1. World War II
Introduction to WWII Video

2. Why World War II? Cause of WWII: Germans invaded Poland (alliances)
At the start of the war the U.S. declared Neutrality – putting in place the policy of isolationism
U.S. instituted Lend Lease Act (lending or renting weapons and supplies to allies – Britain – even though we were not in the war)
U.S. quit sending supplies (oil) to Japan and took over Japanese property in the U.S. when Japan invaded French Indochina
Japan needed oil and knew the U.S. was the only power that could defeat them in the Pacific

3. So why did the U.S. enter WWII?

4. Pearl Harbor!! – December 7, 1941
“A day that will live in infamy…”
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
U.S. remained neutral throughout the first two years of WWII.
After Japanese kamikaze pilots attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (a U.S. naval base), we officially declare war on Japan and enter into WWII.

5. How did GA help the war effort?
Carl Vinson
-- U.S. House of Representatives
-- He has a U.S. Air Craft named in his honor
Richard Russell
-- U.S. Senator during WWII
Plans they supported:
-- called for a strong national defense
-- developed the ‘two ocean navy’ strategy (naval bases in both pacific and Atlantic Oceans) – saved us after Pearl Harbor
-- bills: (1) expanded naval and air bases (2) eased labor restrictions in ship building

6. How did GA help the war effort?
Bell Aircraft:
-- In Marietta – employed 30,000 men and women
-- built B-29 bombers
-- aircraft industry is still in GA today (help economy)
Military bases:
-- Ft. Benning, Camp Gordon, Hunter Army Air Field, Warner Robins AFB, Glynco Naval Air Station, Ft. McPherson, Ft. Gillem
-- Cobb County and ATL airports became air bases
-- provided employment and economic boom
-- military bases bring millions of dollars into GA (soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilian jobs)
Savannah and Brunswick shipyards:
-- built Liberty ships (put together in pieces – faster assembly)

7. Japanese Interment Camps
The War Ends….
So Japan wanted the U.S. in the war….
We ended the war with two atomic bombs dropped on Japan
During the war…were we just as bad as Germany??
Japanese Interment Camps

8. The Holocaust For Germany Impact on Georgia
The mass destruction of 6 million Jews
Hitler's idea of a ‘perfect’ Aryan race (blonde hair, blue eyes, and strong) -- - exact opposite of him!
Nobody really knew the extent of the destruction until liberation (just thought concentration camps – not gas chambers, etc.)
Horrors Caused Americans to examine isolation policy. (if we were not isolated, would we have been able to save more?)
Georgians reconsidered Civil Rights issues (was it fair to treat someone harshly for being different like the Germans did the Jews?)