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Lend-Lease Act
In 1940 Britain had no more cash to spend in the arsenal of democracy. Roosevelt suggested a new plan that he called a lend-lease policy. Under this plan, the president would lend or lease arms & other supplies to "any country whose defense was vital to the United States." Isolationist argued bitterly against the plan, but most Americans favored it, & Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941. -
Pearl Harbor attack
In the morning a Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over the Pearl Harbor and bombed the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific. The bomber was followed by more than 180 Japanese warplanes launched from six aircraft carriers. In less than two hours the Japanese had killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The surprise raid had sunk or damaged 21 ships including 8 battleships. More than 300 aircraft were severely damaged or destroyed. This was the first time the U.S. Navy had suffered in all. -
Battle of Atlantic
German submarine raids against ships along America's east coast, aiming to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. After 7 months 681 ships had been destroyed. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Germans prepared nightly bombings raids over the city. Nearly every wooden building in Stalingrad was set ablaze. The Germans went house to house in brutal hand-to-hand combat and ended up controlling nine-tenths of the city. Winter set in and the Soviets saw the cold as an opportunity to roll fresh tanks across the frozen landscape and began a massive counterattack. The Germans ended up surrendering in Jan. 1943. A total of 1,100,000 Soviet soldiers died at this battle. -
Operation Torch
An invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. 107,000 Allied troops landed in Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in North Africa. They sped eastward, chasing the Afrika Korps and after months of heavy fighting, the last of the Korps surrendered. -
Office of Price Administration
Much factory production was earmarked for the war. With demand increasing and supplies dropping prices seemed likely to shoot upwards. Roosevelt responded to this threat by creating the Office of Price Administration. The OPA fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress also raised income tax rates & extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before. The government encouraged Americans to use their extra cash to buy war bonds. Inflation remained below 30% -
War Productions Board
The government needed to ensure that the armed forces and war industries received the resources they needed to win the war. The War Production Board assumed that responsibility. The WPB decided which companies would convert from peacetime to wartime production and allocated raw materials to key industries. The WPB also organized nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, & cooking fat for recycling into war goods. -
Manhattan Project
Roosevelt responded by creating an Advisory Committee on Uranium to study the new discovery. In 1941 the committee reported that it would take from three to five years to build an atomic bomb. The OSRD set up an intensive program in 1942 to develop a bomb as quickly as possible. Because much of the early research was performed at Columbia University in Manhattan, the Manhattan Project became the code name for research work that extended across the country. -
Internment
Inter were confinement or a restriction in movement,especially under wartime conditions.The War Department called for the mass evacuation of all Japanese Americans from Hawaii.General Delos Emmons the military governor of Hawaii resisted the order bc 37% of the people were Japanese American.To remove them it would of destroyed the islands' economy and hindered U.S. military operation there.1,444 Japanese & 1% of Hawaii's population.In CA 1% of people were Japanese.The army rounded up 110,000 J -
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps
The military's work force needs were so great that Army Chief of staff general George Marshall pushed for the formation of a women's Auxiliary army corps (WAAC). "There are innumerable duties now being performed by soldiers that can be done better by women," Marshall said in support of a bill to establish the women's auxiliary army corps. under this bill, women volunteers would serve in noncombat positions. The WAAC became law on May 15, 1942. It gave the WAACs an official status & salary. -
U.S. convoy system
Allies organized convoys which were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater. They were also accompanied by airplanes that used radar to spot U-boats on the ocean surface. -
Korematsu v. United States
The government's policy of evacuating Japanese Americans to camps was justified on the basis of "military necessity." -
Bloody Anzio
One of the hardest battles the Allies encountered in Europe was fought less than 40 miles from Rome. This battle, "Bloody Anzio", lasted four months until the end of May 1944 and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. -
D-Day
The Allied invasion, code-named Operation Overlord, was originally set for June 5, but bad weather forced a delay. Banking on a forecast for clearing skies, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for D-Day June 6, 1944, the first day of the invasion. -
The Battle of the Bulge
Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory, creating a bulge in the lines that gave this desperate last-ditch offensive its name, the Battle of the Bulge. As the German swept westward, they captured 120 American GIs near Malmedy. Elite German troops the SS troopers herded the prisoners into a large field and mowed them down with machine guns and pistols. -
Death of Hitler
On April 29 Hitler married Eva Braun. He wrote his last address to the German people.In it he blamed the Jews for starting the war and his generals for losing it. He states "I die with a happy heart aware of the immeasurable deeds of our soldiers at the front. I myself and my wife choose to die in order to escape the disgrace of capitulation". The next day Hitler shot himself while his new wife swallowed poison.With Hitler's orders the two bodies were carried outside, soaked with gasoline,burned -
Harry S. Truman
president Roosevelt did not live to v-e day. On April 12,1945, while posting for a portrait in warm springs, Georgia, the president had a stroke and died. That night, vice president Harry S. Truman become the nation's 33rd president. -
Unconditional Surrender
General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich on May 8, 1945. -
V-E Day
A week later General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over.
