Transcript Chapter 25
Chapter 25 Americans and a World Crisis 1933-1945 Introduction • How did President Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor Policy” affect US-Latin American relations? • How did the American people and their government respond to the international crises of the 1930’s? • How did President Roosevelt and Congress mobilize the country for war? • What impact did the war have on the US economy? • How did the war change US society and affect minorities and women? • What were the different goals of the US, Great Britain and the Soviet Union and how did these goals affect combat strategies? • Why did President Truman decide to drop the atomic bombs on Japan and was he justified in doing so? The US in a Menacing World 19331939 • US improves relationship with Latin America • Fascism takes over Spain, Italy, Germany and Japan Nationalism and the Good Neighbor • Franklin Roosevelt- “No country has the right to interfere in the internal or external affairs of another” • Roosevelt withdrew American troops from Haiti, reduced American domination over Panama and the Canal Zone • Roosevelt decided not to use force against leftists government of Mexico and Cuba The Rise of Aggressive States in Europe and Asia • 1936 Axis Alliance • Benito Mussolini- 1922- Italy – Invade Ethiopia • Adolf Hitler- 1933- Germany – – – – – 1936 Re-militarized the Rhineland Kristallnacht 1938- Sudetenland Munich Conference Appeasement • Japanese Imperialists – Japan seizes Manchuria – 1937 war with China The American Mood: No More war • WWI was a mistake • Nye Committee- bankers and weapons suppliers played a role in drawing US into WWI • 1930’s novelists, playwrights, film makers condemned war • Neutrality Act prohibited US from trading with belligerents • Isolationism The Gathering Storm 1938-1939 • • • • 1939- Hitler seizes Czechoslovakia German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact Mussolini attacks Albania FDR asks Hitler and Mussolini to pledge not to attack any other countries • FDR asks Congress to begin preparing US defenses America and the Jewish Refugees • 1935 Nuremberg laws • 60,000 Jews entered the US between 1933-1938 • Leo Szilard and James Franck helped build the atomic bomb • US refused to adjust immigration limits • 1939 St. Louis was forced to return to Europe carrying Jewish refugees. The European War • • • • • • • • • WWII began on September 1, 1939 Adolf Hitler and Germany attacked Poland Great Britain and France declared war on Germany US revised the Neutrality Acts to “Cash and Carry” for Great Britain and France April 1940 Germany troops overtook Denmark and Norway May 1940 German troops took over the Netherlands and Belgium June 1940- France falls to Germany Winston Churchill appeals to US for assistance Majority of Americans still not willing to enter the war From Isolation to Intervention • Because of the situation, Roosevelt decides to run for an unprecedented third term • Republicans run Wendell Wilkie • Roosevelt wins and Congress adds “Lend Lease” to the Neutrality Acts • FDR finds out that Great Britain is struggling financially • US may lend military equipment to countries that are vital to US security passed in March 1941 • Germany attacks USSR in June 1941. • US extends Lend lease to USSR • Most of the supplies ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic because of German U-Boats • US convoy system is used to counter submarine threat • Roosevelt and Churchill meet in the summer of 1941 in Newfoundland- agreement is called the Atlantic Charter Pearl Harbor and the Coming of War • • • • • Greater-East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere/ Asians for Asia US reacts by refusing to sell aviation fuel to Japan July 1940 US places an embargo on Japanese goods July 1941 US seizes Japanese assets in the US Hideki Tojo sends representatives to Washington to renegotiate trade treaty with US • December 7th 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor believing the loss of ships and a fueling station would make the US vulnerable. • December 11th Germany and Italy declare war on US. Organizing For Victory • • • • FDR creates the Joint Chiefs of Staff Office of Strategic Services (CIA) War Production Board Office of War Mobilization- James Byrne The War Economy • Wartime economy boomed • Industrial workers purchasing power increased by 50% • Corporate profits rose 70% • 17 million new jobs were created • Smith-Connally Act stripped unions of the right to strike during wartime • Office of Price Administration- imposed rationing • Federal taxes and war bonds paid for the war effort A “Wizard War” • Thousands of scientists were employed for victory • Manhattan project • J. Robert Oppenheimer • July 16th 1945 first atomic bomb was exploded in New Mexico Propaganda and Politics • Office of War Information • Office of Censorship • New Deal Programs were cut by conservative Republicans and Democrats Liberating Europe • British and Americans decided to defeat Germany first and then concentrate on Japan • Stalin wanted a direct attack on Germany to open a second front and help ease pressure on Russian troops • US decided instead to attack Germany in North Africa and then in Sicily and Italy. • Stalingrad • D-Day • Battle of the Bulge War in the Pacific • • • • Battle of Coral Sea Battle of Midway Island Hopping Solomon, Gilbert, Marshall, Mariana, Philippines and Leyte Gulf The Grand Alliance • US – – – – Defeat fascism Open trade Self determination Roosevelt wins 4th term in 1944 • USSR – Weaken Germany forever – Dominate Eastern Europe • Great Britain – Colonial Empire and maintain balance or power in Europe The GI’s War • 15 Million Americans serve in WWII • Young people experienced foreign cities and countries • Came in contact with different religions, ethnicities, classes and religions The Home Front • 15 Million Americans changed locations • Poor Whites, Blacks and Latinos moved to cities to seek jobs in war production plants • High School enrollment dropped as teenagers took full time jobs • War news reels • Rosie the Riveter • Marriage, birth and divorce rates soared • 300,000 women joined the armed forces (WAC’s, WAVES) Racism and New Opportunities • NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality lead the fight for Civil Rights • A. Phillip Randolph • FDR signs an executive order in 1941 prohibiting racial discrimination in hiring and promotion by government agencies and defense contractors • Fair Employment Practices Commission created/little power/wartime labor shortages opened jobs to blacks • 1million African American soldiers serve in WWII/segregated • Great migration continues • Race Riots in Detroit War and Diversity • • • • • 25,000 Native Americans served in the armed forces 50,000 worked in defense industries Many returned to reservations after the war Congress slashed appropriations for the reservations Mexicans entered the country legally and illegally to seek jobs in the defense industries Prejudice against Mexicans and Mexican Americans led to the zoot-suit riots • 350,000 Mexican-Americans served in WWII • Each of these groups emerged from WWII with demands for equality The Internment and JapaneseAmericans • • • • Hysteria over Pearl Harbor Fear of japanese invasion of the mainland Prejudicew against Asian Americans 112,000 Japanese Americans were locked into internment camps • Korematsu vs. US 1944 • Reparations The Yalta Conference • Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met in February 1945 to discuss postwar Europe • United Nations • War with Japan Victory in Europe • April 1945- Americans and Russians met at Elbe River • Hitler commits suicide • May 2nd Berlin falls to Soviets • May 8th Germany surrenders • Roosevelt died April 12 • Harry Truman becomes President • San Francisco Conference outlines the United Nations Charter • Potsdam 1945 July 1945 Grand Alliance disintegrates The Holocaust • 1942- Most Americans did not believe the reports coming from Germany • FDR administration chose to concentrate on winning the war as quickly as possible • US did not want to admit large numbers of Jewish refugees • Great Britain did not want to offend Arab allies • 1945- Nazis had murdered 6-9 million Jews, Gypsies, Communists, Inferiors The Atomic Bombs • • • • Fighting in the Pacific continues Iwo Jima Okinawa Potsdam declaration- Surrender or suffer destruction • August 6th Hiroshima • August 8th Nagasaki