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U.S. History Chapter 21
Presidential Election of 1940:
This election was contested under the shadow of World War II as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), a Democrat, broke with tradition and ran for a third term, which became a major issue.
The surprise Republican candidate was maverick businessman Wendell Willkie, a dark horse who crusaded against Roosevelt's failure to end the Depression and eagerness for war.
Roosevelt won third term with 54.7% of the popular vote
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
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World War II Allies
The "Big Three" − The United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United States of America
The "Four Policemen" − The Big Three and China
Other Allies included Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippine Commonwealth, Poland, the Union of South Africa, and Yugoslavia.
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U.S. Enters the War:
- Lend-lease
- The name of the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war materiel between 1941 and 1945 in return for, in the case of Britain, military bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the British West Indies
- Germany invades the Soviet Union - June 22, 1941
- Atlantic Charter - August 14, 1941
- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
- U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- The agreement proved to be one of the first steps towards the formation of the United Nations
- Bombing of Pearl Harbor - December 7, 1941
The attack sank the battleships USS Oklahoma, USS Arizona, USS West Virginia, and USS California. Only the Oklahoma, Arizona, were forever lost. All of the other ships were ultimately repaired and returned to survice.
The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer, destroyed 188 aircraft, and caused personnel losses of 2,402 killed and 1,282 wounded.
- U.S. declared war on Japan
- Mrs. Roosevelt's radio program the night before the President's speech
- Roosevelt's "Infamy Speech"
World War II in the United States:
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Confinement and Ethnicity:
An Overview of World War II
Japanese American Relocation Sites
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Manhattan Project:
- Three main research and production facilities
- Oak Ridge, Tennessee - provided uranium-235
- Hanford, Washington - produced weapons-grade plutonium
- Los Alamos, New Mexico - the site for assembling nuclear weapons.
- Trinity Test - July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 AM
- Los Alamos produced four weapons, two of which, Little Boy and Fat Man, were used against Japan in August 1945.
- The Manhattan Project officially ended in 1946 when it became part of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
- Truman and the Atom Bomb
- Harry S. Truman Library
Allied Leadership:
- Soviet Union
- China
- U.S. and Britain worked together
- Decisions
- Germany first
- Unconditional surrender
The Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point:
In 1942 the German High Command saw Stalingrad as a key to the Russian oil fields in the Caucasus. Spearheading the German offensive was the 6th Army led by General Friedrich von Paulus. In early September of 1942 the Germans reached the city outskirts and made several attempts to storm in but each time were beaten back by the heavily outgunned and outnumbered Red Army soldiers.
As the enemy advanced into Stalingrad the city's defenders fought for every building. The deeper the troops got into the city, the more difficult the street fighting became and casualties increased dramatically. Eventually drained by the non-stop fighting, the Germans were forced to retreat.
On November 19, the Red Army launched a counterattack that ended with a complete routing of the 6th Army on February 2, 1943. The defeat in Stalingrad inspired hope in the hearts of all those fighting the Nazi scourge and pushed Adolf Hitler's Third Reich to the brink of a national catastrophe it never recovered from.
Allies Invade North Africa:
Allies Invade Italy:
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Benito Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. The top photo shows Mussolini riding with Hitler in a parade.
After the Allied occupation of southern Italy (1943), King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy ordered Mussolini arrested in order to sign the armistice.
Imprisoned, then liberated by the Germans, Mussolini lived in northern Italy until his capture and execution, on April 28, 1945, along with his mistress, Claretta Petacci, by military forces of the Italian Resistance.
Next day, their corpses and those of Mussolini's henchmen were hanged in the Piazzale Loreto, Milan, as an offering to the people who spat on the corpses and kicked them.
They were then hanged by the feet. In medieval Italy it was the custom to hang crooks or embezzlers, by one foot. The fact that Mussolini was hung by two feet suggests the deep level of rage and betrayal felt by the people towards their once beloved "Duce".
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Allies Invade France:
- D-Day - Normandy Landings
- Sword Beach
Sword beach was attacked by mostly British and other commonwealth troops as well as Free French troops. By 7:30 am the first troop carriers reached the beach. The troops reached the beach with light casualties and by the evening had advanced some 8 kilometers inland. They had failed to capture one of their main objectives such as the town of Caen. The landings on Sword were assisted by the new Sherman DD tanks which were an amphibious version of the Sherman Tank. This allowed them to punch through the German defenses more easily.
- Juno Beach
The Canadian troops were charged with taking the beach known as Juno. The Canadian were faced with heavy fortifications including eleven 115 mm guns and nine 75mm guns along with pillboxes and a huge concrete seawall that made landing very hard. The first wave suffered huge casualties, almost 50%. By the end of the day the Canadians had reached their objectives by crossing Caen-Bayeux highway over 11 km away and successfully landed over 15,000 troops. The Canadians were the only group to complete their objectives.
- Omaha Beach
American forces landed on Omaha Beach. It was by far the most bloody and horrible beach landed on D-Day. The fortifications were extremely heavy and the ariel and naval attacks earlier had little to no effect on the German fortification on the beach. The Sherman DD tanks deployed suffered heavy losses due to the German artillery beyond the beach. The infantry were therefore relatively unsupported and suffered heavy losses. They were, with much difficulty, able to capture the beach and go inland.
- Gold Beach
The gold beach landing suffered heavy losses as well, mostly due to the fact that the Sherman DD tanks which the Allies relied on so heavily had a hard time getting ashore. The British troops were able to almost reach the Village of Bayeux. They came the closest other than the canadians at Juno to their objectives.
- Utah Beach
Utah Beach suffered the least amount of casualties mainly due to the fact that bad weather pushed the troop transports several miles to the Southeast. They encountered very little resistance and were able to push further inland than expected, making it a almost complete success.
- After the first day all of the beach landings were able to push past the beaches and proceed inland. The troops that landed at Omaha beach encountered the most resistance at Pointe Du Hoc where the 2nd Ranger division was tasked with scaling the 30 meter walls and destroying or capturing the artillery guns on the top of the cliffs. Other groups encountered heavy resitsnce when the german divisons blocked off the roads and used tanks and artillery to try to fend off the Allied attacks.
Presidential Election of 1944:
- Roosevelt v. Dewey
- Roosevelt wins fourth term with 53.4% of the popular vote
- Harry S. Truman will become President after Roosevelt's death
The Battle of the Bulge:
- Last German Attack (map)
- The coldest, snowiest weather "in memory" in the Ardennes Forest on the German/Belgium border.
- Over a million men, 500,000 Germans, 600,000 Americans (more than fought at Gettysburg) and 55,000 British.
- 3 German armies, 10 corps, the equivalent of 29 divisions.
- 3 American armies, 6 corps, the equivalent of 31 divisions.
- The equivalent of 3 British divisions as well as contingents of Belgian, Canadian and French troops.
- 100,000 German casualties, killed, wounded or captured.
- 81,000 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed.
- 1,400 British casualties 200 killed.
- 800 tanks lost on each side, 1,000 German aircraft.
- The 106th Infantry Division, average age of 22 years, suffered 564 killed in action, 1,246 wounded and 7,001 missing in action at the end of the offensive. Most of these casualties occurred within the first three days of battle, when two of the division's three regiments were forced to surrender.
- The Malmedy Massacre, where 86 American prisoners of war were murdered by SS troops, was the worst atrocity committed against American troops during the course of the war in Europe.
- In it's entirety, the "Battle of the Bulge," was the worst battle - in terms of losses - to the American Forces in WWII.
Germany Surrendered - May 8, 1945
War in the Pacific:
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Nuremberg held great significance during the Nazi Germany period. Because of the city's relevance to the Holy Roman Empire and its position in the center of Germany, the Nazi Party chose the city to be the site of huge Nazi Party conventions - the Nuremberg rallies. The rallies were held annually from 1927 to 1938 in Nuremberg. After Hitler's rise to power in 1933 the Nuremberg rallies became huge state propaganda events, a center of anti-Semitism and other Nazi ideals. At the 1935 rally, Hitler specifically ordered the Reichstag to convene at Nuremberg to pass the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws which revoked German citizenship for all Jews. A number of premises were constructed solely for these assemblies, some of which were not finished. Today many examples of Nazi architecture can still be seen in the city. The city was also the home of the Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher, the publisher of Der Sturmer.
