Quite often, America's entry into World War Two has been attributed to the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan in 1941. While that is the case, the background to Japan's attack is what drew America into the war with the Pearl Harbor attack being a mere pretext. From the onset of the war, America's policy was to maintain neutrality as envisaged by the new Neutrality Act of 1937 (Chambers, 100). By default, the Neutrality Act served to embolden Germany's quest for domination of Europe. That is because America's non-involvement made it easier for Germany to attack France and Britain. America's involvement in China also served to anger Japan another Axis power.
Japan’s Pearl Harbor Attack. Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
Japan's attack on an American gunboat did not sway American public opinion towards involvement in the war. However, the incident made President Roosevelt realize that Japan's and Germany's expansionist policies posed a threat to the entire western hemisphere including America. As a result, while the U.S continued to observe neutrality, there were preparations for a possible entry into the war. Britain was seen as America's first line of defense if Germany decided to launch an attack on the U.S. Consequently, the passage of the Lend-Lease Act in 1941 enabled the U.S supply Britain with military support. The action effectively pitted the U.S against Germany.
At the same time, America's continued assistance to China angered the Japanese, who had ambitions for complete control of the Asia-Pacific region. Attempts to reach an agreement with the U.S failed. As a result, Japan declared war on the U.S and followed the declaration with the Pearl Harbor attack on the 7th of December 1941. The U.S Congress passed a declaration of war on Japan subsequently followed by Germany's declaration of war against the U.S. With all these actions, the U.S had effectively joined the war.
Ultimately, what led to the involvement of the U.S was the need to protect its trade, which was increasingly becoming under threat from Japan's domination. In fact, before involvement in the war, the U.S was involved in the trade of military supplies with both Allied and Axis powers. In the end, the Allied nations emerged victorious as a result of their close co-operation aided by superior air power.
World War II and American Society
Although no direct battles took place in the U.S, it experienced profound political, economic and social effects. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, urbanization in the U.S had virtually ground to a halt. However, with the war, urbanization received a new lease of life due to the establishment of war industries that pulled people towards urban centers. In cities like Detroit, people experienced a boom as the automobile industry shifted towards the production of automobiles suited for war. The War also had a profound effect on American women. Women were now able to enlist in huge numbers in the army as shown in the image below (Ulbrich, 56). However, the greatest change occurred at homes where women increasingly played a pivotal role in the provision of family needs. More women joined the workforce to support their families. It is because many men had enlisted in the army and as a result there was a severe labor shortage. The war implicitly strengthened of the U.S feminist movement. However, the period experienced an increase in juvenile delinquency in what has been attributed to women paying less attention to raising their children to work commitments.
U.S Army women corps, Source: New York Daily News
The war also exposed America's underlying racial problems. The marines and the navy did not recruit African-Americans as officers but rather as mere servants. The period coincided with mass movements of blacks from the South to the North where a majority of the war industries had established. As a result of the influx of workers in urban centers, there were shortages in transportation, health, education, and housing facilities, which only served to increase racial conflicts (Winkle, 67). Consequently, there was increased agitation for racial equality.
Labor shortages resulted in increased school dropouts and the separation of families, more so fathers and sons. As a result, the period led to the rise of a disillusioned and uneducated generation. The war also resulted in the death of over two hundred thousand Americans soldiers, which had an immense emotional impact on the families involved. However, of importance is that the war cost the U.S massive amounts of money that had to be funded by war bonds. The debt that was incurred to fund the war had a lasting impact on U.S citizens as they have had to repay the debt through tax payments.
The Cold War
The Cold War was a state of the relations between the western hemisphere led by the U.S and the eastern hemisphere led by the USSR (Gaddis, 54). The war perhaps exemplified the classical conflict between capitalism and communism with each side seeking to exert dominance and spread their influence. The Cold War was marked by a series of events that denoted the difference in ideology between the two principal powers. After the World War Two, there were disagreements over how the territories captured from the Nazi regime would be run. The USSR favored direct involvement in the affairs of the countries bordering it. The U.S and the Allied powers did not favor the arrangement, which led to the formation of the Eastern bloc led by USSR and the Western bloc led by the U.S.
Map showing the USSR and U.S spheres of influence, Source: Itasca.k12.il.u
As a result, the USSR refused to take part in the reconstruction of Germany. Consequently, German was divided into two: West Germany (led by France, Britain and the U.S) and East Germany (run by the USSR). Both sides of the German divide traded propaganda against each other, which eventually led to East Germany constructing the Berlin wall to divide the two regions. The Berlin wall served as the most visible illustration of the Cold War (Gaddis, 56).
While there was no major war directly involving the two dominant powers, there was a lot of proxy wars fought at the behest of the two powers. The Korean War began in 1950 and served to flame the tensions of the Cold War (Cotton, 77). The Korean War began as a civil war that eventually metamorphosed into a proxy war between the U.S and the USSR with the two supporting South Korea and North Korea respectively. The escalation of the Vietnam War also served as an epitome of the Cold War.
The Nuclear Arms Race was also a key factor in raising the Cold War tensions. In 1957, the USSR managed to develop long-range nuclear missiles capable of reaching the U.S. Consequently, the U.S was forced to play catch-up in building up its nuclear arsenal. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 also served to inflame the Cold War tensions. In hindsight, the Cold War could not have been prevented. Before World War Two, USSR and the U.S were mortal enemies who were only brought together by the existence of a mutual enemy in Germany. The confinement policies initiated by President Truman were perhaps the greatest motivation of the Cold War. However, even in the absence of the policies, the ideological divide between the U.S and the USSR was already too broad to prevent the Cold War.
Post-War America
The end of the World War Two marked the beginning of a new era in the U.S. The path ahead was filled with both optimism and uncertainty in equal measure. The U.S had just emerged from the war as the global superpower. Its economy was experiencing exponential growth as a result of the expansion in wartime industries, which coincided with high population growth. The 1950's experienced growth in the population. It has often been referred to as the baby boom period. It is attributed to thousands of American soldiers returning to their wives and girlfriends. The rate of marriages also rose significantly during the period.
A suburb in Newyork, Source: Kingsacademy.com
The Cold War that followed immediately after the war led to a rise in anti-communism sentiment in the U.S. It had profound effects on the cultural life of Americans. The fear of a nuclear attack by the USSR on the U.S led to increased patriotism and religious adherence. The situation was made worse by the U.S government propaganda and increased calls for preparedness in the event of a nuclear attack (Schrecker, 89).
There also a cultural shift among the American youth. There was a carefree and liberal attitude that led to the emergence of open social criticism through art forms such as rock and roll music and poetry. The culture also became dependent on popular mass media, which was portrayed in the increase in television and film industry. One of the major underlying issues after the post-war period remained racial discrimination. As a result, the period coincided with the increased clamor in the struggle for racial equality as illustrated by the civil rights movement.
The economic prosperity and the feel good factor that was experienced by Americans in the post-war was not a new phenomenon. It was a continuation of the economic boom experienced during the "roaring twenties," which was only cut short by the Great Depression. The social, economic and cultural changes experienced during this period were also similar to those of the post-World War One era.
Works Cited
Chambers, John Whiteclay II. The Oxford Companion to American Military History. New York,
Oxford University Press, 1999.
Cotton, James. The Korean War in History. Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1989
Encyclopedia Britannica,. Pearl Harbor Attack. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
Gaddis, John, L. The Cold War: A New History. Newyork, Penguin Books, 2006
Itasca.k12.il.u,. Map Showing The USSR And U.S Spheres Of Influence. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
Jones, Howard. Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations from 1945.
Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield, 2009
Kingsacademy.com,. A Suburb In Newyork. 2016. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
New York Daily News,. U.S Army Women Corps. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.
Schrecker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents. Newyork,
Palgrave. 2002
Ulbrich, David, J. Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of Modern Marine
Corps, 1936-1943. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2011
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Apr, 2016] https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/world-war-ii/essays/worldwar-ii-home-front
