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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Chapter 36 - The Cold War Begins

Postwar Economic Anxieties
1. Many feared a return to the Great Depression or at least a post-war recession.
  1. When the war time price controls ended, inflation did increase significantly.
2. Labor unions had made steady gains during the Depression and the war. With the economy now strong, the pendulum now swung back against unions.
  1. Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act. It banned "closed shops" (closed to anyone not joining the union). It also made unions liable for certain damages and that union leaders take a non-communist oath. Opposite of the Wagner Act of the New Deal, Taft-Hartley weakened labor unions.
  2. Unions tried to move into the South and the West, in the CIO's "Operation Dixie." This was unsuccessful.
    1. Two factors caused the failure: (1) Workers in the South and West were generally not factory workers but were scattered around and thus not easily unionized, and (2) these areas had a longtime value on individual freedom and hard work, and thus a disdain for labor unions which focused on group action to yield more pay with lower hours.
3. The government took steps to ward off any slow-down in the economy.
  1. War factories and government facilities were sold to businesses at rock bottom prices.
  2. The Employment Act (1946) got the government to "promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power."
  3. The Council of Economic Advisors were to give the president solid data to make solid decisions.
4. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944) was better known at the GI Bill of Rights. It sent 8 million former soldiers to vocational schools and colleges.
The Long Economic Boom, 1950-1970
1. The economy held its ground through the late 40's. By 1950, the economy began to skyrocket. America pushed toward, and reached, a new age of prosperity.
  1. By 1960, America's national income nearly doubled, then nearly doubled again by 1970. By 1973, Americans made up 6% of the world's population and held 40% of the money.
2. The middle class was the big winner during these years. The class doubled in size and they expanded their ambitions: two cars in the garage, and a pool out back, and whatever else can be thrown in.
3. Women benefited from the good times as well. Many women found jobs in new offices and shops. Women were 25% of the workforce at war's end, about 50% five years later.
  1. The traditional roles of women at home was still glorified in popular media. A clash was being set up between women at work and women at home.
The Roots of Postwar Prosperity
1. The postwar economic boom had several causes and propellants…
  1. The war's massive production jump-started the entire economy.
  2. Post-war military projects kept the "military-industrial complex" in business.
    1. There were tons of jobs in military-related areas, such as aerospace, plastics, electronics, and "R and D" (research and development).
  3. Energy was cheap and plentiful. High car sales reflected the cheap gas. A strong infrastructure of power lines, gas lines helped feed homes and businesses.
  4. Worker production increased. More Americans went to and stayed in school. Increased education meant increased standard of living.
2. Farms changed and turned toward big-businesses and away from family farms. Machinery costs fueled this change. Former farmers left for other jobs. Still, with new equipment and better hybrids and fertilizers, food production increased.
The Smiling Sunbelt
1. Many babies arrived in the baby boom and many families had moved around the country. Unable to just ask her mother what-to-do question, many new moms turned to Dr. Benjamin Spock's how-to The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. It was a huge seller.
2. The Sunbelt, from California to Florida, began a boom of its own.
  1. There was a shift-of-power from the old Northeast and Midwest to the new South and West—from the Frostbelt and Rustbelt to the Sunbelt.
    1. Symbolizing this shift, California became the most populous state in the 50's, passing New York.
  2. Immigration helped increase the Sunbelt's population.
  3. Many of the government's new military facilities were built in the Sunbelt. Good-paying jobs came with them.
  4. A political battle was shaping up. By 1990, the Sunbelt received $125 billion more federal money than the northern areas. And, with their populations increased, more Congressional and presidential votes had moved down to the Sunbelt states.
The Rush to the Suburbs
1. After the war, whites abandoned the inner-cities and moved out to the grass and trees of the suburbs.
  1. Cheap home loans offered by the FHA and the Veteran's Administration made buying a home more sensible than renting an apartment in town.
  2. 25% of Americans lived in the suburbs by 1960.
2. The best example of a post-war suburb was Levittown on Long Island.
  1. The Levitt brothers perfected the "cookie cutter" house. They were identical but also very affordable.
  2. Despite their monotony, many in the 50's actually preferred the standardization, conformity, and comfort-factor the houses gave. It was like the McDonald's theory (which also started and boomed at the time)—no matter which McDonald's you go in, you always get the same burger.
3. This so-called "white flight" left blacks in the inner-cities, and left the cities poor.
  1. Symbolic of this movement would be the growth of shopping centers and Wal-Marts and the the "closed" signs on downtown shops.
  2. Blacks often had a hard time getting loans, even from government agencies, due to the "risk" involved. Thus, whites were able to move to the suburbs, blacks were not.
The Postwar Baby Boom This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. When the soldiers returned from war, the baby boom began. The birthrate peaked in 1957. It then slowed and started a "birth dearth."
2. The baby boom generation has had a huge impact on America.
  1. While they grew up, entire industries rode their wave. For example in clothing, Levi's jeans went from work pants to standard teenage wear; burger joints boomed; music changed (rock 'n' roll).
  2. Prior, children and adolescents were expected to dress and act like small adults. By the 50's, youth dressed and acted their own way and did their own thing.
3. The baby boom, and later birth dearth, created a swell and then a narrowing, in the population of generations. Simply put, the baby boomers far outnumber other generations.
  1. By 2020, when most baby boomers are retired, it is projected that the Social Security system will go broke.
Truman: the “Gutty” Man from Missouri
1. Harry S Truman was at the helm just after WWII. He had a big smile, was a sharp dresser, and a small but very spunky fellow. He was the first president in many years without a college education.
  1. Truman was called "The Man from Independence" (Missouri). His cabinet was made of the "Missouri gang", and like Harding of the 20's, Truman was prone to stick by his boys when they got caught in some wrong-doings.
  2. Truman gained confidence as he went along. He also earned the nickname of "Give 'em Hell Harry." He also a bit prone to making hot-headed or rash decisions, or sticking with a bad decision out of stubbornness.
2. Despite little drawbacks, Truman was decisive, "real", responsible, had moxie. He loved the sayings "The buck stops here," and "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal?
1. The Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) had met at the Yalta Conference in Feb. 1945 (there last meeting). That meeting shaped the Cold War to come. It was highlighted by distrust between the U.S./Britain and the Soviet Union.
  1. FDR and Churchill did not trust Russia's ambitions for the post-war, ditto Russia the other way.
2. Promises were made…
  1. Russia promised to enter the war against Japan. In return, Russia would get land—1/2 of Sakhalin Island, Japan's Kurile Islands, railroads in Manchuria, and Port Arthur on the Pacific.
    1. This promise was kept. However, by the time Russia entered, the U.S. had all but won. It appeared Russia entered to just look good and accept the spoils of victory.
  2. Russia pledged free elections for Poland and a representative government; also elections in Bulgaria and Romania. These promises were flatly broken. The Soviets set up puppet communist governments.
3. FDR was roundly criticized for doing poorly at the Yalta Conference.
  1. Promises had been accepted from Stalin only to be broken.
  2. China fell to the communists a few years later (1948) and FDR got some of the blame for selling out Chiang Kai-Shek and China to communist Russia.
4. Defenders of FDR say he did what he could in the circumstances. If he'd not bargained with Stalin over Japan, the Soviets may have even taken more of China.
The United States and the Soviet Union
1. The post-war world had two superpowers: the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Distrust was high.
2. The Soviet Union felt put-out by the Americans because: (1) the U.S. had waited until 1933 to officially recognize the U.S.S.R., (2) the Allies had been slow to start a second front, (3) America withdrew the lend-lease program to Russia in 1945, and (4) America rejected Russia's request for a $6 billion reconstruction loan, but gave one for Germany for $3.75 billion.
  1. Russia perceived all of these things as insults.
3. Russia had been attacked from the west twice within about 25 years, so, Stalin wanted a protective buffer from Western Europe. To create that protection, Russia set up puppet communist governments in Eastern Europe. These "satellite nations" would serve as a buffer zone to the Soviet Union.
4. Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. had now been thrown into the international spotlight. They'd both been isolationist, but now had to drive international policies. Both had a history of "missionary" diplomacy—of trying to press their ways onto others.
5. The U.S. and U.S.S.R. had opposing economic-political systems (capitalism and democracy vs. communism) and they didn't trust the other side. The "Cold War" had begun. Their actions and policies would dominate international affairs for the next 40 years.
Shaping the Postwar World
1. The Atlantic Charter had called for a new League of Nations. That was realized.
2. A meeting was held at Bretton Woods, NH (1944). There, the Allies set up the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to propell world trade and regulate currency exchange rates. It also started the World Bank to give loans to needy nations (ravaged by war or just poor).
3. Days after FDR died, a charter was drawn up for the United Nations in April 1945 in San Francisco. 50 nations participated. It's headquarters would be in New York City.
4. The U.N. was like the League in concept, the U.N.'s structure was different. It had three main categories…
  1. The General Assembly—the main meeting place where each nation got 2 votes.
  2. The Security Council dealing with conflict and war. It had 11 member nations, 5 were permanent with total veto power (U.S., Britain, France, U.S.S.R. and China). The Security Council would prove to be the most influential and active in world affairs.
  3. Other relief-based agencies, such as UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Org.), the FAO (Food and Agricultural Org.) and WHO (World Health Org.).
5. Unlike the old League of Nations, the senate was favorable to the U.N. It was accepted by a vote of 89 to 2.
6. The U.N. helped keep the peace in Iran, Kashmir, and other hotspots. It also helped set up Israel as a homeland for the Jews.
7. The pressing issue was atomic weaponry. America was the only nation with an atomic bomb at the time—though Russia was getting very close.
  1. U.S. delegate to the United Nations Bernard Baruch called for a U.N. agency to totally regulate atomic weapons. Russia was distrustful of American ambitions.
  2. The Soviets proposed a total ban on atomic weapons. Neither proposal was accepted and thus regulation of atomic weapons did not happen. The nations were to go at it on their own.
The Problem of Germany
1. Nazi leaders were tried at the Nuremberg Trials just after the war for crimes against humanity. Everyone's rationale was that they'd just been following their orders. Twelve hanged, seven were given long sentences. Hermann Goering killed himself with cyanide.
2. There was disagreement with what to do about Germany. The U.S. wanted Germany to rebuild as that's good for Europe's economy. Russia wanted reparations.
  1. To avoid Germany rearming, the country was divided into four zones. The U.S., France, Britain, and Russia would oversee one zone. The idea was to reunite Germany, but Russia balked at the idea. Germany was going to remain split.
  2. West Germany would be a democracy, East Germany was a puppet communist nation.
3. Berlin was located in East Germany (Russia's section) and it was also split into four zones. The end result was a free West Berlin located inside Russian-controlled East Germany, like an island.
  1. Russia suddenly cut off the railway to West Berlin (1948) in attempt to strangle West Berlin into giving itself over to the East.
  2. America's response was the Berlin Airlift where the U.S. simply flew in needed supplies to West Berlin. The operation was on a massive scale, and it worked. The Soviet Union ended their blockade the next year.
The Cold War Congeals
1. Wanting oil fields, Stalin failed to fulfill a treaty to remove troops in Iran, but rather he helped some rebels. Pres. Truman was not happy. By this time, deep distrust was the rule, and both sides hardened toward the other.
2. The American position toward Russia became formal with the George F. Kennan's "containment doctrine." It simply said the U.S.S.R. was expansionist by nature and but it could be held in check by firm American containment.
  1. Pres. Truman made the containment policy official by announcing the Truman Doctrine (1947). In the doctrine he asked Congress for $400 million to aid Greece and Turkey who were feeling communist pressures.
  2. Though focused on Greece and Turkey at the time, the Truman Doctrine was greatly broadened—the U.S. was to stop communism anywhere it seemed to be trying to expand. This policy would dominate U.S. foreign policy for the next four decades.
3. Western Europe's economy was struggling badly. To help, Truman and Sec. of State George C. Marshall started the Marshall Plan, a massive project to lend financial help to rebuild Europe.
  1. The plan helped in the formation of the European Community (EC).
  2. Some $12.5 billion was spent over four years, a huge sum. Congress thought the number too high (they'd already given $2 billion to U.N. agencies), but a Russia-sponsored revolution in Czechoslovakia changed their minds.
  3. The Marshall Plan worked. Western Europe's economies rebounded, and communist groups in those nations lost influence.
4. Pres. Truman formally recognized Israel on May 14, 1948, the day it was started. He wanted to help the Jews after the Holocaust, but also hurt the Soviet influence there.
  1. Arab nations were not pleased. America's decision to support Israel, along with oil in the region, would long affect U.S.-Arab relations.
America Begins to Rearm
1. The military reorganized in 1947 with the National Security Act.
  1. The old War Department was replaced with the Department of Defense; the Sec. of War replaced with the Sec. of Defense. Civilian secretaries would also head the army, navy, and air force. The military heads of each branch were to meet in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
2. The National Security Council (NSC) was formed by the National Security Act. The council was to advise the president on security matters. The act also formed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to gather foreign intelligence.
3. America fired up the propaganda machine. Congress okayed the Voice of America (1948) radio broadcast to be transmitted into Eastern Europe.
4. The military draft was brought back. Young men 19 to 25 might be drafted by the Selective Service System.
5. The old allies organized in 1948. The U.S. joined up with Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg united to start the North Atlantic Treaty Org. (NATO). It was an alliance where attacking one meant attacking them all. The U.S. joined despite an unwritten national policy and tradition of avoiding "entangling alliances."
  1. NATO would later grow. Greece and Turkey joined up in 1952, West Germany in 1955. NATO had 15 nations by then.
  2. Not to be outdone by the West, the Soviets set up the Warsaw Pact made up of the U.S.S.R. and the Eastern European nations.
Reconstruction and Revolution in Asia
1. Japan also had to be managed after the war. Gen. Douglas MacArthur essentially ran as a dictator to draw up a new Japanese constitution based on the U.S. Constitution (1946).
  1. Japan was a success story. It quickly and successfully embraced democracy and also recovered economically to become one of the world's richest and most productive nations.
2. China, however, was having problems.
  1. Mao Zedong led communist forces in a civil war against Chiang Kai-Shek's (AKA Jiang Jieshi) Nationalist government.
  2. Mao and the communists won in 1949. Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists had to retreat offshore to the island of Formosa (Taiwan).
3. With a huge nation like China going communist, this was a bad loss for the U.S. in the Cold War.
  1. Truman was criticized for not dong enough to stop the loss. Likely, he couldn't have stopped it anyway.
4. The nuclear arms race began in Sept. 1949 when the U.S.S.R. announced it'd successfully detonated an atomic bomb, ending America's "nuclear monopoly."
  1. In 1952, the U.S. detonated a hydrogen bomb. The "H-bomb" (which relies on nuclear fusion of hydrogen) was a 1,000 times more powerful than an "A-bomb" (which relies on fission of a heavy element like uranium).
  2. It was so powerful that both Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer spoke out. Einstein had written a letter to FDR to initiate the A-bomb's construction and Oppenheimer had been in charge of the Manhattan Project which built the bomb. They both advised to not build the H-bomb.
  3. Not only was the arms race on, but the H-bomb had greatly raised the stakes.
Ferreting Out Alleged Communists
1. The question then became, "Are any communists here in America?"
  1. The attorney general named 90 possibly-communist organizations. They were not allowed to defend themselves.
  2. The Loyalty Review Board was started to investigate the loyalties of some 3 million federal employees. About 3,000 either resigned or were fired. Many states made "loyalty" a priority. Teachers, especially, were often made to take "loyalty oaths."
  3. The obvious problems were the rights to free speech, press, and thought being hampered. Still, at this time, those rights were muffled.
2. 11 communists were tried in New York in 1949 under the Smith Act. It was a peacetime anti-sedition act (the first since 1798). They were convicted, imprisoned, and their case upheld by the Supreme Court in Dennis v. U.S. (1951).
3. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) set out to investigate "subversion".
  1. Richard Nixon made a name for himself as a red hunter by pursuing Alger Hiss. He was convicted of perjury and served five years.
4. Sen. Joseph McCarthy wanted to show himself a red hunter too. He threw around wild accusations with little or no basis to them.
5. Some people started to think the red hunting business was going too far—turning from concern to hysteria.
  1. Pres. Truman vetoed the McCarran Internal Security Bill. It was to allow the president to arrest and hold suspicious persons during an "internal security emergency." Congress passed the bill over Truman's veto.
  2. Since the U.S.S.R. had built the atomic bomb quicker than was expected, many Americans suspected spies within the U.S. had sold nuclear secrets.
    1. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were suspected of leaking U.S. secrets to Russia. They were convicted for espionage and executed. The whole nasty business of trial and execution, and their two newly orphaned children, began to sober up Americans against red hunting.
Democratic Divisions in 1948
1. The Republican had won control of the House in 1946 and were feeling confident in '48. They nominated Thomas Dewey as candidate for president.
2. The Democrats wanted Gen. Eisenhower, but he refused the nomination. So, Pres. Truman was up for reelection. This split the party.
  1. Southern Democrats (called "Dixiecrats") nominated Gov. Strom Thurmond of SC for the States' Rights Party.
3. A new Progressive Party offered former V.P. Henry Wallace.
4. It was really a Dewey vs. Truman race. Dewey seemed to have the momentum, but the Democratic vote had been split three ways.
  1. The Chicago Daily Tribune jumped the gun and infamously printed the headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN."
  2. Truman actually won 303 to 189 in the electoral (Thurmond also got 39). The Democrats also retook Congress.
  3. Pres. Truman had gotten support from regular folks, especially farmers, workers, and blacks.
5. Reinvigorated, he started a program named "Point Four." It was to give money and technical help to underdeveloped nations. It was a humanitarian effort, but it was also to prevent them from going communist.
6. He outlined a new domestic program called the "Fair Deal." It was a mini-New Deal. The Fair Deal was to improve housing; increase employment, minimum wage, farm price supports; start a new TVA, and extend Social Security.
  1. Many of these programs were shot down in Congress.
  2. Its major successes were in upping the minimum wage, passing the Housing Act (1949) to provide public housing, and extending old-age benefits in a new Social Securities Act (1950).
The Korean Volcano Erupts (1950)
1. As Germany had been split, so too had Korea. North Korea had a communist government thanks to Russia, South Korea was democratic thanks to the U.S. North and South Korea were split at the 38th parallel.
2. Things were okay until June 25, 1950 when the North suddenly invaded the South. The South was overrun except for the southernmost city of Pusan.
  1. America's Truman Doctrine policy of containment was being challenged. It was time to put-up or shut-up.
3. Pres. Truman took action and used Korea as an opportunity to build up the U.S. military.
  1. The National Security Council had recommended in 1950 document called NSC-68 that America's defense spending be quadrupled. Truman put NSC-68 into action.
    1. NSC-68 was symbolic in that (1) it showed the fear of communism and (2) it showed the seemingly limitless production possibilities of the U.S. to even order such a massive build-up.
4. Truman also used the U.N. With Russia and their veto temporarily out, the U.N. named North Korea the aggressor. The U.N. called for action to restore peace—this was the go-ahead to military action.
  1. Within the week, Truman sent Gen. MacArthur's troops to South Korea in a "police action." The U.N. named MacArthur commander of the entire operation, but he took orders from Washington.
The Military Seesaw in Korea
1. There were three phases of the war…
  1. First, was the North's invasion of the South in 1950.
  2. Secondly, MacArthur's troops set up at Pusan then did a bold "end-around" and hit behind enemy lines at Inchon. Surprised, the North Koreans were quickly driven northward. They went nearly all the way to the Yalu River, the China border. MacArthur thought the war nearly over. Crossing the 38th parallel into the North raised the stakes.
  3. Third, some 200,000 Chinese "volunteers" helped push back southward to the original line at the 38th parallel.
    1. MacArthur called for a blockade and bombing of China. Washington didn't want to take the war that big. MacArthur pressed the issue and went public with it.
    2. Pres. Truman fired MacArthur. Truman was criticized for removing the popular general, but he felt he had no choice. The American military is ultimately run by civilians, not the military.
    3. The war bogged down there for two more years, and that's where it ended in 1953.

Chapter 35-America in World War II

The Allies Trade Space for Time
1. Pearl Harbor jarred many Americans' minds out of isolationism and into revenge-on-Japan mode. This was especially true on the west coast where there was only water between the U.S. and the Japanese fleet.
2. FDR held back the reins against Japan, however, and vowed to "get Germany first." Many folks were upset at putting Japan second on the list, but Germany was the more pressing problem.
3. The plan was to absolutely not let Britain fall to Germany and meanwhile send just enough effort to hold Japan at bay for the time being.
  1. The problem was preparedness. To execute this plan, the U.S. needed time to gear up for war.
  2. The task was monumental: to change industry for a total war, organize a massive military, ship everything in two directions across the world, and feed the Allies.
The Shock of War
1. National unity was strong after the Pearl Harbor attack.
2. There were no ethnic witch-hunts, with the glaring exception of Japanese-Americans.
  1. Mostly living on the west coast, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps.
  2. The official reasoning was to protect them from rogues on the streets who may want to take out their Pearl Harbor frustrations on them.
  3. The ulterior motive was that there was distrust. Some believed the Japanese-Americans were more loyal to Japan than the U.S. and were really spies. This was untrue.
  4. Though jailed without due process of law, the Supreme Court upheld the internment camps in the Korematsu v. U.S. case.
    1. Notably, in 1988, the government apologized and offered reparations of $20,000 to each camp survivor.
3. Many New Deal programs were ended as the war began. Now, all jobs would be war jobs.
4. Unlike WWI, WWII was not made out to be an idealistic crusade. It was just the dirty work of defeating the bad guys.
Building the War Machine
1. The Great Depression ended when huge orders for the war effort came in. More than $100 billion was ordered in 1942.
2. Henry J. Kaiser was nicknamed "Sir Launchalot" because his crews could build an entire ship in only 14 days.
3. The War Production Board took control of industry. It halted production of non-essential items like passenger cars.
  1. Rubber was a much-needed item because Japan had overtaken the rubber tree fields of British Malaya. Gasoline was rationed to help save tires.
4. Agricultural production was incredible. Though many farm boys went to war, new equipment and fertilizers yielded record harvests.
5. Prices rose, however. The Office of Price Administration regulated prices.
  1. Critical items were rationed to keep consumption down, like meat and butter.
  2. The War Labor Board set ceilings on wages (lower wages means lower prices).
6. Though they hated the wage regulations, labor unions promised to not strike during the war. Some did anyway, like the United Mine Workers led by John L. Lewis.
  1. Congress passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943) giving the federal government the authority to seize and run industries crippled by strikes. The government took over the coal mines and railroads, briefly.
  2. All-in-all, strikes were minimal during the war.
Manpower and Womanpower
1. There were some 15 million men and 216,000 women in the military during WWII.
  1. The most famous women were the WAACS (in the Army), the WAVES (Navy), and the SPARS (Coast Guard).
2. Since most able-bodied men were off at war, industry needed workers.
  1. The bracero program brought workers from Mexico to harvest crops. The program was successful and stayed on about 20 years after the war.
  2. Women stepped up and took the war jobs. For many women, this was the first "real job" outside of the home. Almost certainly, this was the first job for women in industry—women built planes, artillery shells, tanks, everything.
    1. The symbol for women-workers was "Rosie the Riveter" with her sleeves rolled up and rivet gun in hand.
    2. Without question, the war opened things up for women in the workplace. Women "proved themselves" and gained respect.
    3. But, after the war most women (about 2/3) left the workplace. A post-war baby boom resulted when the boys got home from war. Most women returned to their other "job" of being homemakers and mothers.
Wartime Migrations
1. As during the Depression, the war forced people to move around the country.
2. FDR had long been determined to help the economically-hurting South. He funneled money southward in defense contracts. This would plant the seeds of the "Sunbelt's" boom after the war.
3. African-Americans moved out of the South in large numbers, usually heading Northern cities, but also to the West.
  1. Black leader A. Philip Randolph prepared a "Negro March on Washington" to clamor for more blacks in defense jobs and military. FDR responded by banning discrimination in defense industries.
  2. FDR also set up the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to serve as a watchdog over the discrimination ban.
  3. Blacks served in segregated units in the military.
    1. Aside from the segregation, there was discrimination such as separate blood banks for each race, and often the roles of blacks were more menial such as cooks, truck drivers, etc.
    2. Generally, however, the war and the efforts of Blacks encouraged African-Americans to strive for equality. The slogan was the "Double V"—victory overseas vs. dictators and victory at home vs. racism.
  4. Black organizations increased in membership. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) neared the half-million mark and CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) was founded.
  5. The mechanical cotton picker was invented. This freed blacks from the age-old cotton picking job—another reason many moved.
4. Native Americans also fought in the war in large numbers.
  1. Famously, Navajo and Comanche Indians were "code talkers." They traded messages using their traditional language. Their "codes" were never broken.
5. All the moving around mixed people who weren't accustomed to it, and there were some clashes. For example, some white sailors attacked some Mexican and Mexican-Americans in L.A. in 1943. Also, 25 blacks and 9 whites were killed in a Detroit race riot.
Holding the Home Front This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. The United States entered WWII still in the Depression. The U.S. came out of WWII very prosperous (the only nation to do so).
  1. GNP (Gross National Product) had doubled. Corporate profits doubled too.
  2. Disposable income (money left to spend) also doubled. Inflation would suit and rise as well.
2. Despite all of the New Deal programs, it was the production for WWII that ended the Great Depression.
  1. The war's cost was assessed at $330 billion (ten times WWI).
  2. To help pay for the war, four times more people were required to pay income taxes. Most of the payments, however, were on credit. This meant the national debt shot up from $49 to $259 billion.
The Rising Sun in the Pacific
1. Japan began to take action on its dream of a new empire—the land of the rising sun. The Japanese took island after island, including: Guam, Wake Island, the Philippines, Hong Kong, British Malaya, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and much of coastal China.
2. The Philippines had been embarrassing for the U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had to sneak away. The general made a pledge, however, to return.
  1. After the U.S. lost in the Philippines, the Japanese made the captured soldiers hike the infamous "Bataan Death March"—85 miles where, if you stumbled, you died.
  2. The U.S. finally gave up and surrendered Corregidor, an island/fort in Manila Harbor.
Japan’s High Tide at Midway
1. The first big U.S.-Japan naval battle was the Battle of Coral Sea. It was the world’s first naval battle where the ships never saw one another (they fought with aircraft via carriers). Both sides had heavy losses.
2. Intercepted messages hinted at an attack on Midway Island. American Adm. Chester Nimitz correctly sent the U.S. fleet and the Battle of Midway (June 1942) followed. Instead of being surprised, the U.S. gave the surprise.
  1. Adm. Raymond Spruance was the the admiral on the water. Midway was a rout for the U.S. as four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk.
  2. Midway proved to be the turning point in the Pacific war, the place where Japanese expansion was halted.
3. Japan did capture the islands of Kiska and Attu in the Aleutian chain of Alaska. The islands are home to a few hundred native Aleuts, snow, and rocks, but the mere idea the Japanese taking American soil hit hard. The northwestern states feared an invasion.
  1. The "Alcan" Highway was built from Alaska, through Canada, to the continental states to help protect Alaska.
American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
1. Japan's expansion halted, America then began "island-hopping" toward Japan. The plan was to not attack the stronghold, take the weaker islands and build airbases on them. The stronger islands would be taken by bombing and strangling of resources.
2. There would be two main thrusts: in the south led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur and in the central Pacific led by Adm. Chester Nimitz.
  1. Island-hopping began in the south Pacific with victories at Guadalcanal (Aug. 1942). This southern strike reached New Guinea in August of 1944. MacArthur was working his way back to the Philippines.
  2. Northward, Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands were captured. Next, the Marshall Island chain was won.
    1. The "Marianas Turkey Shoot" was an American highlight where American "Hellcat" fighters had their way in the air shooting down 250 enemy planes. The Marianas Islands also were close enough so that B-29 bombers could strike Japan and return (if the winds were favorable).
    2. This would later be the take-off point for the atomic bomb planes.
3. Though island-hopping made steady progress, it was slow, hard-fought, and bloody.
  1. American sailors shelled the beachheads with artillery, U.S. Marines stormed ashore (while the navy shelled over their heads), and American bombers attacked the Japanese. Heroism and self-sacrifice were common.
  2. One example was when Lt. Robert J. Albert piloted a B-24 “Liberator” on 36 missions. His final run was a record 18 hour and 25 minute strike. His tour of duty was complete, but his crew's was not. He volunteered to pilot the flight so that his men would not fly behind a rookie pilot.
The Allied Halting of Hitler
1. As with the Pacific, progress in Europe has slow at first. History has shown the American war machine slow to get going, but awesome when it is going.
2. German u-boats were proving to be very effective. The German "enigma code" was broken thanks to spies' actions and lives sacrificed to get an enigma machine to decode messages. These messages helped locate German u-boat wolfpacks.
3. The Battle of the Atlantic, the war for control of the ocean, went on until 1943 when the Allies gained control.
  1. The win over the seas was a close one. It was learned after the war that the amazing German engineers were nearing completion of a sub that could stay submerged indefinitely and cruise at 17 knots.
4. 1942 was the turning point year in Europe (like Midway in '42 in the Pacific).
  1. The British bombed the Germans in Cologne, France. American B-17's bombed Germany itself.
  2. German Gen. Erwin Rommel (nicknamed the "Desert Fox" because he was clever with maneuvers) was having great success in North Africa. He was almost to the Suez Canal in Egypt—taking the canal would link the Mediterranean Sea (Italy and Germany) with the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Japan).
    1. However, Brit. Gen. Bernard Montgomery, at the Battle of El Alamein (Oct. 1942) stopped the Germans. From there, Germany would be pushed back.
  3. The Russians also stopped the Germans at Stalingrad (Sep. 1942). A month later, Russia began pushing back and recaptured 2/3 of their lost land in one year.
A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
1. Some 20 million Russians would die by the end of the war so the Soviet Union wanted the allies to start a second front against Germany and ease Russia's burden.
  1. Britain and the U.S. wanted this, but had different views. America wanted to ram straight at the Nazis through France.
  2. Britain wanted to lure the war away from England. Winston Churchill suggested they hit Germany's "soft underbelly", meaning up from North Africa and through Italy.
2. The soft underbelly approach was decided upon.
  1. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower led an attack on North Africa (Nov. 1942). The Allies pushed the Germans out of Africa by May 1943.
3. The Roosevelt and Churchill met at the Casablanca Conference to flesh out plans (Jan. 1943). They agreed to seek the "unconditional surrender" of Germany.
4. The soft underbelly attack continued.
  1. The Allies leapfrogged to Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown (and later murdered) at about the same time and Italy surrendered (Sept. 1943). German soldiers were still in Italy, however, and they were determined to keep fighting.
  2. The Allies then moved to the lower portion of the Italian boot, then started edging northward. By this time, it was clear that the soft underbelly really wasn't very soft.
    1. The German were dug in at Monte Cassino. After taking a beachhead at Anzio, the Allies finally took Rome on June 4, 1944.
    2. The Allied thrust essentially bogged down and stalled at this point, roughly half way up the Italian peninsula. The D-Day invasion would make the Italian assault a mere diversion.
5. The soft underbelly attack had mixed results. The good: it drew some of Hitler's men and supplies and it did defeat Italy. The bad: it delayed the D-Day invasion and gave Russia extra time to draw farther into Eastern Europe.
D-Day: June 6, 1944
1. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met at the Tehran Conference (Nov.-Dec. 1943) to formulate goals and coordinate attacks.
2. The groundwork was laid for a massive assault across the English channel (eventual D-Day invasion).
  1. Gen. Eisenhower was placed in charge of the assault.
  2. The attack would take place on the beaches of Normandy on the French coast. The Germans had guessed the sure-to-come attack would be at Calais because that's the narrowest point of the channel. The Allies offered fakes and bluffs there to confuse the enemy.
3. The D-Day Invasion began on June 6, 1944. It was the largest amphibious assault in history.
  1. The Allies had to cross the channel, wade ashore, cross the wide beach, scale 100 foot bluffs, and overtake German bunkers—while being shot at by machine guns and artillery. The Allies did it.
  2. After gaining a toehold at Normandy, the Allies began spreading out. Gen. George S. Patton led U.S. troops across the French countryside.
  3. Paris was liberated in August of 1944—a major morale boost for the Allies.
FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
1. Despite the ongoing war in 1944, an election year came again. The Republican party nominated Thomas E. Dewey. He was known as a liberal and attacker of corruption.
2. The Democrats nominated FDR for a fourth term. There was no other viable choice for the party.
  1. The real question was who'd be the vice-presidential candidate. The nomination was made for Harry S Truman who was largely without enemies.
Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
1. Dewey campaigned hard against Roosevelt. He attacked "twelve long years" and emphasized it was "time for a change."
2. FDR didn't campaign much until election day neared.
  1. Roosevelt got a lot of financial help from the CIO's new political action committee (PAC). The PAC was set up to avoid a ban on using union money for politics.
3. FDR won the election in a big way, again. The electoral vote was 432 to 99. The main reason that he won was that the war was moving along well at this point.
The Last Days of Hitler
1. The Nazi army was on the retreat at this point. Hitler made one last big push at the Ardenne Forest. The Americans were surprised and pushed back; the result was a bulge in the battle line.
  1. The Americans held on at Bastogne. Germany asked for a surrender but Gen. A.C. McCauliffe answered, "Nuts."
  2. Reinforcements came and the U.S. won the Battle of the Bulge. From there, steady progress was made toward Berlin. Russia was simultaneously converging on Berlin.
2. Along the way, the Allies discovered the horrors of the Holocaust.
  1. There had been rumors of such goings-on, but it was believed they were either untrue or exaggerated. They were not—the Holocaust was worse than imagined.
  2. The death camps, still stinking, made the horrors clear. Eisenhower forced German civilians to march through the camps after the war to see what they're government had done.
3. The Russians reached Germany first. Hitler killed himself in a bunker (Apr. 1945), along with his mistress-turned-wife Eva Braun.
4. Only two weeks prior, while vacationing at Warm Springs, GA, Franklin Roosevelt suddenly died. Truman became president.
5. The German officials surrendered on May 7; May 8, 1945 was named V-E Day (Victory in Europe). The celebration began.
Japan Dies Hard
1. The war with Japan was still on.
  1. American subs were devastating Japanese merchant ships—1,042 were destroyed.
  2. American bombers were devastating Japanese cities. In a two-day fire-bomb raid on Tokyo in March of 1945, the destruction was: 250,000 buildings, 1/4 of the city, and 83,000 lives. This was about the equivalent of the atomic bombs that were to come.
2. Gen. MacArthur was determined to return to the Philippines where he'd been booted.
  1. After retaking New Guinea, MacArthur made his Filipino return in October, 1944.
  2. Hard naval fighting followed at Leyte Gulf. The U.S. won, although Adm. William Halsey was suckered into a feint. Leyte Gulf was the last huge battle in the Pacific—Japan's navy was all but destroyed at this point.
  3. MacArthur then took Luzon and finally captured the capital city of Manila (Mar. 1945).
3. The same month, the small island of Iwo Jima was captured by America in some of the toughest fighting yet. It was strategically located halfway between the Marianas Islands and Japan. Thus, it provided an important airstrip.
  1. The famous flag-raising photo was snapped atop Mt. Suribachi while the fighting still raged.
4. Okinawa was the next target. It was the last island before the Japanese mainlands. Okinawa was taken (June 1945) after 50,000 American casualties.
  1. In a last-ditch effort, Japan unleashed the full fury of their "kamikaze" suicide pilots. Likening themselves to the samurai warriors of old the kamikazes felt they were dying for their god-emperor.
The Atomic Bombs
1. Rookie Pres. Harry Truman met with Stalin and British officials at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945). The final statement to Japan was: surrender or be destroyed.
2. Meanwhile, the U.S. had been working on a super-secret project all along: to build the atomic bomb.
  1. Early on, many German scientists had fled Nazi Germany, notably Albert Einstein. In 1940, FDR convinced these scientists to start working on the bomb.
  2. FDR had gotten Congress to approve the money in fear that Germany may well develop the bomb first. The Manhattan Project secretly developed and built the world's first atomic bomb. It was tested in Alamogordo, NM (July 1945) and was ready for use.
3. Still belligerent, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan (Aug. 6, 1945). 70,000 died instantly, 180,000 total casualties.
4. On Aug. 8, Russia entered the war against Japan and attacked Manchuria.
5. On Aug. 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. 80,000 were killed or missing. That's was it.
6. Japan surrendered on Aug. 19, 1945. The Japanese emperor was aloud to stay on the throne as a symbolic gesture.
  1. The official and ceremonial surrender came a few weeks later aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. Gen. MacArthur accepted the surrender from Emperor Hirohito.
The Allies Triumphant
1. One million casualties was the American cost of WWII. But, despite the sacrifices, America came out of the war tougher and stronger-than-ever, whereas other nations came out of the war beaten down.
  1. The casualty number was incredibly large, but actually small as compared to other nations. The numbers were kept down in part due to new drugs, particularly penicillin.
  2. The American homeland was almost entirely untouched (again, unlike other nations were in rubble).
2. Though slow-starting, America had run the war well. It was a huge undertaking, but had been undertaken in a systematic and effective manner.
  1. The U.S. had been blessed with great leaders during the war, civilian and military.
  2. Another major factor contributing to victory was America's incredible resources and industry.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War

The London Conference
1. With the goal of coming up with an international fix to the Great Depression, the London Conference was set up in 1933.
2. FDR initially planned to send Sec. of State Cordell Hull. Later he changed his mind and reprimanded Europe for trying to stabilize currencies.
3. Without America's participation, the London Conference got nothing accomplished (like the League of Nations).
  1. More importantly, America's non-participation in the conference solidified U.S. isolationist policies. In war and in the economy, the U.S. would go at it alone.
Freedom for (from?) the Filipinos and Recognition for the Russians
1. The Philippines had been a headache ever since the U.S. took over the islands. With times hard, Americans were eager to let the Filipinos go.
  1. American sugar growers also wanted to cut free from Filipino sugar.
  2. Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) that said the Philippines would become independent after 12 years (in 1946).
2. FDR formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933.
  1. His move was not popular with many Americans who didn't like acknowledging the communist nation. His motive was hopes of trade with the huge nation and perhaps check the growing power of Germany and Japan.
Becoming a Good Neighbor
1. In his inaugural address, FDR affirmed America's ambition to be a "Good Neighbor" with Latin America.
2. At the Pan-American Conference, FDR announced that the U.S. would no longer use military strength in Latin America. He singled out Teddy Roosevelt's "Big Stick Policy" as particularly bad.
  1. The next year, 1934, the last of the U.S. Marines left Haiti. America lessened her influence in Cuba and Panama as well.
3. Mexico, however, seized American oil properties. This was a test to see if the Good Neighbor policy was the "Push-over Policy."
  1. Oil companies wanted armed intervention. FDR held back and came to a settlement in 1941 (though U.S. oil companies did suffer losses).
4. All told, the Good Neighbor policy was very successful in improving America's image to Latin America.
Secretary Hull’s Reciprocal Trade Agreement
1. Sec. of State Cordell Hull believed in low tariffs. He felt low tariffs mean higher trade. He and FDR felt trade was a two-way street. Congress passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act which set up low tariff policies.
  1. The act cut down the most offensive parts of the Hawley-Smoot tariff law merely amending them. In some instances, tariff rates were cut in half (provided the other nation did the same).
2. The Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act started to reverse the high-tariff trend and started a low-tariff trend that would dominate the post-WWII period.
Storm-Cellar Isolationism
1. Post WWI chaos and the Great Depression helped spawn totalitarian regimes (dictatorships with total power), notably Joseph Stalin in the USSR, Benito Mussolini in Italy, and Adolf Hitler in Germany.
  1. In a totalitarian nation, the individual and his or her rights are nothing; the only thing that matters is the state.
  2. Hitler was the most dangerous. He was a fantastic speaker who told the "big lie" often enough that people started believing it. The big lie was that German problems were caused by the Jews and that he could lead Germany back to greatness which ran in their blood.
2. Germany and Italy linked up when Hitler and Mussolini agreed on the Rome-Berlin Axis (1936).
3. Japan was becoming a military dictatorship, turning super isolationist, and seeking to create a mighty Japanese empire for their god/emperor. This was a deadly mix.
  1. Like a rebel teen determined to go bad, they ignored the Washington Naval Treaty and rearmed their nation. They walked out of the London Conference and quit the League of Nations.
  2. In 1940, Japan joined Germany and Italy with the Tripartite Pact.
4. Under Mussolini, more show than substance, Italy attacked and beat Ethiopia in 1935. Fascist nations love prepping for war, fighting, then championing their victories, even if it means beating up on a very poor nation like Ethiopia (they'd fought with spears).
  1. The League of Nations did nothing, not even cutting oil to Italy, and the League died as a nice idea that was powerless.
5. America simply stayed isolationist. The events were an ocean away, or more, the U.S. had her own problems, and America didn't want to get drawn into Europe's problems like with WWI.
  1. Trying to avoid getting sucked further into foreign problems, Congress passed the Johnson Debt Default Act which forbade countries that owed money to the U.S. from getting any more loans.
Congress Legislates Neutrality
1. The Nye Committee was set up (1934) to study the idea that munitions producers only helped start wars and thus earn profits. This was one of the ideas as to the causes of WWI.
2. Determined to not get into a war, Congress passed the Neutrality Acts in 1935, 36, and 37. They said that when the president declared a foreign war existed, certain restrictions would start.
  1. The restrictions were: (1) Americans could not sail on a belligerent (nation-at-war) ship, sell/haul munitions, or make loans to belligerents.
3. These were clearly to avoid the same mistakes that had occurred at the outset of WWI. WWII, however, would have different circumstances. The U.S. declared absolute neutrality, no matter how hideous one side would be.
America Dooms Loyalist Spain
1. The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) was a mini-WWII. It saw a fascist government led by Gen. Francisco Franco fight a republican democratic government.
  1. Naturally, the U.S. wanted the republican government to win. But, isolationism ruling, the U.S. offered no help. It was their war. America did start an oil embargo.
  2. Italy and Germany did help Franco. Knowing he'd soon put them to use, Hitler used the Spanish Civil War as a testing ground for his tanks and planes. Franco and the fascists won and this helped embolden the dictators, especially Hitler.
2. Though neutral, America didn't build up her military for defense. America actually let the navy get weaker.
  1. Congress passed a law to build up the navy in 1938, very late in the game and only one year before WWII broke open.
Appeasing Japan and Germany This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. Japan invaded China in 1937. FDR did not name the action a war, however, so the Neutrality Acts were not invoked and both China and Japan could still buy American war-stuffs.
2. In 1937, FDR gave his “Quarantine Speech." In it he asked for America to quarantine the aggressors (Italy and Japan) and to morally side against them.
  1. This was a step away from isolationism. When isolationists complained, FDR backed off a bit in his words.
3. Japan went at it again when they bombed and sank the American gunboat the Panay. Two were killed, 30 wounded—possible grounds for war.
  1. Japan apologized, paid an indemnity, and the situation cooled.
  2. Americans in China, however, were jailed and beaten as the Japanese took out anti-American frustrations.
  3. The "Panay Incident" further supported American isolationism.
4. Back in Europe, Hitler was taking increasingly bold steps.
  1. He broke the Treaty of Versailles by (1) making military service mandatory and (2) marching troops into the Rhineland region by France. Britain and France watched, but did nothing.
  2. Drunk on Hitler's book Mein Kampf about a German "master race", Nazi Germany began persecuting the Jews.
    1. Persecution started out with restrictions on Jews, then corralling into "ghettos", then relocation into labor camps, then to death camps to carry out the "final solution."
    2. All told, about 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, about 11 million people total.
  3. Hitler kept up his march by taking his birth nation of Austria in 1938.
  4. Next he declared he wanted the Sudetenland, a section of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by Germans.
    1. At each step, Hitler said this would be his last. Naively, Britain and France were eager to appease (give in) to Hitler.
    2. At the Munich Conference (Sept. 1938) British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain fell victim to Hitler's lies. Chamberlain agreed to let Hitler have the Sudetenland.
    3. Chamberlain returned and gave his infamous claim that he’d achieved “peace in our time.” True, but it proved to be a very short time.
    4. Hitler broke his promise and took over all of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939.
Hitler’s Belligerency and U.S. Neutrality
1. The world was stunned on Aug. 23, 1939 when Russia and Germany signed the Russo-German Nonaggression Pact. In it, Stalin and Hitler promised to not fight one another. (Believing Hitler was becoming foolish and Russia got suckered here—Hitler would later break this pact.)
  1. Without having to fear a two-front war like in WWI, the nonaggression pact opened the door for Germany attack Poland.
  2. Still, little was done to halt Hitler. Britain and France did finally draw one last line-in-the-sand, saying that if Poland was taken, war would start.
2. Hitler attacked Poland anyway on September 1, 1939, and overran the nation in only two weeks. Britain and France did declare war and WWII had begun.
3. America rooted for Britain and France, but was committed to neutrality.
  1. The Neutrality Acts were invoked which cut supplies to belligerents. Wanting to help Britain and France, FDR and Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 which said the U.S. would sell war materials on a "cash-and-carry" basis.
    1. Cash-and-carry meant no credit and no U.S. ships hauled the stuff.
    2. Though technically open to Germany too, the British and French navies could keep the Germans away.
    3. The U.S. improved her moral standing with the law, but also made some bucks.
The Fall of France
1. When Poland was fully under German power, there was a pause in the war as Hitler moved troops and supplies to the west for an attack on France.
  1. The only action was when the USSR attacked Finland. The U.S. gave Finland $30 million for nonmilitary supplies; Finland lost to Russia.
2. The so-called "phony war" ended when Hitler suddenly (April 1940) attacked and conquered Denmark and Norway, then the Netherlands and Belgium.
  1. The Germans used blitzkrieg ("lightning warfare") and hit with planes, tanks and ground troops very fast.
3. The attack on France came very quickly and surrender came quickly, by late June of 1940.
  1. Mussolini attacked France while she was down to get some of the booty.
  2. The only good news was a miraculous evacuation at Dunkirk. Pinned against the English Channel, a waters suddenly settled to an unusual calm and small boats were able to cross the channel and evacuate the troops.
4. Americans how realized Britain was now the only major European country left standing between the U.S. and Nazi Germany.
  1. FDR called for America to build up the military. Congress appropriated $37 billion, a huge number.
  2. A conscription law was passed—America's first peacetime draft. It would train 1.2 million troops yearly and 800,000 reserves.
5. There was concern that Germany may take the orphaned Dutch, Danish, and French colonies in Latin America. At the Havana Conference, it was agreed that the Europe-stay-away policy of the Monroe Doctrine would be shared by 21 American countries.
Bolstering Britain with the Destroyer Deal (1940)
1. Britain was next on Hitler's list. To attack Britain, Hitler first needed air superiority. He began bombing, but the British Royal Air Force fought back and halted Germany in the world's first all-air war, the Battle of Britain.
2. In America, two voices spoke to FDR on whether the U.S. should get involved:
  1. Isolationists set up the America First Committee. Charles Lindbergh was a member.
  2. Interventionists set up the Committee to Defend the Allies.
3. Both sides campaigned their positions; FDR chose a middle route at this time.
  1. In the Destroyer Deal (1940), America transferred 50 old destroyers from WWI days to Britain. In return, the U.S. got eight defensive bases in the Americas, from Newfoundland down to South America.
  2. The pattern (Quarantine speech, Neutrality Acts, cash-and-carry, Destroyer Deal) showed the U.S. was clearly taking steps from isolation toward intervention.
FDR Shatters the Two-Term Tradition (1940)
1. 1940 was also an election year. Wendell L. Willkie came out of nowhere to capture the Republican nomination. Franklin Roosevelt set aside the two-term tradition, and was nominated for a third term.
  1. Willkie criticized some of the New Deal mishandlings, but the New Deal was not the big issue anymore, the war was. On foreign affairs, there wasn't much difference between the candidates. Willkie's main point of attack was the two-term tradition which was around since George Washington.
  2. FDR's camp came back with, "Better a third term a third-rater" and Lincoln's old adage to not change horses midstream was still strong. FDR also promised to not send "boys" to "any foreign war" (which haunted him).
2. FDR won big again, 449 to 82.
Congress Passes the Landmark Lend-Lease Law
1. Britain needed money. FDR wanted to help, but also didn't want another WWI-like debt mess. FDR's solution would be to simply loan weapons and ships to the British. They can use them, them return them.
  1. Senator Taft countered lending tanks would be like lending chewing gum—you don't want it back afterward.
2. The Lend-Lease Bill passed and the U.S. would become the "arsenal of democracy." By 1945, America had sent about $50 billion worth of arms and material to the Allies.
3. Lend-Lease marked an almost official abandonment of isolation. Everyone realized this, from Mainstreet America to Adolf Hitler. Germany had avoided American ships 'til this point. On May 21, 1941, a German sub destroyed an American ship, the Robin Moor.
Hitler’s Assault on the Soviet Union Spawns the Atlantic Charter
1. In June of 1941, Hitler broke his pact with Russia and invaded the USSR. Neither trusted the other, so Hitler moved to double-cross Stalin first. This was great news for the democracies. Now those two could beat up on one another.
2. The thinking was that the Germans would quickly defeat the Russians.
  1. FDR sent $1 billion to Russia to help defend Moscow. Germany made quick and early gains, but the red army slowed the Nazis until the winter set in. The Germans literally froze at the gates of Moscow.
3. The Atlantic Conference (Aug 1941) saw Winston Churchill of England meet with FDR in Newfoundland.
4. The Atlantic Charter was formed at the meeting and was later okayed by the Soviet Union. Oddly with the U.S. not even in the war, the Charter set up goals for after the war was won. The main points of the Charter were reflective of Wilson's Fourteen Points of WWI…
  1. There would be no territorial or government changes without the people's vote (self-determination).
  2. Disarmament would be sought.
  3. A new peace-keeping organization, like the League of Nations, would be set up.
5. Isolationists criticized the Atlantic Conference and Charter. They simply failed to see that the U.S. was no neutral anymore.
U.S. Destroyers and Hitler’s U-Boats Clash
1. Sending war materials to Britain would be risky with German sub "wolfpacks" prowling around. FDR concluded that a convoy system would be used—merchant ships would be escorted by U.S. warships to Iceland. Then the British would take over the escorting.
2. Incidents happened, including German attacks on the American destroyer Greer. FDR declared a shoot-on-sight policy.
  1. The American Kearny saw 11 men killed and was damaged.
  2. The destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk off of Iceland, killing over 100 Americans.
  3. In November of 1941, Congress stopped pretending and pulled the plug on the outdated Neutrality Act of 1939. Merchant ships could arm and enter combat zones.
Surprise Assault at Pearl Harbor
1. Meanwhile, Japan was marching toward their vision of an empire of the rising sun. They were still beating the Chinese.
2. In protest of Japan's actions in China, the U.S. put an embargo on Japan. The main blow was cutting off oil, which Japan needed for its sprawling empire. Japan's solution was to attack.
3. American code-breakers knew the Japanese were up to some no-good. The best thinking was that Japan would attack British Malaya or the Philippines.
  1. Japan certainly wouldn't try to hit Hawaii, maybe a sneak sabotage attack, but nothing foolish like an all-out attack.
4. An all-out attack on Hawaii is what came. The attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most surprising in history.
  1. The attack came in the morning of December 7, 1941 (FDR's "date which will live in infamy"). Japanese bombers caught the Americans sleepy.
  2. Several ships were sunk or damaged including the U.S.S. Arizona. 3,000 Americans were killed or wounded.
  3. The only good news was that the American aircraft carriers were out at sea. If they'd been destroyed, the American naval situation would've been hopeless.
5. On December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. and the U.S. declared war right back. War was now official.
America’s Transformation from Bystander to Belligerent
1. Pearl Harbor galvanized the will of America. On December 8, 1941, there was no disagreement on isolationism.
2. America had been riding a teeter-totter for several years: wanting to stop Germany and Japan, but wanting to do it from a convenient distance. Those days were over.

Chapter 33 - The Great Depression and the New Deal

I. FDR: A Politician in a Wheelchair

In 1932, the American people wanted a new president.
Hebert Hoover ran again, but people were not crazy about him.
The Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
FDR had polio so his wife helped him out.
Eleanor became a popular First Lady.

Hopefuls of 1932

Roosevelt was determined to overcome his polio and campaigned heavily, criticizing Hoover’s spending.
“Happy Day are Here Again” was about him.

III. Hoover's Humiliation in 1932

Hoover was defeated 472 to 59.
There was a transition of the Black vote from the Republican to the Democratic Party.
Hoover tried to initiate some of Roosevelt’s plans, but no one wanted to help him out.

IV. FDR and the Three R’s: Relief, Recovery, and Reform

He called for a nationwide bank holiday that lasted a week.
He had the Three R’s.
The Democratic-controlled Congress was willing to do as FDR said,
and the first Hundred Days of FDR’s administration were busy.

V. Roosevelt Manages the Money

Then, Roosevelt had “Fireside Chats” with America on the Radio.
The “Hundred Days Congress” passed the Glass-Steagall
Banking Reform Act which insured deposits of at least $5,000.
FDR then took the nation off of the gold standard.
Roosevely announced that the U.S. would pay foreign gold at a rate of one ounce of gold per every $35 due.

VI. Roosevelt Manages the Money
The Emergency Banking Relief Act gave FDR the authority to manage banks.

He wanted people to turn in gold for paper money and had the Treasuru buy gold with paper money.

VII. A Day for Every Demagogue

Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) But not a lot of people liked that idea, and thought of it as undemocratic.
He created the Emergency Relief Act and its Federal Emergency Relief
Administration (FERA) was headed by the Harry L. Hopkins.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) made available many millions of dollars to help farmers meet their mortgages.
The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) refinanced mortgages
on non-farm homes and bolted down the loyalties of middle class,
Democratic homeowners.
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was established late in 1933,
and it was designed to provide purely temporary jobs during the winter
emergency.
The New Deal had its critics.

One FDR spokesperson was Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest
in Michigan who at first was with FDR then disliked the New Deal and
voiced his opinions on radio.
Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana was popular for his “Share
the Wealth” program. Proposing “every man a king,”
each family was to receive $5000, allegedly from the rich, but the plan was ridiculous.

Congress also authorized the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in
1935, which put $11 million on thousands of public buildings, bridges,
and hard-surfaced roads and gave 9 million people jobs in its eight
years of existence.

VIII. New Visibility for Women

Woman had had the opportunity to vote and many thrived.
Pearl S. Buck wrote a beautiful and timeless novel, The Good Earth,
about a simple Chinese farmer
She received a Nobel Prize for it.

IX. Helping Industry and Labor

1. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) included a maximum hours of labor, minimum wages, and more rights
for labor union members, including the right to choose their own
representatives in bargaining.

X. Paying Farmers Not to Farm .

1. The AAA evened the balance of supply and demand for farm commodities so that prices would support a decent purchasing power for farmers. This concept was known as "parity."

2. AAA controlled the supply of seven "basic crops" — corn, wheat, cotton, rice, peanuts, tobacco, and milk — by offering payments to farmers in return for farmers not planting those crops.

3. The AAA also became involved in assisting farmers ruined by the advent of the Dust Bowl in 1934.

XI. Dust Bowls and Black Blizzards

1. the depths of the Depression, it seemed things couldn't get worse. But they did. In 1931, drought began to dry out the land. Great Plains farmers saw their crops shrivel up in the fields. The sun burned relentlessly day after day. Temperatures stayed at record highs, and rain was but a memory. The American Midwest was becoming a desert

2. Decades earlier, farmers had come to the bountiful Plains in droves. They had plowed up the prairie grasses and shrubs. Year after year, they had planted millions of acres of crops. And each year the land had yielded bushel upon bushel. The soil was a rich, dark chocolate color. The climate was moderate, ideal for wheat and other grain crops. It was like farming the Garden of Eden

3. Now, suddenly, Eden was dying. A hundred million acres of land in the heart of America were no longer growing anything. Parts of five states were black where they should have been golden with ripening wheat. The drought went on and on. Wise growing practices were not yet widely known, so the land was overused and open to erosion. In the hot sun, the soil baked and crumbled into a fine dust.

4. In 1932, the dust storms started. Raging winds blew across the dry land, gathering up topsoil. The clouds of dust boiled and rolled through the sky, depositing dirt everywhere. People thought the storms were a freak of nature. Surely they would soon end. But year after year, conditions worsened. There were fourteen dust storms in 1932. In 1933, there were thirty-eight. A reporter traveling through the region dubbed it the Dust Bowl.

XII. Battling Bankers and Big Business

The Federal Securities Act (“Truth in Securities Act”) forced honest reporting on stocks.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made sure that stocks were not carelessly gambled.
In 1932, Chicagoan Samuel Insull’s empire crash had led to the
Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935.

XIII. The TVA Harnesses the Tennessee River

Thus, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (1933) wanted to produce its own electricity.

XIV. Housing Reform and Social Security

FDR set up the Federal Housing Administration to bring money and homes for those who needed it.
They came up with USHA to aid the economy.
The Social Security Act of 1935 created a pension for all American which would be funded with taxes.

XV. A New Deal for Labor

The Wagner Act allowed Unions to organize.
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (AKA the “Wages and
Hours Bill”) was passed, setting up minimum wage and maximum
hours standards and forbidding children under the age of sixteen from
working.

Roosevelt enjoyed immense support from the labor unions.
In 1938, the CIO broke completely with the AF of L and renamed itself the Congress of Industrial Organizations (the new CIO).

XVI. Landon Challenges “the Champ”

The Republicans nominated Kansas Governor Alfred M. Landon to run against FDR.
Roosevelt won in a huge landslide, getting 523 electoral votes to Landon’s 8.
FDR won primarily because of the poor he helped out.

XVII. Nine Old Men on the Bench

He controlled Congress, but the Supreme Court kept blocking his
programs.
He suggested that for every Congress member over 70, a new one would take their place.

For once, Congress voted against him because it did not want to lose its power.

XVIII. The Court Changes Course

The Supreme Court did start cooperating though.
So, FDR did achieve his purpose of getting the Supreme Court to vote his way.
Americans still did not wish to tamper with the sacred justice system.

XIX. Twilight of the New Deal

During Roosevelt’s he brought down unemployment from 25% to 15%.
The Hatch Act of 1939 barred federal administrative officials,
except the highest policy-making officers, from active political
campaigning and soliciting.

XX. New Deal or Raw Deal?

FDR had increased the federal debt from 13 to 40 million.
It took World War II, though, to really lower unemployment.

XXI. FDR’s Balance Sheet

New Dealers claimed that the New Deal had alleviated the worst of the Great Depression.
Later, he would guide the nation through a titanic war in which the democracy of the world would be at stake.

Chapter 32 - The Politics of Boom and Bust

I. The Republican “Old Guard” Returns

President Warren G. Harding was popular, but he was a pushover and didn’t know how to lead.
His cabinet helped: Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, smart and tactical and Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, and Secretary of
the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon.
However, they had some bad apples, such as, Senator Albert B. Fall of New Mexico, secretary of the interior, who was against the movement of conservation and Harry M. Daugherty who became attorney general.

II. GOP Reaction at the Throttle

A good man but a pushover, Harding \was old fashioned.
He wanted to laissez-faire capitalism.
He appointed four of the nine justices, including William H. Taft.
In the 1920s, the Supreme Court stopped a federal child-labor law and In the case of Adkins v. Children’s Hospital, the court
reversed its ruling in the Muller v. Oregon case by taking away a minimum wage law for women.
Under Harding, corporations benefitted and grew.
Interstate Commerce Commission.

III. The Aftermath of the War

Wartime government controls disappeared completely.
Government returned control of railroads
to corporations with the the Esch-Cummins Transportation Act of 1920.
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 got rid of ships which reduced the Navy.
Labor Unions lost a lot of their power.
In 1921, the Veterans’ Bureau was created to help disabled and struggling veterans.

IV. America Seeks Benefits Without Burdens

America never ratified the Treaty of Versailles, until July of 1921.
The U.S. did not participate in the League of Nations.
In the Middle East, Secretary Hughes allowed American oil
companies the right to use the large amounts of oil there.
The Washington “Disarmament” Conference of 1921-22
resulted in a plan that kept a 5:5:3 ratio of ships that could be held
by the U.S., Britain, and Japan.
The Soviet Union was not invited.
The Nine-Power Treaty of 1922 allowed the open door in China to remain open.
Frank B. Kellogg, Calvin Coolidge’s Secretary of State, won
the Nobel Peace Prize.
Kellog-Briand Pact; all nations that signed would no longer use war as offensive means.

V. Hiking the Tariff Higher

Congress passed the Fordney-McCumber
Tariff Law, which raised the tariff from 27% to 35%.
This sucked for Europe because they were not receiving money from the States that was essential in paying them back for war costs.

VI. The Stench of Scandal

Charles R. Forbes was caught stealing over 200 million and resigned as the leader of the Veterans’ Bureau.
Albert B. Fall leased land in Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills,
California, to oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny, and received a bribe of $100,000 from Doheny and about $300,000 from Sinclair.
President Harding died in San Francisco on August 2,
1923, of pneumonia and thrombosis

VII. “Silent Cal” Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge was part of the Republican Party.
He was a clean start for most Americans who were just too tired of Harding’s presidency and the scandal it brought.

VIII. Frustrated Farmers

World War I had given the farmers the opportunity to produce much food for the soldiers.
But after the War, a lot of production was not needed.
Capper-Volstead Act exempted farmers’ marketing cooperatives from antitrust
prosecution
McNary-Haugen Bill, which kept produce prices high and allowed government to but surpluses and sell them to other countries for profit (Coolidge vetoed the second bill, twice.)

IX. A Three-Way Race for the White House in 1924

Coolidge was chosen by the Republicans again in 1924.
Klu Klux Klan was not persecuted by Democrats.
Senator Robert La Follette led the Progressive Party as the third party candidate.

X. Foreign-Policy Flounderings

Senate did not allow the U.S. to obey to the World Court (the judicial sector
of the League of Nations)
In the Caribbean and Latin America, U.S. troops were withdrawn from
the Dominican Republic in 1924, but remained in Haiti from 1914 to
1934.
he mediated a situation with Mexico where the Mexicans were claiming sovereignty over oil resources.

XI. Unraveling the Debt Knot

Because America demanded that Britain and France pay their debts,
those two nations forced Germany to pay.
This caused Germany to have extremely high inflation.
In 1924, Charles Dawes engineered the Dawes Plan which made the German debt a little bit more manageable.
The money was basically circulated and the United States was never truly paid back in full.

XII. The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, 1928

Hoover believed in “Rugged Individualism” which said that America could only be fixed by the strong and determined.
Hoover campaigned on the Radio and thrived with it.
Hoover had never been elected to public office before.

XIII. President Hoover’s First Moves

Hoover’s Agricultural Marketing Act which included: the 1930, the Farm Board created the Grain Stabilization Corporation and the Cotton Stabilization Corporation to imprve prices and control surpluses.
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 raised the tariff to 60%!

XIV.The Great Crash Ends the Golden Twenties

October 29, 1929, a devastating stock market crash caused by
over-speculation and overly high stock prices built only upon
non-existent credit struck the nation.
40 million had been lost in total.
By the end of 1930, 4 million Americans were jobless, and two years later, that number shot up to 12 million.
Over 5,000 banks collapsed in the first three years of the Great Depression.
Lines formed exponentially at soup kitchens and at homeless shelters.

XV. Hooked on the Horn of Plenty

The nation’s capacity to produce goods had overestimated what consumers wanted.
Also, an over-expansion of credit allowed a lot of debt.
In 1930, a terrible drought scorched the Mississippi Valley and thousands of farms were sold to pay for debts.
Villages of shanties and ragged shacks were called Hoovervilles and
were inhabited by the people who had lost their jobs

XVI. Rugged Times for Rugged Individualists

Hoover was blamed for things that were not his fault, but he could have done more.
He believed in laissez-faire economics and felt that through the business cycle, the economy would work itself out.

XVII. Hoover Battles the Great Depression

Finally, Hoover voted to withdraw $2.25 billion to start projects to alleviate the suffering of the depression.

The Hoover Dam of the Colorado River was one such project.

The Muscle Shoals Bill, which was designed to dam the Tennessee
River and was ultimately embraced by the Tennessee Valley Authority,
was vetoed by Hoover.
In 1932, Congress passed the Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injection Act,
which outlawed anti-union contracts and forbade the federal courts to
issue injunctions to restrain strikes, boycotts, and peaceful picketing

XVIII. Routing the Bonus Army in Washington

Many veterans, whom had not been paid their compensation for WWI, marched to Washington, D.C. to demand their entire bonus.
But they made a mess and were mostly just disliked.

XIX. Japanese Militarists Attack China

In September 1931, Japan, alleging provocation, invaded Manchuria and shut the Open Door.
The League of Nations met, but it simply drove Japan out of the League.
Secretary of State Henry Stimson did indicate that the U.S.
probably would not interfere with a League of Nations embargo on Japan but did not actually do anything.
The lack of action allowed Japan to bomb Shanghai.

XX. Hoover Pioneers the Good Neighbor Policy

Hoover was deeply interested in relations south of the border, and
during his term, U.S. relations with Latin America and the Caribbean
improved greatly.
The lack of money decreased American imperialism.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Pro-Life

This is what I believe in as an advocate of pro-choice: Celibacy and abstinence ; Contraception use ; Emergency contraception use ; Abortion, for the first two trimesters of pregnancy ; and Childbirth. It's an individual's body, and as long as they do not hurt any one else in the process,than there should be no reason as to why they can stop them. It's a theory called autonomy, only I can control what I do to myself. Forcing a person to not get an abortion violates their rights and is unconstitutional. Most people believe that being pro-choice means we think abortion, contraceptives, and even assisted suicide is a good thing to do. It most definitely is not, and if person is to consider those options, they should thoroughly think about it and make sure that they aware about how permanent, serious, and painful it can be. But if at the end, a person decides they want to go through with an abortion, I feel no should have the power to stop them. In China, overpopulation has led the government to mandate abortion when they feel it is necessary, I completely disagree with this practice because it impedes a person's autonomy. Pro-choice is more about the right to make our own choices than it is the practices it entails.