Americans and the World in Crisis1933-1945

Chapter 25

Foreign Policy 1933-1939• Latin America

– Hoover– Actively pursued friendly relations with Latin

America, toured region before inauguration– Ended troop occupation in Nicaragua and Haiti

– Good Neighbor Policy• Pan American Conference 1933

– Formal convention signed– Withdrew American troops

– U.S. pledged to never interfere in internal affairs of L.A. again

– Renounced Platt Amendment– Economic interference instead of military– 2nd Pan Am Conference 1936- Roosevelt attended

• Tested– Cuba

» Economic crisis 1933» No direct intervention» Roosevelt and Congress nullified Platt

Amendment, except Gitmo Bay– Mexico

» Reform government in power 1936» Seized US and British oil companies» Compensation agreements reached» Roosevelt refused to intervene

Rise of Aggressive states in Europe and Asia

• Soviet Union– Formally recognized in 1933 by US

– To increase trade and boost economy– Joseph Stalin leader– Communist

• Japan– Hideki Tojo– Wanted natural resources– Invasion of China 1931

– Defied open door policy and League of Nations

– Took over Manchuria– U.S. refused to recognize– Stimson Doctrine 1932

– Rape of Nanking 1937– Full scale war

• Italy– Benito Mussolini– Fascist leader

– Idea that people should glorify nation/race through aggressive show of force

– Wanted new Roman Empire– Starts with Ethiopia 1935

• Germany– Totalitarian government

– Equivalent of Fascists– Adolf Hitler– Starts rearmament of Germany

– Starts in Rhineland 1936– Sudetenland 1938

– “allowed” to take Czechoslovakia– German speaking

– Munich Conference 1938

America stays NEUTRAL• Keeping with the Trend

– Isolationist since 1920s• America First Committee

– Charles Lindbergh, Coughlin– Gerald Nye

• WWI investigations• “merchants of death”

• Gathering Storm– Neutrality Acts 1935-1937– FDR’s “quarantine aggressors”– Axis Actions

• Japan violates naval treaties 1936• Germany violates Munich Pact

– FDR’s response• Actions “short of war”• $300 million war appropriations• 1.3 billion defense budget

• “preparedness”

War in Europe• Germany invades Poland 9/1/1939

– Breaks Treaty of Versailles– Secretly agrees to share with Soviet

Union

• Britain and France declare war

• German invades Baltic• spring 1940• Use of Blitzkrieg (lighting war)• Denmark/Norway surrendered in a

few days

• US response– Stay neutral but amend acts– “cash and carry” policy

– Amended Neutrality Acts– US economy benefitted

• France surrenders 6/22/1940• Only took one week

• Hitler turns to Britain– Air raids and u-boats

• Reelection– FDR limited in order for reelection– Unprecedented 3rd term

– Reasons:– Economic recovery– Fear of war, people wanted an

experienced leader– Defeats (R) Wendell Willkie

• Action– Selective Service Act 1940– “Lend-lease” program– Cash provision scrapped– Atlantic Charter 1941

Pearl Harbor 12/07/1941• Lead up

– US threat to Japan’s global policy– 1940 US ended treaty with Japan

• Japan signs Tripartite Act with Germany and Italy 1940– Invades French Indochina

• FDR freezes Japanese assets in US• Imposes oil embargo

• Coming War– Japan increasingly threatening to US

– Oil sanctions the issue– Codes broken, attack imminent

• Attack– Pearl Harbor attack technically victory for Japan– 350 aircraft destroyed, 2,400 killed, 1,200 wounded

– In less than two hours– Japan continues attack on Philippines, Malaya, and

Hong Kong

• Response– US Declaration of War 12/08/1941– 12/11/1941- Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.

Mobilizing for War• Selective Service Act 1940

– Four Freedoms Speech

• 1941– 1.6 million in Armed Forces– 15% industrial output

• War Powers Act– Unprecedented presidential authority– Joint Chiefs of Staff

• Army, Navy, and Air Force

– Office of Strategic Services• Forerunner to CIA• Combated espionage

Wartime Industry• War Production Board (WPB)

– Managed war industries– Allocated materials– Directed conversion of

peacetime industries to war industries

– $100 million in contracts in 1st ½ of 1942

• War Manpower Commission (WMC)– Supervised mobilization

• National War Labor Board (NWLB)– Mediated disputes between

labor and management– Unions asked not to strike

– Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act 1943– Government could take over if

strike threatened production– Roosevelt used on the railroads

• Office of Price Administration (OPA)– Rationed scare products– Imposed price controls on meat,

sugar, gasoline, auto tires, etc.

Wartime Industry

• 1942 Justice James Brynes– “Assistant President”– In charge of Domestic war effort

• Assembly Line– 1942 ½ economy geared for war– Equaled Germany, Italy, and Japan’s

output combined– Created synthetic rubber

• Greatest Weapons manufacturer– Henry Ford– Henry Kaiser “liberty ships”

– 14 days per ship with assembly line

• 1944 Economic Bill of Rights– Not enacted by Congress

• Consequences– Powers of government swelled– Defense spending increased– Federal budget soared

– Fed. Civilian employees increased– ** By 1944 unemployment virtually

gone!!! **

War Economy• $320 billion cost

– $100 billion spent in 1945 alone– Paid by:

– Increasing income tax– 1st time all Americans had to

pay– War bonds

– Ended depression– Unemployment vanished– Stimulated industrial booms– Doubled output and GNP– Real wages increased

• Investment in America– West

• $40 billion investment• LA 2nd largest manufacturing center

– South• Textile, oil, natural gas• Shipyards, aircraft plants

• A New America– Per capita income tripled– Only shift EVER towards greater

equality– Middle class created– Large scale farmers profited

• Higher prices• Increased productivity• Farm consolidation

– 1st income tax– Labor Unions

• From 9 to 14.8 million• “maintenance of membership”• Limited wildcat strikes• Smith-Connally War Labor Disputes

1943– Limited union power

– Inflation• Congress gave FDR control• Combated with rationing• Raised taxes

Propaganda• Office of Censorship

– Suppression of information– Banned photos of American dead

until 1943

• Office of War Information– Employed 4,000 artists, writers,

advertisers• Norman Rockwell

– Countered enemy propaganda– Moral struggle between good

and evil– Hollywood helped

• Reinforced through movies, on radio

• News programs• Cartoons, Superheroes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Avenge_december_7.jpg

Men and Women in Uniform• WWII mobilized 16.4 million

Americans into the armed forces

• Before the war• Majority of 200,000 men employed

in the Armed Services served as military police

• At beginning of war only U.S. Marine Corps ready to fight

• Mobilization• After U.S. entered war, minimum

age was lowered to 18• Rejected soldiers for

• Physical issues• Mental issues• Profound illiteracy

• Officer corps created• New officer training schools developed

• Soldiers became known as Gi’s• Meant government issue• Mainly only draftees

• Women• Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps

(WAAC) created in May 1942 by the Army

• Non-combat missions• Nurses• Flew planes• Administration

• African-Americans• No longer excluded from Marine

Corps and Coast Guard• Still faced discrimination

The Battlefront 1942-1944• Europe

– Operation Torch Nov. 1942• North Africa• Led by Gen. Eisenhower• Surrender of Rommel

– Battle of Stalingrad• Huge Russian victory

– Italy 1943• Allied invasion

• Occupied Sicily summer 1943• Spread to Peninsula• Difficult campaign

– D-Day June 6, 1944• Allied invasion of France

• Paris liberated by August• Largest sea-land operation• Operation Overlord• Led by Eisenhower

– Battle of the Bulge Dec. 1944• Month-long battle

• Desperate German counterattack• Decisive Allied victory

• Asia– Philippines 1942

• MacArthur leaves troops• Hides in Australia• 78,000 surrender• Bataan Death March

– Battle at Coral Sea May 1942• 1st all-plane battle

• Stop Jap invasion of Australia– Midway 1942

• Crucial US outpost• Broke Jap signal• Destroyed large portion of Japanese

army• VERY important victory

– Guadalcanal Aug.1942• Had to deal with Malaria• 6 bitter months of battle• Two-pronged advanced

– Island-Hopping• new strategy

• By-passed Jap strongholds and isolated them with naval and air power

Politics Abroad And At Home• Casablanca 1943

– 1st conference of “big three”– Meet to define goals

• Teheran– 2nd meeting

• Goals:– FDR

• Total defeat of Axis powers• Establishment of world order

strong enough to preserve peace and open-trade

– Churchill• Balance of power in Europe• Retain imperial possessions

– Soviet Union• Permanently weakened Germany• Sphere of influence in Eastern

Europe

• 1944 Election– Wallace dropped as VP

• Truman more conservative– Republican challenger Thomas

Dewey– Strong reputation for prosecuting

corruption in NY– Couldn’t really offer an alternative

to F.D.R.’s leadership– Smallest margin of victory for FDR

– Many still concerned with change of leadership during a war

American Society• Home Front– Mass internal migration– New job opportunities– Urbanization

• Housing shortages– Prosperity after depression– Conservation

• Victory garden• Consumer goods shortage

– Psychological effects• High divorce rates• Family violence• Juvenile delinquency

– Traditional conventions strengthened

Women on the Home Front• More opportunities

– Thousands of jobs opened– 5 million women in the workforce– Pay still unequal

– Not just “white collar”– More married women hired– 200,000 served non-combat

military roles

• “Rosie the Riveter”– “making history while working for

victory”

• Education– Teachers, students leave schools– Colleges forced to admit more

women

African American Life• Status

– 9/10 lived below poverty line– Earned only 39% of white income– Unemployment will drop 80% during WWII– 1.5 million left South for jobs in North and

West

• “Double- V” campaign 1942– Victory over Axis powers AND discrimination– NAACP membership at 500,000

• CORE 1942– Congress of Racial Equality– Non-violent methods– Against Jim Crow laws in north

• A. Philip Randolph– Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters– “thundering march” 1941– End discrimination in Armed Services– FDR compromised– Beginning of Civil Rights movement

• Victories• Smith v. Allwright 1944

• Unconstitutional to deny membership in political parties as a way of excluding African-Americans from voting in primaries

• Executive Order 8802– 1st presidential directive on race– Prohibited discriminatory employment

practices by federal agencies

• 1 million served in Armed Forces– Restricted jobs– Few units– 7,000 officers– 761st tank battalion– Segregated units

• Home Front Violence– Race Riots

• Harlem 1943 (Mobile, Beaumont)• Detroit

– 32 hours– 34 dead, 700 injured– $2 million in damage

Other Ethnicities• American- Indians

– 25,000 served in Armed Forces– More than half never returned to

reservations– Navajo “code-talkers”

• Iwo Jima– Worked in defense industries on west

coast– Incomes tripled– Discrimination

• National Congress of American Indians 1944

• Mexicans– Braceros, temporary workers

– 1942 agreement– Didn’t have to have go through formal

immigration for harvest seasons– Hostility against “zoot suits”

– Riots 1943– 350,000 served

• Not segregated• Very decorated

• Gays/Lesbians– New opportunities– Freedom– Veteran’s Benevolent Association

1945– 20,000 served in military

• Japanese– Suffered most– Over 100,000 interned or placed in

relocation camps– Reflected 40 years of anti-Japanese

sentiment– Supreme Court upheld with

Korematsu case 1944– “justified” during war time

– $2 billion in property loss• Later compensated

The Holocaust

• When did America know?– Leaked early 1942• No photographs• Not believed

– Nov. 1942 State Department admits knowledge

• How much could have been done?

Finishing the War• Europe

– March 1945• Crossed into heartland

– V-E Day• Berlin surrounded• Hitler's suicide April 30th, 1945• Surrender May 8th, 1945

– FDR dies April 12, 1945

• Yalta Conference– End of War in sight– US

• Wants to pressure GB about India• Wants free elections in Eastern

Europe• Dollar replaces pound

– Soviet Union• Has advantage• Wants Manchuria• Wants Eastern Europe

• Japan/ Asia– Kamikazes 1st used Oct. 1944– 1945 Iwo Jima

• “meat grinder”– June 1945 Okinawa

• Brutal war, mass casualties• 50,000 Americans• 100,000 Japanese

– Japan holds to “bitter end”• How many Americans would die?

– Potsdam Conference• Truman announces Atomic Bomb• Japan warned

– Enola Gay 8/6/1945• Destroys Hiroshima• Nagasaki 8/8/1945

• 90,000 + dead• 130,000+ injured

– Japan’s surrender• Unconditional August 14, 1945• Officially September 2, 1945 to

McArthur on the U.S.S. Missouri

Was it Justified?

Costs of the A-Bomb

Conclusion• Deadliest war in history

• 20 million dead, 25 million civilians– 7.5 million Russians– 3.5 million Germans– 1.2 million Japanese– 2.2 million Chinese– 6 million Jews– 300,000 Americans

– 800,000 wounded

• Asia/Europe in rubble

• United Nations created in 1945

• America– Middle class created– “can-do” attitude– World superpower– $250 billion debt