Chapter 34 and 35 Outline

Chapter 34 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War 

I. The London Conference

1. The 1933 London Conference composed 66 nations that came together to hopefully develop a worldwide solution to the Great Depression.
   • President Franklin D. Roosevelt at first agreed to send Secretary of State Cordell Hull, but then withdrew from that agreement and scolded the other nations for trying to stabilize currencies.
   • As a result, the conference adjourned accomplishing nothing, and furthermore strengthening American isolationism.

II. Freedom for (from?) the Filipinos and Recognition for the Russians

1. With hard times, Americans were eager to do away with their liabilities in the Philippine Islands. And, American sugar producers wanted to get rid of the Filipino sugar producers due to the competition they created.
2. In 1934, Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act, stating that the Philippines would receive their independence after 12 years of economic and political tutelage, in 1946.
   • Army bases were relinquished, but naval bases were kept.
3. Americans were freeing themselves of a liability and creeping into further isolationism Meanwhile, militarists in Japan began to see that they could take over the Pacific easily without U.S. interference or resistance.
4. In 1933, FDR finally formally recognized the Soviet Union, hoping that the U.S. could trade with the U.S.S.R., and that the Soviets would discourage German and Japanese aggression.

III. Becoming a Good Neighbor

1. In terms of its relations with Latin America, the U.S. wanted to be a “good neighbor,” showing that it was content as a regional power, not a world one.
2. In 1933, FDR renounced armed intervention in Latin America at the Seventh Pan-American Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, and the following year, U.S. marines left Haiti.
3. The U.S. also lifted troops from Panama, but when Mexican forces seized Yankee oil properties, FDR found himself urged to take drastic action.
   • However, he resisted and worked out a peaceful deal.
   • His “good neighbor” policy was a great success, improving the U.S. image in Latin American eyes.

IV. Secretary Hull’s Reciprocal Trade Agreement

1. Secretary of State Hull believed that trade was a two-way street, and he had a part in Congress’s passing of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act in 1934 which activated low-tariff policies while aiming at relief and recovery by boosting American trade.
   • This act whittled down the most objectionable schedules of the Hawley-Smoot law by amending them, lowering rates by as much as half, provided that the other country would do the same toward the United States.
2. The Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act reversed the traditional high-tariff policy that had damaged America before and paved the way for the American-led free-trade international economic system that was implemented after World War II.

V. Storm-Cellar Isolationism

1. After World War I, many dictatorships sprang up, including Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini of Italy, and Adolph Hitler of Germany.
   • Of the three, Hitler was the most dangerous, because he was a great orator and persuader who led the German people to believe his “big lie,” making them think that he could lead the country back to greatness and out of this time of poverty and depression.
2. In 1936, Nazi Hitler and Fascist Mussolini allied themselves in the Rome-Berlin Axis.
3. Japan slowly began gaining strength, refusing to cooperate with the world and quickly arming itself by ending the Washington Naval Treaty in 1934 and walking out of the London Conference.
4. In 1935, Mussolini attacked Ethiopia, conquering it, but the League of Nations failed to take effective action against the aggressors.
5. America continued to hide behind the shell of isolationism, believing that everything would stay good if the U.S. wasn’t drawn into any international embroilments.
   • The 1934 Johnson Debt Default Act forbade any countries that still owed the U.S. money from borrowing any more cash.
6. In 1936, a group of Princeton University students began to agitate for a bonus to be paid to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFWs) while the prospective front-liners were still alive.

VI. Congress Legislates Neutrality

1. The 1934 Nye Committee was formed to investigate whether or not munitions manufacturers were pro-war, existing for the sole purpose of making more money and profits, as the press blamed such producers for dragging America into the First World War.
2. To prevent America from being sucked into war, Congress passed the Neutrality Acts in 1935-37, acts which stated that when the president proclaimed the existence of a foreign war, certain restrictions would automatically go into effect: no American could legally sail on a belligerent ship or sell or transport munitions to a belligerent, or make loans to a belligerent.
   • The flaw with these acts was that they were designed to prevent America from being pulled into a war like World War I, but World War II would prove to be different.

VII. America Dooms Loyalist Spain

1. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), Spanish rebels led by the fascist General Francisco Franco rose up against the leftist-leaning republican government.
   • In order to stay out of the war, the U.S. put an embargo on both the loyalist government, which was supported by the USSR, and the rebels, which were aided by Hitler and Mussolini.
   • During the Civil War, the U.S. just stood by while Franco smothered the democratic government. America also failed to build up its fleet, since most people believed that huge fleets led to huge wars.
     • It was not until 1938 that Congress passed a billion-dollar naval construction act, but then it was too little, too late.

VIII. Appeasing Japan and Germany

1. In 1937, Japan essentially invaded China, but FDR didn’t call this combat “a war,” thus allowing the Chinese to still get arms from the U.S., and in Chicago of that year, he merely verbally chastised the aggressors, calling for “a quarantine” of Japan (through economic embargoes, perhaps); this was his famous “Quarantine Speech.”
   • The Quarantine Speech asked for America to stay neutral but to morally side against the fascist nations.
   • However, this speech angered many isolationists, and FDR backed down a bit from any more direct actions.
2. In December 1937, the Japanese bombed and sank the American gunboat, the Panay, but then made the necessary apologies, “saving” America from entering war.
   • To vent their frustration, the Japanese resorted to humiliating white civilians in China through slappings and strippings.
   • The Panay incident further supports America’s determination to stay neutral.
3. Meanwhile, Hitler was growing bolder and bolder after being allowed to introduce mandatory military service in Germany, take over the German Rhineland, persecute and exterminate about six million Jews, and occupy Austria—all because the European powers were appeasing him.
   • They naively hoped that each conquest of Germany would be the last.
4. However, Hitler didn’t stop, and at the September 1938 Munich Conference, the Allies agreed to let Hitler have the Sudentenland of neighboring Czechoslovakia, but six months later, in 1939, Hitler pulled the last straw and took over all of Czechoslovakia.
   • British Prime
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     Minister Neville Chamberlain returned to England and gave his infamous claim that he’d achieved “peace in our time”—true, but it proved to be a short time.

IX. Hitler’s Belligerency and U.S. Neutrality

1. On August 23, 1939, the U.S.S.R. shocked the world by signing a nonaggression treaty with Germany.
   • Now, it seemed that Germany could engulf all of Europe, especially without having to worry about fighting a two-front war in case Russia fought back.
   • In essence, the nonaggression pact opened the door to Poland.
2. In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and France and Britain finally declared war against Germany, but America refused to enter the war, its citizens not wanting to be “suckers” again.
   • Americans were anti-Hitler and anti-Nazi and wanted Britain and France to win, but they would not permit themselves to be dragged into fighting and bloodshed.
3. European powers needed American supplies, but the previous Neutrality Acts forbade the sale of arms to nations in war, so a new Neutrality Act of 1939 allowed European nations to buy war materials, but only on a “cash-and-carry” basis, which meant Europeans had to provide their own ships and pay for the arms in cash.
   • Since the British and French controlled the seas, the Germans couldn’t buy arms from America, as it was intended.

X. The Fall of France

1. After the fall of Poland, Hitler positioned his forces to attack France which led to a lull in the war (so that men could move) that was pierced only by the Soviet Union’s attack and conquering of Finland, despite $30 million from the U.S. (for nonmilitary reasons).
2. Then, in 1940, the “phony war” ended when Hitler overran Denmark and Norway, and then took over the Netherlands and Belgium.
   • Blitzing without mercy, he then struck a paralyzing blow toward France, which was forced to surrender by late June of that year.

b. The fall of France was shocking, because now, all that stood between Hitler and the world was Britain: if the English lost, Hitler would have all of Europe in which to operate, and he might take over the Americas as well.

1. Finally, Roosevelt moved and called for the nation to massively build up its armed forces, with expenses totaling more than $37 million. He also had Congress pass the first peacetime draft in U.S. history on September 6, 1940.
   • 1.2 million troops and 800,000 reserves would be trained.
2. At the Havana Conference, the U.S. warned Germany that it could not take over orphan colonies in the Americas, as such action wouldn’t be tolerated.

XI. Bolstering Britain with the Destroyer Deal (1940)

1. Now, with Britain the only power fighting against Germany, FDR had to decide whether to remain totally neutral or to help Britain.
   • Hitler launched air attacks against the British in August 1940 and prepared an invasion scheduled to start a month later, but the tenacious defense of the British Royal Air Force stopped him in the aerial Battle of Britain.
2. Those who supported helping Britain formed the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, while those for isolationism (including Charles A. Lindbergh) were in the America First Committee, and both groups campaigned and advertised for their respective positions.
3. Britain was in dire need for destroyers, and on September 2, 1940, FDR boldly moved to transfer 50 old-model, four-funnel destroyers left over from WWI, and in return, the British promised to give the U.S. eight valuable defensive base sites stretching from Newfoundland to South America.
   • These would stay in American ownership for 99 years.
   • Obviously, this caused controversy, but FDR had begun to stop playing the silly old games of isolationism and was slowly starting to step out into the spotlight.

XII. FDR Shatters the Two-Term Tradition (1940)

1. In 1940, it was thought that Robert A. Taft of Ohio or Thomas E. Dewey would be the Republican candidate, but a colorful and magnetic newcomer went from a nobody to a candidate in a matter of weeks. Wendell L. Willkie, became the Republican against Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt, who waited until the last moment to challenge the two-term tradition.
   • Democrats felt that FDR was the only man qualified to be president, especially in so grave of a situation as was going on.
2. Willkie and FDR weren’t really different in the realm of foreign affairs, but Willkie hit hard with his attacks on the third term.
3. Still, FDR won because voters felt that, should war come, FDR was the best man to lead America.

XIII. Congress Passes the Landmark Lend-Lease Law

1. Britain was running out of money, but Roosevelt didn’t want all the hassles that came with calling back debts, so he came up with the idea of a lend-lease program in which the arms and ships, etc. that the U.S. lent to the nations that needed them would be returned when they were no longer needed.
   • Senator Taft retorted that in this case the U.S. wouldn’t want them back because it would be like lending chewing gum then taking it back after it’d been chewed.
2. The lend-lease bill was argued over heatedly in Congress, but it passed, and by war’s end, America had sent about $50 billion worth of arms and equipment.
   • The lend-lease act was basically the abandonment of the neutrality policy, and Hitler recognized this.
   • Before, German submarines had avoided attacking U.S. ships, but after the passage, they started to fire upon U.S. ships as well, such as the May 21, 1941 torpedoing of the Robin Moor.

XIV. Hitler’s Assault on the Soviet Union Spawns the Atlantic Charter

1. On June 22, 1941, Hitler attacked Russia, because ever since the signing of the nonaggression pact, neither Stalin nor Hitler had trusted each other, and both had been plotting to double-cross each other.
   • Hitler assumed his invincible troops would crush the inferior Soviet soldiers, but the valor of the Red army, U.S. aid to the U.S.S.R. (through lend-lease), and an early and bitter winter stranded the German force at Moscow and shifted the tide against Germany.
2. The Atlantic Conference was held in August 1941, and the result was the eight-point Atlantic Charter, which was suggestive of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Main points included…
   • There would be no territorial changes contrary to the wishes of the natives.
   • The charter also affirmed the right for people to choose their rulers (self-determination).
   • It declared disarmament and a peace of security, as well as a new League of Nations.
3. Critics charged that “neutral America” was interfering, ignoring that America was no longer neutral.

XV. U.S. Destroyers and Hitler’s U-Boats Clash

1. To ensure that arms sent to Britain would reach there, FDR finally agreed that a convoy would have to escort them, but only as far as Iceland, as Britain would take over from there.
2. There were clashes, as U.S. destroyers like the Greer, the Kearny, and the Reuben James were attacked by the Germans.
3. By mid-November 1941, Congress annulled the now-useless Neutrality Act of 1939.

XVI. Surprise Assault at Pearl Harbor

1. Japan was still embroiled in war with China, but when America suddenly imposed embargoes on key supplies on Japan in 1940, the imperialistic nation had now no choice but to either back off of China or attack the U.S.; they chose the latter.
2. The Americans had broken the Japanese code and knew that they would declare war soon, but the U.S. could not attack, so based on what the Japanese supposedly planned, most Americans thought that the Japanese would attack British Malaya or the Philippines.
3. However, the paralyzing blow struck Pearl Harbor, as on December 7, 1941, Japanese air bombers suddenly attacked the naval base located there (where almost the entire U.S. fleet was located), wiping out many ships and killing or wounding 3,000 men.
4. The next day, the one after “a date which will live in infamy” (FDR), the U.S. declared war on Japan, and on December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

XVII. America’s Transformation from Bystander to Belligerent

1. Up until the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, most Americans still wanted to stay out of war, but afterwards the event sparked such passion that it completely infuriated Americans into wanting to go to war.
2. This had been long in coming, as the U.S. had wanted to stay out of war, but had still supported Britain more and more, and the U.S. had been against the Japanese aggression but had failed to take a firm stand on either side.
3. Finally, people decided that appeasement didn’t work against “iron wolves,” and that only full war was needed to keep the world safe for democracy and against anarchy and dictatorship.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 35 – America in World War II

I. The Allies Trade Space for Time

1. When Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, millions of
   infuriated Americans, especially on the west coast, instantly changed
   their views from isolationist to avenger.
2. However, America, led by the wise Franklin D. Roosevelt, resisted
   such pressures, instead taking a “get Germany first”
   approach to the war, for if Germany were to defeat Britain before the
   Allies could beat Japan, there would be no stopping Hitler and his men.
   • Meanwhile, just enough troops would be sent to fight Japan to keep it in check.
3. America had the hardship of preparing for war, since it had been in
   isolation for the preceding decades, and the test would be whether or
   not it could mobilize quickly enough to stop Germany and make the world
   safe for democracy (again).

II. The Shock of War

1. After the attack at Pearl Harbor, national unity was strong as steel, and the few Hitler supporters in America faded away.
2. Most of America’s ethnic groups assimilated even faster due
   to WWII, since in the decades before the war, few immigrants had been
   allowed into America.
   • Unfortunately, on the Pacific coast, 110,000 Japanese-Americans
     were taken from their homes and herded into internment camps where
     their properties and freedoms were taken away.
   • The 1944 case of Korematsu v. U.S. affirmed the constitutionality of these camps.
   • It took more than 40 years before the U.S. admitted fault and made $20,000 reparation payments to camp survivors.
3. With the war, many New Deal programs were wiped out, such as the
   Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and the
   National Youth Administration.
4. WWII was no idealistic crusade, as most Americans didn’t even
   know what the Atlantic Charter (declaration of U.S. goals going into
   the war such as to fight Germany first, and Japan second) was.

III. Building the War Machine

1. Massive military orders (over $100 billion in 1942 alone) ended the Great Depression by creating demand for jobs and production.
2. Shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser was dubbed “Sir Launchalot”
   because his methods of ship assembly churned out one ship every 14 days!
3. The War Production Board halted manufacture of nonessential items
   such as passenger cars, and when the Japanese seized vital rubber
   supplies in British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, the U.S. imposed
   a national speed limit and gasoline rationing to save tires.
4. Farmers rolled out more food, but the new sudden spurt in
   production made prices soar—a problem that was finally solved by
   the regulation of prices by the Office of Price Administration.
5. Many essential goods were rationed.
6. Meanwhile labor unions pledged not to strike during the war, some did anyway.
   • The United Mine Workers was one such group and was led by John L. Lewis.
   • In June 1943, Congress passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act,
     which let the federal government seize and operate industries
     threatened by or under strikes.
   • Fortunately, strikes accounted for less than 1% of total working hours of the U.S. wartime laboring force.

IV. Manpower and Womanpower

1. The armed forces had nearly 15 million men and 216,000 women, and
   some of these “women in arms” included the WAACS (Army),
   the WAVES (Navy), and SPARS (Coast Guard).
2. Because of the national draft that plucked men (and women) from
   their homes and into the military, there weren’t enough workers,
   so the Bracero Program brought Mexican workers to America as resident
   workers.
3. With the men in the military, women took up jobs in the workplace,
   symbolized by “Rosie the Riveter,” and upon war’s
   end, many did not return to their homes as in World War I.
   • It must be noted that the female revolution into the work force was
     not as great as commonly exaggerated. At the end of the war, 2/3 of the
     women did return home; the servicemen that came home to them helped
     produce a baby boom that is still being felt today.

V. Wartime Migrations

1. The war also forced many people to move to new places, and many young folks went to and saw new cities far from home.
2. FDR used the war as an excuse to pump lots of money into the
   stagnant South to revitalize it, helping to start the blossoming of the
   “Sunbelt.”
   • Still, some 1.6 million blacks left the South for better places,
     and explosive tensions developed over black housing, employment, and
     segregation facilities.
3. Philip Randolph, leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,
   threatened a “Negro March to Washington” in 1941 to get
   better rights and treatment.
4. The president also established the Fair Employment Practices
   Commission to discourage racism and oppression in the workplace, and
   while Blacks in the army still suffered degrading discrimination (i.e.
   separate blood banks), they still used the war as a rallying cry
   against dictators abroad and racism at home—overall gaining power
   and strength.
   • Membership to the NAACP passed the half-million mark, and a new
     organization, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), was founded in
     1942.
5. In 1944, the mechanical cotton picker made the need for muscle
   nonexistent, so blacks that used to pick cotton could now leave, since
   they were no longer needed.
   • They left the South and took up residence in urban areas.
6. Native Americans also left their reservations during the war, finding work in the cities or joining the army.
   • Some 25,000 Native Americans were in the army, and the Navajo and
     Comanches were “code talkers,” relaying military orders in
     the own language—a “code” that was never broken by
     the Axis Powers.
7. Such sudden “rubbing of the races” did spark riots and
   cause tension, such as the 1943 attack on some Mexican-American navy
   men in Los Angeles and the Detroit race riot (occurring in the same
   year) that killed 25 blacks and 9 whites.

VI. Holding the Home Front

1. America was the only country to emerge after the war relatively
   unscathed, and in fact, it was much better off after the war than
   before.
   • The gross national product more than doubled, as did corporate profits.
   • In fact, when the war ended and price controls were lifted, inflation shot up.
2. Despite all of the New Deal programs, it was the plethora of spending during WWII that lifted America from its Great Depression.
   • The wartime bill amounted to more than $330 billion—more than
     the combined costs of all the previous American wars together.
   • While income tax was expanded to make four times as many people pay
     as before, most of the payments were borrowed, making the national debt
     soar from $49 billion to $259 billion (the war had cost as much as $10
     million per hour at one point).

VII. The Rising Sun in the Pacific

1. The Japanese overran the lands that they descended upon, winning
   more land with less losses than ever before and conquering Guam, Wake,
   the Philippines, Hong Kong, British Malaya, Burma (in the process
   cutting the famed Burma Road), the Dutch East Indies, and even pushing
   into China.
2. When the Japanese took over the Philippines, U.S. General Douglas
   MacArthur had to sneak out of the place, but he vowed to return to
   liberate the islands; he went to Australia.
3. After the fighters in the Philippines surrendered, they were forced to make the infamous 85-mile Bataan death march.
   • On May 6, 1942, the island fortress of Corregidor, in Manila Harbor, surrendered.

VIII. Japan’s High Tide at Midway

1. The Japanese onrush was finally checked in the Coral Sea by
   American and Australian forces in the world’s 1st naval battle
   where the ships never saw one another (they fought with aircraft via
   carriers). And, when the Japanese tried to seize Midway Island, they
   were forced back by U.S. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz during fierce
   fighting from June 3-6, 1942.
   • Midway proved to be the turning point that stopped Japanese expansion.
   • Admiral Raymond A. Spruance also helped maneuver the fleet to win,
     and this victory marked the turning point in the war in the Pacific.
   • No longer would the Japanese take any more land, as the U.S. began
     a process called “island hopping,” where the Allies would
     bypass heavily fortified islands, take over neighboring islands, and
     starve the resistant forces to death with lack of supplies and constant
     bombing saturation, to push back the Japanese.
2. Also, the Japanese had taken over some islands in the Alaskan chain, the Aleutians.

IX. American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo

1. Americans won at Guadalcanal in August 1942 and then got New Guinea by August 1944.
2. By island hopping, the U.S. also retook the Aleutian Islands of
   Attu and Kiska in August of 1943, and in November of that year,
   “bloody Tarawa” and Makin, members of the Gilbert Islands,
   fell to the Allies.
3. American sailors shelled the beachheads with artillery, U.S.
   Marines stormed ashore, and American bombers attacked the Japanese,
   such as Lt. Robert J. Albert who piloted a B-24 “Liberator”
   on 36 missions including his final run before returning home. That
   mission was a record 18 hour and 25 minute strike that he piloted, even
   though his tour of duty was complete, just so his men would not fly
   behind a rookie pilot.
4. In January and February of 1944, the Marshall Islands fell to the U.S.
5. The assault on the Marianas (including Guam) began on June 19,
   1944, and with superior planes such as the “Hellcat”
   fighter and a U.S. victory the next day in the Battle of the Philippine
   Sea, the U.S. rolled on, taking the islands and beginning
   around-the-clock bombing raids over Tokyo and other parts of mainland
   Japan.

X. The Allied Halting of Hitler

1. The U.S. also at first had trouble against Germany, as its U-boats
   proved very effective, but the breaking of the Germans’
   “enigma” code helped pinpoint those subs better.
   • It wasn’t until war’s end that the true threat of the
     German submarines was known, as it was discovered that Hitler had been
     about to unleash a new U-boat that could remain underwater indefinitely
     and cruise at 17 knots underwater.
2. In May 1942, the British launched a massive raid on Cologne, France, and in August, the U.S. air corps joined them.
   • The Germans, led by the “Desert Fox” Marshall Edwin
     Rommel, drove to Egypt, dangerously close to the Suez Canal, but late
     in October 1942, British General Bernard Montgomery defeated him at El
     Alamein, west of Cairo.
3. On the Soviet front, the Russians launched a new, blistering
   counteroffensive, regaining about 2/3 of the land they had lost before
   a year later.

XI. A Second Front from North Africa to Rome

1. The Soviets had begged the Allies to open up a second front against
   Hitler, since Soviet forces were dying by the millions (20 million by
   war’s end), and the Americans were eager to comply, but the
   British, remembering WWI, were reluctant.
   • Instead of a frontal European assault, the British devised an
     invasion through North Africa, so that the Allies could cut
     Hitler’s forces through the “soft underbelly” of the
     Mediterranean Sea.
2. Thus, a secret attack was coordinated and executed by Dwight D.
   Eisenhower as they defeated the French troops, but upon meeting the
   real German soldiers, Americans were set back at Kasserine Pass.
   • This soft underbelly campaign wasn’t really successful, as
     the underbelly wasn’t as soft as Churchill had guessed, but
     important lessons were learned.
3. At the Casablanca Conference, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston
   Churchill met and agreed on the term of “unconditional
   surrender.”
4. The Allies found bitter resistance in Italy, but Sicily finally fell in August 1943.
   • Italian dictator Mussolini was deposed, and a new government was set up.
     • Two years later, he and his mistress were lynched and killed.
   • Germany didn’t leave Italy, though, and for many months, more
     fighting and stalemates occurred, especially at Monte Cassino, where
     Germans were holed up.
5. The Allies finally took Rome on June 4, 1944, and it wasn’t
   until May 2, 1945, that Axis troops in Italy finally surrendered.
6. Though long and tiring, the Italian invasion did open up Europe,
   divert some of Hitler’s men from the Soviet front, and helping
   cause Italy to fall.

XII. D-Day: June 6, 1944

1. At the Tehran Conference, the Big Three (FDR, Churchill, and Josef
   Stalin, leader of Russia) met and agreed that the Soviets and Allies
   would launch simultaneous attacks.
2. The Allies began plans for a gigantic cross-channel invasion, and
   command of the whole operation was entrusted to General Eisenhower.
   • Meanwhile, MacArthur received a fake army to use as a ruse to Germany.
3. The point of attack was French Normandy, and on June 6, 1944, D-Day
   began—the amphibious assault on Normandy. After heavy resistance,
   Allied troops, some led by General George S. Patton, finally clawed
   their way onto land, across the landscape, and deeper into France.
   • With the help of the “French underground,” Paris was freed in August of 1944.

XIII. FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944

1. Republicans nominated Thomas E. Dewey, a young, liberal governor of
   New York, and paired him with isolationist John W. Bricker of Ohio.
2. FDR was the Democratic lock, but because of his age, the vice
   presidential candidate was carefully chosen to be Harry S. Truman, who
   won out over Henry A. Wallace—an ill-balanced and unpredictable
   liberal.

XIV. Roosevelt Defeats Dewey

1. Dewey went on a rampaging campaign offensive while FDR, stuck with WWII problems, could not go out much.
   • The new Political Action Committee of the CIO contributed
     considerable money. It was organized to get around the law banning
     direct use of union funds for political purposes.
2. In the end, Roosevelt stomped Dewey, 432 to 99, the fourth term
   issue wasn’t even that big of a deal, since the precedent had
   already been broken three years before.
3. FDR won because the war was going well, and because people wanted to stick with him.

XV. The Last Days of Hitler

1. On the retreat and losing, Hitler concentrated his forces and threw
   them in the Ardennes forest on December 16, 1944, starting the Battle
   of “the Bulge.” He nearly succeeded in his gamble, but the
   ten-day penetration was finally stopped by the 101st Airborne Division
   that had stood firm at the vital bastion of Bastogne, which was
   commanded by Brigadier General A.C. McAuliffe.
2. In March 1945, the Americans reached the Rhine River of Germany,
   and then pushed toward the river Elbe, and from there, joining Soviet
   troops, they marched toward Berlin.
3. Upon entering Germany, the Allies were horrified to find the
   concentration camps where millions of Jews and other
   “undesirables” had been slaughtered in attempted genocide.
   • Adolph Hitler, knowing that he had lost, committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945.
4. Meanwhile, in America, FDR had died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945.
5. May 7, 1945 was the date of the official German surrender, and the
   next day was officially proclaimed V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day).

XVI. Japan Dies Hard

1. American submarines were ruining Japan’s fleet, and attacks
   such as the March 9-10, 1945 firebomb raid on Tokyo that killed over
   83,000 people were wearing Japan out.
2. On October 20, 1944, General MacArthur finally “returned” to the Philippines.
   • However, he didn’t retake Manila until March 1945.
3. The last great naval battle at Leyte Gulf was lost by Japan, terminating its sea power status.
4. In March 1945, Iwo Jima was captured; this 25-day assault left over 4,000 Americans dead.
5. Okinawa was won after fighting from April to June of 1945, and was captured at the cost of 50,000 American lives.
   • Japanese “kamikaze” suicide pilots, for the sake of
     their god-emperor, unleashed the full fury of their terror at Okinawa
     in a last-ditch effort.

XVII. The Atomic Bombs

1. At the Potsdam Conference, the Allies issued an ultimatum: surrender or be destroyed.
2. The first atomic bomb had been tested on July 16, 1945, near
   Alamogordo, New Mexico, and when Japan refused to surrender, Americans
   dropped A-bombs onto Hiroshima (on August 6, 1945), killing 180,000 and
   Nagasaki (on August 9, 1945), killing 80,000.
3. On August 8, 1945, the Soviets declared war on Japan, just as
   promised, and two days later, on August 10, Japan sued for peace on one
   condition: that the Emperor Hirohito be allowed to remain on the
   Japanese throne.
   • Despite the “unconditional surrender” clause, the Allies accepted.
4. The formal end came on September 2, 1945, on the battleship U.S.S. Missouri where Hirohito surrendered to General MacArthur.

XVIII. The Allies Triumphant

1. America suffered 1 million casualties, but the number killed by
   disease and infections was very low thanks to new miracle drugs like
   penicillin. But otherwise the U.S. had suffered little losses (two
   Japanese attacks on California and Oregon that were rather harmless).
2. This was America’s best-fought war, despite the fact that the U.S. began preparing later than usual.
3. The success was partly thanks to the excellent U.S. generals and admirals, and the leaders.
4. Industry also rose to the challenge, putting out a phenomenal
   amount of goods, proving wrong Hermann Goering, a Nazi leader who had
   scorned America’s lack of manufacturing skills.