United States in World War II

ISBN-13: 9781444331202 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 320 str.

G.Kurt Piehler

Opis

This reader brings together 78 primary documents that capture the diversity of experiences of Americans who lived through World War II, from presidents and generals to war workers and GIs.

• Illustrates the political, diplomatic and military history of the conflict, including well-known documents, such as the Atlantic Charter and Franklin Roosevelt's Congressional address requesting a declaration of war against Japan
• Highlights the far-reaching economic, social and cultural changes caused by the war, such as the struggles to find day care for the children of women war workers, and the experiences returning veterans
• Includes an introduction, document headnotes and questions at the end of each chapter designed to encourage students to engage with the material critically

Spis treści

List of Illustrations x

Series Editors Preface xi

Source Acknowledgments xiv

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Controversial War 15

1 Henry Stimson, Diplomatic Note, 1932 15

2 William E. Dodd, Letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1934 16

3 US Congress, Excerpt from the Neutrality Act, 1935 19

4 Chicago Defender , League of Nations Holds Meetings, Editorial, 1936 24

5 Jane Woolsey, No Mr. Churchill! and Mandy Butler, Yes, Mr. Churchill!, Rutgers Anthologist , 1941 26

6 Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, The Atlantic Charter, 1941 31

7 US Congress, Excerpt from Hearings, Propaganda in Motion Pictures , 1941 32

8 Cordell Hull Proposal to Japanese Ambassador Nomura and His Reply, 1941 37

Chapter 2 Pearl Harbor and Meeting the Fight 44

1 Ruth A. Erickson, Recollections of Attack on Pearl Harbor, 1997 44

2 Eleanor Roosevelt, Script for Radio Program, 1941 46

3 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address to the Joint Session of Congress, 1941 54

4 William Dyess, Excerpt from The Eye?]witness Account of the Death March from Bataan , 1944 56

5 General George Marshall to Admiral Ernest King, Memorandum, and Franklin D. Roosevelt to Harry L. Hopkins, General Marshall, and Admiral King, Memorandum, 1942 58

Chapter 3 The Pacific War 63

1 Alvin Kernan, Excerpt from Crossing the Line: A Bluejacket s World Odyssey , 1994 63

2 John Hersey, Excerpt from The Battle of Rivers, Life , 1942 65

3 US Army Research Branch, Excerpt from Report No. B?]11, Factors Affecting Morale of Veteran Infantrymen in the Pacific, 1945 71

4 John Ciardi, Excerpts from Diary, 1944 73

5 Sam Smith, Oral History Interview Regarding Battle of Iwo Jima, 2004 76

Chapter 4 The War in North Africa and Europe 79

1 George Marshall to Lesley McNair, Memorandum, 1942 79

2 James R. Forgan to Commanding General, European Theater of Operations, Memorandum, 1945 80

3 Dwight Eisenhower, Draft Statement and Memorandum to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, 1944 83

4 Harold E. Mayo, Letter to Robert Cummins, 1944 86

5 Paul Fergot, Letters to Parents and Wife, 1944, 1945 88

6 Emiel W. Owens, Excerpt from Blood on German Snow: An African American Artilleryman in World War II and Beyond , 2006 90

Chapter 5 Mobilizing the Home Front 95

1 US Treasury Department, This Is My Fight Too! Poster, 1942 95

2 Irving Berlin, I Paid My Income Tax Today, Song Lyrics, 1942 96

3 US Office of Price Administration, Ration Book Cover, Stamps, Instructions, 1942 98

4 New Jersey League of Women Voters, Leaguesboro?]onthe?]Air, Black Market Radio Script, 1943 or 1944? 102

5 Newark, New Jersey, Defense Council, Summary of Meeting on Care of Mothers and Children, 1942 107

6 Christian Commission for Camp and Defense Communities, Church Letter on War Communities, Newsletter, 1942 110

Chapter 6 The Arsenal of Democracy 114

1 Donald M. Nelson, Excerpts from Arsenal of Democracy: The Story of American War Production , 1946 114

2 Lee Wilson, Excerpt from Interview, 2006 120

3 US National War Labor Board, Statement from the National War Labor Board to the Parties in Dispute Cases, 1944 123

4 Montgomery Ward Department Store, Flyers Distributed to Employees, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Flyer to Union Members, 1943, 1944 126

5 Sewell Avery and US Soldiers, Photograph, 1944 130

6 Washington Post , Law and Responsibility, Editorial, 1944 131

7 Janice C. Christensen, Letters to Parents, 1943 133

8 Dae D. Baird, Letter to Evelyn E. Baird, July 7, 1944 136

Chapter 7 The Quest for Freedom 139

1 John Haynes Holmes, Excerpt from The Case of the Jehovah s Witnesses, The Christian Century , 1940 139

2 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Executive Order Reaffirming Policy of Full Participation by all Persons, Regardless of Race, Creed, Color, or National Origin, 1941 145

3 Frederick Wells to Harry A. Wann, Memorandum, 1942 147

4 Daniel K. Inouye, Excerpt from Journey to Washington , 1967 149

5 Charles Kikuchi, Diary Entries, 1942 151

6 Cesar Chavez, Excerpt from Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa , 1975 155

Chapter 8 The American Response to the Holocaust 159

1 Ferdinand M. Isserman, Excerpt from Sentenced to Death: The Jews in Nazi Germany , 1933 159

2 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Statement, 1938 163

3 Robert Taft, Letter to Allan Tarlish, 1939 164

4 Breckinridge Long, Diary Excerpts, 1940, 1942 1944 166

5 Myron C. Taylor, Memorandum of Conversation, Letter to Cardinal Maglione, 1942 169

6 The New York Times , 11 Allies Condemn Nazi War on Jews, 1942 172

7 Henry Morgenthau, Jr. to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Excerpt from Personal Report to the President, Memorandum, 1944 175

8 Harold Porter, Letter to Parents, 1945 182

9 David Max Eichhorn, Sermon, 1945 184

10 Simon Chilewich, Letter to Family, 1945 186

Chapter 9 From Strategic Bombing to the Atomic Bomb 190

1 Albert Einstein, Letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1939 190

2 US Army Air Force, Air War Plan Division, Excerpts from Munitions Requirements of the AAF for the Defeat of our Potential Enemies, 1941 192

3 Pius XII, Memorandum on Bombing of Civilians, and Myron Taylor, Informal Notes for  Discussion with Msgr. Montini, 1942 195

4 Interim Committee, Excerpt from Notes of Meeting, 1945 198

5 Senior Military Advisors, Excerpts from Minutes of Meeting, 1945 199

6 Heads of Governments, United States, China, and the United Kingdom, Potsdam Declaration, 1945 203

7 Henry Stimson, Diary Excerpts, 1945 205

8 Kurt Vonnegut, Wailing Shall Be in All the Streets, 2008 209

Chapter 10 Visions of a Postwar World 217

1 Henry Luce, Excerpt from The American Century, Life , 1941 217

2 Wendell Willkie, Excerpt from One World , 1943 219

3 Langston Hughes, My America, Journal of Educational Sociology , 1943 221

4 Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Yalta Conference Public Statement, 1945 223

5 United Nations, Excerpt from Charter, 1945 230

6 Robert Jackson, Excerpts from Opening Address at Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, 1945 235

Chapter 11 Legacies of War 244

1 John J. Toffey IV, Excerpt from Jack Toffey s War , 2008 244

2 US War Department, Excerpt from Pamphlet, Going Back to Civilian Life: A Supplement Explaining the Provisions of the GI Bill of Rights, 1944 248

3 Harvard Crimson , Wistful Vista II, 1946; The Counsellor and the Dean, 1947 250

4 Eli Ginzberg, Excerpt from Breakdown and Recovery , 1959 253

5 Mira Ryczke Kimmelman, Excerpt from Life Beyond the Holocaust , 2005 255

Chapter 12 Commemoration and Memory 259

1 Archibald MacLeish, Memorials Are For Remembrance, The Architectural Forum , 1944 259

2 Elie Wiesel, Introduction to President s Commission on the Holocaust, Report to the President , 1979 263

3 Ronald Reagan, Remarks on Signing the Bill Providing Restitution for the Wartime Internment of Japanese?]American Civilians, 1988 268

4 Tom Brokaw, Remarks at the Dedication of the National World War II Memorial, 2004 270

5 Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Munich Shouldn t be Such a Dirty Word, Washington Post , 2008 274

Bibliography 278

Index 285

O autorze

G. Kurt Piehler is Associate Professor of History at Florida State University. He is author of Remembering War the American Way (1995) and World War II  (2007) and co–editor of Major Problems in American Military History (1999), The Atomic Bomb and American Society: New Perspectives (2009), and The Second World War: New Perspectives on Diplomacy, War, and the Home Front (2010).

Blurb

World War II profoundly changed America: not only did it serve as the impetus for far–reaching changes in all aspects of life at home, but it also dramatically altered the perception of America internationally.  This reader offers 78 essential primary documents for the period 1939–1945 that illustrate the political, diplomatic, and military history of the conflict while also highlighting the important economic, social, and cultural changes.

Editor G. Kurt Piehler captures the diversity of experiences of Americans who lived through the war, including the perspectives of presidents and generals, war workers and GIs, women and men, African Americans and Asian Americans, and refugees fleeing Hitler s Germany.  It includes such documents as the Atlantic Charter and Franklin Roosevelt s Congressional address requesting a declaration of war against Japan, as well as readings on the experiences of GIs on the home front, the struggle to find day care for the children of women war workers, debates over the American response to the Holocaust, and the quest for justice by ethnic, racial, and religious minorities.  

Bringing together well–known documents that are crucial to any study of the period with many enlightening documents that have never been published, The United States in World War II offers a balanced account of the social and political forces that combined to make the American war experience unique and transformative.