America in a World At War: Holding off the Germans
The United States enters WWII in Europe through North Africa, delaying an earlier plan to enter through France. This discourages the Soviet Union as Stalin sees it as the United States and Britain wanting the Soviets to suffer more casualties. The N...
America in a World At War: Containing the Japanese
Despite massive mobilization, the war in 1942 is going badly on both fronts. One by one, Allied strongholds in the Pacific collapse under Japanese onslaught. With the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the United States finally begins to hold its own, a...
America in a World At War: Labor and the War
World War II creates a serious labor shortage as the armed forces take more than 15 million men and women from the civilian workforce. This shortage of manpower solidifies the position of labor unions. Although labor unions pledge not to strike if a...
America in a World At War: Code Talkers, The
Native Americans volunteer for military service or work in defense plants during World War II. Historian Clifford Trafzer recalls the remarkable contributions of a small elite corps of Native Americans know as the "code talkers." They developed a me...
America in a World At War: Blacks in the Workplace in the World War II Era
World War II initiates a second great migration of blacks from the rural south to the industrial north as blacks seek jobs they had been previously been denied. A. Phillip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, threatens to march...
America in a World At War: African Americans and the War
Military service is an important integrative device, however, mixing is not going on across certain racial lines. During the war, white soldiers are not allowed to receive black blood, training bases in south are entirely segregated, and northern bl...
America in a World At War: Arsenal of the Allies
The most decisive contribution the U. S. makes to the war is industrial production. The country becomes the arsenal of the Allies producing 49% of the world's goods and services. With so many millions of soldiers away women and minorities became a m...
America in a World At War: Prosperity! War-induced Economic Recovery
The economic problems that plagued the nation in the 1930s disappear. World War II stimulates growth and development in newer industries-electronics, chemicals, and petroleum--and cures the problems of older industries as well. Government spending h...
America in a World At War: War on Two Fronts
After the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, the United States becomes more involved in the war effort. The United States must make a decision to either help the Allies fight the Nazis in Europe, or defend their honor by engaging in a war against Japan in ...
America in a World At War: Women at Work during the War
During World War II, women are drawn in increasing numbers into the workforce and into roles once denied to them. Historians who have studied this period conclude that the workforce remains segregated, although some categories of employment switch o...