CHAPTER 17AMERICA AND WWII
1941-1945
Pearl Harbor
“A date which will live in infamy”-- FDR
USS Arizona today
“I never wanted to fight this waron two fronts. We haven’t got theNavy to fight in both the Atlanticand Pacific…”
FDR to Eleanor
Western Front
Fighting Japan
Eastern Front
Fighting Germany
“Double V” campaign (for A-Americans)
2 “V”ictories At home = stop racism Abroad = stop Hitler’s racism
Tuskegee Airmen 1st African-American air force Flew in over 200 missions and
never lost a member!
First black American General in the Air Force!
Japanese Americans
Not allowed to serve at first Most decorated units in U.S.
military! Native Americans serve
fiercely! Navajo Code Talkers
GO GIRL! Women in the war
Most women did clerical work Made men available for combat WASPs – women pilots / 300
Turning point in the war! Both Hitler and Stalin were
fervent on winning because of the name of the city
Finally in Jan 1943 --- Nazis surrender
What? Invade France Who? General Eisenhower
commander America, Britain, and Canada
When? Setting the date was tricky! June 6, 1944 (D-Day)
Where? Beaches of Normandy, FR Why? Because we’re trying to beat
Germany!
UTAH OMAHAGOLD
SWORDJUNOPAGE 585
Blue = American
Red = British
Yellow = Canadian
1939 - 1945
“Full Victory – Nothing Else”
- Gen. Eisenhower
The Italian Campaign and D-Day were the beginning of the end
December 1944BelgiumLast German Offensive
Yalta Conference
February 1945 Met at Yalta in Southern
Russia (Ukraine) The “Big Three”
Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin Agreed to
Have Russia attack Japan after Germ. surrender
Divide Germany into zones after war
Allow free elections in Eastern Europe
Victory in Europe Day May 8, 1945
• Hitler commits suicide
• April 30, 1945
President Harry S Truman Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) dies on
April 12, 1945FDR at Yalta
Feb. 1945
Conference between the “Big Three”
Okinawa
Moving from island to island in the Pacific.
Trying to get close to Japan
Bataan Death March
Part of the Battle of Philippines Japanese win P.O.W.s forced to march 65 miles Beaten, murdered, starved,
forced to walk 5 days straight with only a sip of water, … you name it, they did it.
War crimes trial A huge reason why WWII vets
hate Japanese
First invaded Guadalcanal (Aug 1942) Then, went on to fight at Leyte Gulf (lay-tee)
in the Philippines – take it back after Death March
Largest naval battle in history
“People of Philippines,
I have returned…”
Leyte Gulf
Japan
Focusing on Japan
Firebombing Japan March - June 1945
•Napalm – jellied gasoline•civilians•67 cities•80,000 dead
November 1944 Close enough to
bomb Japan more efficiently
• April 1945• 350 miles
from Japan!
OKINAWA
“Divine Wind” Suicide attacks
Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer Developing the atomic
bomb
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Enola Gay drops “Little Boy” on Hiroshima
4 sq mi flattened 70.000+ killed
instantly 40,000 in Nagasaki Emperor intervened
Victory in Japan Day August 15, 1945
Nuremberg Trials
22 leaders of Nazi Germany prosecuted 12 sentenced to death
Similar trials held in Japan
25 Japanese Leaders
Not the Emperor