World war two and the Americas

1. World war two and the Americas Hemispheric cooperation and neutrality The role of countries of the region: diplomatic and military The impact of the war on countries of the region The home front: the role of women, impact on minorities Treatment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians The Americas and the Holocaust The beginning of the atomic age

2. causes for united states entry into world war two • Our entry was a consequence of the Japanese naval air attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 and a German declaration of war • Accredited to Japanese militarism and an ambition to establish exclusive domination over greater East Asia, including S.E. Asia and the Western Pacific • China and U.S were the first two targets • Committed to neutrality up to the before mentioned event • The U.S had actually been involved morally and effectively for a year before that date • U.S. strategic planning had centered on continental and hemispheric defense • U.S attempted to contain Japan through diplomacy, through Japan’s increasing economic pressure on their need for imported metals and petroleum • U.S froze all Japanese assets in America and embargoed all oil and petroleum exports to Japan • Without the oil (East Indian) Japan’s air force and navy would be paralyzed • Led the extreme nationalists in Japan to support war against the U.S. • Pearl Harbor emerged as a plan in the summer of ‘41 and was only adopted reluctantly in October • Between Europe and the Pacific (Japan) two separate conflicts had become one global war

3. causes for united states entry into world war two • Hitler saw, after the destruction of the Soviet Union and the annexation of its agricultural and energy resources, the United States as the ultimate enemy • U.S. Lend Lease Act and Agreements • “SEC. 3. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the President may, from time to time. when he deems it in the interest of national defense, authorize the Secretary Of War, the Secretary of the Navy, or the bead of any other department or agency of the Government -(1) To manufacture in arsenals, factories, and shipyards under their jurisdiction, or otherwise procure, to the extent to which funds are made available therefor, or contracts are authorized from time to time by the Congress, or both, any defense article for the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.(2) To sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government any defense article, but no defense article not manufactured or procured under paragraph (1)” • We were giving rearmament and sufficient aid to maintain British resistance and thereby keep the Germans preoccupied in Europe • Pearl Harbor forced Germany into declaring war on the United States • Although the two were already in an undeclared naval war in the Atlantic by the fall of ‘41

4. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union provided Great Britain and the U.S with another ally • 1st wartime summit conference: Atlantic Charter • Lofty war aims focusing on national self-determination and eschewing any territorial desires • Germanys declaration of war on the U.S formally globalized the conflict • Arcadia Conference • Allies had “Germany First” strategy • Created a Combined Chiefs of Staff to run the war and report directly to the “Big Three” (Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt) • Full unity of command of all British and American land, naval, and air forces in all theaters • Specific priorities for those theatres • Combined Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa • Agreed to a global division of responsibility whereby the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) assumed primary responsibility for the Pacific and the British chiefs for the Middle East, while the European theatre remained a combined responsibility

5. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • In the Pacific • Spring of ’42 two pivotal naval air engagements • Coral Sea: both fleets never saw each other and was a draw but a strategic victory for U.S b/c it halted the Japanese Navy advance • Battle of Midway: maybe the most decisive of the war and in naval history. U.S. broke Japanese naval code and destroyed 4 aircraft carriers and 253 planes • Fall of ‘42 • Halted Japanese offensive on New Guinea and took Guadalcanal • Europe • Fall of ‘42, a collection of battles and campaigns may constitute the “turning point” of the war • Montgomery (GB) defeated Rommel (G) @ El Alamein • Eisenhower invaded Casablanca and Algiers • Red Army forced the surrender of entire German Sixth Army in Stalingrad • These all gave strategic initiative to the Allies

6. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • Roosevelt and Churchill meet again in Early ‘43 • Casablanca to plan future strategy • Invasion of Sicily • Probable cross-channel operation • 1st priority to German subs in the Atlantic • 2nd to a bomber offensive of Germany from the U.K • “Unconditional Surrender” Roosevelt verbalized this for many diplomatic reasons • Reassure Stalin in the continued absence of a second front • Reassure Chiang in the continued absence of a major military effort in the China theatre • Reassure British and American opinion of some compromises/decisions that had been made thus far • This would now become official allied policy, postponing territorial issues until the war’s end

7. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • Middle of ’43 • European and American forces successfully invaded Italy • Ousted Mussolini and began secret peace negotiations • Surrendered the third of September • In Pacific • Moved up Solomon Islands • Stopped Japanese advance in New Guinea • Started leapfrogging maneuvers forcing a series of Japanese defeats • Discussed idea of Cross Channel assault (Overlord)

8. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • “Big Three” meet at Tehran at the end of ‘43 • Launch Overlord in May of ’44 – Eisenhower to command operation • Stalin made promise to launch Soviet offensive in the east and enter the war with Japan once Germany had been defeated • These “Big 3” meetings would provide critical both militarily and politically • Agreed upon strategy that would preserve the alliance and lead to total military victory • Established the essential prerequisites for a new postwar order based on Allied dominance and cooperation • Marked both a decline in British power and the rise of the Soviet Union and the U.S. • These two emerging superpowers would exercise more control over both the war effort and postwar plans

9. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • Operation Overlord • Largest amphibious invasion in history • June, 6 1944 against Normandy Coast • British/American forces went through France, Soviets pressing from East, & allied forces coming up the Rhone Valley in Southern France from Italy, joining the Normandy Coast forces • In Pacific during ‘44 • Continued winning with “leapfrogging” techniques • Battle of Leyte Gulf, largest Naval engagement in History, Japanese surface fleet was virtually destroyed and U.S. subs sunk much of their merchant fleet • Saw Japanese suicidal tactics, kamikaze, increasing both the length of battles and the number of casualties

10. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • ‘44 marked by progress in postwar planning • Established a new postwar economic order • World Bank and an International Monetary Fund • Agreed on essentials of a postwar collective security organization • United Nations • Hitler launched a counteroffensive in the Ardennes Forest to try and Split U.S and U.K forces • Largest U.S. engagement of the War • Massive Soviet offensive that brought the Red Army to within thirty-five miles of Berlin • April of ‘45 Soviet and American forces met and split Germany in half • Hitler committed suicide • Soviets took Berlin • May, Germany signs unconditional surrender

11. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • 1st half of ‘45 in Pacific • U.S. made substantial progress in Pacific • Liberated Philippines • Destroyed what remained of merchant fleet • Conquering Iwo Jima and Okinawa • Launched a strategic bombing campaign against Japanese cities • August 6, Hiroshima destroyed • August 8, Soviet Union enters war fulfilling Yalta Pledge • August 9, Nagasaki Destroyed • September 2, signed official surrender

12. U.S Military and Diplomatic Course • 2nd “Big 3” Conference in February of ‘45 in Yalta • Agreement on operations for the final defeat of Germany • Military occupation zones of Berlin • Shift of Polish boundaries westward • Free postwar elections for all of Europe • Outline charter for what would become the U.N. • Soviet entry into war with Japan • In return for territorial concessions of losses from Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. • ** The dawn of the Cold War led to severe condemnation of Roosevelt b/c of many of these agreements. • ** He believed that they had guaranteed both total victory and a stable postwar peace, the terms were understandable and unavoidable in light of the power, position, and continued importance of the Red Army to the war effort. • ** These two nations definitions of a secure postwar world began to collide and mutual suspicions increased. The method by which the war against Japan came to an end both reflected and reinforced those collisions and suspicions.

13. Hemispheric Cooperation/alliance • From 1929 to 1945 there was a significant change in U.S. policy toward Latin America • The Good Neighbor Policy ushered in a new era in U.S.-Latin American relations. • Despite all of its flaws it brought a closer spirit of cooperation and conciliation than ever before • Hoover made a seven week good will trip visiting over half the countries in L.A. • Withdrew all troops in Nicaragua by June of ‘31 • ‘32 negotiated the complete withdrawal of troops from Haiti

14. Hemispheric Cooperation/alliance • Roosevelt ushered in the “Good Neighbor Policy” and era • President FDR took office determined to improve relations with the nations of Central and South America. • Platform called for “no interference in the internal affairs of other nations” and for “cooperation with nations of the Western Hemisphere to maintain the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine.” • Called for a L.A. policy based on the “neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others—the neighbor who respects his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.” • Believed Latin Americans would maintain order for promises of nonintervention

15. Hemispheric Cooperation/alliance • Good Neighbor Policy, 1933 • Emphasized cooperation and trade rather than military force to maintain stability in the hemisphere. • In December Roosevelt stated, "The definite policy of the United States from now on is one opposed to armed intervention.“ • Good Neighbor policy represented an attempt to distance the United States from earlier interventionist policies, such as the Roosevelt Corollary and military interventions in the region during the 1910s and 1920s. • Dollar and Big stick had to go • ‘35 U.S. negotiated a reciprocal trade treaty with Cuba, Columbia, Brazil, and Haiti • By ‘41 this included Venezuela, Central American Nations, Ecuador, Andean republics, and Mexico • Outbreak of WWII and the retraction of European competitors further strengthened the economic relationship between the U.S. and L.A.

16. Hemispheric Cooperation/alliance • Buenos Aires Meeting ‘36 • Argentina was becoming fascist and supporter of the Axis powers • Resolution between U.S. and L.A. countries to settle peacefully all disputes between countries • Mexico Tests Good Neighbor Policy ‘34 • President Lazaro Cardenas implements major provisions from Constitution of 1917 • Seized millions of acres of land and redistributed it to peasants • Seized the subsoil rights from U.S. oil companies • U.S. Roosevelt recognized the Mexican governments right to seize the rights but steadfastly called for fair compensation • Mexico later entered WWII as a cooperative ally and not the pain of a neighbor she had been in WWI

17. Hemispheric Cooperation/alliance • Declaration of Panama, adopted 1st month of WWII, 1939 • 1st collective action by nations of the Western Hemisphere to meet dangers of WWII • Declared “safety belt” around the hemisphere, extending from 300 to 1000 miles from the eastern and western coastlines; European belligerents were warned to desist from naval and military operations in this area • Any violation would be considered an attack of aggression against all of the republics.

18. Hemispheric Cooperation/alliance • Act of Havana ’40 • Prevent transfer of conquered European territories to hostile powers and reaffirmed that an attack on any nation in the hemisphere was an attack on all and would be met with common defense • Lend Lease Act towards Latin America-late ‘41 • Aside from Argentina each major L.A. country received military equipment and training • Over $475 million went to L.A. from ‘41 to ‘45 • Pearl Harbor forced many L.A. countries to declare war, though many waited because of economic ties to Europe and Axis were still in control at this time

19. Brazil’s Role during WWII • WWII had a great impact on Brazil • Improved port facilities, new modern airfields, refurbished railroads, stimulated manufacturing, agriculture, and mining, gained combat experience and the latest equipment • Laid foundation for development in next half century • ‘42 broke relations with the Axis and entered the war officially in August • Hosted the largest U.S. air base outside U.S. territory, tied its economy to the U.S, sent its navy in pursuit of German U-Boats, and provided expeditionary force and a fighter squadron on the Italian front

20. Brazil’s Role during WWII • War benefitted Brazil financially and increased political clout • Vargas used the onset of war to broaden popular support for the regime • Offered opportunity to construct an infrastructure that would allow nationally controlled economic development • U.S. desperately needed certain Brazilian products and the strategically important air and naval bases • Sole source of quartz crystals used in military communications equipment • U.S. factories also needed Brazils iron ore, rubber, chrome, etc…and thorium rich monazite sands used in atomic energy research • Negotiated guaranteed price agreements with U.S. that assured Brazil of a consistent return on its exports

21. Brazil’s Role during WWII • Brazil’s leaders saw the need to make the blood sacrifice • Brazil sent its soldiers to fight to claim a larger role in postwar reconstruction • Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) • Brazilian idea and calculated policy of Vargas government • Formed a 4 division expeditionary corps • End of ‘44 1000 Brazilian military personnel had gone to U.S. – largest contingent of any one foreign nation to pass through its classrooms • Troops sent to Italy, totaling 25,334 • Pursued retreating German Units • Helped with French Invasion • Bulk of combat experience was at the platoon level • During WWII, Brazil…supplier of strategic raw materials, site of important air and naval bases, skillful supporter of U.S., contributed naval units, combat fighter squadron, and 25,000 strong infantry division

22. Brazil’s Role during WWII • Brazilian leaders believed: …the traditional policy of “supporting the United States in the world in exchange for its support in South America” should be maintained “until the victory of American arms in the war and until the victory and consolidation of American ideals in the peace.” …The United States would lead the world when peace was restored and it would be a grave error for Brazil not to be at its side …Brazil was at the mercy of more powerful nations and , unless it had a mighty ally, “the future of Brazil will be everyone’s, except the Brazilians.”

23. Canada’s Role during WWII • Canada • Limited War effort b/c of hard times and horrors of earlier war • Complacency quickly shaken with Battle of Britain in 1940, France falling, and the evacuation of Dunkirk • @ outset of war saw contribution in production of war supplies not so much armed forces • With the U.S. and Soviets vow of neutrality until ‘41, Canada stood as the next strongest nation to Britain • This however brought conscription back to the forefront

24. Wartime Production began • Factories boomed, unemployment disappeared, produced military supplies, rationed goods, and froze prices and wages • Women entered the labor force – “Bren Gun Girl” • Victory in ’45 over 1 million Canadians saw service overseas • Devoted much diplomatic energy to winning U.S. to support of the Allies • Financial arrangements made for Canada to finance war materials being provided for England under the lend-lease agreement • Marked Canada’s passage from the British to the U.S. Sphere of Influence • MUCH THE SAME ROLE DIPLOMATICALLY AND MILITARILY AS THE UNITED STATES

25. Treatment of Japanese • The War inflamed a long tradition of racism against people of Asian descent • In ‘43 started recruiting Japanese-Americans for military service • The entire Japanese and Japanese American population of the West Coast was transported to internment camps • More than 100,000 would spend their war time behind barbed wire in “relocation camps” • Upheld by the Supreme Court when taken there by an individual

26. impact on minorities • Minorities sought work in the booming war industries • Racism occurred against them as well, namely Mexican Americans and African Americans • Attacks against Mexican Americans took place in S. California • Zoot Suit Riots, U.S. Sailors • In Detroit a race riot would leave 35 dead and 700 wounded most being African American

27. impact on minorities • Jobs were still mainly for whites • Military segregated black soldiers and gave them low-level jobs • Executive order 8802: prohibited discrimination in war industries-not in the armed forces • (FEPC) Fair Employment Practices Committee, opened new jobs for blacks • Made slow gains, distinguished themselves in battle, and eventually fought side by side in battle with whites

28. the role of women • No government child care services provided for women • Women still flocked to defense plants • “Rosie the Riveter” was based on fact • Millions of women took the hardest jobs, receiving full status, working in shipyards, steel mills, aircraft plants, and every heavy industry except mining • Employers eagerly recruited women; 5 million had jobs; told to think of their work as a temporary necessity, a wartime duty!

29. The home front-Domestic Course • Roosevelt created a number of agencies • War Production Board • What we needed to produce for war • Office of Economic Stabilization • Order out of chaos • Controlled Materials Plan • Allocate critical commodities • Rationing • Popular acceptance • Gasoline, rubber, speed limits, food, clothing, and other consumer goods • Stamps in addition to cash • Victory gardens 8 million tons of produce

30. The home front-Domestic Course • War Financing • Income tax extended to all workers • Collected “at source” in form of payroll deductions • 7 to 42 million taxpayers • $318 billion to finance war • 45% came from current revenues (taxes) • Rest came from, public donations, banks, and $49 billion in liberty bonds • Industry and Manufacturing • Autos, home appliances, etc…were suspended • Industrial wages rose 22% • Net farm income doubled • Government imposed price and wage control which helped with inflation

31. The home front-Domestic Course • “Arsenal of Democracy” • Armed and equipped not only its own forces but the other Allied nations as well • $50 billion in Lend-Lease aid flowed to all corners off the world • Britain received about half of this and Soviet Union about $10 billion of it • National elections • Determined by military events • String of defeats put Republicans in • String of victory put Republicans out

32. The home front-Domestic Course • No ministry of Propaganda • Instead Office of War Information • Looked after radio, advertisements, and movies • Weapons development was one of the great successes of the war • Office of Scientific Research and Development • Coordinated advancements in weaponry • Cooperation between military, industrial, and educational experts to a level never before seen • Radar, proximity fuse, etc… • Persuaded Roosevelt to back what became the Atomic bomb and which took building a whole industry from scratch and persuading congress to finance a secret effort, Manhattan Project, without being told what it was paying for

33. The home front-Domestic Course • Popular Entertainment Boomed • Didn’t need ration tickets • Ball parks, racetracks, movies, and music • War made life seem precious • Suicide rate fell by a third • Birth and marriage rates soared • Early signs of what would become the baby boom that would transform the nation • At war’s end they felt proud • Saving their country from defeat • Saving democracy, putting all free peoples in there debt

34. The Americas and the Holocaust • 1933-1945 six million Jewish slaughtered • Death Camps • Basic purpose was to kill the Jewish, gas chambers were built for that purpose, six death camps all in Poland under the supervision of the S.S. • Firing squads, secret police • This was the “final solution” to the Jewish Question • Swastika was ancient symbol, 6000 yrs old that originally meant good luck • Third Reich (empire): • 1st : 962 - 1806 Roman • 2nd : 1871 – 1890 Bismark • 3rd : 1933 – 1945 Hitler

35. The Americas and the Holocaust • Great Debate on Americas response to the Holocaust – Did we do all we could or not? • The key to this debate is to look at the events and responses in context of the realities of WWII and the events and values of the years that preceded it • Hitler had set up laws and red tape against emigration • Jews did not desire to leave their country unless it was absolutely necessary • At the time nobody inside or outside Germany anticipated that the Nazi persecution of the Jews would lead to the Holocaust • Actions of German government were generally understood by both victims and bystanders as a return to the sorts of persecutions of prior centuries, not as steps toward genocide

36. The Americas and the Holocaust • Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) forced many hand… • November 9-10, 1938. On a single night, 91 Jews were murdered and 25,000–30,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps. • The Nazis coordinated an attack on Jewish people and their property. • In a single night, Jews saw the destruction of more than 200 synagogues and the ransacking of thousands of Jewish businesses and homes. • Between ‘33 and ‘41, 35 percent of all immigrants to the U.S. under quota guidelines were Jewish. After Kristallnacht, Jewish immigrants were more than half of all immigrants admitted to the United States • The War made further emigration impossible, but 72 % of all German Jews had left the country and 83% of all those under twenty-one

37. The Americas and the Holocaust • When the Holocaust had taken place it was beyond the belief and the comprehension of almost all people living at the time, Jews included • Nevertheless, the U.S., took in double the number of Jewish refugees accepted by the rest of the world • Special squads of the German SS—the Einsatzgruppen—slaughered 1.5 millions Jews behind the German lines in Russia • These were not refugees they were prisoners with no hope of escape or rescue • Prisoners of Hitler could only be saved by the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and that took four years and the mobilization of people and resources by the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union

38. The Americas and the Holocaust • Bomb Auschwitz? The worst of the Camps • Rail lines could easily be rebuilt with in days • Plus the inmates of the cars and those at departure points would have died of thirst, starvation, heat, cold, while the lines were repaired • Give Germans a pretext to say that the Allies killed the Jews • January of ‘44 we developed the War Refugee Board (Executive Order 9417) • Created to aid civilian victims of the Nazi and Axis powers. Created largely at the behest of Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., • Subsequently credited with rescuing as many as 200,000 Jews from Nazi occupied countries, the commission has nevertheless received mixed praise because of the failure of the United States to act sooner despite clear evidence of ongoing atrocities in Nazi-occupied Europe.

39. The beginning of the atomic age and postwar impact • United States was physically undamaged and economically vitalized by the war • America was now a ‘superpower’ and most expected it to act like one • Axis aggression, the Depression, Soviet Union, and technological advances presented new threats to America’s economic and military security. • These ‘threats’ would force the U.S to mobilize power even in peacetime • Gen. George C. Marshall would put the after war thought into these words: • Vast ‘ocean distances’ that once protected America had evaporated; reliance on such outdated factors would put ‘the treasure and freedom of this great Nation in a paper bag’ • Roosevelt would voice the public’s desire for a better life and for “security” • Reasonable expectation after WWI aftermath, Depression, and the enemies of WWII

40. The beginning of the atomic age and postwar impact • Postwar economy attracted fear and hope • Fear b/c of last postwar economic struggle • Hope b/c of promise of reward for wartime struggles • Met through the G.I. Bill • WWII undermined the existing racial system • Reshaped national priorities about race • FDR said “a nation facing ‘totalitarianism’ should strengthen its unity and morale by refuting at home the very theories which we are fighting abroad” • Truman banned segregation and discrimination in the military • WWII reworked the systems of gender • Praising women’s contributions

41. The beginning of the atomic age and postwar impact • American’s fragile mix of anxiety and arrogance, stoked by their possession and use of atomic weapons, shaped perceptions of the Soviet Union • The War’s greatest legacy was Americans’ newfound sense of permanent peril and the Cold War it helped to nourish • The Cold War gave permanence to temporary wartime improvisations in national governance • secrecy, conscription, repression, industrial and scientific mobilization, and high levels of defense spending • Exercise of awesome military and economic power • More powerful national government • GI Bill, civil rights initiatives, education federal aid • Massive government spending promoted prosperity – a lesson learned through war and depression

42. The beginning of the atomic age and postwar impact • Forged a new sense of patriotism and nationhood • America was now the world’s cultural capital • Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, and the Atomic Bomb were dramatized in movies and television • The A-Bomb was at first thought as “what we could do to others” but quickly turned to what others-Soviet Union-could do to the U.S. • Thus, forming Washington’s Cold War policies • The War was a benchmark of greatness • Military service became a virtual requirement for the Presidency during the Cold War