World War II
1941: Pearl Habor
1942: Big Three:
- Second Front
- Germany First
November 1942: Operation Torch
Military operations in North Africa
January 1943: Casablanca Conference
- Unconditional surrender
- Creates power vacuums at the end of the war
Operation Anzio:
Sicily and Italy
Summer 1943: Rome Falls
United States discovers an airplane that can go up to 300 MPH
Dec. 1943-May 1944: Air war over Europe
June 1944: 6,000 ships 200,00o men that land at D-Day
Dec. 1944: Battle of the Bulge
April 1945: Holocaust
The Home Front
Theme: A New Deal for the war
The Role of Government in Regulating the Economy
Civil Liberties and Wartime limitations
Industrial Production 1942-1943
War Production Board
Government effort to manage war industries
Office of War Mobilization
Government effort to set production priorities and controlled raw materials
Office of Price Administration
Wage, price, rent controls and rationing
Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
Government prevention of labor strikes in war-related businesses
Congress overrode a Roosevelt veto
Office of War Information
Government control of news about troop movements and battles
Motion Picture Industry supported the war effort with patriotic movies
Key actors: Clark Gable, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart
Motion Pictures: Casablanca, 30 Minutes over Tokyo
African Americans
Migration from the South to the West and North
African Americans worked in war related industries
Detroit (auto industry), Los Angeles (aircraft + naval industries), San Diego (naval/shipping
industry), San Francisco (naval industry)
Increase in the NAACP membership and the leadership of A. Philip Randolph
Threatened March on Washington (1941) cancelled
Fair Employment Practices Committee
Government banned discrimination in hiring practices for companies with government
contracts
Smith v. Allwright (1941)
Supreme Court ruled the all-white primary was unconstitutional
Mexican Americans
Over 300,000 Mexican Americans served in the armed forces
Bracero laws passed to encourage Mexican immigrant workers to work in farm related industries (1942)
1943 Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles
Dozens arrested after violence on Spring St. between marines stationed at Chavez Ravine, Caucasians, and Mexican Americans.
Japanese Americans
20,000 Japanese Americans served in the Armed Services
100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated into detention camps during the war
Koramatsu v. US (1944)
Supreme Court ruled that the relocation of Japanese Americans was constitutional
Nissei: Japanese Americans born in America 60%
Issei: Japanese Americans born in Japan 40%
Feb. 1942: FDR gives an executive order to the military to deal with the Japanese Americans
May 1942: Japanese lost one aircraft carrier at the Battle of Coral Sea
The USS Yorktown was badly damaged
Japanese = 6 aircraft carriers
United States = 2 aircraft carriers and one badly damaged carrier
June 1942: Battle of Midway
Women
200,000 women served in the Army and Navy in noncombat roles during the war. WACS + WAVES
Nearly 1 million women entered the workforce and worked in war related industries
“Rosie the Riviter”
The Military Campaigns
Key Themes:
The war in Europe took top priority
The United States would fight a holding pattern against the Japanese
When should a Second Front be initiated (landing at Normandy inFrance)
Dominant wartime personalities: Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Josef Stalin,
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George Marshall
Big Three: Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1942: Tehran Conference: Germany first\D-day is postponed
1943: Casablanca Conference: Unconditional surrender/power vacuums
1945: Yalta Conference: Free election in Eastern Europe; USSR will attack Japan
Potsdam Conference: US will not share the technology with the Russians