WORLD WAR II

1939-1945

Fighting WWII

Pre WWII -> FDRS foreign policy:

Differed from some predecessors, major shift in U.S. policy to acknowledge Soviet
Union

FDR attempted to block Germany from increasing its power in Latin America

FDR foreign policy in Latin America:

- Hoovers implementation of Good neighbor (non-interventionist) policy

- Took U.S. Marines out of Haiti

- Canceled Platt Agreement ending U.S. interference in Cubas affairs

- No control of Panamanian govt (1939)

- No control over Dominican Republics finances

- Ended Dollar Diplomacy with Mexico

The Road to War

Germany attempted to dominate all of Europe with aid of Fascist allies:

- Benito Mussolini: Italy

- Francisco Franco: Spain (overthrew republican govt in civil war (1936-39)

Despite German aggression, FDR continued practicing appeasement policy - offering

verbal and logistical support to France, Britain, Russia (Lend-Lease-Aid acts)

Isolationism

FDR forced to adopt isolationist foreign policy:

- Business leaders reluctant to risk profitable overseas markets in Germany and

Japan

- Many Americans loathe to become involved in war given doomed legacy of WWI -
death toll, Econ. Post war problems

FDR also practiced isolationist for politics because:

- NYE committee: investigated the financial and banking interests that underlay the
United States involvement in World War I

- Isolationism also led to adoption of numerous neutrality acts

War in Europe

Germany invaded rest of Czech, after entering part of Czech - Britain and France
Sid okay to non-aggression pact with Germany if Germany didnt go further

Germany invaded Poland 9/1/1939

Blitzkrieg: Lightning war advances into Europe, Germany occupied eastern Europe
in 2 months - controlled France (Vichy), Holland, Belgium etc.

Britain fought war vs. Germans alone for approx. 2 years

FDR wanted to help Britain but American public mostly vs. intervention

Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1941: Japanese planes bombed U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii - less
than 2 hrs, 2,500 Americans dead

FDR asked and was granted Congressional authority to declare war to Japan; U.S.
entered directly in 1941

The War in the pacific

Initial months U.S. experienced several military failures:

- Initial loss of Philippines and the Bataan Death March

- Pacific war changed when U.S. won Coral Sea and Midway battles vs. Japan in
1942

The War in Europe

- War with direct U.S. involvement 1st fought in N. Africa and Italy

- D-Day: June 6, 1944 - Allies saved France by landing in Normandy despite more
than 4k deaths that day alone, later liberated Paris in Aug. 1944 then invaded
German with Soviet aid

- Battle of Stalingrad (July 1942- Feb. 1943) Soviets victorious in defending city and
preventing Germany advance into S.U.

- Hitlers final solution Kristallnacht (jews in concentration camps) anti-semitism in

Germany

The Home front

WWII transformed role of national government

- Created temporary jobs for women and minorities to fill void left by draft

- Government built housing for war workers and forced civilian industry to adapt to
produce for war

FDR offered incentives to spur production

Labor in Wartime

In exchange for union support during war, government and businesses didnt preclude
union membership

Fighting for the 4 freedoms

FDR: freedom of speech, worship, want, fear; so important that they should be
disseminated globally

Freedom from want

Evolved into protecting American standard of living from declining post-war

Office of War information

OWI -> wanted to assign ideological purpose to war

Congress withdrew most funding of OWI because they worried it dedicated the
same amount of time to advert new deal social programs as it did to advert war
efforts

Fifth Freedom

Free enterprise -> government intervention in the economy should be limited; free
market based on supply and demand

Women at work

1944: women comprised more than 1/3 of workforce

Womens work during war was seen as temporary by men and government

The way of life of free men

National resources planning 1933: full employment, expanded welfare state, widely
shared American standard of living

John Maynard Keynes (economist) belief that governments should borrow and spend
money to boost economic activity

Bill of rights

1944: FDR called for economic Bill of rights - second bill of rights

Congress successfully opposed it:

1944: FDR proposed and received approval for G.I. Bill (veterans) -> one of the most
far-reaching pieces of social leg. In American history

Patriotic Assimilation

FDR promoted pluralism as only source of harmony in diverse society - contradictory:

internment policy (sent Japanese to labor camps)

End of WWII -> racism and nativism lost respect but still present

Bracero program

Permitted thousands of contract laborers from Mexico to enter U.S. to work in

domestic and agriculture

New Chicano culture: mixture of Mexican-American heritage

Caucasian Race -> equal privileges resolution

Indians during the war

Code talkers -> combat men who spoke Navajo to communicate by radio to bomb
Japan

Asian-Americans during war

Chinese exclusion abolished - China was U.S. ally vs. Japan

Japanese-American internment

Exec. Order 9066 (1942) -> forced interment of thousands of Japanese into labor
camps

Blacks and military service

More than 1 million blacks served during war

The end of war

Pres. Harry Truman -> Americas 33rd president

FDR died on April 12, 1945

Use Atomic Bomb of not?: developed by Manhattan project

The dawn of the Atomic Age

Aug. 6, 1945 -> American plane dropped atomic bomb over Hiroshima and later
Nagasaki

80k killed in Hiroshima, 50k killed in Nagasaki

United Nations

Founded after WWII

General Assembly

Security council

Peace but not harmony

Creation of Jewish state of Israel

India independence Mahatma Gandhi