Transcript America In WWII

America In WWII
Chapter 36
1941-1945
America at War
Goal – “Germany
First”
Devote energies to
defeating Germany in
Europe, then focus on
Japan
Hitler is the bigger
threat
US Treatment of Japanese
Over 100,000
Japanese-Americans
were placed in
concentration camps
Washington believed
they may act on the
side of Japan and
cripple the US
Building the War Machine
American factories
produced an enormous
amount of weaponry,
such as guns and
planes
The War Production
Board (WPB) – in
charge of production
War Efforts
WPB halted production of passenger cars,
rationed gasoline, and set a national speed limit
War Labor Board – placed ceilings on wage
increases
Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act – authorized
government to take over businesses that went
on strike. (1943) ex. coal mines, railroads, etc.
Manpower and Womanpower
The draft left the
nation’s farms and
factories shorthanded.
1942 – agreement
made with Mexico to
bring in braceros to
work in fruit and grain
crops in the West
Manpower and Womanpower
US Armed Services –
enlisted 216,000
women in WWII.
Many women took
jobs outside the home
in the war industry
Population
1.6 million blacks left for jobs in the North and West
– Great Migration
South – received most of the defense contracts in
order to fix economic crisis in the South beginnings
of the Sunbelt
25,000 Native Americans served in US Armed
Forces
Comanche in Europe and Navajo in Pacific became
“code talkers”
The Home Front
Americans at home
suffered little from the
war
The national debt
grew from $41 billion
in 1941 to $259 billion
by 1945
WWII
Japan attacked Guam,
Wake Island, and the
Philippines
Gen. Douglas
Macarthur led
American forces at the
Philippines
April 9, 1942 – US
had to retreat at
Bataan
Japan and Midway
May 1942 – Battle of the
Coral Sea – Americans
win first battle that was
based on an aircraft
carrier
June 3-6, 1942 – Battle
of Midway – Japanese
retreated after losing four
carriers
Turning point of war in
the Pacific
Toward Tokyo
August 1942 - American forces gained foothold on
Guadalcanal Island and the Solomon Islands in an
attempt to protect the supply-lines from America to
Australia through the Southwest Pacific.
US Navy leapfrogged islands controlled by Japan on its
way to Tokyo – “Island Hopping”
Major islands of the Marianas fell to U.S. attackers in
July and August 1944
From the Marianas, US B-29 bombers could reach Japan
The Halting of Hitler
Hitler entered the war
with a superb group of
U-boats
Oct. 1942 – US and
allied forces win at El
Alamein in North Africa
Sept. 1942 – Soviets
drive Germans out after
attack on Stalingrad
North Africa To Rome
Nov. 1942 – Dwight
Eisenhower led troops
against Axis troops in
North Africa
The German-Italy
army was trapped in
Tunisia in May 1943.
Allied forces captured
Sicily in August 1943
North Africa To Rome
September 1943, Italy surrendered
unconditionally and Mussolini was
overthrown.
Nazis attempted to hold on to Italy.
Rome was taken on June 4, 1944
D-Day – June 6, 1944
Roosevelt, Churchill, and
Stalin met at Tehran, Iran
from Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1943
US Gen. Eisenhower given
command
French Normandy was
chosen as place to invade
France
Paris was liberated August
25, 1944
FDR’s Fourth Term
Election of 1944
FDR (D)
Thomas Dewey (R)
FDR won by a
landslide because
Americans did not
want a new president
in the middle of a war
The Last Days of Hitler
Battle of the Bulge – Hitler’s last attempt at
keeping war hopes alive
Dec. 15, 1944 –US forces stood firm and won
April 1945 – Ike’s troops reach the Elbe River,
finding and liberating concentration camps
The Last Days of Hitler
The Soviets reached Berlin
in April 1945
Adolph Hitler committed
suicide April 30, 1945
April 12, 1945 – FDR died
suddenly of a brain
hemorrhage – Truman takes
over
May 7, 1945 – German
government surrendered
officially.
Japan Dies Hard
Submarines and bombers continued to
inflict damage upon Japan.
Leyte Gulf - series of 3 battles took place
from October 23-26, 1944, knocking out
Japan’s massive and powerful Navy.
Iwo Jima was captured in March 1945.
Needed for US bombers to land.
The Atomic Bomb
Potsdam Conference –
Truman, Churchill,
and Stalin announced
that Japan must
surrender or be
destroyed.
July 16, 1945 - first
atomic bomb was
detonated
The Atomic Bomb
“Little Man” - 1
“Fat Boy” – 2
Japan refused to
surrender
Aug. 6, 1945 – Atomic
Bomb dropped on
Hiroshima
Japan refused to
surrender
Aug. 9, 1945 – Atomic
Bomb dropped on
Nagasaki
The Surrender of Japan
August 10, 1945 –
Japan surrendered
under the condition
that the Emperor
Hirohito be allowed to
remain emperor
The formal end of the
war came on Sept. 2,
1945
War Casualties
U.S. casualties – 1,000,000
U.S.S.R. casualties – 20,000,000
After the war, much of the world was destroyed
with the exception of the United States – it was
left untouched.