Recognition of the Soviet Union

1933 -Granted diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union

U.S. -Desired foreign trade

Philippine Independence
-

Tydings- McDuffie Act (1934)

o Promised the Philippines complete independence within a decade

The Good Neighbor Policy

-

U.S.- would be the neighbor who respects himself and the rights of others
Became the label for his Latin American Policy

Totalitarian Aggression
-

Totalitarian: Centralized control by an autocratic authority

o Dictatorship
o Political Concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute state authority

Japanese in China
-

1931: Seized Manchuria

1937: Attacked China; Rape of Nanking
December 12, 1937: US gunboat Panay
o Sunk by Japanese bombs on Yangtze River
3 dead, 43 injured

Italians in Africa
-

1935: Italy invaded Ethiopia

Dreamed of another Italian Empire
Leader : Benito Mussolini
o AKA II Duce (II Doo-chay)
o Abolished democracy, destroyed liberty
All on the premise of jobs and glory

German Expansion
-

Germany
o Building an enormous new army, making weapons at a frightening speed and menacing
neighbors

Rise of Isolationism in US
1

Most govt. officials and citizens in the 1920s were isolationists

Felt US should avoid alliances and agreements with other nations
Nye Committee
o Investigated US entry into WWI
Findings:
International bankers drew US into WWI
Munitions Indus
o Pressed for Am. entry into war
Isolation dominated US foreign policy in 1930s

Neutrality Legislation
-

Neutrality Act, 1935

o Authorized the Pres. to bar arms sale to warring nations
1936:
o Extended neutrality legislation
Put limits on sale of arms to belligerents
Cash and Carry
o A country has to pay cash for goods before they left our shores
The country at war had to carry goods on own ships
Destroyer Base Deal
o FDR: Traded 50 old destroyers for the use of 8 British naval bases
Atlantic Ocean
o Legally tried to help allies secure supplies
Lend-Lease
o U.S. would lend or lease whatever war supplies we could make
o Supplies sent to any nation Pres. considered vital to defense of U.S.

Atlantic Charter
-

FDR and Churchill met

o Wanted a better future for the world
U.S. and Great Britain
o They were seeking no territorial gain
o Real reason:
Churchill wanted American troops to join
FDR said no

Effects of War on 1940 Election

-

Republican Nominee- Wendell L. Willkie

o Opposed the New Deal
Democratic Nominee- FDR
Both wanted to help GB
FDR wins

Battlefield
2

New warfare: Blitzkrieg

o Lightning War
Hitlers new strategy
o Depended on air power
Struck like lightning from sky
Latest new Vehicles
Struck quickly at the heart of enemy territory
o Overwhelming

US Prepares for War

-

FDR warned US to rearm

Wanted billions of dollars to create a two-ocean navy
Also, size of air force greatly increased

Battle of the Atlantic

-

German submarine wolf packs sunk tons of allied supplies

o Main years 1942-1943
Subs had to be beaten, and soon
Radar and sonar were invented; both could destroy subs

Japanese- American Relations

-

1931- 1940
o Jap. Military aggression was militarily unopposed by the U.S.
1940
o Japan became a partner of Germany and Italy
July 1941
o Japan attacked and expanded through China
U.S. Response
o Embargo on all trade with Japan
Japan no longer had oil coming in from the U.S.
U.S. and Japan met
o Sticking Point
China
Japan
o Wanted U.S. to cut off aid to China
U.S.
o Demanded Jap. withdraw from China
Japan had a choice
o Give up dream of an empire or go to war
Chose war

America at War
-

Attack on Pearl Harbor

3

o Sunday Dec. 7, 1941

Japan attacked the airfield and naval bases at Pearl Harbor
o Surprise Attack
180 Am. war planes destroyed (120 crippled), 18 naval vessels were sunk or heavily
damaged
More than 70 civilians and 2403 servicemen were killed
1177 crewmen of the USS Arizona died in attack
Next day-FDR
Japans Day of Infamy plunged the US into war
War on the Home Front
o Selective Service
Draft was started in 1940
By Pearl Harbor 1.6 Million in army
Millions more volunteered as a result of the attack
Internment of Japanese Americans
o March 1942
Close to 120,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up and confined to camps
Were placed in camps because of the threat of possible acts of espionage and sabotage
Wartime Agencies
o 1940- Industry
Just emerging from depression
o 1942- American Production
Equal to Ger., It., and Jap. combined
o 1944- Production was double of Ger., It., and Jap. combined
o During WWII, the govt. regulated industry and controlled the econ. To achieve maximum
production and efficiency
o Full employment
Inflation occurred
Role of Women and Minorities
o Women
1945- 258,000 women were serving in the armed forces
18 million were part of the American workforce
Women were needed as workers
Took a wide variety of jobs in industry
Ex. Shipyards, Airplane Factories, Ammunition factories, Rail yards, truck
yards, etc.
o Minorities
About 1 million African-Americans served in WWII
African-Am. served in segregated units in early stages of WWII
Many African-Am. migrated to industrial areas (cities) for jobs
Conservation and Rationing
o Rationing was used to assure availability of scarce items to all citizens
o Individuals received coupons for a share of the rationed items
o The U.S. and allies needed everything the U.S. could produce
American Strategy
o Get Hitler First
4

If Germany won in Europe, US would face aggressor nations alone

o Second Front
Russians wanted a second front in Europe
Wanted allies to invade lands held by the Axis powers
Instead, July 1942, Allies decided to invade North Africa
Invasion of North Africa
Germany
Led by Desert Fox General Erwin Rommel
British
Led by General Bernard Montgomery
o Montgomerys army broke through Rommels Africa Korps: November 4, 1942
o US and British Force struck from west and north- November 8, 1942
Invasion of Italy
o July 10, 1943--250,000 US & British troops land on Sicilian coastlines
o Germans--Escaped to the Italian mainland
o Italians--Sick of war; Mussolini- forced to resign
o Allied Troops--Tied up thousands of German troops; weakened them elsewhere
o Benito Mussolini
Control of the Air
o British & US forces heavily bombed Germany, but used different strategies
British
Saturation Bombing
o Bombed whole areas
US
Pinpoint Bombing
o Attacked in daylight; could focus bombs on crucial factories
Attack on the European Continent
o D-Day
US and Great Britains invasion of France
Objective: 2nd Front in Europe
Directed by American Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied
Forces in Western Europe
o June 6th, 1944
D-Day Invasion began
Conditions needed:
o Low tide, half moon, good weather, morning invasion
o D-Day Code Name:
Operation Overlord
o Atlantic Wall
HurdleStationary
o Allies
Achieved a tactical surprise; landings were a success
o Secured beachhead
One of the greatest Allied achievements of the war
French Liberation
5

o By the end of July 1944 the Allies controlled 1500 sq. miles of France
Normandy and Brittany
o Paris Liberated on August 25, 1944
o By mid-September 1944 all of France had been cleared of Germans
Germany lost about half a million men
Battle of Germany
-

Battle of the Bulge

o December 16, 1944
Germanys final offensive attack to break the Allies
Germans penetrated 60 miles creating a bulge in the Allies lines
Patton and Montgomery stopped the advancing Germans
The bulge was pitched off by their best remaining men
Germans lost 120,000 of their best remaining men

Yalta Conference
-

February 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met to discuss the Nazis surrender
o Germany to be taken apart
o Russians get half of the German reparations
o German demilitarization
o Soviets enter war against the Japanese
o Poland to be independent
Stalin breaks most of his promises
Western allies still needed the Red Army

Death of FDR
-

Died April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, Georgia

The Nation felt as if they had lost a friend

Collapse of Germany
-

March 1945, Allies were closing in, U.S. forces from the West and the Red Army from the east.
Allies concerned with Soviet domination of Eastern Europe
o Do not want to trade Nazi tyranny for Soviet tyranny
April 25, 1945, Russian and U.S. troops meet at the Elbe River
Hitler commits suicide in Berlin, April 30, 1945
May 8th 1945 Germans surrender; celebrated as V-E Day
o V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day

Pacific Theater
-

Extent of Japanese Conquest

o Very successful after Pearl Harbor
o Controlled 4500 mile area of the pacific by March 1942
6

o Allied Policy in the Pacific: Active defense

Needed to hold on to what they had
Island Hopping
o Gen. MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz commanding Allied forces in the pacific
o Allies invaded strategic islands and bypassed others
Island hopping vs. Leapfrogging
o Battle of the Coral Sea
May 3-8
Result: Draw
First Naval battle where the opposing ships never saw one another
o Battle of Midway
June 4, 1942
U.S. Victory
Japans first great naval defeat; a big turning point
o Battle for Guadalcanal
August 7, 1942
U.S. Victory
Our troops first experience to land battle with the Japanese
The fighting was fierce and brutal
o Japanese would not surrender
o Re-conquest of the Philippines begins
October 20, 1944
Led by MacArthur, the U.S. crushes the Japanese and knocks their navy out of the
war (a bulk of their navy)
o Iwo Jima
February to March, 1945
650 miles from Tokyo
U.S. Victory
o Operation Detachment
o Goal: to secure airfield
o Heavy losses: 6821 U.S. deaths
o Flag raised: Mt. Suribachi
Tokyo Firebombing
o March 9-10
o Operation Meetinghouse
Targeted industrial sites, very populated
Utilized 334 B-29 Superfortress airplanes
100,000 died in the attack, 1 million homeless
o Okinawa
April- June, 1945
U.S. Victory
Brutal fighting
o Japan considered it a home island
12,513 Americans died
Within striking distance of Japan; Victory is in sight
7

The Atomic Bomb

Tight group of people that knew about the bomb
o Developed after Germans and Italians surrendered; Manhattan Project
o Potsdam Declaration (Ultimatum)
Allies warned the Japanese: the alternative to surrender is prompt and utter
destruction.
August 6, 1945: A-bomb is dropped on Hiroshima
August 9, 1945: A-bomb is dropped on Nagasaki
V-J Day: August 14, 1945