When war erupted, it was a shock for America but they thought they wouldn't have to intervene. 1940 : America came into war. FDR was elected a third time, he promised something : " I will never send an american boy to fight in a foreign war". During the war, Americans made deals : They sold a lot of arms, USA made a deal with UK especially.
June 1941 : Germany invaded USSR and FDR sent aid to USSR whereas communism wasn't accepted in the USA. It made deals with USSR. FDR said " To defeat Hitler I would hold heads with the devil". Then, FDR and Winston Churchill met in NewFoudland to discuss the world effort and the post war as well. They signed an agreement named the Atlantic Charter. This Charter is divided into 8 points, here are the main ones :
- USA Won't interwar with the willingness of having new territories.
- Lower fees for import-export
- Freedom at sea
- People have the right to be free and self-determined
- Disarmement of nations which have aggressive intentions
1940 : Hitler had victories : It encouraged Japan. It invaded Indonesia and FDR blocked all japanese assets. This angered the Japanese government. It sent out warnings about war and an attack. But, because of the distance with Japan, no one took these japanese warnings seriously.
Pearl Harbor. : 7th december 1941. In 3 hours, battleships had been sunk and airplanes were destroyed. A lot of people were killed as it was a surprise attack.
8th december 1941 : Roosevelt declared war on Japan.
11th december 1941 : Hitler and Mussolini declared war to the USA.
WWII created social problems, depression. It forced people to be tolerant, to be new people. Some left their farms and went to cities to work. It gave Americans a chance to change their lives, social values changed. During the WWII era, there were lot more divorces and marriages, and babies. But also a lot higher delinquency. Women went to work too. War eliminated unemployment. War made people all shipping together , it was the " American spirit". There were a lot of public campaigns to be patriotic, to be a good american. There were many men but a lot of women also, they were working in factories, they were G.I (government issue, men and women who went into war). Many women put on pants. Cf :Rosie the Riveter ( see documents). She agreed to pose for an artist ( Norman rockwell). But, there was still a mentality that was that only men went into war but not women. It allowed gender discrimination to florish. But, some were nurses etc...There were roughly a million American African men and other were African Mexican. They gained rights they didn't have before. Integration was a key issue then :There was no mix but integration was experimented in the troops, but they were always lead by white men. Native americans were also soldiers : Navaho was their language and it was useful as it couldn't be cracked. It was strategic, one or two navaho men were in each troop, they were messengers. They were the key success in many strategic battles. Americans feared spyers. It's been proven now that no act of disloyal behaviour had been proven or found as far as Japanese are concerned ( At a period, some japanese were crowded in camps as theere were suspicions about their loyalty)
1982 : Ronald Regan :He issued a formal apology and a payment ( 20 000 dollars for each japanese people ).
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire