Chapter 27

A PEOPLE and A 

NATION 

EIGHTH EDITION 

Norton • Katzman • Blight • 

Chudacoff • Paterson • Tuttle • 

Escott • Bailey • Logevall 

Chapter 27: The 

Second World War at 

Home and Abroad, 

1941–1945

Ch. 27: WWII at Home and Abroad, 

1941–1945 

• Turning point for USA & its people 

• Change status of USA in world 

• Allied cooperation tenuous throughout 

war 

• Home front change with migration 

• New race/gender/economic opportunities 

• US Gov’t mobilize industry, labor, 

science, & technology for war 

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 27 | 2

I. A Nation Unprepared 

• Despite pre-war rearmament, USA not ready 

• War initially not go well for Allies 

• Hitler dominate Europe by late 1941 

• Japan expand rapidly at start of Pacific war 

• Capture Southeast Asia, incl. Philippines 

• Doolittle raid convince Japan to seek 

Midway 

• Key US advantage = MAGIC intercepts 

• Midway (June 1942) turn tide of Pacific war 


II. Europe First Strategy 

• FDR pursue Europe First strategy 

• If Hitler win Europe, could directly 

threaten USA 

• Tensions among 3 major allies = another 

problem 

• Fear separate peace by USSR 

• Stalin want second front in France ASAP 

• Relieve German pressure on USSR 

• Churchill oppose second front 


III. Second Front Controversy 

• Churchill fear high causalities of invasion 

• Want operations to protect British empire 

• FDR initially side with Churchill 

• Agree to invasion of N. Africa (1942) 

• Stalingrad (1942–43) = turning point 

• USSR stop Hitler’s army 

• Begin German retreat from USSR 


IV. The Production Front: Business 

• FDR see mass production as key US 

advantage 

• War Production Board (1942) oversee 

conversion to wartime economy 

• WPB guarantee profits in “cost + fixedfee” 

contracts as well as generous tax 

deductions 

• Corporate profits double, 1939-1943 

• Big business grow bigger as ⅔ of all 

WPB contracts go to 100 largest 

businesses 


V. Universities & War; Opportunities 

for Workers 

• Big US Gov’t grants mobilize higher ed for war 

• $117 million to MIT; Manhattan Project = $2 

billion 

• Universities join new military-industrial complex 

• Massive labor shortage 

• Increase production while withdraw 16 million 

• New jobs for women, African Americans, 

Mexican Americans, & poor whites from South 

• Business resist change (hiring blacks, women) 


VI.Opportunities for African 

Americans & Mexicans 

• Blacks resist discrimination w/ protest 

• Randolph & proposed March on DC, 1941 

• FDR issue order to ban discrimination in 

hiring for defense industries & US Gov’t 

• New defense jobs spur 1.5 million blacks 

to migrate from South to cities in North & 

West 

• US Gov’t encourage Mexican 

immigration 

• Gain jobs, but like blacks, Mexicans 

suffer discrimination & segregation 


VII. Women at Work 

• Over 6 million women enter workforce 

• Unlike 1930s, women workers receive 

praise 

• Many women (both white & black) enter 

traditionally male jobs (riveters, welders) 

• Some businesses offer workers 

healthcare 

• US Gov’t fund childcare centers 


VIII. Organized Labor; Success on 

Production Front 

• Unions work with US Gov’t via no strike 

pledge 

• National War Labor Board (NWLB) 

mediate union/management conflicts 

• Union membership almost double 

• Strikes occur when NWLB limit raises 

• US Gov’t pass War Labor Disputes Act 

(1943) 

• Mass production achieve huge increase 

in key war products (planes, ships, etc.) 


IX. Life on the Homefront 

• Mobilization end Depression, spur 

prosperity 

• Americans volunteer help (victory 

gardens) 

• Office of Price Administration (OPA) 

institute rationing of key goods (food, gas) 

• To ensure support, Office of War 

Information (1942) sell war at home 

• Near unanimous support for war; popular 

culture see it as fight for US way of life 


X. Wartime Prosperity 

• Employment, wages, & savings skyrocket 

• OPA set prices to control inflation 

• US Gov’t finance war with deficits 

• US debt balloon ($49 billion to $259 billion) 

• Map 27.2: 15 million people move during war 

• Strain resources of burgeoning cities/towns 

• Some in North dislike poor whites from 

South 


XI. Racial Conflicts 

• Competition (jobs/housing) increase 

tension 

• Mobs of whites attack African Americans 

• 250 race riots (1943); worse one in 

Detroit 

• Mexicans suffer LA zoot suit riots (1943) 


XII. Families in Wartime 

• 3 million families suffer wartime 

separation 

• Marriage & birth rates soar (“goodbye 

babies”) 

• More divorces too as hasty marriages 

unable to survive strains of war 

• Working mothers suffer criticism that they 

neglect children (“victory girls”) 

• Some males vets have trouble accepting 

new independence in their wives 


XIII. The Limits of American Ideals 

• Tension between ideals and wartime practices 

• US Gov’t use censorship & some propaganda 

de-humanize enemy, but less then WWI 

• US Gov’t intern 14,426 Europeans on spy fears 

• Intern 112,000 Japanese Americans (most US 

citizens) as “enemy race” 

• None ever charged with treason; some enlist in 

military; internees lose homes/businesses 


XIV. Segregation at Home and in 

Military 

• NAACP grow & advocate “Double V” 

• Focus on parallels (Axis racism with Jim 

Crow) 

• CORE (1942) begin nonviolent direct 

actions 

• 887,000 black men & women serve in 

war 

• Serve in segregated, usually service, 

units 

• Red Cross segregate blood 

• Military resist integration 


XIV. Segregation at Home and in 

Military (cont.) 

• Navy disregard safety of black sailors, 

CA, ‘44 

• Black soldiers suffer violence by white 

soldiers & civilians 

• Black combat units perform well (pilots) 

• WWII = turning point for civil rights 


XV. America and the Holocaust 

• Most tragic failure to live up to US ideals 

• Hitler murder 11 million Jews, 

“undesirables” 

• Allies not attack Nazi death camps from 

air 

• Not till 1944 does USA help save 

200,000 Jews 


XVI. Life in the Military 

• Over 15 million men (draftees = 10 million) 

• War broaden horizons; vets make contact with 

different races, ethnic groups, regions 

• 350,000 women volunteer as clerks/nurses 

• Poor whites compose most combat units 

• Combat = carnage from high tech weapons 

• 300,000 combat deaths; 1 million wounded 


XVII. War in Europe 

• USA & England continue to delay 2nd Front 

• Strain relations between Allies 

• At Tehran (1943) FDR overrule Churchill 

• Set cross-channel invasion for 1944 

• D-Day (June ‘44) = largest amphibious 

landing 

• USA/ England move in from west as USSR 

invade Germany from east (Map 27.3) 

• USA/ England win Battle of Bulge (1944–45) 


XVIII. The Yalta Conference 

(Feb. 1945) 

• England want to preserve empire 

• USSR want reparations to help rebuild 

• Also want Poland as buffer against 

Germany 

• Install pro-USSR government in Poland 

• USA want to avoid errors of WWI peace 

• Want to advance self-determination & US 

power 

• FDR want 4 Policemen to guide world 


XVIII. The Yalta Conference (cont.) 

• Military positions shape settlement 

• USSR dominate E. Europe, esp. Poland 

• Each of the Big 3 compromise 

• Set up new UN; strong Security Council 

(4 Policemen) & weak General Assembly 

• Stalin agree to enter war against Japan 

• Also allow France a German/Berlin zone 

• Sign treaty with pro-US Jiang 


XIX. Harry Truman 

• FDR pick inexperienced Truman as VP in 

1944 

• Germany surrender May 1945 

• After death of FDR (April) & defeat of 

Hitler, less cooperation between Allies 

• Each of Big 3 jockey for influence 

• HST less patient with USSR at Potsdam 

(July) 

• With atomic bomb, USA has less need of 

USSR 


XX. War in the Pacific 

• USA fight in carrier battles & difficult 

“island-hop” invasions against Japan 

• USA take Solomon, Gilbert, Marshall, 

Mariana islands and retake Philippines 

(1942–44) 

• USA attack Japanese shipping to disrupt 

flow of vital war materials/supplies 

• At Iwo Jima (Feb/Mar 1945) both sides 

suffer huge losses; same at Okinawa 

(April/June) 


XXI. Bombing of Japan 

• Fire bomb of Tokyo (May 1945) kill 100,000 

• Bombing in first ½ of ’45 kill almost 1 million 

• Japanese leaders reject unconditional 

surrender (especially on Emperor) 

• Extensive bombing during WWII = context 

to understand US decision to use atomic 

bombs 

• Bombing of civilians widespread in WWII 

• 225,000 die at Dresden, Feb. 1945 


XXII. The Atomic Bombs (August 6 

and 9, 1945) 

• With massive blast, fires, & radiation, 

130,000 die at Hiroshima; 60,000 at 

Nagasaki 

• Primary goal of Manhattan Project = end 

war ASAP & save US lives 

• Truman & others want to avoid invasion 

of Japan 

• Reject peace feelers as unlikely to make 

Japan surrender fully 


XXII. The Atomic Bombs (cont.) 

• Anger at Japanese “beasts” (Pearl 

Harbor, Bataan March) affect 

Truman/others 

• US leaders also assume monopoly on A- 

Bomb will benefit postwar USA 

• Might deter postwar aggression 

• Might encourage USSR concessions (E. 

Europe) 

• Might end Pacific War before USSR entry 

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 27 | 27

XXIII. Effect of WWII 

• 55 million soldiers & civilians die in WWII 

• USSR lose 21 million 

• USA escape war’s devastation 

• Emerge as dominate economic/military 

power in world 

• WWII change USA at home & abroad 


Summary: Discuss Links to the 

World & Legacy 

• War brides as new link between USA & 

world? 

• 60,000 US men marry foreign women 

• Most adjust to USA, but some face racism 

• Fears of nuclear proliferation as a legacy 

of WWII? 

• Why do some skeptics see “hypocrisy” in 

Non-Proliferation Treaty? 

• Current “nightmare scenario” on nuclear 

use?

Chapter 27

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