Pushing Back the Axis
If the U.S. had not taken part in WWII, the Fascist governments of Germany, Japan, and Italy would still be threatening human rights all over the world.
WWII helped prove that governments in places such as Japan, Germany, and Italy would negatively impact human rights all over the world.
Since WWII, the U.S. has taken control over Palau, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Puerto Rico, Wake Island, the Marshall Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, contributing to the fact that the U.S. controls over 3,630,254 square miles of the Earth’s surface.
Since WWII, the U.S. has taken control over Palau, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Puerto Rico, Wake Island, the Marshall Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, contributing to the fact that the U.S. controls over 3,630,254 square miles of the Earth’s surface.
The United States' entry into World War II caused a lot of changes in the social, economic, and political scene due to the choices that President Roosevelt made overseas and the tactics that the U.S. used to overthrow Germany, Japan, and Italy.
Social Situation in World War II
When the U.S. joined WWII and the men were taken out of their jobs and sent to war, the women and minorities were thrown into the workplace.
Social critics had a field day with criticizing the women in the workplace, some even going so far as to blame working mothers for the rise in juvenile delinquency. However, women were not the only minorities in the workplace during WWII, African Americans as well as Mexican Americans were finally working as well.
The African American men went to the war with the white men, yet they were still segregated. The Marines excluded them, they were used as servants for the Navy, and The Red Cross even went as far as segregating blood plasma. A black soldier uttered the words "Just carve on my tombstone, here lies a black man killed fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man." African Americans were still being discriminated against in the U.S. as well. Urban areas swelled with defense workers, and transportation and housing shortages provoked racial tensions. Conflicts erupted across America, proving that Americans advocated for equal rights abroad, but at home they were still discriminatory.
Close to four-thousand Mexican Americans served in the armed forces during WWII, and in New Mexico, about one-fifth of Mexican Americans left for war-related jobs. In L.A., ethnic tension exploded into violence. Mexican American youth gangs celebrated their ethnicity by wearing "zoot suits". White society feared and resented the youth gangs and this caused several riots. WWII had a large impact on the social standards in America, as well as the economics and politics.
Social critics had a field day with criticizing the women in the workplace, some even going so far as to blame working mothers for the rise in juvenile delinquency. However, women were not the only minorities in the workplace during WWII, African Americans as well as Mexican Americans were finally working as well.
The African American men went to the war with the white men, yet they were still segregated. The Marines excluded them, they were used as servants for the Navy, and The Red Cross even went as far as segregating blood plasma. A black soldier uttered the words "Just carve on my tombstone, here lies a black man killed fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man." African Americans were still being discriminated against in the U.S. as well. Urban areas swelled with defense workers, and transportation and housing shortages provoked racial tensions. Conflicts erupted across America, proving that Americans advocated for equal rights abroad, but at home they were still discriminatory.
Close to four-thousand Mexican Americans served in the armed forces during WWII, and in New Mexico, about one-fifth of Mexican Americans left for war-related jobs. In L.A., ethnic tension exploded into violence. Mexican American youth gangs celebrated their ethnicity by wearing "zoot suits". White society feared and resented the youth gangs and this caused several riots. WWII had a large impact on the social standards in America, as well as the economics and politics.
Politics in World War II
The U.S. did not join WWII until 1941, but it had been going on already for two years, as it had began in other countries in 1939. Roosevelt felt strongly about the fact that the country could not avoid war, but he was aware of the fact that Congress preferred the "isolationist sentiment". Roosevelt told the country that "This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well".
However, as Roosevelt watched nations gradually fall under German attack, he began to move towards preparing the country for the war he considered unavoidable, forming the Council of National Defense to coordinate finance, transportation, labor, and industry. The National Defense Research Committee, the Office of Scientific Research as well as the Uranium Committee were created to inspect new weapons and resources.
On December 7, 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt described it as "a day that will live in infamy". As soon as the decision to go to war was made, the nation pulled together to provide the weapons and soldiers that would be needed to push back the Axis powers (the alliance of Italy, Germany, and Japan).
However, as Roosevelt watched nations gradually fall under German attack, he began to move towards preparing the country for the war he considered unavoidable, forming the Council of National Defense to coordinate finance, transportation, labor, and industry. The National Defense Research Committee, the Office of Scientific Research as well as the Uranium Committee were created to inspect new weapons and resources.
On December 7, 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt described it as "a day that will live in infamy". As soon as the decision to go to war was made, the nation pulled together to provide the weapons and soldiers that would be needed to push back the Axis powers (the alliance of Italy, Germany, and Japan).
Economy in World War II
World War II helped to energize our stagnating economy and war needs directly absorbed over 1/3 of the output industry. The effort to rally for war finally brought the Great Depression to an end and industrial production skyrocketed due to the need for armaments. A few years earlier, before the U.S. entered the war, the country had been damaged by high unemployment, but in early 1942, the economy was prospering so much that there was a lack of workers. WWII was very effective in picking our economy up out of the economic hole that was the Great Depression.
Choices that had been made in previous hard times in the U.S. affected the choices that were made in fighting World War II.
U.S. as a World Power
During WWII, many countries recognized America's potential to be a world power due to its economy, natural resources, ideology, and national security. The United States gained Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Panama Canal, during WWII, causing us to have control over much of the Caribbean and Pacific. During WWI, many people were against U.S. involvement overseas, however, as the war continued, President Wilson found it extremely difficult to stay out of the war. During WWII, the U.S. was the leading power of the Western World, militarily, economically, and politically. The U.S. is still considered a world power, something that helped lead to the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Today, the U.S. possesses control of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, Wake Island, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
The Progressive Era
The Progressive Era was all about human rights. Women, African Americans, and Mexican Americans were all looking to gain equal rights. Progressivism started out as a social movement and morphed into a political movement. Early progressives believed that poverty, greed, violence, class warfare and racism could be solved with a safe environment, an efficient workplace, and a good education. Progressives believed that the government could be "a tool for change". Journalists and social reformers were a huge voice for revolution in the progressive era. Jane Addams, a social reformer, and Jacob Riis and Ida Tarbel, journalists, played a huge part in progressivism. In WWII, when the women and minorities were thrown into the workplace, all their hard work in the progressive era finally paid off. If the U.S. had never entered WWII, the women and minorities would never have been thrown into the workplace and the U.S. would still be fighting to protect the basic human rights in the axis countries.
World War I and the Impact It Had on World War II
In WWI, President Wilson said to the people of the United States "We must be impartial in thought, as well as action". Before the U.S. joined the war in WWII, President Roosevelt told the country that "This nation will stay a neutral nation, but I cannot ask that every person stay neutral in thought as well." John Milton Cooper, a historian, claimed that "Wilson believed that if the United States could stay out, that we could be the great reconciler, the great mediator." However, Roosevelt thought that war was inevitable and could not be avoided. Roosevelt realized the mistakes that Wilson had made in WWI and was intent on abstaining from making the same ones in WWII. Roosevelt's caution was very helpful in our victory in WWII.
The Roaring '20s and World War II
The time of the '20s was one of freedom and experimentation. Women had been given the right to vote in 1920, and flappers became wildly popular. Colleen Moore said "They were smart and sophisticated, with an air of independence about them, and so casual about their looks and clothes and manners as to be almost slapdash. I don't know if I realized as soon as I began seeing them that they represented the wave of the future, but I do know I was drawn to them. I shared their restlessness, understood their determination to free themselves of the Victorian shackles of the pre-World War I era and find out for themselves what life was all about.” Women were breaking out of their predetermined roles and rejecting the thought that women should be kept at home. In WWII, because other countries were being oppressed by Fascist governments, women did not have the same freedom as women in the U.S. did. Although women in other countries are still being oppressed, if the U.S. had not entered WWII and defeated the Fascist governments in Germany, Italy, and Japan, women and other minorities in some countries would not have the freedom they do today.
The Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II
When the U.S. entered WWII, it increased production, increasing employment and ending the Great Depression because the country wanted to mobilize for war. War needs directly consumed over 1/3 of the output industry and created millions of jobs. The economic recovery was overseen by the War Production Board, whose hope was to supervise the "rational organization of the mobilization effort". The Office of Price Administration was formed in October of 1942 to set definite prices and wages and to execute a rationing system for consumer goods like fuel and food. The Great Depression increased employment so much that there was actually a shortage of workers. World War II was the event that pulled America out of the Great Depression.
Because of the United States' involvement in World War II, the Fascist governments in Germany, Japan, and Italy are no longer threatening the basic rights of people all over the world.
World War II and the Impact on Today
In World War II, the economy came out of the Great Depression, Women and minorities were became equals, and we gained control over the several countries that we do today. Today, women and minorities have gained the right to vote and even though in Wyoming, women still don't have equal pay and in other parts of the country there is still racism, WWII pushed us closer towards equality than we ever were. And because of WWII, the governments in Japan, Germany, and Italy are no longer oppressing human rights all over the world.