Bell Ringer

• What was the Holocaust?

• What did Executive order 9066 do?

CH 34-37: World War II- Part II

Pearl Harbor • 1940-1941: Japan had been conquering large portions of the Pacific in search of raw materials

• The US attempted to curb Japanese aggression by Japanese enemies, and freezing their money in US banks

• Dec 7 1941- Japan would launch a surprise attack on the US Naval Base located at Pearl Harbor Hawaii (2,400 dead, 1,200 wounded, 300 aircraft, 8 Battle Ships)

• The next day FDR asked for Congress to declared war on Japan, they would (82-0 Senate, 388-1 House)

• Dec 11 1941- Germany & Italy declared war on the US

Executive Order 9066• In 1942 FDR would issue Executive

Order 9066 which stated that “designated personnel” could be removed from designated “military areas”– Designated Personnel = Japanese– Military Area= Whole West Coast

• This was fought in the Supreme Court case Korematsu v United States. By a vote of 6-3 the Justices determined that “personal rights could be restricted if they posed a public threat.”

Internment Camps• As a result over 120,000

Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in temporary camps.

• 2/3 of the interned were Nisei, or 2nd generation Japanese born in America (Citizens)

• Their businesses, homes, and property were all forfeit.

Mexican Americans in WWII• Racial Tension between Mexicans and Whites

rose up during WWII.• Mexican neighborhoods were self sufficient,

and distrust grew between the cultures• Violence broke out known as the Zoot Suit

Riots• During these riots sailors and marines would

go looking for young Mexicans to fight, and the police did little to stop it.

• Those Mexican Americans who did enlist in WWII often fought with distinction and great pride.

• The group tasked with guarding the Atomic Bomb were Mexican Americans.

V for Victory & Double V

• Churchill would popularize the idea of V for Victory

• In the States Black leaders would start the Double V Campaign.

• They wanted America to win a victory over Hitler abroad, and against racism at home

Tuskegee Airmen• As a part of the Double V

Campaign black men were trained to be pilots near Tuskegee Alabama

• While these pilots were originally given unimportant assignments their captain constantly fought for them to get a fair chance

• When Bomber Pilots complained of their escorts leaving them to be attacked the Tuskegee Airmen volunteered for the high risk assignment.

• They would successful protect bombers, were often requested, and became a highly decorated unit

Native Americans in WWII

• Indians volunteered at an astounding rate for WWII (for every 1 drafted 1.5 volunteered)

• Some 44,000 Native Americans served

• Indians were well respected by their fellow soldiers as the idea of the “fierce Indian warrior” was ingrained in US culture

• The role of Navajo Indians as code talkers in the Pacific Theater is pointed to as one of the reasons we defeated the Japanese

Women in WWII• Women (again) filled the labor

gap left by men who were drafted.

• Women became welders, mechanics, lumberjacks, lawyers, architects, physicists…

• 2 Million women worked in “heavy industry”

• Women also served in active roles in the military freeing up more men for fighting: WACs (Army- served on battle field), SPARS (C. GUARD), WAVES (Navy)

International Concern for Jews

• Nations of the world were aware of increased anti-Semitism in German controlled areas

• In 1938 Hitler authorized Kristallnacht, “the night of broken glass.” Nazi supporters destroyed Jewish run businesses, synagogues, and community centers

• Some 30,000 Jews (mostly community leaders) were arrested and sent to concentration camps

• Reliable information about “death camps” would not reach the American public until 1942

• The Russian military would push towards Germany in the East, and Hitler’s army was trapped in an increasingly small space.

• It was only once the Russians liberated Poland that many of the death camps were discovered, and the scale of the genocide was understood.

• Reports of “living skeletons” came in

• This will be known as the Holocaust, or the German supported systematic killing of Jewish individuals and political dissenters.

Hitler’s Role: Action T4 (1939-41 [45?])

• Nazi Germany’s “Euthanasia Program” during which physicians murdered thousands of people, “judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination.”

• About 275,000 were murdered under T4

• Victims were German

Holocaust Death Totals

WHAT DID THE UNITED STATES KNOW ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST AND HOW DID IT RESPOND?

• Despite a history of providing sanctuary to persecuted peoples, the United States grappled with many issues during the 1930s that made living up to this legacy difficult.

• These issues included widespread anti-Semitism, xenophobia, isolationism, and a sustained economic depression.

• Unfortunately for those fleeing Nazi persecution, such issues greatly impacted US refugee policy, reinforcing an official and popular unwillingness to expand immigration quotas to admit greater numbers of people endangered by Nazi persecution and aggression at a time when doing so might have saved lives.

Nuremburg Trials

• The surviving top ranking Nazi officials were placed on trial for War Crimes- Nuremburg Trials

• Arose from the dilemma of what to do to these captured Nazis: Free them, Kill them, or Try them?

• The trial had international judges, lawyers, witnesses, evidence, etc.

• In the end of the 23 men placed on trial: 12 received death, 7 prison sentences (10yrs-Life), and 3 were acquitted.