BIG QUESTION:

How did WWII provide both opportunities and hardships for Americans?

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BUILDING THE WAR MACHINE

• Lend-Lease Act already began US shift toward War Economy
• War Production Board (WPB) stopped making “non-essential items” (ex. passenger cars) & shifted to war production
• Similar to WWI: rationing, liberty bonds, victory gardens, etc.
• War Labor Board (WLB) imposed ceilings on wage increases → unions called for strikes → Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943) allowed gov to take over striking industries
• Bracero Program brought in Mexican migrants to fill shortages of farm labor caused by draft
• Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to monitor compliance with his executive order that forbade discrimination in defense industries → increased African American employment in war industries

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TEMPORARY OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

• Women filled factory jobs (ex. Rosie the Riveter)
• Nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform: volunteering for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES), the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS), and the Army & Navy Nurses Corps
• At the war’s end, women were forced out by men returning home
• Women veterans were often denied access to benefit programs for veterans like the G.I. Bill.

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All civilian auto production was halted by February 1942. Any Fords built after that date were sent away to government warehouses or turned over to the military. Despite Henry Ford's anti-war views, his company contributed significantly to the war effort. By the end of the war, Ford had built over 85,000 complete aircraft, over 55,000 airplane engines, thousands of engine superchargers and generators, and over 4000 military gliders.

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NATIONAL DEBT

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the US funded its World War II effort largely by raising taxes and tapping into Americans' personal savings. During the War, Americans purchased approximately $186 billion worth of war bonds, accounting for nearly three quarters of total federal spending from 1941-1945

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SPOTLIGHT: JAPANESE INTERNMENT

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• High levels of anti-Japanese sentiment after Pearl Harbor increased by US government propaganda
• Atrocities like Bataan Death March of US POWs added to hatred of Japanese
• Japanese Internment - 10,000 Japanese-Americans on the Pacific Coast forced into camps → authorized by Executive Order 9066
• Economic and racial motives underlie claim of “military necessity.
• The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the internment camps in Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)

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The hypocrisy was clear as America was fighting against the Nazis in Europe but depicting Japanese in similar ways to how the Nazis depicted Jews

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COORDINATING THE WAR EFFORT

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• Casablanca (Jan 1943) - FDR & Churchill agreed to fight until the Axis surrendered unconditionally
• Tehran (Nov 1943) - the “Big Three” agreed on a cross-channel invasion & Stalin promised to enter the war against Japan.
• Yalta (Feb 1945) -Compromises with Stalin that allowed Soviets to remain in Poland and other Eastern European countries & outlined punitive measures against Germany
• Potsdam (July 1945) tension that would erupt into the cold war was evident. Only agreement was demanding an immediate and unconditional surrender of Japan

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What changed between Yalta & Potsdam? EVERYTHING:

FDR died & replaced by Truman, US tested atomic bomb, Germany defeated, Soviets occupied Eastern Europe, Churchill replaced by Atlee…

Der Fuehrer's Face (1943)

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THE DOUBLE-V CAMPAIGN

• African Americans still served in segregated units → hypocrisy of fighting for democracy abroad when it was not enjoyed by African Americans at home
• DOUBLE V-CAMPAIGN - a victory in the war abroad and over racism at home. Originated from a Pittsburgh newspaper article:

“We, as colored Americans are determined to protect our country, our form of government and the freedoms which we cherish for ourselves and the rest of the world, therefore we have adopted the Double ‘V’ war cry—victory over our enemies at home and victory over our enemies on the battlefields abroad. Thus in our fight for freedom we wage a two-pronged attack against our enslavers at home and those abroad who will enslave us. WE HAVE A STAKE IN THIS FIGHT...WE ARE AMERICANS, TOO!”

• Tuskegee Airmen - first black pilot corps. Flew over 15,000 missions

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WAR IN EUROPE & NORTH AFRICA

• Dwight D. Eisenhower led attack on French-held North Africa in November 1942 → The German-Italian army surrendered May 1943
• PLAN: Attack “soft underbelly” 1st (Italy): Allied forces captured Sicily in August 1943, and in September 1943, Italy surrendered & Mussolini was overthrown → Rome taken June 4, 1944
• Invasion of Europe postponed due to British reluctance & lack of resources until… On D-Day, June 6, 1944, allies led by Eisenhower invade Normandy & Patton led armored divisions across France → Paris liberated in August 1944
• After Battle of the Bulge Germans retreat → Soviets capture Berlin April 1945 & Hitler commits suicide
• V-E Day - Victory in Europe - May 8, 1945

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THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC

• Japanese victory in 1942 in the Philippines → Bataan Death March → Manilla recaptured in 1945
• Midway = turning point battle (combined with Battle of Coral Sea) → Allies go on the offensive
• Island Hopping strategy - led by Nimitz & MacArthur
• Guadalcanal secured to protect the shipping lanes from America to Australia with casualty ratio of >10:1
• After Marianas secured (1944) B-29 planes bomb Japan
• Japanese use kamikazes to target US ships & US uses Incendiary bombs
• March 1945 - Iwo Jima captured & June 1945 - Okinawa captured after high casualties

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THE ATOMIC BOMB

• Incendiary bombs had been levelling Japanese cities without wearing down Japan’s will to continue the war.
• Manhattan Project to develop atomic weapon
• Rationale: claimed it would save both American and Japanese lives as opposed to a land invasion.
• US drops the atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki → V-J Day: Japan surrenders unconditionally Aug 15 1945

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CONTROVERSY: was it a ploy to flex American power as the Cold War was developing? Did two bombs need to be dropped? Would the US have been tried for war crimes if they had not won?

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CONSEQUENCES OF WWII

• American forces suffered 1 million casualties (1/3 of which were deaths)
• The proportion killed by wounds and disease was sharply reduced due to medical advances: plasma & penicillin
• The Soviet Union suffered casualties many times greater—around 20 million people killed.
• America emerged with its mainland virtually untouched unlike the European powers and Soviet Union.
• Marvels of production were performed almost daily: Assembly lines proved as important as battle lines and American industry boomed
• America emerged a true superpower after WWII & the fragile alliance between the US & USSR would disintegrate as as soon as the Nazis were defeated

BIG QUESTION AT THE END OF THE WAR: WHAT COMES NEXT? HOW DO WE AVOID THE MISTAKES MADE AFTER WWI?

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LET’S REFLECT:

How did WWII provide both opportunities and hardships for Americans?