Chapter 36 - America in World War II

1. The Allies Trade Space for Time

a. The Allies, given time, were bound to win. The US came close losing the war before it fully joined.
b. Time was the most needed munitions. America needed to retool itself for all-out war production, praying that the
Allies wouldn’t fail in the meantime. German scientists could develop weapons like rocket bombs and atomic arms.
c. America had to feed, clothe, and arm itself as well as transport its forces across the world. It had to send munitions
all Allies across the globe.
2. The Shock of War
a. National unity was at its best. Communists that condemned the “imperialist” war supported it after Hitler’s attack on
the USSR. In contrast to WWI, WWII actually speeded the assimilation of minority groups. Immigration had been
choked off for two decades and minority groups were settled and supporting FDR.
b. The exception was the Japanese-Americans concentrated on the Pacific Coast. Washington feared they would act as
saboteurs in the event of an invasion and developed concentration camps. Their loyalty and combat record was
unquestionable, but the post-Pearl Harbor hysteria robbed people of their sense. In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld
the constitutionality of the Japanese relocation in Korematsu v. U.S., but apologized in 1988.
c. Many New Deal programs were wiped out (Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and
the National Youth Administration) by Congress in 1942. FDR declared that “Dr. New Deal” was retiring.
d. The Washington government did make some effort to propagandize at home and abroad with the Atlantic Charter,
but the accent was on action.
3. Building the War Machine
a. Massive military order soaked up the idle industrial capacity. The War Production Board conducted American
factories in mass production. Henry J. Kaiser (“Sir Launchalot”) for his miracles in ship-building.
b. The War Production Board halted the manufacture of nonessential items and assigned priorities of transportation and
raw materials. When Japan cut off the supply of rubber, the Board imposed a national speed limit and gasoline
rationing. The built synthetic rubber plants and outproduced the prewar supply.
c. Farmers increased their output, despite the decrease in manpower. Investments in agricultural machinery and
improved fertilizers made up the difference.
d. Full employment and few consumer goods caused inflation in 1942, which the Office of Price Administration
brought under control with regulation. Rationing held down consumption of critical goods (despite “black
marketeers” and “meatleggers”) and the War Labor Board imposed ceilings in wage increased.
e. Labor Unions, whose membership drew during the war, opposed the ceilings. Despite the no-strike pledges of most
major unions, a rash of walkouts occurred. Prominent strikers were the United Mine Workers (John L. Lewis).
f. Threats of lost production made Congress pass the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act which allowed the government
to seize and operate tied-up industries. It also made striking against a federally operated industry criminal.
Washington briefly seized the coal mines and the railroads. However, strikes counted for less than 1% of hours.
4. Manpower and Womanpower
a. The armed services employed women for noncombat duties. Best known organizations were the WAACs (army),
WAVES (navy) and SPARs (coast guard). The draft net tightened after Pearl Harbor, taking even more young men.
As the arsenal, the US exempted men in industry and agriculture.
b. The draft still left them with dangerously low manpower. In 1942, America negotiated an agreement with Mexico so
thousands of Mexican braceros could work in agriculture. The program outlived the war for 20 years.
c. More than 6 million women took jobs outside the home and the government was obligated to set up day-care centers
to take care of the children while the mother worked. When the war ended, women didn’t stop working.
d. The grand majority of American women – especially those with husbands present or small children – took on
traditional roles. A greater majority of British and Soviet women took work in industrial employment.
e. At the war’s end 2/3rd of workers left the workforce. Some were fired for the servicemen, but some quit because of
family obligations. The era was a widespread rush into suburbia and the mothering of “baby boomers.”
5. Wartime Migrations
a. Many of the returning soldiers chose not to go home. War industries called people to cities like Los Angeles,
Detroit, Seattle, and Baton Rouge. California’s population grew by 2 million. When the war began, FDR seized the
opportunity to stimulate the South’s economy with a disproportionate amount of federal defense contractions.
b. Despite economic stimulus to the South, blacks sought war jobs in the North. Tensions developed over employment,
etc. A. Phillip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, threatened a massive black march on
Washington if there wasn’t equality in hiring. Roosevelt responded with an executive order that forbade
discrimination. He also established the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to see that his order was
followed. Blacks were drafted into the war, but assigned to service branches rather than combat. Blacks rallied for
the “Double V” – victory over dictators and racism. Membership in the NAACP shot up and the militant Congress
of Racial Equality (CORE) was formed in 1942.
c. The advent of the mechanical cotton picker in 1944 ended the South’s need for cheap labor. 5 million black tenant
farmers and sharecroppers left the South after the war. In a single generation, a near majority left their homeland.
 d. There was an exodus from the reservations during the war. Thousands of Native Americans joined the army or
found war work in cities.
e. 25 thousand Native Americans served in the armed forces. The Comanches in Europe and the Navajos in the Pacific
made contributions as “code talkers” as their native language was incomprehensible to the Axis powers.
f. Friction was created by the newcomers. In 1943, Mexicans were attacked by Anglo sailors using taxicabs in Los
Angeles. At the same time, a race riot in Detroit killed both blacks and whites.
6. Holding the Home Front
a. While the rest of the world was in ruins, America was lifted out of the Depression by the war. Despite wage ceilings,
overtime pay increased money. Disposal income, even with taxes, doubled. When price controls were lifted in 1946,
Americans pushed prices up 33% in two years, while the rest of the world was trying to recover.
b. WWII pointed the way to big government interventionism. Rationing, military service, and war industries with the
FEPC and the WLB were run by the government. The Office of Scientific Research and Development poured
money into university-based scientific research that led to America’s technological and economic leadership postwar
c. War, not enlightened social policy, cured the depression.
d. The wartime bill amounted to $330 billion. Roosevelt would have preferred a pay-as-you-go policy, but the
spending was too large. The income-tax net was expanded, but still, only 2/5ths of the war was paid.
7. The Rising Sun in the Pacific
a. The Japanese militarists conquered so much territory so rapidly with comparably few losses.
b. With Pearl Harbor, Japan launched attacks on Guam, Wake and the Philippines as well as others. Japan seized the
British-Chinese port of Hong Kong and British Malaya in a very short time.
c. Japanese troops cut through the jungles of Burma creating the famed Burma Road. They cut off supplies to the
Chinese generalissimo Jiang Jieshi, who was resisting the Japanese invader. America was forced to send them by
plane over the Himalayan Mountains from Indian and Burma. Japan also lunged at oil-rich Dutch East Indies, where
the British, Australian, Dutch, and American naval and air forces were defeated.
d. Japan landed a small, effective army in the Philippines. American General Douglas MacArthur withdrew to Bataan,
where American troops and ill-trained Filipinos held off the Japanese for months.
e. Before the surrender, MacArthur was ordered to Australia to head a resistance. After the army raised the white flag,
they were treated to the 80 mile Bataan Death March to the prisoner-of-war camps. The island fortress of
Corregidor, in Manila harbor, held out until May 6, and Japan was left with complete control.
8. Japan’s High Tide at Midway
a. Japanese warriors invaded New Guinea and landed on the Solomon Islands, where they menaced Australia. In a
naval battle fought in the Coral Sea in May 1942, an American carrier task force, with Australian support, inflicted
heavy losses on the Japanese. For the first time, all fighting was done with carrier-based aircraft.
b. Japanese sought Midway Island, from which it could launch an attack on Pearl Harbor, destroy the Pacific fleet or
force a cease-fire. On June 3-6, 1942, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz directed a small fleet under Admiral Raymond A.
Spruance against the invading fleet and the Japanese broke it off after losing 4 vital carriers.
c. This victory, combined with the Battle of the Coral Sea, halted the Japanese. However, the Japanese possessed
Kiska and Attu, islands off Alaska. Fear of a northwestern invasion forced the American strength to be diverted to
defense of Alaska, including the construction of the “Alcan” highway through Canada.
d. Yet the Japanese militarists had overextended themselves. They were much less difficult to dismantle.
9. American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
a. In August 1942, America was able to gain a toehold on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons, a vital passageway to
Australia. The early naval defeat had weakened the US and troops barely held on. After several devastating battles
for sea control, Japanese troops were evacuated. The casualty ratio of ten to one persisted throughout the war.
b. The American and Australian forces, under General MacArthur, had been valiantly holding the southeastern tip of
New Guinea, the last buffer of Australia. The scales were tipped as the American navy inflicted losses on the
Japanese. In August 1944, conquest of the north coast was completed.
c. As they headed to Tokyo, the US navy eventually went with the strategy of capturing nearby islands, setting up
airfields, and neutralizing the Japanese through heavy bombing. Without supplies from Japan, the outposts withered.
d. Admiral Nimitz was successful in his efforts of coordinated naval, air and ground units. In May and August of 1943,
Attu and Kiska were retaken. In Nov. 1943, “bloody Tarawa” and Makin in the Gilbert Islands were taken. In Jan.
and Feb. 1944, the key Marshall Islands fell.
e. On June 19, 1944, American assault on the prized Mariana Islands (including conquered Guam) began using the
“hellcat” fighter plane and antiaircraft proximity fuse to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese called the “Great
Marianas Turkey Shoot.” The next day, Battle of the Philippine Sea sunk Japanese carriers. Japan never recovered.
f. After fanatical resistance, including the mass suicide of Japanese of “Suicide Cliff” on Saipan, the Marians fell in
July and Aug. of 1944. Round-the-clock bombing of Japan began in Nov. 1944.
10. The Allied Halting of Hitler
a. Hitler had a fleet of ultramodern submarines that operated in “wolf packs” with deadly efficiency in the North
Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Far more merchant ships were destroyed than created.
 b. Merchant vessels were escorted by convoys and depth bombs were dropped from destroyers. Radar, air patrol, and
bombing submarine bases helped the problem. Eventually, British code-breakers cracked the “enigma” code of the
Germans, improving naval operations substantially.
c. In 1943, the Allies narrowly won the Battle of the Atlantic. If Britain had not won, further attacks couldn’t have
been launched from their island, crippling the Allies.
d. In May 1942, the British had launched an air raid on Cologne, joined by America in Aug. cascading bombs on
German cities. Germans under Marshal Erwin Rommel (“Desert Fox”) had forced their way through Egypt to the
Suez Canal, detrimental to the allies. In Oct., British Bernard Montgomery attacked them at El Alamein (west of
Cairo) and, with the help of American Sherman tanks, drove them almost back to Tunisia.
e. In Sept. 1942, the Russians stalled the Germans at rubble-strewn Stalingrad. Invading divisions surrendered. In Nov.
1942, the Russians led a counterattack that regained Stalin 2/3rds of his land.
11. A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
a. Soviet losses in 1942 were millions in land and men. They clamored for a western draw on German strength.
b. Americans were eager to launch a diversionary invasion of France in 1942. They feared that the Soviets would
abandon the cause and make a separate peace with Germany, leaving the Western Allies alone.
c. Britain’s military planners, remembering their losses in 1914-1918, wanted to attack Hitler through the weak
Mediterranean. Faced with this decision, Americans agreed to postpone the invasion.
d. They compromised in an attack on French-held North Africa. In Nov. 1942, the Allies launched a joint effort led by
Dwight D. (“Ike”) Eisenhower, the mightiest waterborne effort up to that time. The army surrendered at Tunisia.
e. At Casablanca (in newly acquired French Morocco), FDR met with Churchill in Jan. 1943. The Big Two agreed to
invade Sicily and demand “unconditional surrender” from Italy. This was to assuage the fears of the Soviets, who
thought the Allies would have separate peace negotiations. It would also forestall charges of a broken armistice.
Actually, this showed that the Allies were unable to launch the attack the Soviets wanted and was a stopgap.
f. “Unconditional surrender” proved to be controversial in the extreme. The main criticism was that it steeled the
enemy for the long haul and discouraged antiwar groups in the country. The policy made reconstruction complicated
g. Sicily fell Aug. 1943 and Mussolini became deposed. Without him, Italy surrendered unconditionally Sept 1943.
h. The Germans stubbornly resisted the Allied invaders in Italy and took it out on the Italians, who had betrayed
Germany and declared war on them in Oct. 1943. Some of the most frustrated fighting of the war occurred there.
i. The Allies were stalled at Monte Cassino in Italy for months. Rome was finally taken in June 1944. An invasion of
France drew attention away from Italy, but they continued to fight until 5 days before Germany’s surrender. While
the Italy invasion may have opened the Mediterranean and diverted German attention, it also may have delayed the
Allied invasion of France, allowing the Germans to push further into Eastern Europe.
12. D-Day: June 6, 1944
a. The time came for Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin to meet to coordinate a second front. Stalin balked at leaving
Moscow at the vulnerable time, but Roosevelt was confident he could crack Stalin.
b. FDR flew to Tehran, Iran after a stopover in Cairo with Churchill and Jiang Jieshi about Japan. The conference
progressed well, with a success the coordination of Soviet attacks from the east with Allied attacks from the west.
c. The preparations for the cross-channel invasion of France were gigantic. The overall command was entrusted to
General Eisenhower, who had distinguished himself as a general earlier in the war.
d. French Normandy was targeted as the weakest. On D-Day (June 6, 1944), the Allies met resistance from the
Germans, who had expected it farther north. The Allies were able to block reinforcements by crippling railroads and
bombing gasoline-producing plants.
e. After desperate fighting, the invaders broke out of the German ring and made lunges across France led by General
George S. (“Blood ‘n’ Guts”) Patton. The German retreat was hastened when the American-French force landed in
Aug. 1944 across the southern coast. With help from the French underground, Paris was freed Aug. 1944.
f. The Allied forces rolled towards Germany. The first major Germany city Aachen fell in Oct. 1944
13. FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
a. Normal electoral processes progressed, despite the climax of the war.
b. Republicans nominated liberal New Yorker Thomas E. Dewey, a popular vote getter. The convention nominated
Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio as VP, a strong isolationist to offset Dewey’s internationalism.
c. FDR was nominated again for the Democrats, but with his advanced age, unusual attention was paid to the VP.
d. Henry A. Wallace had been VP, but Democrats distrusted him as an unpredictable liberal. The VP nomination
finally went to Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri (“the new Missouri Compromise”). He had attained national
recognition for his work investigating wasteful war expenditures.
14. Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
a. Dewey denounced the “old men” in Washington and proclaimed it was time for change. Dewey said he wouldn’t
change the war strategy, he would just fight better. The 4th term didn’t figure prominently now that FDR had a 3rd
b. In the last few weeks of the campaign, Roosevelt took to the stump. He was stung by Republican charges and
wanted to prove his good health to the people.
 c. Assistance came from CIO, which organized a political action committee to get around the new law forbidding
union fund in political elections. CIO members brought up memories of the depression to get the move. Most
newspapers were against FDR, as they were owned by Republican, but FDR still won a sweeping victory.
d. Roosevelt won because the war was going well and the people wanted an experienced hand crafting world peace.
Dewey spoke of international cooperation, but Bricker brought up serious isolationist doubts.
15. The Last Days of Hitler
a. By Dec. 1944, the Soviet surge had hurt eastern Germany, Allied bombs racked Germany and the western front
seemed about to fall. Germany was collapsing.
b. Hitler then launched a desperate attack on Dec. 16, 1994 through the Ardennes Forest at the Belgian port of
Antwerp. Caught off guard, the Americans were pushed back, causing a bulge in the Allied line. The penetration
was finally halted by General A.C. McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne Division. Reinforcements arrived and the
German attack was forced by in the bloody Battle of the Bulge.
c. In March 1945, the Americans reached the Rhine River and, finding a strategic bridge undemolished, pressed their
advantage under Eisenhower. They reached the Elbe River in 1945, meeting the advancing Soviet troops. There they
found the concentration camps. The Washington government had been aware of the genocide, but had been slow to
act. FDR had closed the door against Jewish refugees and his military commanders had refused to bomb railroads
the victims were carried on. But the true extent of the Holocaust wasn’t revealed under after the war.
d. The Soviets reached Berlin in April 1945, pillaging and raping the city. Adolf Hitler committed suicide April 30,
1945 in an underground bunker.
e. Roosevelt died from a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945 and Truman became president.
f. On May 7, 1945, the German government surrendered unconditionally. May 8 was officially declared V-E (Victory
in Europe) Day and was greeted with rejoicing in the Allied countries.
16. Japan Dies Hard
a. American submarines were sending 50% of Japan’s merchant fleet to the bottom.
b. Bomber attacks on Japanese cities were launched from captured Mariana Islands. A fire-bomb raid on Tokyo March
9-10, 1945 killed a comparable amount of people to an atomic bomb.
c. General MacArthur conquered New Guinea and headed to the Philippines en route to Japan.
d. Japan’s navy attempted to stop MacArthur by destroying his transports and supply ships. America won the clash in
the Leyte Gulf, but one engagement was nearly lost when Admiral Williams F. (“Bull”) was drawn away by a feint.
e. Japan’s navy, diminished by 60 ships, was done. American fleets now commanded the western Pacific.
f. MacArthur next landed on the island of Luzon, with Manila his main objective. It fell March, but holed-in Japanese
didn’t stop until July, taking over 60 thousand American casualties.
g. The island of Iwo Jima was a necessary haven for damaged American bombers from Japan and was won in March.
h. Okinawa, necessary for closer bases for blasting and burning enemy cities, was fought from Apr. to June 1945.
i. The backup American navy for the Okinawa invasion sustained severe damage from suicide pilots (“kamikazes”).
17. The Atomic Bombs
a. Washington planned the invasion of the Japanese main islands, a venture which would cause massive losses to both
sides. Japan began to send out peace feelers in Moscow. Americans, having broken the Japanese code, knew about
this, but Japan wasn’t ready to surrender unconditionally.
b. At the Potsdam conference held near Berlin in July 1945, Truman gave the ultimatum: surrender or die. American
pilots showered pamphlets on Japan, but there was no response.
c. Early 1940, FDR had been persuaded by American and exiled scientists to fund $2 billion for the atomic bomb.
Congress granted the venture. Fears of Germany achieving the technology first spurred the project.
d. The venture was pushed forward until July 19, 1945 when they set off the first bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
e. On Aug. 6, 1945, a single American bomber dropped the first devastating atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
f. On Aug. 8, Stalin entered the war against Japan, at exactly the deadline set by the Allies. Soviet armies overran the
depleted Japanese defenses in Manchuria and Korea. He was desperate to get a piece of Japan’s holdings at the end.
g. The Japanese refused to surrender. On Aug. 9, Nagasaki was atomic bombed.
h. On Aug. 10, 1945, Japan surrendered with one condition: that Hirohito was able to remain nominal emperor. The
Allies accepted on Aug. 14. The Japanese were able to save their emperor and their land.
i. On Sept. 2, 1945, General MacArthur conducted the official surrender ceremonies on the Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Americans celebrated V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day).
18. The Allies Triumphant
a. America suffered 1 million casualties, 1/3 of which were deaths. The proportion of men killed by wounds or disease
was reduced due to miracle drugs and blood plasma. The Soviets suffered 20 million deaths.
b. America suffered minimal harm to its mainland. Japanese submarines harmlessly attacked the California and Oregon
coast, but America alone survived mostly unscathed.
c. WWII was the best fought conflict in American history, largely began they began preparing a year before the war
officially began.
d. Military leadership proved to be of the highest order. Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall, Nimitz and Spruance
emerged.
e. Yankees demonstrated against that the American way of war was simply more – more men, more weapons, more
machines, more technology and more money than any other enemy.
f. Washington did exert unusual direct control over the individual, but the American people preserved their liberites
without serious impairment.