boats proved very
effective, but the breaking of the Germans’ “enigma” code helped
pinpoint those subs better.
i.
It
wasn’t until war’s end that the true threat of the German submarines was known,
as it was discovered that Hitler had been about to unleash a new U-boat that
could remain underwater indefinitely and cruise at 17 knots underwater.
2.
In
May 1942, the British launched a massive raid on Cologne, France, and in
August, the U.S. air force joined them.
i.
The
Germans, led by the “Desert Fox” Marshall Edwin Rommel, were driven to
Egypt, dangerously close to the Suez Canal, but late in October 1942,
British General Bernard Montgomery defeated him at El Alamein,
west of Cairo.
3.
On
the Soviet front, the Russians launched a new, blistering counteroffensive,
regaining about 2/3 of the land they had lost before a year later.
XI.
The
North African Second Front
1.
The
Soviets had begged the Allie to open up a second front against Hitler, since
Soviet forces were dying by the millions (20 million by war’s end), and the
Americans were eager to comply, but the British, remembering WWI, were
reluctant.
i.
Instead
of a frontal European assault, the British devised an invasion through North
Africa, so that the Allies could cut Hitler’s forces through the “soft
underbelly” of the Mediterranean Sea.
2.
Thus,
a secret attack was coordinated and executed by the Dwight D. Eisenhower-led
troops, as they defeated the French troops, but upon meeting the real German
soldiers, Americans were set back at Kasserine Pass.
i.
This
campaign wasn’t really successful, but important lessons were learned.
XII.
The
Rough Road to Rome
1.
At
the Casablanca Conference, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill
met and agreed on the term of “unconditional surrender.”
2.
The
Allies found bitter resistance in Italy, as Sicily fell in August 1943
after bitter resistance.
i.
Italian
dictator Mussolini was deposed, and a new government was set up.
a.
Two
years later, he and his mistress were lynched and killed.
ii.
Germany
didn’t leave Italy, though, and for many months, more fighting and stalemates
occurred, especially at Monte Cassino, where Germans were holed up.
3.
The
Allies finally took Rome on June 4, 1944, and it wasn’t until May 2,
1945, that Axis troops in Italy finally surrendered.
4.
Though
long and tiring, the Italian invasion did open up Europe, divert some of
Hitler’s men from the Soviet front, and get Italy to fall.
XIII.
Eisenhower’s
D-Day Invasion of France
1.
At
the Tehran Conference, the Big Three (Wilson, Churchill, and Josef
Stalin, leader of Russia) met and agreed that the Soviets and Allies would
launch simultaneous attacks.
2.
The
Allies began for a gigantic cross-channel invasion, and command of the whole
operation was entrusted to General Eisenhower.
i.
Meanwhile,
MacArthur received a fake army to use as a ruse to Germany.
3.
The
place to take was French Normandy, and on June 6, 1944, D-Day
began, and after heavy resistance, Allied troops, some led by General George
S. Patton, finally clawed their way onto land, across the jungle, and
deeper into France.
i.
With
the help of the “French underground,” Paris was freed in August 1944.
XIV.
FDR:
The Fourth-Termite of 1944
1.
Republicans
nominated Thomas E. Dewey, a young, liberal governor of New York, and
paired him with isolationist John W. Bricker of Ohio.
2.
FDR
was the Democratic lock, but because of his age, the vice presidential
candidate was carefully chosen to be Harry S. Truman, who won over Henry
A. Wallace—an ill-balanced and unpredictable liberal.
XV.
Roosevelt
Defeats Dewey
1.
Dewey
went on a rampaging campaign offensive while FDR, stuck with WWII problems,
could not go out much, so the new Political Action Committee of the CIO,
which was organized to get around the law banning direct use of union funds for
political purposes.
2.
In
the end, Roosevelt stomped over Dewey, 432 to 99, the fourth term thing wasn’t
even that big of a deal, since the precedence had already been broken three
years before.
3.
FDR
won because the war was going well, and people wanted to stick with him.
XVI.
The
Last Days of Hitler
1.
On
the run and losing, Hitler concentrated his forces and threw them in the Ardennes
forest on December 16, 1944, starting the Battle of “the Bulge” and
nearly succeeding in his gamble, but the ten-day penetration was finally
stopped by the 101st Airborne Division that had stood firm at the
vital bastion of Bastogne, which was commanded by Brigadier General A.C.
McAuliffe.
2.
In
March 1945, the Americans reached the Rhine River of Germany, and then
pushed toward the river Elbe, and from there, joining Soviet troops,
they marched toward Berlin.
3.
Upon
entering Germany, the Allies were horrified to find the concentration camps
where millions of Jews and other undesirables had been slaughtered in genocide.
i.
Adolph
Hitler, knowing that he had lost, committed suicide in his bunker on April 30,
1945.
4.
Meanwhile,
in America, FDR died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945.
5.
May
7, 1945 was the date of the official German surrender, and the next day was
officially proclaimed V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day).
XVII.
Japan
Dies Hard
1.
American
submarines were ruining Japans fleet, and attacks such as the March 9-10, 1945,
firebomb raid on Tokyo that killed over 83,000 people were wearing Japan out.
2.
On
October 20, 1944, General MacArthur finally “returned” to the Philippines.
i.
However,
he didn’t retake Manila until March 1945.
3.
The
last great naval battle at Leyte Gulf was lost by Japan, terminating its
sea power status.
4.
In
March 1945, Iwo Jima was captured; this 25-day assault left over 4000
Americans dead.
5.
Okinawa was won after fighting from April to June of 1945, and was captured at
the cost of 50,000 American lives.
6.
Japanese
“kamikaze” pilots, for the sake of their god-emperor, sank many ships.
XVIII. Atomic Awfulness
1.
At
the Potsdam Conference, the Allies issued an ultimatum: surrender or be
destroyed.
2.
The
first atomic bomb had been tested on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo,
New Mexico, and when Japan refused to surrender, Americans dropped A-bombs onto
Hiroshima (on August 6, 1945), killing 180,000 and Nagasaki (on
August 9, 1945), killing 80,000.
3.
On
August 8, 1945, the Soviets declared war on Japan, just as promised, and two
days later, on August 10, Japan sued for peace on one condition: that the
emperor Hirohito be allowed to remain on the Japanese throne.
i.
Despite
the “unconditional surrender” clause, the Allies accepted.
4.
The
formal end came on September 2, 1945, on the battleship Missouri.
XIX.
The
Allies Triumphant
1.
America
suffered 1 million casualties, but the number killed by disease and infections
was very low, thanks to new miracle drugs like penicillin, but otherwise
had suffered little losses (two Japanese attacks on California and Oregon that
were rather harmless).
2.
This
was America’s best-fought war, despite the fact that the U.S. began preparing
later than usual.
i.
This
was partly thanks to the excellent U.S. generals and admirals, and the leaders.
3.
Industry
also rose to the challenge, putting out a phenomenal amount of goods, proving Hermann
Goering, a Nazi leader who had scorned America’s lack of manufacturing
skills, wrong.
4.
We
won!!!
