CHAPTER 17

       THE U.S. ENTERS THE WAR

 

THE HOME FRONT

 

-          AFTER PEARL HARBOR ALL AMERICANS SUPPORTED THE WAR

 

-          THE NEW DEAL CAME TO AN END

 

o      MILITARY OBJECTIVES BECAME MORE IMPORTANT THAN SOCIAL REFORM

 

o      FULL EMPLOYMENT ELIMINATED THE NEED FOR PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS

 

o      MOST PEOPLE FELT THAT WE WERE FIGHTING FOR THE FOUR FREEDOMS "Four Freedoms"  

 

§       FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

§       FREEDOM OF WORSHIP

§       FREEDOM FROM WANT

§       FREEDOM FROM FEAR

 

MOBILIZATION

 

-          VOLUNTARY PROGRAMS

 

o      AIR RAID WARDENS

o      SKY WATCHERS

o      VICTORY GARDENS

o      COLLECTING RECYCLABLES

o      CITIZENS BOUGHT LIBERTY BONDS

o      CARPOOLING


17/2

-          CONTROL OF THE ECONOMY

 

o      WPB – WAR PRODUCTION BOARD

 

§       EXERCISED GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY OVER THE ECONOMY

·       THE ECONOMY BECAME A CONTROLLED ECONOMY

§       LIMITED PRODUCTION OF NON-ESSENTIAL GOODS

§       SHIFT TO WARTIME PRODUCTION

·       NEW PLANTS WERE BUILT FOR INDUSTRIES INVOLVED IN WARTIME PRODUCTION

§       RELAXED ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION FOR DEFENSE CONTRACTORS

o      NWLB – NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD

 

§       ESTABLISHED WAGE CONTROLS

·       INTENDED TO STEM INFLATION

 

o      OPA – OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION

 

§       SET A CEILING ON PRICES

§       ESTABLISHED RATIONING

·       GAS, MEAT, SHOES, COFFEE, SUGAR ETC.

 

o      OSRD – OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

 

§       IMPROVED RADAR AND SONAR

§       MANHATTAN PROJECT – DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATOMIC BOMB


17/3

-          RAISING REVENUE

 

o      REVENUE ACT OF 1942

§       RAISED PERSONAL AND CORPORATE INCOME TAXES

§       INSTITUTED PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS

 

o      SOLD LIBERTY BONDS

§       FINANCE THE WAR

§       STEM INFLATION

 

-          RAISING AN ARMY

 

o      SELECTIVE SERVICE ESTABLISHED

§       ALL MEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 – 25 WERE REQUIRED TO SERVE I YEAR

 

THE WAR AND LABOR

 

-          UNIONS VOLUNTARILY TOOK A NO STRIKE PLEDGE

 

-          MANY WOMEN ENTER THE WORKFORCE PERFORMING NON-TRADITIONAL JOBS

 

o      3 OUT OF EVERY 4 NEW WORKERS WERE WOMEN

 

o      ROSIE THE RIVETER BECAME THE PERSONIFICATION OF WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE

o      'Kilroy was here'

 

§       THEY WERE PAID 60% OF WHAT A MAN WAS PAID

 

§       THEY HAD LITTLE OR NO JOB SECURITY

 

THE WAR AND MINORITIES

 

-          MANY MINORITIES CONTINUED TO SUFFER FROM DISCRIMINATION IN DEFENSE INDUSTRIES

 

17/4

o      OBTAINING JOBS AND DEFENSE CONTRACTS

 

o      PHILIP RANDOLPH A NOTED BLACK LABOR LEADER THREATENED A MARCH ON WASHINGTON TO PROTEST

 

o      DISCRIMINATION AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS

 

§       ROOSEVELT FELT THAT THIS MARCH WOULD       

·       GIVE THE APPEARANCE OF NATIONAL DISUNITY

·       CAUSE A WHITE BACKLASH AGAINST BLACKS BECAUSE OF A LACK OF PATRIOTISM

 

ISSUED EXECUTIVE ORDER  8802

-  ENDED DISCRIMINATION IN DEFENSE INDUSTRIES

 

o      INTENDED TO END DISCRIMINATION NOT SEGREGATION

·       HE DID NOT END SEGREGATION IN THE MILITARY

 

o      DISCRIMINATION AND THE JAPANESE

 

§       EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 Japanese Relocation Order (1942)

·       ESTABLISHED 10 RELOCATION CAMPS

·       INTENDED TO REMOVE THE THREAT OF JAPANESE ESPIONAGE ON THE WEST COAST

·       2/3RDS OF THOSE INTERNED WERE NISEI

o      JAPANESE BORN IN THE U.S.

·       1/3RD WERE ISSEI

o      JAPANESE NOT BORN IN THE U.S.

 

§       KOREMATSU V. U.S   korematsu

 

·       U.S. SUPREME COURT RULED THAT THE INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

 

 

THE   CASABLANCA CONFERENCE 1943

 

-          ATTENDED BY THE BIG THREE

o      CHURCHILL, STALIN, AND FDR

 

-          DEVELOPED WAR STRATEGY

-           

o      FIRST PRIORITY WAS THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY

§       THE US WOULD FIGHT A DEFENSIVE WAR IN THE PACIFIC

§       STALIN WANTED THE ALLIES TO OPEN UP A SECOND FRONT

·       Y – TO RELIEVE PRESSURE ON THE EASTERN FRONT

§       CHURCHILL WANTED TO ATTACK THE AXIS FROM THE SOFT UNDERBELLY – I.E. AFRICA AND DELAY AN INVASION OF EUROPE UNTIL ENOUGH AMERICAN TROOPS AND EQUIPMENT WAS READIED

§       FDR SIDED WITH CHURCHILL

·       THIS CREATED ANIMOSITY WITH STALIN

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN THEATER

 

-          STALINGRAD

o      FIRST GERMAN DEFEAT

§       RUSSIAN WINTER

§       SCORCHED EARTH POLICY

 

-          EL ALEMEIN

o      MONTGOMERY DEFEATS ROMMEL IN NORTH AFRICA

 

-          NORMANDY – OPERATION OVERLORD – D DAY

o      THE ALLIED INVASION OF EUROPE

 

-          BATTLE OF THE BULGE

o      FINAL GERMAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE

-          5/8/45 – V. E. DAY

 

17/6

THE PACIFIC THEATER

 

-          PRIMARILY A NAVAL WAR

-           

-          BATTLE OF CORAL SEAS

o      TURNING POINT OF WAR

§       1ST TIME THE JAPANESE WERE STOPPED AS THEY ADVANCED ON AUSTRALIA

 

-          BATTLE OF MIDWAY

o      1ST MAJOR JAPANESE DEFEAT

 

-          BATTLE OF LEYTE BAY

o      LAST JAPANESE COUNTEROFFENSIVE OF THE WAR

 

-          US STRATEGY IN THE PACIFIC

-           

o      ISLAND HOPPING

 

§       BY CUTTING OFF SUPPLIES, THE US WOULD WIN BACK ONE ISLAND AT A TIME

 

§       GUADALCANAL WAS THE FIRST ISLAND RECAPTURED

 

§       A HIGH DEATH TOLL LIMITED THE STRATEGY OF ISLAND HOPPING

 

·       CLIMATIC CONDITIONS – MALARIA

 

·       TENACITY OF THE JAPANESE SOLDIERS

o      BUSHIDO CODE "BUSHIDO"


17/7

o      USING THE ATOMIC BOMB

§       TRUMAN’S OPTIONS

 

·       DROP THE BOMB AND END THE WAR IMMEDIATELY

o      THIS WOULD SAVE COUNTLESS AMERICAN LIVES

·       DEMONSTRATE TO THE JAPANESE THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF THE BOMB

o      WHAT IF IT FAILED?

·       WAIT FOR THE SOVIETS TO ENTER THE WAR

o      US DIDN’T WANT A SOVIET SAY IN THE POST WAR SETTLEMENT

·       NEGOTIATE A PEACE

·       LAND INVASION OF THE JAPANESE HOMELAND

 

§       TRUMAN DECIDED TO DROP THE BOMB ON

·       HIROSHIMA

·       NAGASAKI

 

§       V.J. DAY -  8/13/45

 

-          MISCELLANEOUS

o      KAMIKAZI – def – JAPANESE SUICIDE PILOTS

 

o      ENOLA GAY – NAME OF THE PLANE THAT DROPPED THE BOMB ON HIROSHIMA

 

o      ROBERT OPPENHEIMER – MAN WHO LED THE MANHATTAN PROJECT THAT DEVELOPED THE ATOMIC BOMB

 

o      DOUGLAS MAC ARTHUR – COMMANDER OF THE PACIFIC THEATER

 

o      DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER – SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER

 

17/8

POST WAR ALLIED CONFERENCES

 

-          BRETTON WOODS  BRETTON WOODS

 

o      SET UP THE I.M.F.

 

§       STABILIZE INTERNATIONAL CURRENCIES

§       PROMOTE WORLD TRADE

 

-          DUMBARTON OAKS

o      LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE UNITED NATIONS

 

-          YALTA – yalta THE BIG THREE

 

o      STALIN AGREED TO ENTER THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN 3 MONTHS AFTER A GERMAN SURRENDER

 

o      THE USSR WOULD GET THE EASTERN ½ OF POLAND IN RETURN FOR ALLOWING FREE ELECTIONS IN EASTERN EUROPE

 

o      GERMANY AND BERLIN WOULD BE DIVIDED INTO 4 OCCUPATION ZONES

 

§       SOME CONSIDER THIS TO BE THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR

§       FDR CRITICIZED FOR “SELLING OUT” TO THE SOVIETS

 

 

ADDENDA

-          ARTICLES OF INTEREST

o      Military Tribunals

o       Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948)

o       Confinement and Ethnicity (Abstract and Acknowledgments)

§        Confinement and Ethnicity (Chapter 3)

o       Of Civil Wrongs and Rights . Resources | PBS

o      EMERGENCY WAR POWERS.doc