1. SS8H9 Describe the role of Georgia in WWII. Strands a, b, and c
Georgia and WWII
SS8H9 Describe the role of Georgia in WWII. Strands a, b, and c

2. Shifting World Powers
Increasing tension in Europe from the world’s economic depression and the rise of dictator power creates an unstable and volatile situation
Adolf Hitler in Germany, Benito Mussolini in Italy, Emperor Hirohito in Japan, and Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union were all trying to expand their power and territory

3. Germany invaded the Rhineland, Czechoslovakia and Poland; Italy invaded the African nations of Ethiopia and then Albania; Japan seized coastal areas of China; the Soviet Union took Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and invaded Finland
Hitler and Stalin signed a “nonaggression pact” in 1939
Finally, England and France stopped their appeasement and in September of they declared war and mobilized troops
Shifting World Powers

4. U.S. Enters the Global War
The United States tries to stay out of the war overseas with a policy of isolationism.
Congress passed neutrality acts.
Congress allowed the president to sell weapons to any warring nation.
Lend-Lease Act- in 1941 when the Allied Powers ran out of cash Congress authorized the president to lend or lease arms to them (included lend-lease aid to the Soviets too)
Roosevelt provided escorts for shipments and built bases in Greenland and Iceland to make sure supplies got through, (this also helped the U.S. keep track of German submarines)

5. Pearl Harbor: “A Day that Will Live in Infamy” President Roosevelt
“I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant.”
Japan was unhappy that the U.S. stopped exporting to them metals, airplanes, aircraft parts, and gasoline/oil
Japan had already invaded Indonesia to capture badly needed oil
It was a quiet Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 when the Japanese planes filled the skies over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
In only two hours of bombing all 8 battleships that were stationed there were destroyed or badly damaged, 2,402 people were killed, over 1,282 were wounded, and 188 planes destroyed
On December 8, 1941, Congress declared war on Japan and we entered WWII
Public support of isolationism ended

6. USS Arizona, Photo from the National Archives

7. Georgia helps with the war effort
Military bases
Georgia’s economy takes off during the war due to the needs and support necessary to sustain the military bases in the state.
Georgia’s politicians influence the location of these bases in their home state.
Ft. Benning in Columbus; Camp Gordon in Augusta; Ft. Stewart in Savannah; Warner Robins near Macon; Glynco Naval Air station near Brunswick; Ft. McPherson and Ft. Gillem in Atlanta

8. Georgia builds Aircraft and Ships
In Marietta, the B-29 bombers were built by Bell Aircraft Company, by the end of the war they had built 668 planes and employed over 28,000 people.
In the port shipyards of Brunswick and Savannah “Liberty ships” were built and assembled, 99 in Brunswick and 88 in Savannah.
The shipyards employed more than 30,000 Georgians, many of whom were women.

9. Georgia helps with the war effort
B-29 Bomber
Building ships

10. Richard Russell’s Washington Influence
He was a Senator from GA 1933 until his death in 1971, where he was on many important and influential Senate committees.
Prior to this he served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, as Governor from , and in the Georgia House of Representatives from
He was the driving force that help create military bases in Georgia.
He favored strong military preparedness and states’ rights
Advised 6 presidents, and at one point was third in line for the presidency (as president pro tempore of the Senate)

11. Who was Eugene Talmadge?
He became Governor in 1933, was very popular with farmers and served two terms.
He was a white supremacist that had the support of the rural voters.
He rejected many of the New Deal programs, used the funding for roads rather than to help unemployed.
He did not like federal government intervention in state affairs.
He opposed government debt.
He reduced property taxes, utility rates, and some license fees.

12. Carl Vinson- “Father of Two-Ocean Navy”
He served 25 consecutive 2 yr. terms representing GA in the U.S. House of Representatives ( ).
He was the chairman of the House Naval Affairs/Armed Services committee and therefore he influenced legislation for a strong national defense.

13. Carl Vinson- “Father of Two-Ocean Navy”
He help promoted the country’s military readiness prior to the war, which resulted in increasing naval aviation to 10,000 planes and 20 new bases.
He helped loosen labor restrictions which fostered ship production
He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and has an aircraft carrier named for him.

14. President Roosevelt’s ties to Georgia
Franklin D. Roosevelt frequented Warm Springs to help relieve the discomfort in his legs from polio.
He had arrived at the end of March 1945 to rest, however on April 12th, he complained of a bad headache and later died of a massive stroke.
An entire nation mourned the loss.
FDR’s the Little White House, Warm Springs, GA

15. What was the Holocaust?
The systematic state sponsored murder of between 11 to 17 million people by the Nazis during WWII.
This genocide included the deaths of many of the Jews of Europe, gypsies, Soviet prisoners, homosexuals, people with disabilities, and other political and religious opponents.
Auschwitz concentration camp,
arrival of Hungarian Jews, Summer 1944,
Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive)

16. Activity: