Chapter 35
America in World War II, 1941–1945
Chapter Themes
Theme: Unified by Pearl Harbor, America effectively carried out a war mobilization effort that produced vast social and economic changes within American society.
Theme: Following its “get Hitler first” strategy, the United States and its Allies invaded and liberated conquered Europe from Fascist rule. The slower strategy of “island-hopping” against Japan also proceeded successfully until the atomic bomb brought a sudden end to World War II.
chapter summary
America was wounded but roused to national unity by Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt settled on a fundamental strategy of dealing with Hitler first, while doing just enough in the Pacific to block the Japanese advance.
With the ugly exception of the Japanese-American concentration camps, World War II proceeded in the United States without the fanaticism and violations of civil liberties that occurred in World War I. The economy was effectively mobilized, using new sources of labor such as women and Mexican braceros. Numerous African Americans and Indians also left their traditional rural homelands and migrated to war-industry jobs in the cities of the North and West. The war brought full employment and prosperity, as well as enduring social changes, as millions of Americans were uprooted and thrown together in the military and in new communities across the country. Unlike European and Asian nations, however, the United States experienced relatively little economic and social devastation from the war.
The tide of Japanese conquest was stemmed at the Battles of Midway and the Coral Sea, and American forces then began a slow strategy of “island hopping” toward Tokyo. Allied troops first invaded North Africa and Italy in 1942–1943, providing a small, compromise “second front” that attempted to appease the badly weakened Soviet Union as well as the anxious British. The real second front came in June 1944 with the D-Day invasion of France. The Allies moved rapidly across France, but faced a setback in the Battle of the Bulge in the Low Countries.
Meanwhile, American capture of the MarianasIslands established the basis for extensive bombing of the Japanese home islands. Roosevelt won a fourth term as Allied troops entered Germany and finally met the Russians, bringing an end to Hitler’s rule in May 1945. After a last round of brutal warfare on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the dropping of two atomic bombs ended the war against Japan in August 1945.
Extra Credit Opportunities: 1) Note Cards: Analyze the following terms; include historical context, chronology, drawing conclusions, and cause/effect where appropriate. Each note card you complete is worth one extra credit point; pick the terms you need the most help with to understand.
- Korematsu v. US
- War Production Board
- Office of Price Administration
- War Labor Board
- Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
- WAACS
- WAVES
- SPARS
- GI
- Braceros
- Rosie the Riveter
- Fair Employment Practices Commission
- code talkers
- rationing
- Office of Scientific Research and Development
- Douglas MacArthur
- Bataan Death March
- Coral Sea
- MidwayIsland
- Chester W. Nimitz
- Raymond A. Spruance
- Guadalcanal
- leapfrogging
- Marianas
- B-29
- wolf packs
- Enigma
- Erwin Rommel
- Bernard Montgomery
- El Alamein
- Stalingrad
- Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower
- unconditional surrender
- Teheran
- D-Day
- George S. Patton
- Thomas E. Dewey
- Harry S. Truman
- Battle of the Bulge
- Holocaust
- VE Day
- fire bomb raid
- LeyteIsland
- Iwo Jima
- Okinawa
- kamikazes
- Potsdam Conference
- Manhattan Project
- Hiroshima
- Nagasaki
- VJ Day
Homework Directions: Read the chapter and complete the following:
1. Complete American Pageant Study Guide.
Chapter 35 Study Guide
The Allies Trade Space for Time
1."America's task was far more complex and back-breaking [in World War II] than in World War I." Explain.
The Shock of War
2.How did the war affect liberal ideals and goals at home?
Building the War Machine
3.What effects did the war have on manufacturing, agriculture and labor?
Makers of America: The Japanese
4.In what way can it be said that the reason's for Japanese immigrants' success also caused them trouble?
Manpower and Womanpower
5.What opportunities were opened to women as a result of the war?
Wartime Migrations
6.What effect did the war have on the nation's minorities?
Holding the Homefront
7.What economic effects resulted from American participation in the war on the homefront?
The Rising Sun in the Pacific
8.Describe Japanese victories in the Pacific in the months following Pearl Harbor.
Japan's High Tide at Midway
9.Why was Midway an important battle?
American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
10.Describe the strategy the United States use to defeat the Japanese?
The Allied Halting of Hitler
11."The war against Hitler looked much better at the end of 1942 than it had in the beginning." Explain.
A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
12.Describe the purpose and outcome of the Invasion of North Africa.
D-Day: June 6, 1944
13.Why could June 6, 1944 be considered THE turning point of the war?
FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
14.Why was the choice of a vice-presidential candidate important and difficult for the democrats in 1944?
Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
15.What factors led to Roosevelt's victory over Dewey?
The Last Days of Hitler
16.Describe the last six months of war in Europe.
Japan Dies Hard
17.Explain the meaning of the title of this section.
The Atomic Bombs
18. What was the military impact of the atomic bomb?
The Allies Triumphant
19."This complex conflict was the best fought war in America's history." Explain
Varying Viewpoints: The Atomic Bombs: Were They Justified?
20.In light of the discussion in this section, evaluate the atomic bombing of HiroshimaNagasaki and the fire-bombing of DresdenTokyo.
expanding the “varying viewpoints”
- Gar Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy (rev. ed., 1985).
A view of the atomic bomb as aimed at Russia rather than Japan:
“The decision to use the weapon did not derive from overriding military considerations.…Before the atomic bomb was dropped each of the Joint Chiefs of Staff advised that it was highly likely that Japan could be forced to surrender ‘unconditionally,’ without use of the bomb and without an invasion.…Unquestionably, political considerations related to Russia played a major role in the decision; from at least mid-May American policy makers hoped to end the hostilities before the Red Army entered Manchuria.…A combat demonstration was needed to convince the Russians to accept the American plan for a stable peace.”
- Martin Sherwin, A World Destroyed (1975).
A view of the atomic bomb as primarily aimed at Japan:
“Caught between the remnants of war and the uncertainties of peace, policymakers and scientists were trapped by their own unquestioned assumptions.…The secret development of this terrible weapon, during a war fought for a total victory, created a logic of its own: a quest for a total solution of a set of related problems that appeared incapable of being resolved incrementally.…As Szilard first suggested in January 1944, the bomb might provide its own solution.…The decision to use the bomb to end the war could no longer be distinguished from the desire to use it to stabilize the peace.”
questions about the “varying viewpoints”
21.Assess the validity of the claim that the dropping of the bombs on Japan was not so much an attempt to end the war against the Japanese, as it was “the first salvos in the emerging Cold War.”
22.What does each of these historians see as American officials’ thinking about the relationship between the bomb and the ending of the war against Japan? What does each regard as the primary reason for the use of the bomb?
23.What conclusions might be drawn from each of these views about the political and moral justifications for dropping the bomb? Could the use of the atomic bombs have been avoided?
HISTORIC NOTES
- Early in the war, Germany, Japan, and Italy have considerable military success. The Allies, except for France, which had surrendered in 1940, are fortunate not to be overwhelmed completely.
- Fearing that they will be disloyal, FDR orders the detention of Japanese Americans, a serious violation of basic American civil rights.
- Millions die in the Holocaust, a systematic attempt by the Nazis to destroy those they consider to be inferior – Slavs, the mentally ill, homosexuals, political prisoners, and, especially, Jews.
- The war occasions extensive demographic changes. Urban areas expand to meet the demand for labor in war-related industries. Rural and less-developed areas in the West and Southwest grow as well, a result of receiving government military contracts.
- As in every American war, blacks contribute significantly in WWII despite the obstacles placed before them. But the military will not be desegregated until 1948.
- The considerable financial resources needed to wage war drive up the national debt. In fact, New Deal spending pales in comparison with wartime military expenditures.
- The success of the D-Day landing in the summer of 1944 affords the Allies a bridgehead in France from which they can move inland and ultimately invade Germany itself. With the USSR counterattacking from the east and the British and Americans closing in from the west, Hitler’s Third Reich is doomed. In April, 1945, shortly after Hitler killed himself, Germany surrenders, a victory FDR does not see, having died suddenly the month before.
- With the war in Europe over, the Allies turn all of their attention to defeating Japan. After bloody battles in the Pacific, Truman orders atomic bombs cropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, inflicting enormous civilian casualties. Japan soon surrenders.
- Women play an important role in the war effort; they replace male workers who were in the military and fill supporting roles in the military.
- In 1944 FDR won reelection for a 4th term, in large part because of military success and grassroots support from the CIO and other organized labor political action groups.
Advanced Placement United States History Topic Outline
21. The Second World War
A. The rise of fascism and militarism in Japan, Italy, and Germany
B. Prelude to war: policy of neutrality
C. The attack on Pearl Harbor and United States declaration of war
D. Fighting a multifront war
E. Diplomacy, war aims, and wartime conferences
F. The United States as a global power in the Atomic Age
22. The Home Front During the War
A. Wartime mobilization of the economy
B. Urban migration and demographic changes
C. Women, work, and family during the war
D. Civil liberties and civil rights during wartime
E. War and regional development
F. Expansion of government power