[18.a.10] America Stays Out at First

A Gallup poll showed Americans overwhelmingly wanted to keep out of foreign war.  Beginning in 1935, the first of three Neutrality acts prevented the selling arms to belligerents, extending loans, or allowing Americans to sail on ships of nations at war. The fourth act (1939), however, permitted sale to belligerents as long as the nation paid in cash and carried the cargo on its own ships. 

[18.a.12] France Falls and Neutrality Further Erodes

The Selective Service and Training Act, passed in response to German take-over of France in 1940 was first peacetime draft in US history.  Shortly after the US gave Britain fifty old destroyers in exchange for the use of eight British bases in the Atlantic Ocean. The transfer of warships to Great Britain was a sign that the U.S. was hardening its policy toward Germany. 

[18.a.15] Hitler's Invasions Plan

Hitler next turned his fury on England.  German forces concentrated at the Channel ports preparatory of Operation Sea Lion—the invasion of the British Isles. But first the Germans needed air superiority. 

[18.a.17] England Defiant

In the House of Commons Churchill said, “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.”

[18.a.21] Atlantic Charter

At Placentia Bay, Canada, in August 1941--three months before Pearl Harbor--Roosevelt and Churchill articulated war aims. Called the Atlantic Charter, FDR and Churchill called for:

• • Defeat of Germany and Japan.

  • Decolonization (Churchill agrees but privately wishes to uphold the British Empire).

  • A United Nations.

  • Freedom of the seas.

  • Disarmament of aggressor nations.

  • Self-determination for all peoples.

  • The Four Freedoms (articulated by FDR as early as 6 January 1941):

    • Freedom of speech and expression

    • Freedom of worship

    • Freedom from want

    • Freedom from Fear

[18.d.3]  First Taste of Action against German Forces

German general Irwin Rommel was fighting on two fronts in Tunisia, the British coming from the east and Americans from the west.  In February 1943, the U.S. Army’s first battle with the Germans ended in defeat at Kasserine Pass. It could have been worse but Rommel was forced to redeploy against the British Eight Army advancing on the Mereth Line from the east.  

[18.d.4]  Patton Restores Morale

American troops recovered confidence after General George Patton took command and inflicted a tactical defeat on Axis forces at El Guittar.  Victory in North Africa came in May 1943 with the surrender of 250,000 Axis prisoners, mostly Italians. 

[18.e.3]  European Command--Unified

Eisenhower.

[18.f.5]  Pacific Command--Split

The Navy did not trust its fast carriers to an Army general and McArthur’s ego and popularity prevented subordination to Naval direction. FDR could have appointed a supreme commander but did not.  Therefore Admiral Chester Nimitz led the Navy's drive across the central Pacific while and General Douglas McArthur leapfrogged toward Japan through the southwest Pacific.

[18.f.7]  War and Race

John Dower writes in War Without Mercy that the war in the Pacific and Asia took on the characteristics of a race war.  Japanese leaders believed the war would confirm the superiority of their divine Yamato race.  US troops sometimes disfigured enemy dead to bring home battlefield trophies. In class we'll talk about a few examples.

[18.h.2] Cost of War

$350 billion and 60%

[18.i.1]  Artists and Filmmakers

Norman Rockwell was an artist and Frank Capra a filmmaker whose talents crafted wartime messaging. 

[18.i.2]  Zoot Suit Riots 1943

Young Hispanic males wore baggy Zoot Suits.  Off duty navy personnel disliked their appearance. Fights broke out in Long Beach, California.  The Los Angeles city council considered making wearing of the Zoot Suit a criminal offense.  FDR found out and feared ethnic tension might endanger his Good Neighbor Policy with Latin America.  As a result the Federal government committed to:

• improve schooling

• offer job training in Mexican neighborhoods

• fund more college education for Latinos in the southwest United States

[18.j.1]  WWII Conferences