27d: America in World War II

The Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor shocked Americans out of their isolationism. The US quickly joined the British-Soviet alliance against the Empire of Japan, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany, known as the "Axis." Unlike the hysteria during World War I, the U.S. domestic scene in World War II was relatively peaceful. Even the "America First" movement died out. German and Italian aliens were rounded up and interned, but Americans of German and Italian descent were not persecuted in any way. Sadly, this was not true for Japanese American citizens, many of whom were interned by the U.S. government. Though they were not held in labor camps, forced isolation and sub-standard living conditions were the norm. Although Japanese Americans had every right to be outraged at this form of "ethnic cleansing," many of them fought voluntarily on the European front. On a more positive note, American involvement in World War II was crucial toward pulling our nation out of the Great Depression, both economically and emotionally.

The Japanese quickly captured Britain's Far Eastern territories, leaving the United States to fight the Pacific War almost entirely alone. The Soviets and Japanese left each other alone until the USSR declared war in summer 1945. The Nationalist Chinese had a large, well equipped army, but Chiang Kai-Shek was more interested in fighting Communists than in fighting the Japanese. Yet the Pacific war was a secondary priority. The fall of France in 1940 left mainland Europe in Axis hands. British (and later American) troops fought the Germans and Italians in North Africa, but the Soviets bore the brunt of the German war effort. Italy was invaded in 1943, but the major "Second Front" the Soviets awaited did not occur until the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Even with a major second front, it took nearly four years to defeat Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire. Though the Soviet Union suffered far more casualties than its allies, America's active involvement in the war was vital to Allied victory. Moreover, US aid was also key. The Soviets produced their own weaponry for the most part, but Lend-Lease provided the Soviets with raw materials and consumer goods which enabled their factories to concentrate solely on military production. The USSR undoubtedly suffered more during World War Two, but America has nothing to be ashamed of.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not live to see the end of the war. On April 12, 1945, he died of a stroke, and was succeeded by his Vice President, Harry S Truman of Missouri. Roosevelt's wartime policies remained in effect. One such policy was to get Soviet help fighting the Pacific War. Given the fanatical Japanese military spirit, defeating Japan might take years of bloody fighting even after Germany surrendered. Logically, Soviet forces would bring the Pacific war to a much quicker end than the United States could do by itself. The Soviets did jump eagerly into the Pacific War after Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945, but they would not stay engaged for long. Kept in the dark as Vice-President, Truman learned that atomic bombs were almost ready to be used against Japan, and determined to drop them. On August 6, 1945, the first US atomic bomb effectively destroyed Hiroshima, Japan. A second atomic bomb, dropped on August 9, leveled Nagasaki. The Japanese surrendered a few days later, on September 2. One can argue that Truman's decision to drop atomic bombs unleashed the specter of nuclear war. But it cannot be denied that millions of lives were saved in the long run - Japanese and Allied alike. And so far, the first atomic bombs used on humans have also been the last.

The Japanese formally surrendered on September 2, 1945. Efforts to maintain the peace for good were already underway. On 24 October 1945, the United Nations (UN) was established - a world body meant to succeed where the League of Nations had failed, in preventing future world wars. By a vote of 65 to 7 on December 4, 1945, the Senate approved U.S. participation in the United Nations. All of the world's nations were invited to join the organization, but major control would belong to the UN's "Security Council." Smaller nations served two-year terms on the Security Council, with the five permanent members being the US, Great Britain, France, Nationalist China, and the USSR. Each of these five  permanent members could veto any UN actions. The United Nations marked a turn away from America's traditional isolationism. and toward more international involvement. Although the United States and the Soviet Union would soon go their own way at the head of their respective blocs, the UN was a stabilizing force during the impending Cold War. Willingly or not, the United States had become one of the world's two superpowers.