World War II The Sequel

The Outbreak of War Good Neighbors The Road to War FDR embarked on a number of departures in foreign policy Soviet Union Latin America The Road to War Japan had expanded its reach in Manchuria and China by the mid-1930s. Germany embarked on a campaign to control the European Continent The rise of fascism in general put the continent at risk Benito Mussolini General Francisco Franco Although Roosevelt was alarmed, he was tied to the policy of appeasement

The Outbreak of War Isolationism War in Europe (AGAIN???!!!) American business people did not wish to give up profitable overseas markets in Germany and Japan. Many Americans were reluctant to get involved in international affairs because of the legacy of World War I Congress favored isolationism, as seen with various Neutrality Acts throughout the 1930s War in Europe (AGAIN???!!!) Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Blitzkrieg appeared unstoppable. For nearly two years, Britain stood alone in fighting Germany. Battle of Britain

The Outbreak of War Toward Intervention Pearl Harbor In 1940, breaking with a tradition that dated back to George Washington Roosevelt announced his candidacy for a third term as president. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in 1941 and froze Japanese assets, particularly oil. Pearl Harbor On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes, launched from aircraft carriers bombed the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. FDR asked for a declaration of war against Japan. (A date which will live in infamy)

The Outbreak of War The War in the Pacific The War in Europe The first few months of American involvement witnessed an unbroken string of military disasters. America was not prepared for war The tide turned with the battles at Coral Sea and Midway in May and June 1942. The War in Europe D-Day established the much needed second front in Western Europe. The crucial fighting in Europe took place on the Eastern front between Germany and the Soviet Union. Stalingrad marked the turning point. The war claimed millions of lives. Holocaust

The Home Front Mobilizing for War Business and the War World War II transformed the role of the federal government The government built housing for war workers and forced civilian industries to retool for war production Business and the War Americans produced an astonishing amount of wartime goods and utilized science and technology to transform the military The West Coast emerged as a focus of military-industrial production. Nearly 2 million Americans moved to California for jobs in defense-related industries. The South remained very poor when the war ended. It was the only region that did not receive many benefits from the boost to the economy

The Home Front Labor in Wartime Fighting for the Four Freedoms Organized labor entered a three-sided arrangement with government and business that allowed union membership to soar to unprecedented levels. Unions became firmly established in many sectors of the economy during World War II. Fighting for the Four Freedoms To Roosevelt, the 4 freedoms expressed deeply held American values worthy of being spread worldwide. Roosevelt initially meant the phrase to refer to the elimination of barriers to international trade. It came to mean protecting the standard of living from falling after the war.

The Home Front The Fifth Freedom Women at War The war witnessed a burst of messages marketing advertisers' definition of freedom Free enterprise Women at War Women in 1944 made up over one third of the civilian labor force. New opportunities opened up for married women and mothers Women's work during the war was viewed by men and the government as temporary Family centered prosperity came to define the post-war domestic agenda.

Visions of Postwar Freedom Toward an American Century The belief that America would lead a new global order after the war, to help promote economic prosperity There were two competing visions America would be the protector and guarantor of free enterprise. A global New Deal to promote the interests of the “common man”. These two conceptions would help shape American foreign policy in the decades to come "The Way of Life of Free Men" The National Resources Planning Board offered a vision for a peacetime economy based on: Full employment An expanded welfare state A widely shared American standard of living FDR called for an Economic Bill of Rights in 1944. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act, or GI Bill of Rights, was one of the most far-reaching pieces of social legislation in American history.

Problems on the Home front Patriotic Assimilation World War II created a vast melting pot, especially for European immigrants and their children. By the war's end racism and nativism had been stripped of intellectual respectability. The Bracero Program The war had a far more ambiguous for nonwhites than for whites. The bracero program allowed tens of thousands of contract laborers to cross into the United States to take up jobs as domestic and agricultural workers. "Zoot suit" riots In general, Mexican-Americans benefited from increased wartime economic production

Problems on the Home front Natives during the War Native Americans served in the army. The Iroquois issued a declaration of war against the Axis powers. "Code talkers.“ Navajo Indians used their native language to communicate military strategy and messages to troops on the front line. Asian-Americans in Wartime Asian-Americans' war experience was filled with contradiction Chinese Exclusion was abolished. The American government viewed every person of Japanese ethnicity as a potential spy

Problems on the Home front Japanese-American Internment The military persuaded FDR to issue Executive Order 9066, which called for Japanese Internment. Internment revealed how easily war can undermine basic freedoms Hardly anyone spoke out against internment. The courts refused to intervene. Korematsu v. United States (1944) The government marketed war bonds to the internees and drafted them into the army. African Americans and the War The wartime message of freedom led to a major transformation in the status of African Americans. The war spurred a movement of the African American population from the rural South to the cities of the North and West. Racial tensions often flared as a result, such as the Detroit race riot

Problems on the Home front African Americans and Military Service During the war, over 1 million African Americans served in the armed forces. Treatment of African American soldiers was still not universally equal African American soldiers sometimes had to give up their seats on railroad cars to accommodate Nazi POWs. Birth of the Civil Rights Movement The war years witnessed the birth of the modern Civil Rights movement In July 1941, the black labor leader A. Philip Randolph called for a March on Washington to demand more equality. Executive Order 8802, which desegregated the armed forces and Fair Employment Practices Committee

Problems on the Home front The War and Race During the war, a broad political coalition called for an end to racial inequality in America. CIO unions made significant efforts to organize African American workers and to win them access to skilled positions, raising their pay and respectability. The new lack of militancy created a crisis for moderate white southerners Black Internationalism In the first decades of the twentieth century, a black consciousness was reinvigorated. W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and others developed an outlook that linked the plight of black Americans with that of people of color world wide World War II stimulated among African-Americans a greater awareness of the links between racism in the United States and colonialism abroad.

The End of the War The Dawn of the Atomic Age: One of the most momentous decisions ever confronted by an American president- whether to use the bomb on Japan-fell to Harry Truman. Use of a weapon with unknown results v. launching an invasion of the Japanese main island (estimated at 1 million casualties.) On August 6, 1945, an American plane dropped an atomic bomb that detonated over Hiroshima, Japan. Because of the enormous cost in civilian lives, the use of the bomb remains controversial The dropping of the atomic bombs was the logical culmination of the way World War II had been fought: never before had civilians been so targeted in war

The End of the War Planning the Postwar World Yalta and Bretton Woods Even as the war raged, a series of meetings between Allied leaders formulated plans for the postwar world Tehran Yalta Potsdam Yalta and Bretton Woods The Bretton Woods meeting established a new international economic system

The End of the War The United Nations Peace, but not Harmony The Dumbarton Oaks meeting established the structure of the United Nations. General Assembly Security Council- 5 permanent members with a veto Peace, but not Harmony World War II produced a radical redistribution of world power. It remained to be seen how seriously the victorious Allies took their wartime rhetoric of freedom Mahatma Gandhi

Conclusion Though the Allies set out to make a more secure world following the war, peace and security were not firmly established. The emergence of the Cold War and the Decolonization movements that would characterize the post-war world provided unique global challenges. Despite initial overtures toward the spreading of liberty and democracy, the post-war world would be characterized by violent struggles to cement the power of both the Soviet Union and United States that still reverberate to this day.