1. America in World War II, 1941–1945
Chapter 35
America in World War II, 1941–1945

2. After mastering this chapter, you should be able to:
Chapter 35 Learning Objectives
After mastering this chapter, you should be able to:
Indicate how America reacted to Pearl Harbor and prepared to
wage war against both Germany and Japan.
Describe the mobilization of the American economy for war and
the mobilization of manpower and womanpower for both the military
and wartime production.
Describe the war’s effects on American society, to include
regional migration, race relations, and women’s roles.
Explain the early Japanese successes in East Asia and the
Pacific, and the American strategy for countering them.
Describe the early Allied invasion o North Africa and Italy,
the strategic tensions with the Soviet Union over the Second Front
And the invasion of Normandy in 1944.
Discuss FDR’s successful 1944 campaign against Thomas
Dewey for a fourth term and his controversial choice of a new
vice president.
Explain the final military efforts that brought Allied victory in
Europe and Asia and the significance of the atomic bomb.

3. Invasion of the Soviet Union
It was then that Hitler made his pivotal mistake. He invaded the Soviet Union.
The obliteration of Bolshevism was a key element of Hitler’s ideology; however, it was a gigantic military mistake.
On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, consisting of an attack army of 4 million men spread out along a 2,000-mile front in three massive offensives.
The German army quickly advanced, but at a terrifying cost. For the next three years, 90 percent of German deaths would happen on the eastern front.

4. The Grand Alliance The Big Three Great Britain (Winston Churchill)
The U.S. (FDR)
The Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin)
Strategies for War
Defeat Germany first

5. I. The Allies Trade Space for Time
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America goes from
Isolationist to working to win the war
FDR went with idea of beat Germany first then into
the Pacific
America had to mobilize quickly on two fronts
(Against Germany and Japan)

6. II. The Shock of War
The war effort required all of America’s huge productive capacity and full employment of the workforce.
Government expenditures soared.
U.S. budget increases
1940 $9 million
1944 $100 million
Expenditures in WWII greater than all previous government budgets combined (150 years)
GNP billion million

7. III. Building the War Machine
The war effort required all of America’s huge productive capacity and full employment of the workforce.
Government expenditures soared.
U.S. budget increases
1940 $9 million
1944 $100 million
Expenditures in WWII greater than all previous government budgets combined (150 years)
GNP billion million

8. VI. Holding the Home Front
Restoration of U.S. Prosperity
World War II ended the Great Depression.
Factories run at full capacity
Ford Motor Company – one bomber plane per hour
People save money (rationing)
Army bases in South provide economic boom (most bases in South b/c of climate)
The national debt grew to $260 billion (6 times its size on Dec. 7, 1941)

9. Gloomy Prospects for the Allied Powers
By the end of 1942, the Allies faced defeat.
The chain of spectacular victories disguised fatal weaknesses within the Axis alliance:
Japan and Germany fought separate wars, each on two fronts. They never coordinated strategies.
The early defeats also obscured the Allies’ strengths:
The manpower of the Soviet Union and the productive capacity of the United States.

10. Campaign Against the Japanese, Hollywood, California, 1923 Long
before Japanese Americans were
interned during World War II as a
security risk, they faced intense
discrimination throughout the United
States.
Campaign Against the Japanese, Hollywood, California, 1923 Long
p800

11. Japanese American Evacuees, 1942 After the U.S. Army’s
Western Defense Command ordered the forced evacuation of
all Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the Pacific
Coast, families had no choice but to pack up whatever they
could carry and move to the “relocation centers” hastily
erected farther inland.
Japanese American Evacuees, 1942 After the U.S. Army’s
Western Defense Command ordered the forced evacuation of
p801

12. Three Boys at Manzanar, by Toyo Miyatake (1895–1979) Miyatake
was an acclaimed Japanese
American photographer with his
own studio in Los Angeles before
he and his family were evacuated
to the Manzanar internment camp.
He was determined to pursue his
craft there, at first working secretly
and then with the knowledge of
the authorities. His pictures are the
only photographic records of daily
camp life taken by an internee. The
guards allowed him to step outside
the barbed-wire fence to take this
photograph.
Three Boys at Manzanar, by Toyo Miyatake (1895–1979) Miyatake
was an acclaimed Japanese American photographer with his
own studio in Los Angeles before he and his family were evacuated
to the Manzanar internment camp. He was determined to pursue his
craft there, at first working secretly and then with the knowledge of
the authorities. His pictures are the only photographic records of daily
camp life taken by an internee. The guards allowed him to step outside
the barbed-wire fence to take this photograph.
p801

13. Anti-Japanese Poster, World War II Government
propaganda during the war exploited racial stereotypes,
often depicting Japanese people with big teeth and poor
vision.
Anti-Japanese Poster, World War II Government
propaganda during the war exploited racial stereotypes,
often depicting Japanese people with big teeth and poor
vision.
p802

14. The Four Freedoms, by Norman Rockwell In his
January 6, 1941, speech to Congress requesting lend-lease
aid to the Allies, President Roosevelt spoke eloquently of
the “four freedoms” then threatened by Nazi and Japanese
aggression. They are here given pictorial representation by
Norman Rockwell, probably the most popular and best loved
American artist of the time.
The Four Freedoms, by Norman Rockwell In his
January 6, 1941, speech to Congress requesting lend-lease
aid to the Allies, President Roosevelt spoke eloquently of
the “four freedoms” then threatened by Nazi and Japanese
aggression. They are here given pictorial representation by
Norman Rockwell, probably the most popular and best loved
American artist of the time.
p803

15. IV. Manpower and Womanpower
War Workers More than 6 million women—more than 3 million of them homemakers
who had never before worked for wages—entered the work force during World War II.
In contrast to the experience of women workers in World War I, many of these newly
employed women continued as wage workers after the war ended.
War Workers More than 6 million women—more than 3 million of them
Homemakers who had never before worked for wages—entered the work
force during World War II. In contrast to the experience of women workers in
World War I, many of these newly employed women continued as
wage workers after the war ended.
p804

16. War Workers More than 6 million women—more than 3 million of them
War Workers More than 6 million women—more than 3 million of them homemakers
who had never before worked for wages—entered the work force during World War II.
In contrast to the experience of women workers in World War I, many of these newly
employed women continued as wage workers after the war ended.
War Workers More than 6 million women—more than 3 million of them
Homemakers who had never before worked for wages—entered the
work force during World War II. In contrast to the experience of women
workers in World War I, many of these newly employed women continued
as wage workers after the war ended.
p804

17. Internal Migration in the United States During World War II
V. Wartime Migrations
Internal Migration in the United States During World War II
Few events in American history have moved the American people
about so massively as World War II. The West and the South boomed,
and several war-industry cities grew explosively. A majority of migrants
from the South were blacks; 1.6 million African Americans left the
region in the 1940s. (Source: United States Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
Map 35.1 Internal Migration in the United States During World War II Few events
in American history have moved the American people about so massively as World War
II. The West and the South boomed, and several war-industry cities grew explosively. A
majority of migrants from the South were blacks; 1.6 million African Americans left the
region in the 1940s. (Source: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
Map 35-1 p805

18. The Pacific Theater
Within 6 months of Pearl Harbor, Japan had a new empire.
Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere
Japanese racial purity and supremacy
Treated Chinese and Koreans with brutality.
“Rape of Nanjing”- Japanese slaughtered at least 100,000 civilians and raped thousands of women in the Chinese capital between Dec and Feb
Could have consolidated
“victory disease”
After Pearl Harbor, American military leaders focused on halting the Japanese advance and mobilizing the whole nation for war.

19. VIII. Japan’s High Tide at Midway The Pacific Theater: Early Battles
American Forces halted the Japanese advances in two decisive naval battles.
Coral Sea (May 1942)
U.S. stopped a fleet convoying Japanese troops to New Guinea
Japanese designs on Australia ended
Midway (June 1942)
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto hoped to capture Midway Island as a base to attack Pearl Harbor again
U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz caught the Japanese by surprise and sank 3 of the 4 aircraft carriers, 332 planes, and 3500 men.
American cryptanalysts

20. Segregation in the Military A white officer reviews the
99th Pursuit Squadron, the famed “Tuskegee Airmen.”
They flew more than sixteen hundred fighter-support
missions in North Africa and compiled an outstanding
record, never losing a bomber to enemy aircraft. But these
fliers were among the few African Americans who saw
combat duty in World War II, when a still strictly segregated
military assigned most blacks to construction,
longshoreman, and mess-hall service.
Segregation in the Military A white officer reviews the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the famed “Tuskegee Airmen.” They flew more than sixteen hundred fighter-support missions in North Africa and compiled an outstanding record, never losing a bomber to enemy aircraft. But these
fliers were among the few African Americans who saw combat duty in World War II, when a still strictly segregated military assigned most blacks to construction, longshoreman, and mess-hall service.
p806

21. Navajo Code Talkers, 1943 One of the best-kept secrets
of World War II was the use of the Navajo language in a
Marine Corps code designed to confuse the Japanese. Two
marines in the leatherneck unit made up of Native
Americans from Arizona and New Mexico transmitted in
code during the battle for Bougainville Island in the South
Pacific in 1943.
Navajo Code Talkers, 1943 One of the best-kept secrets of World War II was the use of the Navajo language in a Marine Corps code designed to confuse the Japanese. Two marines in the leatherneck unit made up of Native Americans from Arizona and New Mexico transmitted in code during the battle for Bougainville Island in the South Pacific in 1943.
p806

22. “Let John Henry Go” This image from the cover of the
National Urban League’s publication Opportunity reflects
the rising militancy of African Americans in the World War
II era. That militancy helped to energize the civil rights
movement in the postwar years.
Let John Henry Go” This image from the cover of the National Urban League’s publication Opportunity reflects the rising militancy of African Americans in the World War II era. That militancy helped to energize the civil rights movement in the postwar years.
p807

23. VII. The Rising Sun in the Pacific
Importance of Midway
The Japanese defeat at Midway was the turning point in the Pacific.
Japanese advances stopped.
U.S. assumes initiative.
Japanese have shortage of able pilots.
Censorship and Propaganda
News of the defeat was kept from the Japanese public.

24. Figure 35.1 The National Debt, 1930–1950 Contrary to much popular
mythology, it was World War II, not
the New Deal, that first ballooned the
national debt. The debt accumulated to
still greater amounts in the 1980s and
1990s, and exploded with the onset of
the “Great Recession” in 2008 (see Figure
40.1 on p. 952). (Source: Historical
Statistics of the United States.)
Figure 35.1 The National Debt, 1930–1950 Contrary to much popular
mythology, it was World War II, not the New Deal, that first ballooned the
national debt. The debt accumulated to still greater amounts in the 1980s and 1990s, and exploded with the onset of the “Great Recession”
Figure 35-1 p808

25. The Turn of the Tide in Europe
Defeat of the Axis Powers
The turning point of the war came in
Allied victory in North Africa was followed by an invasion of Italy, which stopped the Axis powers’ string of victories.
The decisive theater of war, however, was the eastern front.

26. Map 35.2 Corregidor and Bataan
Map 35-2 p809

27. Hell in the Pacific Assaulting Japanese island fortresses
in the Pacific was a bloody, costly business. These American
soldiers perished as they stepped ashore at Buna
beach in New Guinea in Their damaged landing craft
wallows in the surf behind them. Appearing in Life magazine
on September 20, 1943, nearly two years after Pearl
Harbor, this was the first photograph of dead GIs that the
War Department allowed to be published.
p809

28. X. The Allied Halting of Hitler
Turning Points of the War: The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of the war. The German Army (Wehrmacht) had already lost 2 million men on the eastern front.
In , a German army of over 300,000 was defeated and captured at the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Germans then lost the battle of Kursk and began a long retreat.
The Red Army crossed into Poland in January 1944.

29. IX. American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
United States Thrusts in the Pacific, 1942–1945
American strategists had to choose among four proposed plans for waging the war against Japan: 1. Defeating the Japanese in China by funneling supplies over the Himalayan “hump” from India.
2. Carrying the war into Southeast Asia (a proposal much favored by the British, who could thus regain Singapore).
3. Heavy bombing of Japan from Chinese air bases.
4. “Island hopping” from the South Pacific to within striking distance of the Japanese home islands. This strategy, favored by General Douglas MacArthur, was the one finally emphasized.
Map 35.3 United States Thrusts
in the Pacific, 1942–1945
American strategists had to
choose among four proposed
plans for waging the war against
Japan:
1. Defeating the Japanese in
China by funneling supplies
over the Himalayan “hump”
from India.
2. Carrying the war into Southeast
Asia (a proposal much
favored by the British, who
could thus regain Singapore).
3. Heavy bombing of Japan from
Chinese air bases.
4. “Island hopping” from the
South Pacific to within striking
distance of the Japanese home
islands. This strategy, favored
by General Douglas MacArthur,
was the one finally emphasized.
Map 35-3 p811

30. XI. A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
Turning Points of the War: Western Front
XI. A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
Operation Torch (1943)
Allied victory in North Africa and invasion of Italy.
Sicily
Then to Rome
Patton’s initiative quickly defeated the Italians and the German by taking Massena and Palermo

31. Members of the Women’s Army Corps disembark in North Africa in 1944.
Women at War Members of the Women’s Army Corps
disembark in North Africa in (Note: “Auxillary” was
dropped from the name in 1943.)
Women at War
Members of the Women’s Army Corps disembark in North Africa in 1944.
(Note: “Auxillary” was dropped from the name in 1943.)
p812

32. The Big Two
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt meet at the Casablanca conference in Morocco, January The two leaders had a remarkable personal relationship that shaped the outcome
of World War II and the course of history. They met in person nine times over the course of the war. “It is fun to be in the same decade with you,”
FDR cabled to Churchill after one of their meetings. As for Churchill, who was desperate for American aid in the struggle against Hitler, he once commented that “No lover ever studied the whims of his mistress as I did those of Franklin
Roosevelt.”
The Big Two British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
meet at the Casablanca conference in Morocco,
January The two leaders had a remarkable
personal relationship that shaped the outcome
of World War II and the course of history. They
met in person nine times over the course of the
war. “It is fun to be in the same decade with you,”
FDR cabled to Churchill after one of their
meetings. As for Churchill, who was desperate for
American aid in the struggle against Hitler, he
once commented that “No lover ever studied the
whims of his mistress as I did those of Franklin
Roosevelt.”
p813

33. XII. D-Day: June 6, 1944 D-Day: Operation Overlord
The Allied needed to establish a second front.
General Dwight Eisenhower launched an invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.
An invasion fleet of some 4,000 ships and 150,000 men (57,000 U.S.)
Invasion successful. 5,000 killed and wounded Allied troops.
It allowed them to gain a foothold on the continent from which they could push Germany back.

34. Allies Landing in Normandy, June 6, 1944 Nine-foot ocean swells on
invasion day made loading the assault landing craft, such as the one
pictured here, treacherous business. Many men were injured or tossed
into the sea as the bathtub like amphibious vessels bobbed wildly up and
down alongside the troop transports. As the vulnerable boats churned
toward the beach, some officers led their tense, grim-faced troops in prayer.
One major, recalling the remarkable Battle of Agincourt in 1415, quoted from
Shakespeare’s Henry V: “He that outlives this day, and comes
safe home / Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named.”
Allies Landing in Normandy, June 6, 1944 Nine-foot ocean swells on invasion day
made loading the assault landing craft, such as the one pictured here, treacherous
business. Many men were injured or tossed into the sea as the bathtub like amphibious
vessels bobbed wildly up and down alongside the troop transports. As the vulnerable
boats churned toward the beach, some officers led their tense, grim-faced troops in
prayer. One major, recalling the remarkable Battle of Agincourt in 1415, quoted from
Shakespeare’s Henry V: “He that outlives this day, and comes safe home / Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named.”
p814

35. XIII. FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
XIV. Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
Unprecedented 4th Term
Roosevelt will
Not live to see
The end of the war
He dies April

36. World War II in Europe and North Africa, 1939–1945
Map 35.4 World War II in Europe and North Africa, 1939–1945
World War II in Europe and North Africa, 1939–1945
Map 35-4 p815

37. XV. The Last Days of Hitler
Race to Berlin
D-Day was the turning point of the western front. Stalingrad was the turning point of the eastern front.
The British, U.S., and Free French armies began to press into western Germany as the Soviets invaded eastern Germany.
Both sides raced to Berlin.

38. American and Soviet Soldiers Meet in Germany, 1945
Such friendly sights soon became rare as mutual suspicion
deepened.
American and Soviet Soldiers Meet in Germany, 1945
Such friendly sights soon became rare as mutual suspicion
deepened.
p816

39. Battle of the Bulge, December 1944–January 1945
Map 35.5 Battle of the Bulge, December 1944–January
1945
Battle of the Bulge, December 1944–January 1945
Map 35-5 p816

40. Victory in Europe
Mussolini was captured and killed by Italian partisans and Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, as the Russian troops took Berlin.
Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7, 1945 (V-E Day).
Fighting in the Pacific would continue until August.
The Horror of the
Holocaust Although the
outside world had some
knowledge of the Nazi death
camps before the war’s end,
the full revelation of Hitler’s
atrocities as the Allies overran
Germany in the spring of 1945
stunned and sickened the
invading troops. At General
Eisenhower’s orders, German
civilians were compelled to
view the evidence of the Nazi
regime’s genocidal crimes—
though these witnesses at
Buchenwald tried to look the
other way, as many had done
during the war itself.
p818 40

41. The Horror of the Holocaust
Although the outside world had some knowledge of the Nazi death
camps before the war’s end, the full revelation of Hitler’s
atrocities as the Allies overran Germany in the spring of 1945
stunned and sickened the invading troops. At General
Eisenhower’s orders, German civilians were compelled to
view the evidence of the Nazi regime’s genocidal crimes—
though these witnesses at Buchenwald tried to look the other way, as many had done during the war itself.
The Horror of the
Holocaust Although the
outside world had some
knowledge of the Nazi death
camps before the war’s end,
the full revelation of Hitler’s
atrocities as the Allies overran
Germany in the spring of 1945
stunned and sickened the
invading troops. At General
Eisenhower’s orders, German
civilians were compelled to
view the evidence of the Nazi
regime’s genocidal crimes—
though these witnesses at
Buchenwald tried to look the
other way, as many had done
during the war itself.
p818

42. The Beginning of the End in the Pacific
XVI. Japan Dies Hard
The Beginning of the End in the Pacific
Yamamoto is assassinated by the U.S. (April 1943)
Loss of Saipan (August 1944)
“the naval and military heart and brain of Japanese defense strategy”
Political crisis in Japan
The government could no longer hide the fact that they were losing the war.
Tōjō resigns on July 18, 1944
Intensive air raids over Japan
Iwo Jima (February, 1945)
American marines invaded this island, which was needed to provide fighter escort for bombings over Japan

43. The Flag Raising at Iwo Jima
The Flag Raising at Iwo Jima Atop Mount Suribachi, press photographer Joe
Rosenthal snapped this dramatic picture, probably the most famous of the war.
The Flag Raising at Iwo Jima
Atop Mount Suribachi, press photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped this
dramatic picture, probably the most famous of the war.
p819

44. XVII. The Atomic Bombs
August 6, 1945 – Enola Gay drops bomb on Hiroshima
140,000 dead; tens of thousands injured; radiation sickness; 80% of buildings destroyed
August 9, 1945 – Nagasaki
70,000 dead; 60,000 injured
Emperor Hirohito surrenders on Aug. 14, (V-J Day)
Formal surrender signed on September 2 onboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay

45. Hiroshima, Japan, August 1945
Hiroshima, Japan, August 1945 The almost incomprehensibly destructive power of
history’s first atomic bomb is vividly evident in this photograph. The single bomb killed
an estimated 130,000 Japanese, many of whom succumbed months after the blast to
agonizing deaths from exposure to radiation.
Hiroshima, Japan, August 1945
The almost incomprehensibly destructive power of history’s first atomic
bomb is vividly evident in this photograph. The single bomb killed
an estimated 130,000 Japanese, many of whom succumbed months
after the blast to agonizing deaths from exposure to radiation.
p820

46. The Japanese Surrender
Representatives of the Japanese government arrived to sign the surrender
document on the deck of the battleship Missouri in Tokyo harbor,
September 2, General Douglas MacArthur then made a conciliatory
address, expressing hope “that from this solemn occasion a better world
shall emerge A world founded on faith and understanding.”
A Japanese diplomat attending wondered “whether it would have been
possible for us, had we been victorious, to embrace the
vanquished with a similar magnanimity.” Soon thereafter
General MacArthur took up his duties as director of the U.S. occupation of Japan.
The Japanese Surrender Representatives of the Japanese government arrived to
sign the surrender document on the deck of the battleship Missouri in Tokyo harbor,
September 2, General Douglas MacArthur then made a conciliatory address,
expressing hope “that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge a
world founded on faith and understanding.” A Japanese diplomat attending wondered
“whether it would have been possible for us, had we been victorious, to embrace the
vanquished with a similar magnanimity.” Soon thereafter General MacArthur took up
his duties as director of the U.S. occupation of Japan.
p821

47. XVIII. The Allies Triumphant
Cost of War
Germany- 3 million combat deaths (3/4ths on the eastern front)
Japan – over 1.5 combat deaths; 900,000 civilians dead
Soviet Union - 13 million combat deaths
U.S. – 300,000 combat deaths, over 100,000 other deaths
When you include all combat and civilian deaths, World War II becomes the most destructive war in history with estimates as high as 60 million, including 25 million Russians.

48. V-J Day: Crowds Cheering at Times Square, by Edward Dancig, 1947
Russian-born American artist Edward Dancig captured the feelings of
triumph and relief that Americans felt at the end of World War II. His painting
shows the V-J (Victory in Japan) Day celebration of August 15, 1945, in New
York’s Times Square.
V-J Day: Crowds Cheering at Times Square, by Edward Dancig, 1947
Russian-born American artist Edward Dancig captured the feelings of
triumph and relief that Americans felt at the end of World War II. His painting
shows the V-J (Victory in Japan) Day celebration of August 15, 1945, in New
York’s Times Square.
p824