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World War II: Abroad and at

Home

Chapter 22

Unit 5: 1920-1945

Depression and Diplomacy

• During the Great Depression, U.S. foreign

policy became isolationist

– Good Neighbor policy restricted U.S. intervention

in Latin America

• U.S. supported Europe’s policy of

appeasement towards Germany

• Congress passed neutrality acts banning travel

and arms sales

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Limited Involvement• Once war was declared in Europe, U.S.

provided allies with weapons and resources

– “Cash and Carry” sold arms to Britain if they paid

cash and transported themselves

– Lend-lease Act (1941) sent aid in exchange for

leases on military sites overseas

• Froze Japanese assets and placed an embargo

on oil sales

Pearl Harbor

• On December 7, 1941

Japanese planes launched a

surprise attack on the U.S.

Naval Base in Hawaii

-More than 2000 Americans killed

• Congress declared war on

Japan on December 8

– Germany declared war on the

U.S. on December 11

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Pacific Theatre• Japanese forced American and

Filipino POWs on a death march

after the Battle of Bataan in

1942

• Battle of Midway reduced the

number of Japanese aircraft

carriers and was a turning point

• Nimitz and MacArthur’s island

hopping campaign reconquered

pacific islands one by one

European Theatre

• American troops supported operations in North Africa and liberated Italy in 1943

• Participated in Operation Overlord (D-Day) on June 6, 1944

– Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy

• V-E Day: Germans surrendered on May 8, 1945

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Truman and the Bomb

• FDR died April 12, 1945, leaving vice-president Harry Truman to lead through the end of the war.

• The Manhattan Project worked secretly to produce an atomic weapon before the Nazis

• In August 1945, Truman made the decision to use the weapons on Japan and force a surrender

Four Freedoms

• FDR’s speech provided a moral basis for American involvement in WWII

• Freedom of Speech and Worship

• Freedom from Want

• Freedom from Fear

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Home front

• Industries mobilized were transitioned to wartime production

– Fed. agencies controlled production and prices

• Pacific Coast boomed as defense industries (especially aircraft) moved west

• Rubber, gasoline, and sugar were rationed

– Victory gardens to produce food and free workers for defense

Women at War

• When servicemen were

shipped overseas, women

took on administrative

roles in the military

– WAACs, WAVEs, WASPs,

and SPARs

• Women worked in the

defense industries

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Japanese-American Internment

• FDR issued Executive Order 9066 allowed military to relocate people considered a national security threat

• Over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry were sent to internment camps across the country (3 in Texas)

– 2/3 were American citizens

– Most evacuated from the west coast

• Men, women and children were kept in the

camps until 1945

• In Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) the Supreme court

found that the internment of Japanese-

Americans was constitutional

– The need to protect against espionage in wartime

was more important than individual rights

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Latinos and WWII

• Bracero Program: Mexican agricultural laborers

brought to work in U.S.

– Promised minimum wage and basic rights

• Zoot Suit Riot (1943): Fight between Mexican-

American youth and sailors in Los Angeles

• American GI Forum founded in 1948 to assist

Hispanic veterans

Double V and the Birth of Civil Rights

• Black soldiers served in segregated units during WWII

– Army integrated in 1948

• A. Phillip Randolph led movements for desegregation

– Pressured FDR to ban discrimination in defense industries

– Fair Employment Practices commission

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Post War World

• Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1945

– Leaders of the U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R met to discuss plans for post-war Europe

• United Nations was created to encourage global cooperation and avoid another world war

– Replaced the League of Nations