1. America Declares War
December 8, 1941
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3. TN Curriculum Standards:
• 3.0-Identify the countries affected by the
totalitarian states and their acts of aggression
and expansion considering geographic
location.
*Identify the various theaters of war during
WWII.
• 5.0-Understand the changing dynamics of
American life during WWII.
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4. Student Performance Indicators (SPI)
• 8.7-Recognize WWII alliances.
• 8.8-Analyze how WWII affected the American
economy (women in the workforce,
movement to urban centers, minority
employment, post war G. I. Bill, rationing,
childcare)
• 8.10- Evaluate the impact of the Manhattan
Project.
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5. War Production
• After the bombing of
Pearl Harbor, FDR was
determined to
overwhelm the Axis
powers with both our
superior military
equipment and the
speed in which we
could produce them.
• Factories suspended
production on their
regular contracts like
passenger cars and
household items and
began manufacturing
tanks and airplanes.
• War production was
increased to records
never seen before in
the history of the U.S.
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7. War Production
• The federal government
spent more than $100
billion on contracts for
war supplies.
• At this time, the U.S. had
more jobs than they
actually had workers to
fill the jobs.
• The government gave
contracts to companies
like General Electric and
U. S. Steel.
• The increase in jobs led to
an increase in Union
membership although
they agreed to not launch
any strikes during the war.
• No one wanted to do
anything to halt war
production.
• The ramp in production
came to a total of over
$304 billion.
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8. Military Production
• The United States
produced:
 300,000airplanes
 80,000 tanks
 7000 ships
 3 million vehicles
 Billions of bullets
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10. Fight On!!!!
• The attack on Pearl
Harbor destroyed most of
the U.S.’s Pacific fleet.
• This left us unable to
successfully defend
ourselves from the
Japanese in the Pacific.
• Hitler’s u-boats were
successfully sinking
American ships in the
Atlantic.
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11. Battle in the Pacific
• Japan’s military strategist
Admiral Yamamoto
believed that the way to
defeat the Americans was
to launch an all-out
defensive in the southern
Pacific.
• They struck U.S. airfields
in the Philippines and
captured bases on Guam
and Wake Island.
• The British naval base of
Singapore also
surrendered to the
Japanese.
• Japan needed a complete
takeover of the
Philippines before they
could claim complete
domination in the
Southern Pacific.
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12. Admiral Yamamoto
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13. Japanese conquer of the Philippines
• The Japanese attack on
the Philippines in
January of 1942 forced
American General
Douglas MacArthur to
retreat to the Bataan
Peninsula .
• In the Bataan
Peninsula, the troops
held out for more than
3 months.
• The lack of food and
supplies drove them to
eat their cavalry horses
and mules.
• Diseases like malaria
and dysentery ran
rampant.
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14. The Bataan
• FDR couldn’t risk having General Douglas
MacArthur captured, so he had him escape to
Australia.
• His capture would have destroyed morale
both at home and abroad.
• Upon surrendering, 78,000 prisoners of war
were forced to march 65 miles to a Japanese
prison camp. 10,000 troops died along the
way
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15. Japanese Domination
• Before the march, the
soldiers were already
malnourished, sickly, an
d fatigued.
• Female Allied nurses
were also captured.
They remained in
Manila until 1945.
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16. Bataan Death March
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17. Japanese Imperialism
• Japan went on to
conquer the oil-rich
Dutch East Indies.
• In comparison to the
U.S.’s ships, Japan’s
ships were
“larger, faster, and more
heavily armed”.
• They routinely out-
performed American
ships.
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18. The Doolittle Raid
• After American defeat
in the Philippines, FDR
knew they needed a
military strategy that
would raise morale.
• He wanted to bomb
Tokyo (capital of
Japan), but American
planes needed aircraft
carriers to get them
close enough to do the
job.
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19. Preparing to attack Tokyo
• American aircraft carriers
would have to get around
Japanese ships that were
already stationed in the
North Pacific in order to
complete the mission.
• The military decided to
replace the short- range
bombers that they
normally used with long-
range B-25s.
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20. Firebombing Tokyo
• The problem with using
the long-range B-25s was
clear immediately.
• They could take off from
carriers, but they could
not land on them
because their decks were
too short.
• If they attacked
Japan, they would have to
land in China.
• FDR assigned Lt. Colonel
James Doolittle the task
of coordinating the
bombing of Tokyo.
• The aircraft carrier named
Hornet was loaded with
16 B-25s.
• America firebombed
Tokyo April 18th .
• This was the 1st time
Japan had been bombed
by America.
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22. April 18, 1942-Doolittle Raid over
Tokyo
• The mission to bomb
Tokyo was so secretive
that the Commanding
officer wasn’t informed of
the mission until the B-
25s were being loaded.
• While the damage wasn’t
as extensive as the U.S.
would have liked, it was
still enough to infuriate
and embarrass the
Japanese.
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23. Japan Strikes Back
• After the attack on Tokyo, the Japanese
decided to cut the American supply lines to
Australia.
• In order to do this, they would have to also
capture the southern coast of New Guinea.
• Admiral Yamamoto wanted to attack the last
American base in the North Pacific- Midway.
• He wanted a battle with the American fleet
because he believed Japan to be superior.
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24. Japan’s military strategy
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25. Battle in the Pacific
• Japan believed that
destroying the U.S.’s
fleet was the only way
to protect Tokyo from
further bombings.
• Japan assigned only 3
aircraft carriers to
attack New Guinea.
They rest were
dispatched to Midway.
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26. Battle of the Coral Sea
• Japan was confident in proceeding with these
two battles because they thought that their
operations were top-secret.
• They did not know that American code breakers
in Hawaii had already deciphered their secret
code.
• American carriers met the Japanese on the Coral
Sea and prevented them from landing on New
Guinea– this enabled them to keep their supply
lines open.
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27. Battle of the Coral Sea
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28. Battle of Midway
• Admiral Nimitz (American fleet) ordered his
carriers to the Central Pacific after learning about
the plan at Midway.
• From June 3rd to June 6th, American naval ships
and planes dealt devastating blows to the
Japanese navy.
• This turned the tide in the Pacific. The Japanese
were at a disadvantage, but they still held strong
to other places that it had conquered.
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