War and PeaceChapter 23

Section 1: Texans Support the WarDictators Come to Power

The Great Depression of the 1930s:• was not confined to the US• Some countries, dictators or absolute rulers came into power during this time.

Military leaders in Germany, Italy and Japan:• took control and began wars of expansion.• These countries signed a treaty agreeing not to attack each other. • They became known as the Axis Powers because the leaders believed the

world would revolve around them.

Germany took over Austria and Czechoslovakia – NO one helped them!

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939:• the European democracies such as France and England were forced into

action– World War II had begun.

Although the US was officially neutral, President Franklin Roosevelt and many Americans leaders:• favored the Allies- England, China, France and Russia. • Roosevelt made military equipment available to the Allies through Lend- Lease

Act, even though Americans debated whether US should be involved in the war

Section 1: Texans Support the WarDictators Come to Power

Texans Respond

The debate ended :• Sunday, December 7, 1941 • Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii• “A day that will live in infamy” • The United States declared War on Japan.

Doris “Dorie” Miller:• an African American sailor from Waco, fired at Japanese airplanes

from the U.S.S. West Virginia.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz: • Pacific Commander• From Fredericksburg Texas, presented Miller with the Navy Cross.• First African American to receive this award.

Dwight Eisenhower:• born in Denison Texas , commanded Allied Forces in Europe

Section 1: Texans Support the WarTexans Respond

The Armed Forces Train In Texas

Texans service personnel included 12,000 women:• Included the commander of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) Colonel

Oveta Culp Hobby of Houston. • 1942 - Congress authorized her to organize the Women’s Auxiliary

Army Corps (later the WAC)• Culp wrote the policies and designed the uniforms, in addition to

speaking to numerous groups and recruiting women from all over the country.

Texas is ideal for the establishment of military bases because:1. Favorable climate2. Location between the two coasts3. Wide open spaces4. More than 100 were built or enlarged to help the war effort

Soldiers, Sailors and airmen all were trained in Texas.

Section 1: Texans Support the WarPrisoner of War Camps

• Texas held almost twice as many prisoners of war camps as any other state

• Camps housed thousands of prisoners• more than 45,000 German, Italian and Japanese prisoners were

held in Texas from 1942 to 1945.

Prisoners worked Performing agricultural tasks:1. Picking cotton2. Pulling corn tassel3. Harvesting rice

Section 2: The Home FrontIndustrial Production

• Texas provide 80% of the oil needed to fight the war• Also provided natural gas, water, timber and sulphur so it was a logical site

for wartime industrial expansion

• County ration boards registered all Texans in February 1943• Compared to 1940:

• it was obvious that dramatic population changes had occurred in many parts of the state

• Many regions in Texas experienced population growth because of wartime employment opportunities.

Section 2: The Home FrontNew Methods of Production

• Japan cut off the supply of natural rubber from Southeast Asia, but Americans still needed rubber

• Scientists discovered a way to make rubber from petroleum. Plants to manufacture the synthetic rubber were built in Texas

• Largest tin smelter in the world was in Texas City

• Shipping gasoline and aviation fuel by tanker from the refineries at Baytown, Port Arthur and Pasadena to the East Coast port was dangerous because Germany submarines were known to attack tankers in the Gulf of Mexico

• Engineers planned and constructed underground pipelines to carry gases and liquids safely to their destinations.

Section 2: The Home FrontHome Front Workers

Between 1940 and 1943:• at least 450,000 rural Texans moved to cities to work in the factories• Earned high wages and worked many hours per week to meet the

demands of wartime production

The war presented new opportunities for women, African Americans and Mexican Americans. Women worked in:

1. Factories2. Shipyards3. Mills4. Plants5. Operated heavy equipment6. Welded metal7. Drove trucks

African Americans8. Refineries9. construction

Section 2: The Home FrontLives Touched by War

Texans at home had to make sacrifices too:Items that were rationed:

1. Sugar2. Meat3. Gasoline4. Tires

Other things Texans did:5. Texans planted “Victory Gardens” to add to their food supply6. collected scraps of iron7. Contributed to the Red Cross8. Cities conducted blackouts at night to protect against possible

enemy air attacks9. They stayed informed through radios and newspapers

• There were MANY new jobs created by the absent of so many men at war.

• Many new Mexican immigrants came to Texas to find jobs in agriculture and industry.

• In the early 1940s, more than 800,000 people of Mexican ancestry – 12 % of the totally population of the state lived in Texas.

WARNING: The next slide talks about the

Holocaust. Please remember the seriousness of this subject. Anyone who makes a joke about Hitler or the Holocaust will be sent to Mrs.

Johnson with a write up.

Section 2: The Home FrontAn Allied Victory

• 1945 the long war finally came to an end• Allied forces entered Germany, they discovered horrors beyond

imagination - Millions of innocent people, especially Jews, had been killed in concentration camps

• These camps were established to advance the Adolf Hitler and the Nazi government’s idea of a superior face

• The efforts to destroy these people is known as the Holocaust.

Section 3: After the WarDemobilization

New Attitudes

• Happened after the war was over• plants that produced ships and airplanes either closed, or began

producing consumer goods such as refrigerators and automobiles

• Women who worked in the factories were fired so returning servicemen could have their jobs.

• Texas agriculture had become more mechanized, or equipped with machinery, and therefore required fewer workers

• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) became more active during the war

• 1944 - the US Supreme Court ruled in Smith v. Allwright that all- white Texas primaries were not legal

• The NAACP helped bring that case before the Court

Lonnie E. Smith

Section 3: After the WarGIs Return to Civilian Life

• GI Bill of Rights: A key provision of the law paid veterans to attend college.

• Many veterans quickly took advantage of this opportunity.

Section 3: After the WarPopulation Increases

• When the war was over, people were eager to begin families• In 1940, 62% of the adult population of Texas was married. By 1950

the figure had jumped to 69%.• The large number of marriages led to a baby boom. Hospital nurseries

across Texas were filled to capacity.

Section 3: After the WarForeign Affairs

• U.S. did not bring all of its troops home after the war• Armies of occupation continued to serve in Germany and Japan to ensure an

orderly change to peacetime for those countries. • Soviet Union, which had been a US ally in the war against Germany, set up

Communist dictatorship in several nations of East Europe and in the northern half of Korea.

• Communism is an economic system in which private property, including factories and farms, is owned by the government rather than individuals.

• The US was committed to containing or stopping, the spread of communism• The US found itself involved in a new kind of conflict called the Cold War.

Know these terms!• Neutral• Dictator• Smelter• Concentration Camps• Mechanized• Doris Miller• Overta Culp Hobby• Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Dwight Eisenhower• Chester Nimitz• Lead Lease Act• Allies• Holocaust• Occupation• Axis Powers