World War II – part 2

Retreat from Isolationism USS Panay incident Embargo of oil, tin, scrap metal, and rubber on Japan in 1938-1939. Neutrality Acts? Cash and Carry (Neutrality Act of 1939) Destroyer for Land Bases Act Lend Lease Peace time draft “The Four Freedoms” – 1941 State of the Union “Quarantine” speech

The Atlantic Charter No territorial gains aggrandizement by the United States or the Great Britain. Territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned. Self-determination. Trade barriers were to be lowered. There was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare. Freedom from want and fear. Freedom of the seas. General disarmament

Pearl Harbor

USS Lexington

“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” December 7, 1941 Jeanette Rankin “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”

Transformations from World War II It expanded the power of the presidency. Solidified the concept of the imperial presidency. Led to increased rights for Mexican-Americans and African-Americans by the 1960s. Societal Upheaval – rise of the Sun Belt and Gulf Coast. Ended Great Depression Unemployment overnight.

More Changes People's fashions. Women in the work force At start of war: 4% of white married women. At end: 50%.

Oveta Culp Hobby

Rosie The Riveter Average, everyday, working women who built the “arsenal for democracy”

African-Americans “Double-V” Campaign. Est. of Fair Employment Commission.

Mexican-Americans

Bracero Program

The Violent Homefront - Detroit

Zoot Suit Riots

Internment

Topaz, Utah

Executive Order 9066  ”Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War…to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.”  California Attorney General Earl Warren: “When dealing with the Caucasian race we have methods that will test the loyalty of them. But when we deal with the Japanese we are in an entirely different field.”

275,000 Japanese emigrated to the US until 1924. 112,000 Japanese Americans interned in camps (70,000 US citizens). Dining and bathing facilities communal Generational authority broken Hirabayashi v US (1943) Korematsu v US (1944)

US at War European Theater Pacific Theater “Europe First” “Nibbling at the edges” D-Day Battle of the Bulge Pacific Theater Island Hopping Fire Bombing

Nibbling at the Edges

D Day

Battle of the Bulge

Island Hopping

The Atomic Bomb Fat Man Nagasaki 8/9/1945 Little Boy Hiroshima 8/6/1945

Hiroshima

Hiroshima

Nagasaki

The Case For the Bomb Fire and Saturation Bombing was not working. Not using the bomb would require a major policy shift. The atomic bomb was simply part of the arsenal – he had to use all weapons in the US’s arsenal. An invasion would be too costly.

The Case Against Use of the bomb saved no American lives. The bomb was not what caused Japan to surrender. The claims about loss of American lives in an invasion are strictly a figment of Truman’s imagination. There were alternatives to directly dropping an atomic bomb. The real target was the Soviet Union.

Security vs. Property Total Property losses $1.3 billion (adjusted to 1983) Total income losses $2.7 billion Aftermath Claims commission established in 1948 (American Japanese Claims Act) Executive Order 9066 not repealed until 1976. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians – 1980 Civil Liberties Act of 1988