TOPIC 21 THE SECOND WORLD WAR
The rise of fascism and miltarism in Japan, Italy, and Germany
Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo rose to power in their respective countries in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s capitalizing on economic, social, and political instability and finding scapegoats for their authoritarian solutions.
Their targets were liberals, jews, and communists.
Japan invaded China in 1931, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1936, Germany helped the fascists in Spain in 1936 and then retook some of its lost territory in 1937.
FDR’s response was public condemnation (“Quarantine the Agressors”)but he could do little else.


mussolini, hitler, and tojo







Prelude to war: policy of neutrality
Two factors stimulated isolationism and neutrality:
(1) the Depression, and (2) the danger of war abroad. Neutrality was reinforced by the finding of the Nye Committee in 1935 and three subsequent “Neutrality Acts” in 35, 36, and 37. Unfortunately, these acts only serve to encourage fascist dictators to be more aggressive.
When Hitler marched through France in 1940 and started the “Battle of Britain”, American attitudes began to change, and Roosevelt began a series of moves to put America squarely in the Allied camp (think destroyers for bases deal(40), and Lend-Lease(41; think “Arsenal of Democracy”).
In 1941, Roosevelt ordered the U.S. Navy to attack the German submarines (the “rattlesnakes of the Atlantic”).


reaction to Lindbergh’s America First Committee

The attack on Pearl Harbor and U.S. declaration of war

Japan attacked the U.S. in attempt to destroy the Pacific fleet and thereby stop America from interfering any further in Japanese expansion in Asia. FDR called 12/7 a “day of infamy” and got Congress to declare war.
Fighting a multifront war
FDR’s primary focus was on Europe, but the fight was carried around the globe in two “theatres”.
In the Pacific, the strategy was called “island hopping”.
In Europe, the strategy was to attack first from the south, and then open up a “second front” in the west.


the pacific theatre

the African and European theatres

Diplomacy, war aims, and wartime conferences
For the Soviets, the aim was to defeat Hitler and maintain control of eastern Europe.
For the Americans, the goal was to build a collective security agreement to stop war in the future.
For all three, unconditional surrender became the military goal.
The “Big Three” met to primarily collaborate in the defeat the Nazis and plan the post war world. At the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944, they worked on the creation of the United Nations. The most famous meeting was at Yalta where the post world war was planned in the “Yalta Agreement”.


the “Big Three” at Yalta, 1945




The U.S. as a global power in the Atomic Age
In response to a plea by Einstein to FDR, the Manhattan Project was begun. The U.S. and U.K. worked together to develop the bomb and successfully tested it in Nevada in 1945. Truman dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki primarily to end the war quickly and avoid an invasion of Japan’s mainland.


the Hiroshima bomb and the “father” of it, Robert Oppenheimer

TOPIC 22 THE HOME FRONT DURING THE WAR
Wartime mobilization of the economy
FDR created a series of government organizations (like the War Production Board), and then borrowed heavily to finance an economic explosion of war industries.


Urban migration and demographic changes
Americans moved to urban areas to find war jobs in factories. This new workforce included large numbers of women and minorities.
-Rural areas lost huge amounts of population
-War production areas in the West and South (the “Sunbelt”)received millions of Americans looking for work.
-Families suffered under crowded housing conditions and schools were unable to cope with the influx of new people.


Americans on the move and at work

Women, work, and family during the war
Women worked at home and in factories and even signed up in the military. For women, it was both liberating and difficult. Many families moved to find work and ended up in crowded trailers or other makeshift housing. Child care was largely unavailable, and with fathers oftentimes in the service, families were strained often to the breaking point.


a black out drill and a war rations book







Civil liberties and civil rights during wartime


For African and Mexican Americans, it was a time of opportunity but also conflict and racism. Above are the three most famous conflicts involved:
A.Phillip Randolph, the Zoot Suit Riots, and Relocation.
-A. Phillip Randolph threated a march on Washington in 1941 and FDR responded with the Fair Employment Practices Commission
-Mexican “zoot suiters” got into scrapes with servicemen in LA and eventually these scrapes led to riots.
-California Japanese Americans were relocated in camps and kept there until 1946; attempts to overturn the order were denied by the Supreme Court in 1944.

War and regional development
Wartime production moved millions of people to war production areas, notably in the Sunbelt, but also up from the South into northern urban areas.

Expansion of government power
The government exercised a great deal of power over the economy and over the lives of Americans who signed up or were drafted into the armed services.
Resources were channelled to the fighting men overseas and Americans had to endure shortages in food, clothing, and other consumer goods.
Rationing and patriotism were used to ensure success.
Government spending went from 9 B in 1940 to 98 B in 1944.
Payroll deduction was introduced to insure income tax collection. Taxes were increased, disproportionately on the rich.



TOPIC 23 THE UNITED STATES AND THE EARLY COLD WAR
Origins of the Cold War
Four key factors stimulated the Cold War:
(1) the development,use, and monopoly of atomic power,
(2) the occupation of Europe,
(3) the question of American economic aid , and
(3) fundamental ideological differences.

Truman and containment
Truman’s state department, led by George Marshall, formulated the policy of containment, famously in the George Kennan essay.
Communist insurgencies in Greece and Turkey sparked the “Truman Doctrine”, a speech that became a sort of declaration of war on communism.
That same year, Churchill coined his famous “iron curtain” phrase.
The following year, a direct confrontation occured over the occupation of Berlin.


the Berlin Airlift

The Cold War in Asia: China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan
China: In 1949, the communists under Mao Tse Tung defeated the Nationalists under Chiang Ki Shek and drove them from the mainland to Taiwan.
Korea: In 1950, the North Koreans invaded South Korea, and Truman responded by going to the United Nations to request assistance for South Korea. The resulting “UN police action” ended up becoming the Korean War.
The Chinese came into the war and only ended when Eisenhower secretly threatened China with atomic war.
Vietnam: In 1954, the French were defeated by Ho Chi Minh at Dien Bien Phu and Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Convention.
Japan: Japan was rebuilt as a parliamentary democracy and became our principal ally in the Far East after China became communist.


Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh

Diplomatic strategies and policies of the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations


-covert action in Guatemala
-Dulles pioneered the threat of massive retaliation
-Eisenhower doctrine was established in the middle east (Suez Crisis and Lebanon)

Kennedy used “flexible response” to try to deal with communist threats, most famously in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Red Scare and McCarthyism


The initial failures in Truman’s foreign policy to stabilize the balance of power in the world, coupled with the Russian explosion of an a-bomb in 1949, created the climate for McCarthyism.
Impact of the Cold War on American society
-Unlike the Red Scare of 1919, this new red scare focused on native American citizens, particularly liberals who had flirted with communist ideas during the Depression in the 30’s.
McCarthy used fear, intimidation, and innuendo to do harm people and cast a shadow of fear in America.
-Republicans regained the White House in 1953.
-The economy grew fairly steadily with a significant infusion of federal spending directed either militarily or domestically at the cold war. Notable domestic expenditures include the interstate highway system and aid to education in response to Sputnik.