1. Warm-Up Questions
1.) The secret American program to build an atomic bomb was called a.) the Manhattan Project b.) Operation Overlord c.) V-J Day d.) the Enola Gay Project 2.) Japan’s goal in attacking Midway Island was to a.) gain a base from which to attack Hawaii b.) cut American supply lines c.) destroy the American fleet d.) gain control of resources on Midway 3.) A United States bomber dropped the first atomic bomb on a.) Hiroshima b.) Nagasaki c.) Tokyo d.) Iwo Jima 4.) Iwo Jima was an important objective for the American military because a.) the Japanese were using it as a base to attack the U.S. fleet b.) the main Japanese naval force was stationed there c.)U.S. planes could bomb Japan from there d.) the islands were an important link in the Japanese supply lines 5.) The Japanese emperor surrendered on August 15, 1945, which is known as a.) Armistice Day b.) V-E Day c.) V-J Day d.) Veterans Day

2. Life on the Home Front
Objective 10.2: Describe and analyze the effects of the war on Americans’ economic, social and cultural life
Objective 10.3: Elaborate on changes in the direction of foreign policy related to the beginnings of the Cold War
Objective 10.4: Assess the role of organizations established to maintain peace and examine their continuing effectiveness

3. The Home Front The war provided a lift to the United States economy
Jobs were abundant and despite rationing and shortages, people had money to spend
By the end of the war, America was the world’s dominant economic and military power

4. Economic Gains
Unemployment fell to only 1.2% by 1944 and wages rose 35%
Farmers too benefited as production doubled and income tripled
The Great Depression was officially over

5. Women Make Gains
Women enjoyed economic gains during the war, although many lost their jobs after the war
Over 6 million women entered the work force for the first time
Over 1/3 were in the defense industry

6. Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter was a symbol of the campaign to hire women to work in factories during the war
Women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military
Rosie the Riveter is commonly used as a symbol of feminism and women's economic power

7. Entertainment Propaganda
Newsreels - posters are now movies

8. Labor’s Contribution
By 1944, nearly 18 million workers were laboring in war industries (3 times the number in 1941)
More than 6 million of these were women and nearly 2 million were minority

9. Arsenal of Democracy
To ensure the troops had ample resources, F.D.R. created the War Production Board
The W.P.B. decided which companies would convert to wartime production and how to best allocate raw materials to those industries
Americans converted their auto industry in Detroit, Michigan into a war industry
The nation’s automobile plants began to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars
Many other industries also converted to war-related supplies

10. Collection Drives
The War Production Board also organized nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags and cooking fat for recycling
Additionally, the Office of Price Administration imposed price freezes to control inflation and set up a system of rationing
Households had set allocations of scarce goods – gas, meat, shoes, sugar, coffee
The O.P.A. rationed goods as a way of ensuring that there would be enough of these goods for military use

11. WWII Poster encouraging conservation

13. War Bonds Sold Americans helped finance the war by buying war bonds.
More than $190 billion worth of bonds were purchased by private citizens
The government, radio, and even movie stars worked hard to convince people to buy war bonds

14. G.I. Bill Helps Returning Veterans
To help returning servicemen ease back into civilian life, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights)
The act provided education for 7.8 million vets

15. Population Shifts
The war triggered the greatest mass migration in American history
More than a million newcomers poured into California between
African Americans again shifted from south to north

16. Minorities Minorities served in segregated units African-Americans
Double V Campaign (Victory over racism at home and victory at war abroad, as well)
A. Philip Randolph leads a demand for equal pay and integration
Mexicans
Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles between U.S. Military personnel and Latino youths
Native Americans
Navajo code talkers were a small band of soldiers who created an unbreakable code from the ancient language of their people

17. Internment of Japanese Americans
When the war began, 120,000 Japanese Americans lived in the U.S. – mostly on the West Coast
After Pearl Harbor, many people were suspicious of possible spy activity by Japanese Americans
In 1942, the Secretary of War declared most of the West Coast a military zone and ordered people of Japanese ancestry into 10 relocation centers or internment camps
Korematsu vs. United States
Supreme Court case ruled that the relocation of Japanese Americans was constitutional because it was based on military urgency
Japanese Americans felt the sting of discrimination during WWII

19. Jerome Camp in Arkansas

20. United States Pays Reparations to Japanese
In the late 1980s, President Reagan signed into law a bill that provided $20,000 to every Japanese American sent to a relocation camp
The checks were sent out in 1990 along with a note from President Bush saying, “We can never fully right the wrongs of the past we now recognize that serious wrongs were done to Japanese Americans during WWII.”
Today the U.S. is home to more than 1,000,000 Japanese-Americans

21. “Big 3” Meetings The Big Three Had conferences at…
Winston Churchill (Great Britain)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (United States)
Harry S. Truman (After F.D.R. Dies)
Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
Had conferences at…
Teheran, Iran
Yalta, Soviet Union
Potsdam, Germany
Churchill and Roosevelt developed the Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter established a vision for a post-war world

22. (Left to Right) Churchill, F.D.R. and Stalin at Yalta
The Yalta Conference
In February 1945, as the Allies pushed toward victory in Europe, an ailing FDR (he died shortly after) met with Churchill and Stalin at the Black Sea resort of Yalta in the USSR
A series of compromises were worked out concerning postwar Europe
(Left to Right) Churchill, F.D.R. and Stalin at Yalta

23. Yalta Agreements
1) They agreed to divide Germany among the allies into 4 occupied zones after the war
2) Stalin agreed to free elections in Eastern Europe
3) Stalin agreed to help the United States in the war against Japan and to join the United Nations

24. Nuremberg War Trials
Herman Goering, Hitler's right-hand man and chief architect of the German war effort, testifies at his trial. He was found guilty of war crimes but avoided execution by swallowing potassium cyanide.
The discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the Allies to put 24 surviving Nazi leaders on trial for crimes against humanity, crimes against the peace, and war crimes
The trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany
“I was only following orders” was not an acceptable defense as 12 of the 24 were sentenced to death and the others to life in prison

25. Post War
United Nations formed in 1944 after delegates from 39 countries met to discuss a new international organization
Germany and Japan occupied by Allied forces
United States and Soviet Union become world super powers

26. Nearly 59 years after the end of World War II, the National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, May 29, 2004 to honor the 408,680 Americans who died in the conflict

27. Assignment Life on the Home Front Worksheet Vocabulary Words
Yalta Conference
United Nations
Rosie the Riveter
Atlantic Charter