America and the Second World War - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

America and the Second World War

History 17B

Lecture 9

• From economic fears in Great Depression to fears of personal loss during World War II.
• America emerged from war stronger.
• Lecture Goals
• Analyze economic, social, and international changes of the war.

Hitler calls for lebensraum (living space) in the East.

Blitzkrieg into Poland, September 1, 1939.

France falls, June 22, 1940

Hitler invades USSR in Spring 1941.

Two-Front War.

• Japan expands colonial empire into China (1931, 1937)
• Rape of Nanking
• 200,000-300,000 killed
• Unspeakable horrors committed in China
• 10-30 million deaths.

• Disillusionment after WWI
• “America First” and Neutrality Acts
• Bans economic and military aid to nations at war.
• Roosevelt recognized threat and began rearming in 1940

Economic and oil embargo.

Why Pearl Harbor?

Japanese hope to knock out U.S. navy and force negotiations.

2,400+ Americans killed in December 7 attack.

General Tojo

Japan, Germany, Italy (Axis Powers)

vs.

U.S., Great Britain, U.S.S.R. (Allies)

Work was plentiful.

Overtime mandatory in many industries.

Prosperity and Sacrifice(?)

Domestic consumption doubles during time of rationing. (Black market?)

Profiteering

Corporate profits up 68%.

Victory gardens, war bond drives, scrap metal drives.

Posters promoted sentiments that united Americans

Willingness to sacrifice

Urge to participate

Fostering of a sense of peril and hatred of enemy.

• Outpouring of loyalty by minorities and white ethnic groups (i.e., Italian and German Americans).
• Navajo code talkers
• 442nd Japanese American Battalion most highly decorated during WWII.

• Closer contact between whites and minorities leads to tension and violence.
• Detroit riots (June 1943)
• 34 dead, $2 million property damage
• Los Angeles Zoot-Suit Riots (June 1943)

• Soldier Perceptions
• Dehumanized American GIs kill Japanese without remorse (even POWs)
• Military indoctrination
• Collection of body parts.
• “Yellow Peril”
• “Asian hordes” overrunning the West?
• Japanese propaganda: Whites vs. Asians

• Filipino- and Chinese-American advances.
• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 partially repealed.
• Chinese residents allowed U.S. citizenship.

• Discrimination in military but still showed bravery in combat.
• Executive Order 8802 (June 24, 1941)
• A policy of non-discrimination in federal employment.
• Defense contracts with government required to contain nondiscrimination clauses.

• 120,000 Japanese Americans relocated.
• 2/3 were American born citizens.
• Why?
• Racism and War Hysteria.

Family communities form businesses that compete with white Americans.

Alien Land Laws and citizenship exclusion.

Had to be white for naturalized citizenship.

• A Presidential Commission and the FBI both concluded that Japanese Americans posed no security threat.
• Yet racist assumptions that “racial characteristics” defined American born Japanese as disloyal guided policy.
• Economic opportunism.

• Executive Order 9066 signed by Roosevelt (February 1942)
• Japanese descent (neither German nor Italian) to be relocated.

• Army emptied orphanages and removed Japanese American children from foster homes from Alaska down to San Diego.
• Kids with as little as 1/8th ancestry relocated.

War made America stronger and served as a catalyst for change:

• Minorities, women, economy.

• War had a tremendous effect on American confidence.
• Nazi death camps and extent of Japanese atrocities strengthened idea of an American moral crusade.
• Most Americans agreed:
• Could never return to isolationism.