APUSH Chapter 26 America in a World at War
Women and the War
The number of women in the workforce increased by nearly 60% and women accounted for 1/3 of paid workers by 1945 These women were likely to be married and older than most women who had entered the workforce in the past Many factory owners continued to categorize jobs by gender and owners invested in automated assembly lines to reduce the need for heavy labor "Rosie the Riveter" symbolized the new importance of female industrial workforce Women joined unions in substantial numbers Most women worked in service-sector jobs and above all, they worked for the govt, whose bureaucratic needs dramatically increased Even within the military, many women enlisted in the WACs (Army) and WAVES (Navy) Women had to work while caring for their children The scarcity of child-care facilities meant that some women had no choice but to leave young children at home alone while they worked
War-Induced Economic Recovery
The war had a profound impact on Am. domestic life by ending the Great Depression Mid 1941: economic problems of 1930s-unemployment, deflation, industrial sluggishness-had virtually vanished before the great wave of wartime industrial expansion The most important agent of the new prosperity was federal spending, which after 1939 was pumping more money into the economy each year than all the New Deal relief agencies combined had done By 1945, the federal budget had risen to $100 billion and gross national product was $166 billion Personal incomes in some areas grew as much as 100%+ The demands of wartime production created a shortage of consumer goods, so many wage earners diverted much of their new affluence into savings, which would keep the economic boom alive in postwar years
Ultra and Magic
Ultra - The area in which the Allies had perhaps the greatest advantage in technology was in intelligence gathering Britain's top-secret "Ultra" project: The Allies successfully captured or stole German and Japanese intelligence devices, such as the German Enigma machine, which helped when the Germans constantly changed their codes More important were the efforts of cryptologists to puzzle out the enemy's systems, and advances in computer technology that helped Allies decipher coded messages sent by Japanese and Germans Magic-The American counterpart to the Britain's "Ultra" project It proved valuable in breaking the Japanese code, called Purple Result: Americans had access to intercepted info that, if properly interpreted, could've alerted them to the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor
Battle of the Bulge
With the Allied advance through France and Paris's liberation by the end of August, the Allies moved toward the German/French border The worst winter in 25 years stalled the Allied advance and the Germans launched a massive counter-offensive to push the Allies back to the Channel in late-December The Germans created a bulge in the line and surrounded the city of Bastogne in Belgium, where the US 101st Airborne Division was trapped Gen. George Patton's Third Army made its way to Bastogne and rescued the division and defeated the Germans Germans drove 50 mi toward Antwerp before they were finally stopped at Bastonage The battle ended serious German resistance in the West
Battle of the Coral Sea
Allies achieved first important victory northwest of Australia on May 7-8, 1942 when American forces turned back the previously unstoppable Japanese fleet Where the US stopped the Japanese advance toward New Guinea Following this battle Japanese set their sights on Midway Islands
braceros program
Am. and Mexican govts agreed to a program by which braceros (contract laborers) would be admitted to the US for a limited time to work at specific jobs and Am. employers in the SW began actively recruiting Mexican American workers
Radar and Sonar
American and British physicists made rapid advancements in improving radar and sonar technology which helped Allied naval forces decimate German U-boats and effectively end their effectiveness in naval war Creation of centimetric radar was important; it used narrow beams of short wavelength that made radar more efficient and effective than ever before This new radar could also be effectively miniaturized, which was critical to its use on airplanes and submarines These innovations put Allies far in advance of Germany and Japan ion radar and sonar technology Allies developed acoustical countermeasures, which transmitted sounds through the water to detonate mines before ships came near them
Battle of Okinawa
April to June 1945, American forces landed a large force on the island that's only 370 miles south of Japan This battle was further evidence of the strength of the Japanese resistance in last desperate months Japanese forces on the island fought ferociously while Japanese pilots conducted kamikaze runs against American and British ships off-shore US suffered nearly 50,000 casualties while Japan lost over 100,000
America and the Holocaust
As early as 1942, high officials in Washington had incontrovertible evidence that Hitler's forces were rounding up Jews and others from all over Europe, transporting them to concentration camps, and systematically murdering them in factory-like gas chambers News of the atrocities was reaching public as well, and pressure began to build for an Allied effort to end the killing or at least to rescue the surviving Jews US govt. resisted all entreaties to save the Jews US also resisted admitting large numbers of Jewish refugees to escape Europe - a pattern well establish even before Pearl Harbor
Atomic Bomb used and Japanese surrender
August 6, 1945 B-29 Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb ("Little Boy") against an enemy target and annihilated the city More than 80,000 were killed outright The Japanese govt. was stunned by the attack and was unable to respond On August 8, the Soviets declared war on Japan On August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and it leveled this city, killing over 100,000 Finally, the emperor intervened to break the stalemate in the cabinet and on August 14, announced that it was ready to surrender Pres. Truman proclaimed August 15, V-J Day (later changed in 1946 to Victory Day) On Sept. 2, 1945, the Japanese formally surrendered on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay
Office of Price Administration
Concerns about inflation were key concerns during the war, though, in part b/c of its success, it was much less a serious problem during the war than it had been during WWI OPA was never popular and there was widespread resentment over wages and prices Complicated system of rationing common goods *Total fed. govt. spending: $321 billion ($4.2 trillion in 2016 money)-2x as much as it had spent in its entire existence up until that point and 10x as WWI
Battle of El Alamein
Earlier, the British, under Gen. Bernard Montgomery, defeated the Nazis at this battle - Turing point battle in Africa
The Manhattan Project
Einstein's letter to FDR in 1939 about German scientists working on a atomic weapons that prompted the president to call for an American development of an atomic bomb Dubbed, "The Manhattan Project", some of the best scientists in the world, worked on this massive scientific and technological effort conducted at hidden laborites at various sites at a cost of $2 billion They were charged with finding a way to create a nuclear chain reaction that could be feasibly replicated w.in confined space of a bomb Scientists in Los Alamos were charged w/ construction of actual atomic bomb
Fair Employment Practices Commission
FDR got Randolph to cancel the march in return for a promise to establish the FEPC to investigate discrimination in war industries Its enforcement powers were limited, but its creation was a rare symbolic victory for African Americans making demands of the government
Key economic concern - inflation
Fear of deflation, the central concern of the 1930s, gave way during the war to a fear of inflation, particularly after prices rose 25% in 2 yrs before attack on Pearl Harbor Oct 1942 Congress passed Anti-Inflation Act-gave admin. authority to freeze agricultural prices, wages, salaries and rents throughout the country Enforcement of these provisions was the task of the OPA
Zoot-suit Riots
In 1943, animosity toward the zoot-suiters produced a 4-day riot in Los Angeles During the riot white sailors invaded Mexican American communities and attacked zoot-suiters (in response to alleged attacks) The city police didn't do much to restrain the sailors who violently attacked the Mexican American teenagers, tearing off their zoot-suits and burning them, but when Mexican Americans tried to fight back, the police arrested them Los Angeles passed a law prohibiting the wearing of such suits
Battle of Midway
In June 1942, this turning point battle of the Pacific War, resulted in the US Navy destroying 4 Japanese carriers and severely defeating them, preventing them from invading the islands From that point on, the US took the offensive in driving back the Japanese to the Home Islands By mid 1943 both in the southern and central pacific, the initiate had shifted to the US
Smith-Connally Act
In May 1943 when United Mine Workers defied the govt. by striking, Congress passed, over FDR's veto, this, which required unions to wait 30 days before striking and empowered the president to seize a struck war plant Public animosity toward labor rse rapidly and many states passed laws to limit union power
Battle of Leyte Gulf
In the fall of 1944, MacArthur's forces landed in Leyte Island in the Philippines As Am. forces pushed closer to Japan, the Japanese used their entire fleet against the Allied invaders in 3 major encounters-which together constituted this battle, the largest naval battle in history US held off the Japanese and sank 4 carriers, all but destroying their capacity to wage a serious naval war
War Production Board
Jan 1942 In response to criticism, FDR created this, under direction of Donald Nelson, who never displayed the administrative or political strength of his 1918 counterpart, Bernard Baurch It was to be a superagency, w/ broad powers over the economy It never had as much authority as WWI equivalent, War Industries Board, nor was it able to win control over military purchases; the army and navy often circumvented the board entirely in negotiating contracts w/ producers It couldn't satisfy complaints of small business, which charged that most contracts were going to large corporations FDR gradually transferred much of its authority to the Office of War Mobilization, direction by James F. Brynes, but it was only slightly more successful than the WPB Despite administrative problems, the war economy managed to meet almost all the nation's critical war needs By 1944, American industrial output was twice that the Axis powers combined
D-Day (Operation Overlord)
June 6, 1944 marked the largest ambitious invasion of the war Code named "Operation Overlord:" While airplanes and battleships offshore bombarded Nazi defenses, over 4,000 Allied vessel from England landed thousands of troops and supplies on the Normandy coast of France Allied paratroopers were dropped in the early morning before the landing in order to take strategic targets and disrupt German communications and transportation lines Fighting was intense along the beach, but the superior manpower and equipment of Allied forces prevailed W/in a week, German forces had been dislodged from virtually the entire Normandy coast
CORE
Organized in 1942, mobilized mass popular resistance to discrimination in a way that more conservative organizations had never done Black leaders helped organize sit-ins and demonstrations in segregated theaters and restaurants In 1944 CORE won a publicized victory by forcing a DC restaurant to agree to serve African Americans Its defiant spirit would survive into the '50s and help produce the civil rights movement
War and the West Coast
The West Coast became a launch pad for most of the naval war against Japan The govt. created large manufacturing facilities in CA and elsewhere to serve the needs of its military 10% of the money spent between 1940-1945 went to CA By the end of the war, the economy of the Pacific Coast had been transformed The Pacific Coast had become the center of the growing American aircraft industry Some areas made the West a center of the shipbuilding industry and Los Angeles a major industrial center as well Parts of the West were now among the most important manufacturing areas in the country, and became the fastest growing region in the nation after the war
Organized labor during the war
The military took more than 15 million men and women out of the workforce; at the same time, demands for labor rose rapidly Union Gains: The war gave an enormous boost to union membership; 13 million members by 1945 The govt. was mostly interested in preventing inflation and in keeping production moving without disruption It managed to win concessions from union leaders on both scores "Little Steel" formula: Set a 15% limit on wartime wage increases Set a "no strike" pledge by unions not to stop production in wartime In return, the govt. provided labor with a "maintenance membership" agreement, which insisted that all new workers in unionized defense plants would be enrolled in the unions Ensured health of union organizations, but in return, the workers had to give up the right to demand economic gains during the war
African Americans and the war
Blacks were determined to use the conflict to improve their positions in society by making demands Summer 1941, A. Phillip Randolph began to insist that the govt. require companies receiving defense contracts to integrate their workforces He planned a massive march on DC, which would bring more than 100,000 demonstrators to the capital Afraid of possibility of violence and of political embarrassment, FDR persuaded Randolph to cancel the march in return for a promise to establish the FEPC Its creation was a rare symbolic victory for African Americans making demands of the government Demand for labor in war plants increased migration of blacks from rural South into industrial cities The migration bettered the economic conditions of many African Americans, but it also created urban tensions Despite such tensions, leading black organizations redoubled their efforts during the war to challenge the system of segregation Military leaders were forced to make adjustments to segregated training camps and units; they realized that segregation was wasting manpower African Americans were beginning to serve on ships w/ white sailors and more blacks were being sent into combat Tensions remained: in some partially integrated army bases, riots occasionally broke out when African Americans protested having to serve in segregated divisions W/in the military, as w/in society at large, the traditional pattern of race relations was slowly eroding
Official Anti-Semitism
Both before and during the war, State Dept. didn't use up the number of visas permitted by law; 90% of the quota remained untouched There was a deliberate effort by officials in the State Dept. to prevent Jews from entering into the US in large numbers One opportunity after another to assist imperiled Jews was either ignored or rejected After 1941, there was little American leaders could have done, other than to defeat Germany, than to save most of Hitler's victims, but more forceful action might have saved some lives Policymakers of the time justified their inaction by arguing that most of the proposed actions - bombing railroads and the death camps - would have had little effect They insisted that the most effective way to save the Holocaust victims was to concentrate on the larger goal of winning the war
Battle of Stalingrad
From August 1942 to January 1943, the Soviets battled the Germans at Stalingrad, the turning point battle in the European Theater The German siege resulted in massive losses of German soldiers and 100,000 remaining men of the 6th Army surrendered; Russian losses were also huge Soviet success in beating back the Germans persuaded FDR to agree to an Allied invasion of Sicily; Churchill claimed such an invasion would knock out Italy from the war and tie up German forces divisions that might otherwise be stationed in France
Japanese American internment
There was a glaring exception when addressing the Japanese Americans adopted a different attitude toward their Asian enemy Govt and propaganda encouraged Americans to perceive the Japanese as devious, malign and cruel people Racial animosity soon extended to Americans of Japanese descent About 127,000 Japanese Americans were in the US;1/3 of them were un-naturalized, first generation immigrants (Issei); 2/3 were naturalized or native born citizens (Nisei) Many whites considered them too "foreign" and believed that they could never become "real" Americans The attack on Pearl Harbor inflamed these suspicions and turned them into active animosity Feb. 1942, in response to such pressure, FDR signed an executive order authorizing the Army to "intern" the Japanese He created the War Relocation authority to oversee the project Over 100,000 people were rounded up, told to dispose of their property, and taken to "relocation centers" These centers were little different from prisons, many in the western mts. and desert, and their conditions weren't brutal, but they were harsh and uncomfortable The governor of UT even wanted the fed. govt. to turn over thousands of Jap. Am. to serve as forced laborers The interment never produced significant popular opposition
Code Talkers
These Indians served as communicators of messages using their own native languages over radios and telephones The enemy had no idea how to decipher the messages and never understood them
US strategy to hit Japanese
US Pacific strategy entailed Gen. Douglas MacArthur moving north from Australia, through New Guinea and eventually back to the Philippines Other, under Adm. Chester Nimitz, would move west from Hawaii toward major Japanese island outposts in central Pacific Two offensives would come together to invade Japan itself
Operation Torch
US entry into the European Theater was in North Africa at Morocco in November 1942 Allied British-American invasion of North Africa during the North African campaign of WWII Started Nov 8 142
