Unit 4 Lesson 8 - WWII - the Home Front and Peace

The Home Front During WWII

• Evaluate the U.S. Homefront during World War II and the impact of U.S. Industrialization on the war overall.
• Observe how the United States government treated Japanese Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Agenda:

What year has the lowest percentage of unemployment during World War II in the United States?

Chart Practice - Labor During WWII

E.O.9066

Germany Japan Italy

Soviet Union Great Britain United States

Hitler preemptively declares war on the U.S. on December 11, 1941 - saving Roosevelt from having to make a tough decision.

U.S. Joins the War

Axis Powers

ALLIES

U.S. At Home During the War

Airplane Production

Aircraft Production by Country WWII

• The atomic bombings of Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9) and the Soviet Union's declaration of war on Japan (August 8) significantly weakened Japan's ability to continue fighting
• Emperor Hirohito ultimately decides to meet the United State's unconditional surrender demands.
• The Emperor announces to the Japanese people on August 14, 1945 that Japan surrenders.
• The formal surrender took place on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, where Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender.
• This date marks V-J Day and the end of World War II.
• The United States led the Allied occupation of Japan, which lasts until 1952. Japan lost all territory outside the Home Islands, complete disarmament, and the Allied occupation of Japan.

V-J Day - Victory over Japan

• P-51 Mustang Fighters.
• B-25 Bombers.

Both important aircraft and used all over the world. Mustangs helped escort bombers in Europe to their targets.

North American Aviation

Inglewood, California

• Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9066 that put control of removal into the U.S. Army hands. Avoiding constitutional issues.
• West Coast was divided into military zones.
• Authorized military commanders to exclude civilians from the military area.
• The order did not specify any ethnic group but the military focused on Japanese Americans.

Japanese Americans given 48 hours to leave.

Executive Order 9066

After the Pearl Harbor attack, fear about national security arose on the West Coast. Pressure on Congress and the President to remove persons of Japanese descent on the West Coast.

Rosie the Riveter! Symbol of the American working women during World War II. Used to motivate and inspire other women to join the war effort - which they did. Forever changing how women were viewed in society and the "typical" jobs they would have. 19 million women were working outside the home and 2 million were working in war industries!

The Manhattan Project combined scientists, the military, and everyday citizens to create the atomic bomb. It would forever change the world & bring about other finds like nuclear power. J.Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Labratory which grew to 6,000 people by 1945.

From Oppenheimer (2023) - The Trinity Test. First time an atomic device had ever been detonated. No one knew what would happen. Would it start a chain reaction that ignites the entire atmosphere? No one was 100% sure it would not.

Tule Lake was the largest of the Japanese Internment Camps. Here is a first hand account of what it was like to go through this time period as a Japanese American.

Over 122,000 people from this region were moved to camps. 2/3 (70,000) were born in the U.S.

Exclusion Zone

Anyone of Japanese ancestery in this region was imprisoned.

• They were given a weeks notice.
• Born out of fear of espionage and sabotage in 1942.
• No charges against those forced to move. All lost personal liberties; most lost homes and property as well.
• A 1982 congressional report said the incarcerations were due to "race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of poltical leadership.

• Destroyers, aircraft carriers, submarines.
• Liberty ships transported Lend Lease cargo all over the world and were vital to the are effort. .

Liberty Ships

U.S. Shipbuilding

This map shows the sites in the United States where destroyers and other ships were built. Imagine how many people it would take to staff these operations all day.

World War II at home and abroad shaped the future of the modern Civil Rights Movement in America. African Americans had fought in all United States wars and after fighting in World War I thought when they came home they would be seen as hero's. However, this was not the case. World War II would change all of that. Learn why in this video. By 1945, the percentage of blacks who held war jobs — eight percent — approximated blacks’ percentage in the American population — about ten percent

Seattle, Washington

B-17 Flying Fortress

Built by Boeing

• Heavy Bomber.
• Strategic Bombing .
• Over 12,000 were produced.
• Used in Europe and the Pacific.

Williow Run Ford Plant- B-24 Liberator - Employed more thatn 40,000 people. Built 8600 airplanes