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7th Edition
In 1933 Germany defaulted on its reparations installments and most European countries were unable to keep up the payments on their debts to the U.S. FDR decided not to go along with an international agreement on tariffs and currency Did recognize the Soviet Union, hoping to gain a market for surplus American grain
USSR did agree to pay old debts and to extend rights to American citizens living in the Soviet Union
US continued to support dictators, especially in Central America, because they promised to promote stability and preserve American economic interests
FDR did remove US troops from Haiti and Nicaragua in 1934 In a series of pan-American conferences, FDR joined in pledging that no country in the hemisphere would interfere in the internal affairs of another When Cuba underwent a revolution, FDR sent special envoys, not troops, and then recognized the government under Fulgencio Batista that staged a coup, offered a loan and agreed to abrogate the Platt Amendment in return for the rights to Guantanamo naval base
Trade Agreement Act of 1934 gave the president power to lower tariff rates by as much as 50 percent
FDR negotiated a series of agreements that improved trade The Good Neighbor Policy was good for business but did not solve anyones economic problems
State Department worked out an agreement that included some compensation for the companies
On 30 January 1933, Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and within three months the Reichstag suspended the constitution, making Hitler Fuehrer
Germany prospered and recovered faster from the Depression than any other country except Japan, partly through military spending and partly through provision of money for public works, autobahns and the Volkswagen
In 1934, Hitler announced a program of rearming Germany in violation of the Treaty of Versailles In Italy, Benito Mussolini was also building a powerful military force and threatened to invade Ethiopia in 1934 The Nye Committee hearings revealed that many American businessmen had close relationships with the War Department and that war production had led to huge profits
On many college campuses, students demonstrated against war and joined peace organizations Many American adults also belonged to peace organizations and were determined never again to enter a foreign war
In May 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia and frightened the US Congress into passing a Neutrality Act authorizing the president to prohibit all arms shipments to nations at war and to advise U.S. citizens not to travel on belligerents ships except at their own risk
League of Nations condemned Italy as the aggressor in the war and Great Britain moved its fleet to the Mediterranean FDR imposed an arms embargo that had little effect on Italy but hurt Ethiopia But neither Britain nor the U.S. wanted to stop oil shipments to Italy nor send troops
In 1936 Civil War broke out in Spain as General Francisco Franco, supported by the Catholic church and large landowners, revolted against the republican government
Mussolini and Hitler had formed the Rome-Berlin axis in 1936 and both aided Franco while the Soviets aided the Loyalists War in Spain polarized the US and more than 3000 Americans joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and went to fight in Spain US maintained neutrality and refused arms to both sides In 1937 Congress passed another Neutrality Act making it illegal for American citizens to travel on belligerent ships and extending the embargo on arms, even making non-military items only available on a cash and carry basis
WAR IN EUROPE
Roosevelt, while not an isolationist, was determined to keep America out of the European war March 1938: Hitler annexed Austria
In September, after the Munich Conference, Hitler took the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and, despite promises to the contrary, overran the rest of the country within six months
August 1939: Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact 1 September 1939: Germany attacked Poland, marking the official beginning of World War II
France and Britain honored their treaties and came to the aid of Poland Roosevelt asked for a repeal of the embargo section of the Neutrality Act and of the approval of the sale of arms on a cash-and-carry basis to France and Britain
In August 1939, Albert Einstein and other scientists warned the president that German scientists were working on an atomic bomb so Roosevelt authorized funds for a top-secret project to build an American bomb first War in Poland ended quickly with Germany attacking from the west and the Soviet Union from the east
After Poland fell, there was a lull in the fighting (the phony war) though the British sent several divisions to help the French
WAR IN EUROPE
Phony War ended on April 9, 1940 when Germany attacked Norway and Denmark.
A few weeks later, the German Blitzkrieg swept through Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands A week later they invaded France, sweeping around the Maginot line The French surrendered in June as the British army fled back across the Channel from Dunkirk
Some Americans organized the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies while others supported a group called America First FDR approved the shipment to Britain of 50 overage destroyers in return for the right to establish naval and air bases on British territory
July 1940 FDR signed a measure authorizing $4 billion to increase the number of American naval warships In September, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which drafted 1 million men to serve in the army for one year but only in the Western Hemisphere
Roosevelt was slow to aid Great Britain both because wanted to keep the United States out of the war but he was also worried about the 1940 presidential campaign
Republicans nominated Wendell Wilkie who actually supported the New Deal and aid to Britain Roosevelt won, 27 million to 22 million votes
LEND-LEASE
Roosevelt constructed a plan for sending material aid to Britain without demanding payment, the Lend-Lease Act of March 1941
German U-Boats were sinking half a million tons of shipping each month in the Atlantic
June: FDR proclaimed a national emergency and ordered the closing of German and Italian consulates in the United States
On June 22, Germany suddenly attacked the Soviet Union and FDR extended lend-lease aid to the Soviets
By the autumn of 1941, the US was virtually at war with the Germans On September 11, Roosevelt ordered a shoot on sight order for all American ships operating in the Atlantic On October 30, a German sub sank an American destroyer off the coast of Newfoundland
Intent on becoming a world power and needing natural resources, especially oil, Japan risked war with China, the Soviet Union and even the U.S. to obtain them
Japan tried to delay war with the U.S. as long as possible through diplomatic means, which was fine with the US who did not want a two front war
In July 1939, the United States began to apply economic pressure by notifying Japan of the cancellation of the 1911 commercial treaty in six months time
September 1940, administration forbade the shipment of airplane fuel and scrap metal to Japan, adding other items to the list in the following months until the spring of 1941, when only oil was still being shipped
Negotiations with Japan had few results and, in fact, Japan occupied French Indochina in 1940 and 1941
The US had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and knew that Japan planned to attack some place but did not know where
In September Japan decided to strike after November if there were no major concessions
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, destroying or disabling 19 ships and 150 planes and killing 2335 soldiers and sailors and 68 civilians
At the same time, Japan attacked the Philippines, Guam, the Midway Islands, Hong Kong and Malaya On December 8, Congress declared war against Japan The attack united the country behind the war
People searched for a scapegoat while Pearl Harbor became a symbol of American unpreparedness
The War Production Board (WPB) offered businesses cost-plus contracts for retooling for the war effort
Office of Scientific Research and Development (ORSD) was set up to perfect new weapons and other products including the atomic bomb, radar, high-altitude bomb sights, jet engines, pressurized cabins for airplanes, and penicillin FDR tried hard to gain the cooperation of businesspeople
Appointed business leaders in key positions and abandoned antitrust actions Industrial production and new corporate profits nearly doubled during the war
Accelerated mechanization of the farm and increased the use of fertilizer even as actual farm population declined
Accelerated mechanization of the farm and increased the use of fertilizer even as actual farm population declined
Office of Price Administration (OPA) set prices and rationed products National War Labor Board (NWLB) had the authority to set wages and hours and to regulate working conditions
Union membership grew rapidly during the war and in return for no strike pledges the NWLB allowed agreements that required workers to retain their union membership through the life of their contract Labor leaders complained about increased government regulation
Government tried to reduce inflation by selling war bonds and increasing taxes American economy rose to the occasion and produced the supplies needed to win the war War stimulated the growth of the federal bureaucracy and accelerated the governments central role in the economy
PATRIOTIC FERVOR
Office of War Information controlled the news the public received about the war and promoted patriotism Government sold war bonds both to pay for the war and to sell the war to the American people Those too young or too old to join the armed forces became air raid wardens or civilian defense or Red Cross volunteers
War promoted hatred of the enemy and soon the German people became as vilified as the Nazi leadership though there was no antiGerman hysteria in the U.S.
However, such animosity did develop against the Japanese who were portrayed as subhuman
At the time of Pearl Harbor, 127,000 Japanese lived in the United States, about 80,000 of them Nisei and Sansei who were barred from intermarriage with other groups and excluded from many places
While they maintained cultural and linguistic ties to Japan, they posed little real threat
Reacting to public pressure, the president issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the evacuation of the Japanese in January 1942
The government built special relocation centers in remote sections of the U.S. and evacuated about 110,000 Japanese (including 60,000 citizens of Japanese heritage) The more numerous Japanese in Hawaii were not relocated Government allowed Japanese American men to volunteer for military service in Europe and even drafted Nisei men after January 1944
Relocation Camps
Pacific war made China an ally of the United States but the 1882 Exclusion Act was not repealed until 1943 and even then allowed only 105 Chinese in a year
Chinese enthusiastically joined the war effort and even served in the military 1923 Supreme Court decision denying citizenship to Asian Indians was reversed during the war
Korean, Filipino, and Asian Indian populations also contributed to the war effort
U.S. remained a segregated society and African American profited little from the revival of prosperity at the beginning of the war
To prevent an African American march on Washington in 1941, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which stated that there was to be no discrimination in the employment of workers in the defense industry or in government and Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Commission to enforce the order Jobs in war industries helped many blacks improve their economic conditions As blacks moved north and west for jobs, their arrival aggravated racial tensions and sometimes resulted in riots such as the one in Detroit in 1943 that killed 25 blacks and 9 whites
Mexican Americans profited from the increased job opportunities but faced racial prejudice
In Los Angeles, conflict flared between Mexican American youths in zoot suits and white servicemen in the spring of 1943
World War II altered patterns of work, leisure, education, and family life It caused a massive migration of people, created jobs and changed lifestyles
WARTIME OPPORTUNITIES
15 million Americans moved during the war, usually from rural areas to the cities, to the west and from the south to the north
As they poured into the cities, they put pressure on schools, housing and other services Especially transformed California, leading to growth, pressures on services and increased tensions
Many Americans had money to spend but there was nothing to spend it on War required major adjustments in family life as the number of female headed households increased
Thousands of women took jobs in a wide range of areas never before open to them, especially after 1943
At the end of the war, the labor force included 19.5 million women though three-fourths of them had been working before the war New workers were often older and married
Black women often faced discrimination though a number did move into factory jobs Married women with young children often found it tough to find work as there were no child care facilities Many women workers suffered harassment and most left their jobs at the end of the war
Major networks increased their news programs from less than 4 percent to nearly 30 percent of broadcasting time Reporters and commentators became celebrities
Even music conveyed a war theme For many Americans the motion picture became the most important leisure activity with attendance averaging 100 million a week
Musical comedies, cowboy movies and historical romances remained popular Newsreels presented the theme of American victory War themed movies also were popular
FDR emphasized that the enemy opposed all religion. In 1940 65 million Americans belonged to 250,000 churches and other religious institutions
Military personnel were given three religious choices: Protestant, Catholic or Jew
During WWII conscientious objector status was broadened to include religious reasons and more than 70,000 used the new exemption, with 25,000 being assigned to non-combat duty Many clergymen volunteered to serve in the war as chaplains Reinhold Neibuhr argued for the use of force against evil
GI was short for government issue and became what soldiers were called
Only one solder in eight who served saw combat and many saw the war as an adventure
Many Mexican-Americans and Native Americans served in the military where they found less prejudice and came back with new ambitions and a sense of self-esteem
Navajo code talkers Indians who returned to reservations after the war were ineligible for veterans benefits
African Americans served in segregated units and continued to encounter large amounts of prejudice
Fewer were sent overseas and fewer were in combat units Many illiterate blacks learned to read and write in the service 16 million men and women served in some branch of the military service; 322,000 were killed and 800,000 wounded
WOMEN IN UNIFORM
Women served as nurses and cooks and in other support capacities In April 1943 women physicians gained the right to join the Army and Navy Medical Corps Congress authorized full military participation for women, except for combat and 350,000 women joined the military service in the Womens Army Corps (WAC) and the womens branch of the navy (WAVES)
Others served in the coast guard and marines and more than 1000 trained as pilots (WASP) and ferried bombers from factory to use
Men were informed about contraceptives but women were not and pregnancy resulted in immediate discharge
On December 11, 1941, Germany declared war on the U.S. Unclear why Hitler did so
WAR AIMS
January 1941, FDR mentioned the four freedoms: freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of speech and expression and freedom of worship Henry Luce argued the U.S. had the responsibility to spread democracy around the world US concentrated on Germany first while fighting a holding action against Japan
A YEAR OF DISASTER
Japanese captured the Dutch East Indies, Burma, Wake Island and Guam, invaded the Aleutians and captured the Philippines and 11,000 US servicemen Germans pushed deep into Russia In North Africa, British forces were driven almost to Cairo while in the Atlantic German subs sank ships faster than they could be replaced
Churchill wanted to delay a direct continental assault while Stalin, who was facing the bulk of the Nazi army, pushed for a second front
While FDR promised a second front the assault actually occurred in North Africa in November 1942 Darlan deal reinforced Soviet distrust US aided Franco in return for safe passage of American shipping in the Mediterranean
Solution to problem of Jews was to win the war as quickly as possible rather than any direct action
Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was in charge of the North Africa campaign, had an ability to get people to work together American army moved across North Africa, linked with British and then took Sicily and invaded Italy in 1943
Italians overthrew Mussolini and surrendered in September 1943 but the Germans sent troops that made the campaign long and bitter with Rome only captured in June 1944 Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 Battle of Midway in June 1942 Leapfrogged from island to island in 1943 Pacific war was often brutal and dehumanizing
Made possible by US industrial production 2245 were killed and 1670 wounded in securing the beachhead
Invasion preceded by months of bombing though it neither disrupted German productive capacity as much as strategists hoped nor weakened the will of the German people while it cost the Allies heavily in planes and personnel
Army broke out of Normandy beachhead in July and had swept across France by late 1944 while the Russians had pushed the German Army out of much of eastern Europe
British wanted to beat the Russians to Berlin but Eisenhower moved south for a number of reasons, meeting the Russians on 25 April 1945 at the Elbe River
Russians took Berlin on May 2 and on May 8 the European war was over
During 1944, the US continued to tighten the noose on Japan and had destroyed most of the Japanese Navy by June
In 1944, FDR ran for an unprecedented fourth term, dropping Henry Wallace and adding Harry Truman as his running mate
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta in the Crimea in February 1945 to settle outstanding issues
FDR wanted Soviet help against the Japanese and in return for their promise to enter the war within three months of Germanys surrender, the Soviet Union was promised the Kurile Islands, the southern half of Sakhalin, and railroad and port facilities in North Korea, Manchuria and Outer Mongolia Decided to partition Germany and divide Berlin Polish borders were moved and Stalin agreed to be more inclusive in the new Polish government Stalin agreed to United Nations Decided to fix the rate of exchange among the worlds currencies using the dollar rather than the pound
Bretton Woods Conference in summer 1944 established the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
Roosevelt died April 12, 1945 of a massive stroke and Truman became president The atomic bomb was successfully tested in July 1945 and Truman, who never doubted its military use, decide to drop it on Japan to prevent what was seen as a potentially very costly invasion of the home islands
August 6: an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima August 8: USSR declared war on Japan August 9: an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Japanese surrendered five days later