- Fighting World War II (WWII)
- Prewar trends in U.S. foreign policy
- Recognition of Soviet Union
- Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America
- Aggression and repression abroad
- Japanese invasions of Manchuria, China
- Adolf Hitler's Germany
- Nazism
- Rearmament
- Annexation of Austria, Czechoslovakia
- Persecution of Jews
- Policy of appeasement toward
- Adoption by Britain, France, United States
- Munich conference; "peace in our time"
- Benito Mussolini's Italy
- Fascism
- Invasion of Ethiopia
- Francisco Franco's Spain
- Spanish Civil War
- Overthrow of democracy; establishment of fascist regime
- Support from Hitler
- American isolationism; reluctance to confront overseas aggression
- Sources
- Pro-Nazi sentiment
- Business ties to Japan, Germany
- Memory of World War I
- Pacifism
- Ethnic allegiances
- Manifestations
- Neutrality Acts
- Even-handed arms embargo on Spanish belligerents
- Sources
- Outbreak of WWII
- Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact
- German invasion of Poland
- British and French declarations of war on Germany
- German conquests across Europe, North Africa
- Formation of German-Italian-Japanese Axis
- Battle of Britain
- America's shifting response
- Persisting popular ambivalence
- Steps toward involvement
- Arms sale to Britain
- Military rearmament
- Reelection of Franklin Roosevelt (FDR)
- Unprecedented quest for third term
- Victory over Wendell Willkie
- Toward intervention
- America as "arsenal of democracy"
- Lend Lease Act
- Interventionist mobilization efforts
- Pearl Harbor; U.S. entry into war
- War in the Pacific
- Early setbacks for Allies
- Japanese conquests
- Bataan "death march"
- Turning of the tide
- Battles of Coral Sea, Midway
- Island campaigns
- Early setbacks for Allies
- War in Europe
- Allied advances
- North Africa
- The Atlantic
- Italy
- D-Day
- Eastern front
- German invasion of Russia
- Siege of Stalingrad
- German surrender
- Magnitude of bloodshed
- The Holocaust
- Allied advances
- Prewar trends in U.S. foreign policy
- Home front
- Government mobilization of economy
- Wartime federal agencies
- Areas of impact
- Allocation of labor
- Types and labels of production
- Wages, prices, rents
- Public revenue
- Employment rate
- Business in wartime
- New relationship with government
- Prominence of business leaders in federal bureaucracy
- Federal funding for large corporations
- Achievements of wartime manufacturing
- Scale of production
- Scientific advances
- Restoration of public esteem for business
- Geography of manufacturing boom
- Revival of old industrial centers
- Emergence of new industrial centers
- West
- South
- Centrality of military-related production
- New relationship with government
- Organized labor in wartime
- Government-business-labor collaboration
- Terms and impact
- Surge in union membership
- Spread of union recognition
- No-strike pledge
- Acceptance of employer "prerogatives," "fair profit"
- Junior position of labor
- Terms and impact
- Rolling back of New Deal programs
- Rise of labor walkouts
- Government-business-labor collaboration
- The Four Freedoms
- "Freedom" as ideological focus of wartime mobilization
- Content and implications
- Freedoms of speech and religion
- Freedoms from fear and want
- Points of controversy
- "Freedom from want"
- Office of War Information (OWI)
- New Deal liberalism of
- Conservative curtailment of
- Freedom as "free enterprise," material consumption (the "fifth freedom")
- Women in wartime labor force
- Entry into traditionally "male" jobs
- Industry
- Other professions
- "Rosie the Riveter"
- Steps toward workplace equality, entitlements
- Experience of wartime labor; "taste of freedom"
- Postwar reversals
- Entry into traditionally "male" jobs
- Government mobilization of economy
- Visions of postwar freedom
- Alternative outlooks
- Conservative: Henry Luce's American Century
- Free enterprise, material abundance
- America as world's dominant power
- New Deal liberal: Henry Wallace's "Price of Free World Victory"
- "Century of the common man"
- International cooperation
- Global New Deal
- Shared conception of America as world model
- Conservative: Henry Luce's American Century
- Liberal economic program
- National Resources Planning Board (NRPB); wartime blueprints
- Goals and principles
- Economic security, full employment
- Expanded welfare state
- Mass consumption
- Keynesian emphasis on government spending
- Strongholds of support
- Congressional opposition
- Goals and principles
- FDR's Economic Bill of Rights
- Goals and principles
- Failure to pass in Congress
- Servicemen's Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights)
- Provisions
- Impact and significance
- Full Employment Bill
- Goals and principles
- Passage of watered-down version
- National Resources Planning Board (NRPB); wartime blueprints
- Renewal of economic conservatism: Friedrich A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom
- Themes
- Economic planning as threat to liberty
- Superior effectiveness of free market
- Critiques of absolute laissez-faire dogma, social hierarchy, authoritarianism
- Basis for modern conservatism
- Themes
- Alternative outlooks
- Race and ethnicity in wartime America
- Discrediting of ethnic and racial inequality, intolerance
- Broad assimilation of ethnic outsiders
- Diversity of army, industrial work force
- Shift from forced Americanization (WWI) to patriotic assimilation (WWII)
- Promotion of pluralism, group equality
- Government
- FDR
- OWI; other government agencies
- Scholars
- Ruth Benedict's Races and Racism
- Ashley Montagu's Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race
- Hollywood
- Government
- Ongoing barriers to assimilation
- Anti-Semitism
- Racism
- Mexican-Americans
- Bracero program
- Purposes
- Promise and reality
- New employment opportunities
- Emergence of Chicano culture
- Intolerance and discrimination
- Zoot Suit riots
- Discrimination
- Mexican-American response
- Heightened civil rights consciousness
- Challenges to workplace discrimination
- Bracero program
- American Indians
- Participation in military, war industry
- Exposure to urban life
- Marginality of reservations
- Chinese-Americans
- Easing of traditional stereotypes
- Participation in military, war industry
- Japanese-Americans
- Dehumanizing portrayals
- Internment policy
- FDR's Executive Order 9066
- Expulsion to internment camps
- Negation of civil liberties
- Dearth of public protest
- Supreme Court affirmation: Korematsu v. United States
- Japanese-American response
- Eventual apology
- African-Americans
- On the home front
- Accelerated migration to industrial heartland
- Hostile reception; Detroit race riot, "hate strike"
- Persistence of lynching
- In the military
- Scale of service
- Racial practices
- Discrimination
- Abuse
- Birth of civil rights movement
- March on Washington initiative
- A. Philip Randolph
- Demands
- FDR's Executive Order 8802; establishment of Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC)
- Performance and impact of FEPC
- Growth of NAACP
- Congress of Racial Equality sit-ins
- Organized labor
- "Double-V" campaign
- March on Washington initiative
- On the home front
- Broadening opposition to racial inequality
- Black-Jewish collaboration
- Organized labor; CIO
- Growing dilemma for white southern moderates
- In government
- Federal agencies
- Supreme Court
- Armed forces
- Landmark publications
- What the Negro Wants
- Wendell Willkie's One World
- Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma
- Toward victory and beyond
- Winding down of war
- In Europe
- Battle of the Bulge
- Allied invasion of Germany
- Fall of Hitler; V-E Day
- In the Pacific: advance of U.S. forces toward Japan
- In Europe
- Changing of guard in Washington
- Replacement of Wallace by Harry S. Truman as FDR's running mate
- FDR reelection victory over Thomas E. Dewey
- Death of FDR; Truman succession to presidency
- The atomic bomb
- Development
- Albert Einstein's theory of relativity
- Manhattan Project
- Testing in New Mexico
- Use on Hiroshima, Nagasaki
- Devastating impact
- Immediate
- Long-term
- Surrender of Japan
- Devastating impact
- Lasting controversy over use
- Justifications
- Criticism
- Context for decision to use
- WWII practice of targeting civilian populations
- Dehumanization of Japanese in wartime propaganda
- Development
- Postwar planning by Allied leaders (Britain, United States, Soviet Union)
- Summit meetings at Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam
- Emerging points of tension among Allies
- Timing of Allied invasion of France
- Soviet intentions in eastern Europe
- Prospects for dissolution of British empire
- New economic order: Bretton Woods conference
- Initiatives
- Eclipse of British pound by dollar in global trade
- Linking of dollar's value to price of gold
- Creation of World Bank, International Monetary Fund
- Significance for postwar capitalist economic system
- Trend toward removal of barriers to free trade
- Recognition of United States as world's financial leader
- Initiatives
- The United Nations (UN)
- Founding
- Planning conference at Dumbarton Oaks
- Adoption of United Nations Charter at San Francisco
- Endorsement of United Nations Charter by U.S. Senate
- Structure and mission
- Founding
- Winding down of war