Transcript World war two and the americas

•Hemispheric
cooperation and neutrality
•The
role of countries of the region: diplomatic and military
•The
impact of the war on countries of the region
•The
home front: the role of women, impact on minorities
•Treatment
of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians
•The
Americas and the Holocaust
•The
beginning of the atomic age

Our entry was a consequence of the Japanese naval air attack on
Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 and a German declaration of war
Accredited to Japanese militarism and an ambition to establish
exclusive domination over greater East Asia, including S.E. Asia and the
Western Pacific
 China and U.S were the first two targets
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Committed to neutrality up to the before mentioned event
The U.S had actually been involved morally and effectively for a year
before that date
 U.S. strategic planning had centered on continental and hemispheric
defense
 U.S attempted to contain Japan through diplomacy, through Japan’s
increasing economic pressure on their need for imported metals and
petroleum
 U.S froze all Japanese assets in America and embargoed all oil and
petroleum exports to Japan
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Without the oil (East Indian) Japan’s air force and navy would be paralyzed
Led the extreme nationalists in Japan to support war against the U.S.
Pearl Harbor emerged as a plan in the summer of ‘41 and was only adopted
reluctantly in October
Between Europe and the Pacific (Japan) two separate conflicts had
become one global war
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Hitler saw, after the destruction of the Soviet Union and the
annexation of its agricultural and energy resources, the United
States as the ultimate enemy
U.S. Lend Lease Act and Agreements

“SEC. 3. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the President may, from
time to time. when he deems it in the interest of national defense, authorize the
Secretary Of War, the Secretary of the Navy, or the bead of any other department or
agency of the Government (1) To manufacture in arsenals, factories, and shipyards under their jurisdiction, or
otherwise procure, to the extent to which funds are made available therefor, or
contracts are authorized from time to time by the Congress, or both, any defense
article for the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to
the defense of the United States.
(2) To sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any
such government any defense article, but no defense article not manufactured or
procured under paragraph (1)”
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We were giving rearmament and sufficient aid to maintain British
resistance and thereby keep the Germans preoccupied in Europe
Pearl Harbor forced Germany into declaring war on the United
States

Although the two were already in an undeclared naval war in the
Atlantic by the fall of ‘41

Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union provided
Great Britain and the U.S with another ally
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1st wartime summit conference: Atlantic Charter
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Lofty war aims focusing on national self-determination and
eschewing any territorial desires
Germanys declaration of war on the U.S formally
globalized the conflict
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Arcadia Conference
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Allies had “Germany First” strategy
Created a Combined Chiefs of Staff to run the war and report
directly to the “Big Three” (Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt)
Full unity of command of all British and American land, naval,
and air forces in all theaters
Specific priorities for those theatres
Combined Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa
Agreed to a global division of responsibility whereby the U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) assumed primary responsibility for
the Pacific and the British chiefs for the Middle East, while
the European theatre remained a combined responsibility
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In the Pacific
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Spring of ’42 two pivotal naval air engagements
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Fall of ‘42
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Halted Japanese offensive on New Guinea and took
Guadalcanal
Europe
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Fall of ‘42, a collection of battles and campaigns may
constitute the “turning point” of the war
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Coral Sea: both fleets never saw each other and was a draw
but a strategic victory for U.S b/c it halted the Japanese Navy
advance
Battle of Midway: maybe the most decisive of the war and in
naval history. U.S. broke Japanese naval code and destroyed 4
aircraft carriers and 253 planes
Montgomery (GB) defeated Rommel (G) @ El Alamein
Eisenhower invaded Casablanca and Algiers
Red Army forced the surrender of entire German Sixth Army in
Stalingrad
These all gave strategic initiative to the Allies
 Roosevelt
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and Churchill meet again in Early ‘43
Casablanca to plan future strategy
Invasion of Sicily
Probable cross-channel operation
1st priority to German subs in the Atlantic
2nd to a bomber offensive of Germany from the U.K
“Unconditional Surrender” Roosevelt verbalized this
for many diplomatic reasons
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Reassure Stalin in the continued absence of a second front
Reassure Chiang in the continued absence of a major
military effort in the China theatre
Reassure British and American opinion of some
compromises/decisions that had been made thus far
This would now become official allied policy, postponing
territorial issues until the war’s end
 Middle
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European and American forces successfully invaded
Italy
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Ousted Mussolini and began secret peace negotiations
Surrendered the third of September
In Pacific
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of ’43
Moved up Solomon Islands
Stopped Japanese advance in New Guinea
Started leapfrogging maneuvers forcing a series of Japanese
defeats
Discussed idea of Cross Channel assault (Overlord)
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“Big Three” meet at Tehran at the end of ‘43
Launch Overlord in May of ’44 – Eisenhower to command
operation
 Stalin made promise to launch Soviet offensive in the east
and enter the war with Japan once Germany had been
defeated
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These “Big 3” meetings would provide critical both
militarily and politically
Agreed upon strategy that would preserve the alliance and
lead to total military victory
 Established the essential prerequisites for a new postwar
order based on Allied dominance and cooperation
 Marked both a decline in British power and the rise of the
Soviet Union and the U.S.
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These two emerging superpowers would exercise
more control over both the war effort and
postwar plans

Operation Overlord
Largest amphibious invasion in history
 June, 6 1944 against Normandy Coast
 British/American forces went through
France, Soviets pressing from East, &
allied forces coming up the Rhone
Valley in Southern France from Italy, joining the
Normandy Coast forces
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In Pacific during ‘44
Continued winning with “leapfrogging” techniques
 Battle of Leyte Gulf, largest Naval engagement in History,
Japanese surface fleet was virtually destroyed and U.S.
subs sunk much of their merchant fleet
 Saw Japanese suicidal tactics, kamikaze, increasing both
the length of battles and the number of casualties
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‘44 marked by progress in postwar planning
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Established a new postwar economic order
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Agreed on essentials of a postwar collective security
organization
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World Bank and an International Monetary Fund
United Nations
Hitler launched a counteroffensive in the Ardennes
Forest to try and Split U.S and U.K forces
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Largest U.S. engagement of the War
Massive Soviet offensive that brought the Red Army
to within thirty-five miles of Berlin
 April of ‘45 Soviet and American forces met and
split Germany in half
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Hitler committed suicide
 Soviets took Berlin
 May, Germany signs unconditional surrender
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 1st
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U.S. made substantial progress in Pacific
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half of ‘45 in Pacific
Liberated Philippines
Destroyed what remained of merchant fleet
Conquering Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Launched a strategic bombing campaign against Japanese
cities
August 6, Hiroshima destroyed
August 8, Soviet Union enters war fulfilling Yalta
Pledge
August 9, Nagasaki Destroyed
September 2, signed official surrender
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2nd “Big 3” Conference in February of ‘45 in Yalta
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Agreement on operations for the final defeat of Germany
Military occupation zones of Berlin
Shift of Polish boundaries westward
Free postwar elections for all of Europe
Outline charter for what would become the U.N.
Soviet entry into war with Japan
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In return for territorial concessions of losses from Russo-Japanese War of
1904-1905.
** The dawn of the Cold War led to severe condemnation of
Roosevelt b/c of many of these agreements.
** He believed that they had guaranteed both total victory and
a stable postwar peace, the terms were understandable and
unavoidable in light of the power, position, and continued
importance of the Red Army to the war effort.
** These two nations definitions of a secure postwar world
began to collide and mutual suspicions increased. The method
by which the war against Japan came to an end both reflected
and reinforced those collisions and suspicions.
 From
1929 to 1945 there was a significant
change in U.S. policy toward Latin America
 The Good Neighbor Policy ushered in a new era
in U.S.-Latin American relations.
 Despite all of its flaws it brought a closer spirit
of cooperation and conciliation than ever
before
 Hoover made a seven week good will trip
visiting over half the countries in L.A.
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Withdrew all troops in Nicaragua by June of ‘31
‘32 negotiated the complete withdrawal of troops
from Haiti
 Roosevelt
and era
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ushered in the “Good Neighbor Policy”
President FDR took office determined to improve
relations with the nations of Central and South
America.
Platform called for “no interference in the internal
affairs of other nations” and for “cooperation with
nations of the Western Hemisphere to maintain the
spirit of the Monroe Doctrine.”
Called for a L.A. policy based on the “neighbor who
resolutely respects himself and, because he does so,
respects the rights of others—the neighbor who
respects his agreements in and with a world of
neighbors.”
Believed Latin Americans would maintain order for
promises of nonintervention

Good Neighbor Policy, 1933
Emphasized cooperation and trade rather than military force
to maintain stability in the hemisphere.
 In December Roosevelt stated, "The definite policy of the
United States from now on is one opposed to armed
intervention.“
 Good Neighbor policy represented an attempt to distance
the United States from earlier interventionist policies, such
as the Roosevelt Corollary and military interventions in the
region during the 1910s and 1920s.
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Dollar and Big stick had to go
‘35 U.S. negotiated a reciprocal trade treaty with Cuba,
Columbia, Brazil, and Haiti
 By ‘41 this included Venezuela, Central American Nations,
Ecuador, Andean republics, and Mexico
 Outbreak of WWII and the retraction of European
competitors further strengthened the economic relationship
between the U.S. and L.A.
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 Buenos
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Argentina was becoming fascist and supporter of the
Axis powers
Resolution between U.S. and L.A. countries to settle
peacefully all disputes between countries
 Mexico
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Aires Meeting ‘36
Tests Good Neighbor Policy ‘34
President Lazaro Cardenas implements major
provisions from Constitution of 1917
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Seized millions of acres of land and redistributed it to
peasants
Seized the subsoil rights from U.S. oil companies
 U.S. Roosevelt recognized the Mexican governments right
to seize the rights but steadfastly called for fair
compensation
Mexico later entered WWII as a cooperative ally and not the
pain of a neighbor she had been in WWI
 Declaration
of Panama, adopted 1st month of
WWII, 1939
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1st collective action by nations of the Western
Hemisphere to meet dangers of WWII
Declared “safety belt” around the hemisphere,
extending from 300 to 1000 miles from the eastern
and western coastlines; European belligerents were
warned to desist from naval and military operations
in this area
Any violation would be considered an attack of
aggression against all of the republics.
 Act
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of Havana ’40
Prevent transfer of conquered European territories
to hostile powers and reaffirmed that an attack on
any nation in the hemisphere was an attack on all
and would be met with common defense
 Lend
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Lease Act towards Latin America-late ‘41
Aside from Argentina each major L.A. country
received military equipment and training
Over $475 million went to L.A. from ‘41 to ‘45
 Pearl
Harbor forced many L.A. countries to
declare war, though many waited because of
economic ties to Europe and Axis were still in
control at this time
 WWII
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had a great impact on Brazil
Improved port facilities, new modern airfields,
refurbished railroads, stimulated manufacturing,
agriculture, and mining, gained combat experience
and the latest equipment
Laid foundation for development in next half century
‘42 broke relations with the Axis and entered the war
officially in August
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Hosted the largest U.S. air base outside U.S. territory, tied
its economy to the U.S, sent its navy in pursuit of German UBoats, and provided expeditionary force and a fighter
squadron on the Italian front
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War benefitted Brazil financially and increased
political clout
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Vargas used the onset of war to broaden popular support
for the regime
Offered opportunity to construct an infrastructure
that would allow nationally controlled economic
development
U.S. desperately needed certain Brazilian products and the
strategically important air and naval bases
 Sole source of quartz crystals used in military
communications equipment
 U.S. factories also needed Brazils iron ore, rubber, chrome,
etc…and thorium rich monazite sands used in atomic
energy research
 Negotiated guaranteed price agreements with U.S. that
assured Brazil of a consistent return on its exports
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Brazil’s leaders saw the need to make the blood
sacrifice
Brazil sent its soldiers to fight to claim a larger role in
postwar reconstruction
 Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB)
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Troops sent to Italy, totaling 25,334
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Brazilian idea and calculated policy of Vargas government
Formed a 4 division expeditionary corps
End of ‘44 1000 Brazilian military personnel had gone to U.S. –
largest contingent of any one foreign nation to pass through its
classrooms
Pursued retreating German Units
Helped with French Invasion
Bulk of combat experience was at the platoon level
During WWII, Brazil…supplier of strategic raw
materials, site of important air and naval bases, skillful
supporter of U.S., contributed naval units, combat
fighter squadron, and 25,000 strong infantry division
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Brazilian leaders believed:
…the traditional policy of “supporting the
United States in the world in exchange for its
support in South America” should be maintained
“until the victory of American arms in the war
and until the victory and consolidation of
American ideals in the peace.”
…The United States would lead the world
when peace was restored and it would be a
grave error for Brazil not to be at its side
…Brazil was at the mercy of more powerful
nations and , unless it had a mighty ally, “the
future of Brazil will be everyone’s, except the
Brazilians.”
 Canada
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Limited War effort b/c of hard times and horrors of
earlier war
Complacency quickly shaken with Battle of Britain in
1940, France falling, and the evacuation of Dunkirk
@ outset of war saw contribution in production of
war supplies not so much armed forces
With the U.S. and Soviets vow of neutrality until ‘41,
Canada stood as the next strongest nation to Britain
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This however brought conscription back to the forefront
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Wartime Production began
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Factories boomed, unemployment disappeared,
produced
military supplies, rationed goods, and froze prices and
wages
Women entered the labor force – “Bren Gun Girl”
Victory in ’45 over 1 million Canadians saw service
overseas
Devoted much diplomatic energy to winning U.S. to
support of the Allies
 Financial arrangements made for Canada to finance
war materials being provided for England under the
lend-lease agreement
 Marked Canada’s passage from the British to the
U.S. Sphere of Influence
MUCH THE SAME ROLE DIPLOMATICALLY AND
MILITARILY AS THE UNITED STATES
 The
War inflamed a long tradition of racism
against people of Asian descent
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In ‘43 started recruiting Japanese-Americans for
military service
The entire Japanese and Japanese American
population of the West Coast was transported to
internment camps
More than 100,000 would spend their war time behind
barbed wire in “relocation camps”
Upheld by the Supreme Court when taken there by an
individual
 Minorities
sought work in the booming war
industries
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Racism occurred against them as well, namely
Mexican Americans and African Americans
Attacks against Mexican Americans took place in S.
California
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Zoot Suit Riots, U.S. Sailors
In Detroit a race riot would leave 35 dead and 700
wounded most being African American
 Jobs
were still mainly for whites
 Military segregated black soldiers and gave
them low-level jobs
 Executive order 8802: prohibited
discrimination in war industries-not in the
armed forces
 (FEPC) Fair Employment Practices
Committee, opened new jobs for blacks
 Made slow gains, distinguished themselves in
battle, and eventually fought side by side in
battle with whites
 No
government child care services provided
for women
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Women still flocked to defense plants
 “Rosie
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the Riveter” was based on fact
Millions of women took the hardest jobs, receiving full
status, working in shipyards, steel mills, aircraft
plants, and every heavy industry except mining
Employers eagerly recruited women;
5 million had jobs; told to think of their
work as a temporary necessity, a wartime
duty!
 Roosevelt
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War Production Board
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Order out of chaos
Controlled Materials Plan
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What we needed to produce for war
Office of Economic Stabilization
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created a number of agencies
Allocate critical commodities
Rationing
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Popular acceptance
Gasoline, rubber, speed limits,
food, clothing, and other consumer
goods
Stamps in addition to cash
Victory gardens 8 million tons of
produce
 War
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Income tax extended to all workers
Collected “at source” in form of payroll deductions
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Financing
7 to 42 million taxpayers
$318 billion to finance war
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45% came from current revenues (taxes)
Rest came from, public donations, banks, and $49 billion in
liberty bonds
 Industry
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and Manufacturing
Autos, home appliances, etc…were suspended
Industrial wages rose 22%
Net farm income doubled
Government imposed price and wage control which
helped with inflation
 “Arsenal
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Armed and equipped not only its own forces but the
other Allied nations as well
$50 billion in Lend-Lease aid flowed to all corners off
the world
Britain received about half of this and Soviet Union
about $10 billion of it
 National
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of Democracy”
elections
Determined by military events
String of defeats put Republicans in
String of victory put Republicans out
 No
ministry of Propaganda
 Instead Office of War Information
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Looked after radio, advertisements, and movies
 Weapons
development was one of the great
successes of the war
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Office of Scientific Research and Development
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Coordinated advancements in weaponry
Cooperation between military, industrial, and educational
experts to a level never before seen
 Radar, proximity fuse, etc…
Persuaded Roosevelt to back what became the Atomic bomb
and which took building a whole industry from scratch and
persuading congress to finance a secret effort, Manhattan
Project, without being told what it was paying for
 Popular
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Didn’t need ration tickets
Ball parks, racetracks, movies, and music
 War
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 At
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made life seem precious
Suicide rate fell by a third
Birth and marriage rates soared
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Entertainment Boomed
Early signs of what would become the baby boom that
would transform the nation
war’s end they felt proud
Saving their country from defeat
Saving democracy, putting all free peoples in there
debt
 1933-1945
six million Jewish slaughtered
 Death Camps
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Basic purpose was to kill the Jewish, gas chambers
were built for that purpose, six death camps all in
Poland under the supervision of the S.S.
Firing squads, secret police
 This
was the “final solution” to the Jewish
Question
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Swastika was ancient symbol, 6000 yrs old that
originally meant good luck
Third Reich (empire):
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1st : 962 - 1806 Roman
2nd : 1871 – 1890 Bismark
3rd : 1933 – 1945 Hitler
Great Debate on Americas response to the
Holocaust – Did we do all we could or not?
 The key to this debate is to look at the events and
responses in context of the realities of WWII and
the events and values of the years that preceded it

Hitler had set up laws and red tape against emigration
 Jews did not desire to leave their country unless it was
absolutely necessary
 At the time nobody inside or outside Germany
anticipated that the Nazi persecution of the Jews would
lead to the Holocaust
 Actions of German government were generally
understood by both victims and bystanders as a return
to the sorts of persecutions of prior centuries, not as
steps toward genocide


Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) forced many
hand…
November 9-10, 1938. On a single night, 91 Jews were
murdered and 25,000–30,000 were arrested and deported
to concentration camps.
 The Nazis coordinated an attack on Jewish people and
their property.
 In a single night, Jews saw the destruction of more than
200 synagogues and the ransacking of thousands of Jewish
businesses and homes.
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Between ‘33 and ‘41, 35 percent of all immigrants to
the U.S. under quota guidelines were Jewish. After
Kristallnacht, Jewish immigrants were more than
half of all immigrants admitted to the United States
 The War made further emigration impossible, but 72
% of all German Jews had left the country and 83% of
all those under twenty-one

When the Holocaust had taken place it was beyond
the belief and the comprehension of almost all
people living at the time, Jews included
 Nevertheless, the U.S., took in double the number
of Jewish refugees accepted by the rest of the
world
 Special squads of the German SS—the
Einsatzgruppen—slaughered 1.5 millions Jews
behind the German lines in Russia
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These were not refugees they were prisoners with no
hope of escape or rescue
Prisoners of Hitler could only be saved by the
unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and that
took four years and the mobilization of people and
resources by the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet
Union

Bomb Auschwitz? The worst of the Camps

Rail lines could easily be rebuilt with in days
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Plus the inmates of the cars and those at departure points
would have died of thirst, starvation, heat, cold, while the
lines were repaired
Give Germans a pretext to say that the Allies killed the
Jews
January of ‘44 we developed the War Refugee Board
(Executive Order 9417)
Created to aid civilian victims of the Nazi and Axis
powers. Created largely at the behest of Secretary of
Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,
 Subsequently credited with rescuing as many as 200,000
Jews from Nazi occupied countries, the commission has
nevertheless received mixed praise because of the failure
of the United States to act sooner despite clear evidence
of ongoing atrocities in Nazi-occupied Europe.

United States was physically undamaged and
economically vitalized by the war
 America was now a ‘superpower’ and most expected
it to act like one
 Axis aggression, the Depression, Soviet Union, and
technological advances presented new threats to
America’s economic and military security.

These ‘threats’ would force the U.S to mobilize power
even in peacetime
 Gen. George C. Marshall would put the after war thought
into these words:
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Vast ‘ocean distances’ that once protected America had
evaporated; reliance on such outdated factors would put ‘the
treasure and freedom of this great Nation in a paper bag’
Roosevelt would voice the public’s desire for a better
life and for “security”

Reasonable expectation after WWI aftermath, Depression,
and the enemies of WWII
 Postwar
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Fear b/c of last postwar economic struggle
Hope b/c of promise of reward for wartime struggles

Met through the G.I. Bill
 WWII
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economy attracted fear and hope
undermined the existing racial system
Reshaped national priorities about race
FDR said “a nation facing ‘totalitarianism’ should
strengthen its unity and morale by refuting at home
the very theories which we are fighting abroad”
 Truman
banned segregation and discrimination in
the military
 WWII reworked the systems of gender

Praising women’s contributions
American’s fragile mix of anxiety and arrogance,
stoked by their possession and use of atomic
weapons, shaped perceptions of the Soviet Union
 The War’s greatest legacy was Americans’ newfound
sense of permanent peril and the Cold War it helped
to nourish
 The Cold War gave permanence to temporary
wartime improvisations in national governance

secrecy, conscription, repression, industrial and scientific
mobilization, and high levels of defense spending
 Exercise of awesome military and economic power
 More powerful national government
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GI Bill, civil rights initiatives, education federal aid
Massive government spending promoted prosperity – a
lesson learned through war and depression
 Forged
a new sense of patriotism and nationhood
 America was now the world’s cultural capital
 Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, and the Atomic
Bomb were dramatized in movies and television
 The A-Bomb was at first thought as “what we
could do to others” but quickly turned to what
others-Soviet Union-could do to the U.S.

Thus, forming Washington’s Cold War policies
 The

War was a benchmark of greatness
Military service became a virtual requirement for the
Presidency during the Cold War