Chapter 23
The Second
World War at
Home and
Abroad, 1939–
1945
I. America’s Entry Into the Conflict
First Peacetime Military Draft
Slowly moves from neutrality to Undeclared war
against Germany
Fall 1940: swap 50 destroyers for bases
1st peacetime draft
Lend Lease (Spring 1941):
 loans Allies materials
I. America’s Entry Into the
Conflict (cont’d.)
Atlantic Charter
FDR/Churchill agree on
war aims
After German attack on
Greer:
 Navy escorts ships
to England
 “shoot on sight”
I. America’s Entry Into the
Conflict (cont’d.)
U.S. Demands on
Japan
Do not want war with
Japan
Embargo oil when
Japan takes French
Indochina (July 1941)
I. America’s Entry Into the
Conflict (cont’d.)
Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan launches surprise attack (December 7)
Kills 2,403
Wounds 1178
Explaining Pearl Harbor
Mistakes and lack of info key
No “back door” conspiracy
Expect attack in Southeast Asia
I. America’s Entry Into the
Conflict (cont’d.)
Explaining Pearl Harbor
Germany/Japan want to
divide world:
USA wants liberal
capitalist world/free trade
Also expands democracy
Axis embraces
authoritarianism/militarism
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3VqQAf74fsE
II. The United States at War
“Europe First” Strategy
Pursue because:
 if Hitler wins Europe = direct threat to USA
Tensions between 3 allies
Stalin wants 2nd front in France ASAP:
 relieves German pressure on USSR
Churchill oppose 2nd front:
 fear high causalities
 wants to protect empire
FDR fears separate peace by USSR
II. The United States at War
(cont’d.)
“Europe First” Strategy
FDR initially sides with Churchill:
 invades North Africa (1942)
Stalingrad = turning point:
 stops Hitler’s army
 begins German retreat
“Operation Torch”
III. The Production Front and
American Workers
War Production Board
(1942):
 oversee conversion to
wartime economy
Corporate profits double,
1939-1943
Big business grows bigger:
 Most contracts go to
100 largest
corporations
III. The Production Front and
American Workers (cont’d.)
Manhattan Project
 A new relationship between science and military
 $2 billion
III. The Production Front and
American Workers (cont’d.)
New Opportunities for Workers (cont’d.)
Blacks protest:
 Randolph proposes March on DC, 1941
 FDR bans discrimination in hiring for defense
jobs and USG
New jobs spur 700,000 blacks to leave South for
cities in North and West
USG encourages Mexican immigration:
 200,000 braceros
p694
IV. Life on the Homefront
Americans volunteer
(victory gardens)
Office of Price
Administration:
 ration key goods
(food, gas)
Office of War Information:
 sell war at home
Near unanimous support
for war:
 in popular culture, =
fight for way of life
IV. Life on the Homefront
(cont’d.)
Racial Conflicts
 Competition
(jobs/housing) increase
tension/discrimination
 Mobs of whites attack
African Americans:
 250 race riots (1943)
 Detroit = worse one
 Mexicans suffer zoot
suit riots (LA, 1943)
Map 23-1 p698
V. The Limits of American Ideals
Internment of Japanese Americans
 Intern 14,426 Europeans (Italians, Germans)
 Intern 100,000 + Japanese and Japanese
Americans as “enemy race”:
 lose homes/businesses
 most US citizens
 none ever charged with treason
 some enlist in military
V. The Limits of American Ideals
(cont’d.)
A Segregated Military




Nearly 1 million black men and women serve:
Red Cross segregate blood
Military resist integration
Navy disregard safety of black sailors:
 CA, 1944
 Black soldiers suffer violence from whites
 Black combat units perform well (pilots)
 WWII = turning point for civil rights
The Big Three at Teheran
VII. Winning the War
Tensions Among Allies
USA/England continue to delay 2nd Front:
 strain relations with USSR
Tehran (1943) FDR overrule Churchill:
 set cross-channel invasion for 1944
War in Europe
D-Day (June 6, 1944) = largest amphibious
landing
 USSR invades Germany from east
 USA/England attack from west
 win Battle of Bulge (1944-’45)
p707
Map 23-2 p706
VII. Winning the War (cont’d.)
Yalta Conference
England wants to preserve empire
USSR wants:
 reparations to help rebuild
 Poland as buffer against Germany
 installation of pro-USSR government
USA wants to:
 avoid errors of WWI peace
 advance self-determination and US power
FDR wants 4 Policemen to guide world
U.S., USSR, UK & China*
Big Three at Yalta Conference
VII. Winning the War (cont’d.)
Harry Truman
FDR picked inexperienced VP in 1944
Germany surrenders May 1945
After FDR’s death (April) and defeat of Hitler:
 less cooperation between Allies
 each jockey for influence
Truman less patient with USSR, with atomic
bomb, less need for USSR
President Harry S. Truman
VII. Winning the War (cont’d.)
The Pacific Campaign
Carrier battles and “islandhop” invasions:
Attack Japan’s shipping:
 disrupt flow of
materials/supplies
Iwo Jima (Feb/Mar 1945):
 huge losses for both
sides
Same at Okinawa
VII. Winning the War (cont’d.)
Bombing of Japan
Fire bomb of Tokyo kills 100,000
Bombing by June kills almost 900,000
Japan’s leaders reject unconditional surrender
(esp. on Emperor)
Extensive bombing during WWII:
 context to understand atomic bomb
Bombing of civilians widespread:
 225,000 die at Dresden, Feb. 1945
VII. Winning the War (cont’d.)
Bombing of Japan (cont’d.)
because of massive blast, fires, and
radiation:
 130,000 die at Hiroshima
 60,000 at Nagasaki
Primary goal:
 end war ASAP and save US lives
Truman want to avoid invasion
Reject peace feelers:
 unlikely to make Japan surrender fully
Anger at “beasts” (Pearl Harbor, Bataan)
p708
Map 23-3 p709
XXIII. The Atomic Bombs and
End of the Pacific War
Bombing of Japan (cont’d.)
Truman and others assume A-Bomb:
 deter postwar aggression
 encourage USSR concessions (Eastern
Europe)
 end Pacific War before USSR entry
Soviet declare war on Aug. 8:
Allies allow Japan to keep emperor