The Shock of War
National unity was strong after the Pearl Harbor attack.
Mostly living on the west coast, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps.
Though jailed without due process of law, the Supreme Court upheld the internment camps in the Korematsu v. U.S. case.
Notably, in 1988, the government apologized and offered reparations of $20,000 to each camp survivor.
Many New Deal programs were ended as the war began. Now, all jobs would be war jobs.
Unlike WWI, WWII was not made out to be an idealistic crusade. It was just the dirty work of defeating the bad guys.
Building the War Machine
The Great Depression ended when huge orders for the war effort came in. More than $100 billion was ordered in 1942.
The War Production Board took control of industry. It halted production of non-essential items like passenger cars.
Rubber was a much-needed item because Japan had overtaken the rubber tree fields of British Malaya. Gasoline was rationed to help save tires.
Prices rose, however. The Office of Price Administration regulated prices.
Critical items were rationed to keep consumption down, like meat and butter.
All-in-all, strikes were minimal during the war.
Manpower and Womanpower
Since most able-bodied men were off at war, industry needed workers.
The bracero program brought workers from Mexico to harvest crops. was successful and stayed on about 20 years after the war.
The symbol for women-workers was "Rosie the Riveter" with her sleeves rolled up and rivet gun in hand.
Without question, the war opened things up for women in the workplace. Women "proved themselves" and gained respect.
Wartime Migrations
As during the Depression, the war forced people to move around the country.
FDR had long been determined to help the economically-hurting South. He funneled money southward in defense contracts. This would plant the seeds of the "Sunbelt's" boom after the war.
African-Americans moved out of the South in large numbers, usually heading Northern cities, but also to the West.
Black leader A. Philip Randolph prepared a "Negro March on Washington" to clamor for more blacks in defense jobs and military. FDR responded by banning discrimination in defense industries.
Blacks served in segregated units in the military.
Aside from the segregation, there was discrimination such as separate blood banks for each race, and often the roles of blacks were more menial such as cooks, truck drivers, etc.
Generally, however, the war and the efforts of Blacks encouraged African-Americans to strive for equality. The slogan was the "Double V"—victory overseas vs. dictators and victory at home vs. racism.
The mechanical cotton picker was invented. This freed blacks from the age-old cotton picking job—another reason many moved.
Native Americans also fought in the war in large numbers.
Holding the Home
The United States entered WWII still in the Depression. The U.S. came out of WWII very prosperous (the only nation to do so).
GNP (Gross National Product) had doubled. Corporate profits doubled too.
Disposable income (money left to spend) also doubled. Inflation would suit and rise as well.
Despite all of the New Deal programs, it was the production for WWII that ended the Great Depression.
The war's cost was assessed at $330 billion (ten times WWI).
To help pay for the war, four times more people were required to pay income taxes. Most of the payments, however, were on credit. This meant the national debt shot up from $49 to $259 billion.
The Rising Sun in the Pacific
The Philippines had been embarrassing for the U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had to sneak away. The general made a pledge, however, to return.
The U.S. finally gave up and surrendered Corregidor, an island/fort in Manila Harbor.
Japan’s High Tide at Midway
The first big U.S.-Japan naval battle was the Battle of Coral Sea. It was the world’s first naval battle where the ships never saw one another (they fought with aircraft via carriers). Both sides had heavy losses.
Intercepted messages hinted at an attack on Midway Island. American Adm. Chester Nimitz correctly sent the U.S. fleet and the Battle of Midway (June 1942) followed. Instead of being surprised, the U.S. gave the surprise.
Adm. Raymond Spruance was the the admiral on the water. Midway was a rout for the U.S. as four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk.
Midway proved to be the turning point in the Pacific war, the place where Japanese expansion was halted.
The "Alcan" Highway was built from Alaska, through Canada, to the continental states to help protect Alaska.
American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
There would be two main thrusts: in the south led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur and in the central Pacific led by Adm. Chester Nimitz.
Northward, Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands were captured. Next, the Marshall Island chain was won.
This would later be the take-off point for the atomic bomb planes.
Though island-hopping made steady progress, it was slow, hard-fought, and bloody.
American sailors shelled the beachheads with artillery, U.S. Marines stormed ashore (while the navy shelled over their heads), and American bombers attacked the Japanese. Heroism and self-sacrifice were common.
One example was when Lt. Robert J. Albert piloted a B-24 “Liberator” on 36 missions. His final run was a record 18 hour and 25 minute strike. His tour of duty was complete, but his crew's was not. He volunteered to pilot the flight so that his men would not fly behind a rookie pilot.
The Allied Halting of Hitler
As with the Pacific, progress in Europe has slow at first. History has shown the American war machine slow to get going, but awesome when it is going.
The Battle of the Atlantic, the war for control of the ocean, went on until 1943 when the Allies gained control.
The win over the seas was a close one. It was learned after the war that the amazing German engineers were nearing completion of a sub that could stay submerged indefinitely and cruise at 17 knots.
The British bombed the Germans in Cologne, France. American B-17's bombed Germany itself.
The Russians also stopped the Germans at Stalingrad (Sep. 1942). A month later, Russia began pushing back and recaptured 2/3 of their lost land in one year.
A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
Some 20 million Russians would die by the end of the war so the Soviet Union wanted the allies to start a second front against Germany and ease Russia's burden.
Britain and the U.S. wanted this, but had different views. America wanted to ram straight at the Nazis through France.
Britain wanted to lure the war away from England. Winston Churchill suggested they hit Germany's "soft underbelly", meaning up from North Africa and through Italy.
The soft underbelly approach was decided upon.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower led an attack on North Africa (Nov. 1942). The Allies pushed the Germans out of Africa by May 1943.
The Roosevelt and Churchill met at the Casablanca Conference to flesh out plans (Jan. 1943). They agreed to seek the "unconditional surrender" of Germany.
The soft underbelly attack continued.
The German were dug in at Monte Cassino. After taking a beachhead at Anzio, the Allies finally took Rome on June 4, 1944.
The Allied thrust essentially bogged down and stalled at this point, roughly half way up the Italian peninsula. The D-Day invasion would make the Italian assault a mere diversion.
The soft underbelly attack had mixed results. The good: it drew some of Hitler's men and supplies and it did defeat Italy. The bad: it delayed the D-Day invasion and gave Russia extra time to draw farther into Eastern Europe.
D-Day: June 6, 1944
The groundwork was laid for a massive assault across the English channel (eventual D-Day invasion).
Gen. Eisenhower was placed in charge of the assault.
The attack would take place on the beaches of Normandy on the French coast. The Germans had guessed the sure-to-come attack would be at Calais because that's the narrowest point of the channel. The Allies offered fakes and bluffs there to confuse the enemy.
The D-Day Invasion began on June 6, 1944. It was the largest amphibious assault in history.
The Allies had to cross the channel, wade ashore, cross the wide beach, scale 100 foot bluffs, and overtake German bunkers—while being shot at by machine guns and artillery. The Allies did it.
Paris was liberated in August of 1944—a major morale boost for the Allies.
FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
Despite the ongoing war in 1944, an election year came again. The Republican party nominated Thomas E. Dewey. He was known as a liberal and attacker of corruption.
The Democrats nominated FDR for a fourth term. There was no other viable choice for the party.
The real question was who'd be the vice-presidential candidate. The nomination was made for Harry S Truman who was largely without enemies.
Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
Dewey campaigned hard against Roosevelt. He attacked "twelve long years" and emphasized it was "time for a change."
FDR didn't campaign much until election day neared.
FDR won the election in a big way, again. The electoral vote was 432 to 99. The main reason that he won was that the war was moving along well at this point.
The Last Days of Hitler
The Nazi army was on the retreat at this point. Hitler made one last big push at the Ardenne Forest. The Americans were surprised and pushed back; the result was a bulge in the battle line.
The Americans held on at Bastogne. Germany asked for a surrender but Gen. A.C. McCauliffe answered, "Nuts."
Reinforcements came and the U.S. won the Battle of the Bulge. From there, steady progress was made toward Berlin. Russia was simultaneously converging on Berlin.
Along the way, the Allies discovered the horrors of the Holocaust.
There had been rumors of such goings-on, but it was believed they were either untrue or exaggerated. They were not—the Holocaust was worse than imagined.
The death camps, still stinking, made the horrors clear. Eisenhower forced German civilians to march through the camps after the war to see what they're government had done.
The Russians reached Germany first. Hitler killed himself in a bunker (Apr. 1945), along with his mistress-turned-wife Eva Braun.
Only two weeks prior, while vacationing at Warm Springs, GA, Franklin Roosevelt suddenly died. Truman became president.
The German officials surrendered on May 7; May 8, 1945 was named V-E Day (Victory in Europe). The celebration began.
Japan Dies Hard
The Atomic Bombs
Rookie Pres. Harry Truman met with Stalin and British officials at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945). The final statement to Japan was: surrender or be destroyed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. had been working on a super-secret project all along: to build the atomic bomb.
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