World War IIThe American Perspective

From Neutrality to War

• 1933 Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany

• 1934-1936 Nye Commission-finds economic causes of WWI (loans to GB & Fr. and

lobbying by arms-makers)

-increases Americans’ demands for isolation

• 1935-1937 Neutrality Acts-prohibits Americans from loaning $ to, selling arms to, or

traveling on the ships of belligerent nations

From Neutrality to War• 1932 - 1938 Japan takes Manchuria and much of China• 1938 Germany occupies Austria

-Munich Pact gives Sudatenland to Germany

-Kristallnacht

• 1939 Germany invades Czechoslovakia-Germany & Soviet Union invade Poland (Fr. & GB declare war)

-FDR offers “cash & carry” sales of arms

• 1940 Germany invades France-blitzkrieg takes France in 4 weeks

-US trades GB destroyers for leases of bases in the Caribbean

-Great Britain defends itself in the Battle of Britain

-FDR bans sale of aviation fuel, steel, and scrap metal to Japan

From Neutrality to War1941

– “Lend-Lease” plan offered to GB (& Russia after Nazi invasion)

– Atlantic Charter signed by FDR & Churchill-condemns aggression, affirms self-determination & defense of democracy, endorses collective security & disarmament

– FDR declares embargo on all trade w/ Japan-Japan invades Dutch East Indies, etc. to get oil, etc.-leads to Pearl Harbor 12/7/41-US declares war on Japan 12/8/41-Germany then declares war on US

War Production• War Powers Act gives the President

broad powers to fight the war

• War Production Board & Office of War Mobilization-300k planes, 86k tanks, 86k warships,

2.6M machine guns

-defense spending becomes 46% of GNP

-federal budget goes from $9B to $98B

-spend $320B by end of war (2x 1776-1939)

-federal employees goes from 1.1M to 3.8M

-17M new jobs

-per capita GNP from $573-$1,074

-corporate profits increase by 70%

-real wages increase by 50%

• Manhattan Project

Patriotism & Social Change

WWII & Civil Rights• 1M serve in armed forces & military

segregation ends• Double-V Campaign

– March on Washington threatened by A. Philip Randolph

-FDR responds with Executive Order 8802 which outlaws discrimination in federal agencies and all unions and companies involved in war production

-establishes Fair Employment Practices Commission

-average yearly wages for blacks increase from $457 to $1,976 (whites increase from $1,064 to $2,600)

• CORE founded in 1942• Detroit race riot in 1943 kills 25 blacks

and 9 whites

Japanese Internment• 112,000 Japanese-Americans

imprisoned in internment camps-2/3 were US citizens

-1941 Munson Report had found that there was no serious threat of sabotage by Japanese-Americans

• February 1942, FDR orders evacuation of all Japanese-Americans from the West Coast-not from Hawaii

-racism plays a role

-many Japanese-Americans lose their businesses & farms

• Japanese-Americans remain loyal & the 442 Regimental Combat Team becomes one of the most decorated units in the war with highest casualty rates

Women in WW II• Women working outside home

increases from 13M to 19M-300,000 women join armed forces

and serve in jobs other than nurses-75% are married-33% have young children-many work in industrial jobs

• “Rosie the Riveter” campaigns to get women to work helps destroy ideal of the “cult of true womanhood”

• Marriage rate soars during war; divorce and birth rates soar after

• Nevertheless, women’s roles after the war did not change significantly

Migration During World War II