Major Problems in the History of World War II Documents and Essays

by Stoler, Mark A.; Gustafson, Melanie S.

• ISBN13: 9780618061327
• ISBN10: 0618061320
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-28
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

This text presents a carefully selected group of readings that allow students to evaluate primary sources, test the interpretations of distinguished historians, and draw their own conclusions. The volume covers World War II from the homefront and the battlefield, examining both the military and social impact of the war.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiv
U.S. Entry into World War II	1	(41)
The Neutrality Acts Seek to Avoid U.S. Participation in Another War, 1935--1939	6	(2)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Proposes a ``Quarantine'' of Aggressors, 1937	8	(2)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Proposes Lend-Lease Aid to Great Britain, December 17 and 29, 1940	10	(4)
Charles A. Lindbergh Opposes Lend-Lease, February 6, 1941	14	(2)
Americans Express Their Opinions on Aid to Britain and Entry into the War, 1940--1941	16	(1)
Secretary of State Cordell Hull Responds to Japan's Final Proposal, November 26, 1941	17	(2)
Japan Terminates Negotiations and Hull Replies Orally, December 7, 1941	19	(3)
President Roosevelt Asks Congress for a Declaration of War, December 8, 1941	22	(20)
An Unnecessary and Avoidable War	23	(10)
Bruce M. Russett
A Necessary and Unavoidable War	33	(7)
Gerhard Weinberg
Further Reading	40	(2)
America Mobilizes for War	42	(32)
The Government Institutes and Revises the Draft, 1940 and 1943	44	(3)
Conscientious Objectors Explain Their Reasons for Refusing to Register for the Draft, 1941	47	(1)
Representative Edith Nourse Rogers Introduces the WAAC Bill, 1941	48	(2)
President Roosevelt Explains the Four Freedoms to the American People, 1941	50	(1)
The Office of Price Administration Reports on the Consequences of Defense Production, 1942	51	(2)
The War Affects Employment and Consumer Prices, 1940--1945	53	(2)
The Government Encourages Workers on the Home Front, 1943	55	(1)
Roosevelt Orders Japanese Relocation, 1942	56	(18)
The Successes of American Mobilization	58	(8)
Richard Overy
The Problems of American Mobilization	66	(6)
William L. O'Neill
Further Reading	72	(2)
Creating a Global Allied Strategy	74	(35)
U.S. and British Military Officials Agree to a ``Germany-First'' Strategy: Admiral Stark's Memorandum and the ABC-1 Accord, November 1940/March 1941	77	(3)
Britain and the United States Reach Strategic Agreements at the ARCADIA Conference, Washington, D.C., December 1941--January 1942	80	(3)
Admiral Ernest J. King Calls for a Strategic Focus on Japan, March 1942	83	(1)
Roosevelt ``Promises'' the Soviets a Second Front, May--June 1942	84	(2)
Churchill Vetoes Crossing the Channel in 1942 and Proposes the North African Alternative, July 8, 1942	86	(1)
Admiral Ernest J. King and General George C. Marshall Respond with a ``Pacific-First'' Proposal, July 10, 1942	87	(1)
Roosevelt Rejects the ``Pacific-First'' Alternative, July 14, 1942	88	(1)
Britain and the United States Agree on a 1943 Mediterranean Strategy at the Casablanca Conference, January 1943	88	(1)
Stalin Angrily Responds to the Continued Delays in Establishing a Second Front, June 24, 1943	89	(2)
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin Debate and Decide Future Allied Strategy at the Tehran Conference, November 29--30, 1943	91	(18)
The Political Shortsightedness of U.S. Strategy	94	(4)
Hanson W. Baldwin
The Political Wisdom of U.S. Strategy	98	(7)
Mark A. Stoler
Roosevelt as Commander-in-Chief	105	(2)
Kent Roberts Greenfield
Further Reading	107	(2)
The War Against Germany: What Was Needed and What Was Done	109	(62)
Army Ground Versus Air Plans for the War Against Germany: The ``Victory Program'' (with AWPD-1) of September 1941	111	(2)
The Naval and Air Campaigns Against German U-Boats and Cities Receive High Priority at the Casablanca Conference, January, 1943	113	(2)
A Mother Questions and General Henry H. ``Hap'' Arnold's Staff Defends the Bombing of German Cities, 1943	115	(2)
The City of Dresden Before and After the Anglo-American Bombing of February, 1945	117	(1)
The Original OVERLORD Plan Proposes Landing on the Normandy Beaches and Explains the Problems to Be Overcome, July 27, 1943	118	(3)
General Dwight D. Eisenhower Addresses Allied Forces on D-Day, June 6, 1944	121	(1)
Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery Debate Broad- Versus Narrow-Front Strategies, September, 1944	121	(4)
General Marshall Explains the Key Military Events in German Defeat as Perceived by Captured Members of the German High Command, September, 1945	125	(1)
Tuskeegee Airman Lieutenant Alexander Jefferson Recalls His Combat Missions and Imprisonment, 1944	126	(4)
Sergeant Bernard Bellush Recalls D-Day on Omaha Beach, November 14, 1944/March 16, 2000	130	(41)
The Naval and Air Campaigns as Critical to Allied Victory	135	(14)
Richard Overy
Strategic Bombing as Technological Fanaticism	149	(7)
Michael S. Sherry
The Travails of the American Combat Soldier in Europe	156	(13)
Michael D. Doubler
Further Reading	169	(2)
The War Against Japan: What Was Needed and What Was Done	171	(40)
Public Opinion Favors a Japan-First Strategy, 1942-1943	174	(1)
The Military Plans for the Defeat of Japan, May 21, 1943	174	(2)
Army Nurse Lieutenant Juanita Redmond Describes a Japanese Air Attack on Bataan in the Philippines, April 1942	176	(2)
Navy Pilot George Gay Survives the Battle of Midway, May 1942	178	(2)
Marine Private E. B. Sledge Remembers the Hellish Battle of Okinawa, 1945	180	(3)
Japanese Civilians Tomizawa Kimi and Kobayashi Hiroyasu Live Through the Firebombing of Tokyo, 1945	183	(2)
General Joseph Stilwell Bitterly Explains His Problems in China, 1944	185	(2)
President Roosevelt Attacks Colonialism in Asia, 1942--1943	187	(2)
Foreign Service Officers John Paton Davies and George R. Merrell Warn Against Support of British Colonialism in Asia, 1943	189	(22)
Strangers in Strange Lands	190	(6)
Ronald H. Spector
The Pacific War as a Race War	196	(6)
John W. Dower
The U.S. Failure in China	202	(7)
Michael Schaller
Further Reading	209	(2)
Cooperation and Conflict on the Home Front	211	(36)
A Call to March on Washington, 1941	213	(2)
Rosie the Riveter Becomes a Symbol of Patriotic Womanhood	215	(1)
Time Magazine Contrasts Japanese Enemies and Chinese Allies, 1941	216	(1)
Newsweek Magazine Reports on Women's Stockings in Wartime, 1943	216	(1)
The Turmoil of Wartime Rapidly Changes Detroit, 1943	217	(3)
The Government Praises Spanish-Speaking Americans in the War Effort, 1943	220	(2)
The ``Zoot Suit Riots'' Reveal the Race Tensions on the West Coast, 1943	222	(2)
Labor Conflict and Questions of Patriotism Erupt in the Coal Fields, 1943	224	(3)
Japanese American Mikiso Hane Remembers His Wartime Internment, 1990	227	(20)
Conflicts Between White Women and Black Women, and Their Employers, in the Wartime Industrial World	231	(7)
Karen Tucker Anderson
Wartime Conflicts Between Sailors, Chicano Youths, and the Police in Los Angeles	238	(7)
Edward J. Escobar
Further Reading	245	(2)
Challenges and Changes in Wartime American Culture	247	(35)
Oveta Culp Hobby, Director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, Talks to American Mothers, 1943	249	(2)
Robert P. Lane, Director of New York City's Welfare Council, Cites Home Front Concerns About ``Victory Girls'' and Venereal Disease, 1945	251	(1)
John Desmond, New York Times Writer, Praises Entertainers at the War Front, 1944	252	(2)
Newsweek Looks Back at Homosexuals in Uniform During Wartime, 1947	254	(1)
Wartime and Postwar Conditions Affect Marriage, Divorce, and Birth Rates, 1930--1950	255	(1)
Movie Star Ann Sothern Asks, ``What Kind of Woman Will Your Man Come Home To?'' 1944	256	(2)
Newspaper Columnist Ernie Pyle Depicts the Realities of War for Americans at Home, 1943	258	(2)
Editor and Publisher Henry Luce Proclaims the ``American Century, 1941	260	(4)
Betty Grable Becomes a Favorite ``Pin-up Girl'' among Soldiers, 1943	264	(2)
Photographer Alfred Eisenstadt Captures the American Spirit of Victory, August 14, 1945	266	(16)
The ``Pin-up Girls'' Taught Americans Less About Sex and More About Political Obligations	267	(8)
Robert B. Westbrook
Creating GI Jane	275	(5)
Leisa D. Meyer
Further Reading	280	(2)
The Impact of Science and Intelligence	282	(40)
A Congressional Committee Assesses Blame for the Pearl Harbor Disaster, 1946	284	(2)
Bletchley Park Cryptologist Peter Calvocoressi Explains How Enigma Worked During the War	286	(3)
Americans Decode and Translate a Japanese Encrypted Message, 1944	289	(2)
The Navajo Language Becomes an Unbreakable American Code, 1945	291	(2)
Office of Strategic Services Official Allen Dulles Explains His Wartime Intelligence Activities, 1941--1945	293	(2)
Historian and OSS Official William Langer Describes the Contribution of Scholars to the Intelligence War, 1943--1946	295	(2)
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson Raises Concerns to President Roosevelt about Communist Union Organizing in the Atomic Bomb Project, 1943	297	(1)
Office of Scientific Research and Development Director Dr. Vannevar Bush Reports to the President on the Importance of Science During and After the War, 1945	298	(24)
Pearl Harbor and the Limits of Signals Intelligence	301	(5)
Roberta Wohlstetter
Signals Intelligence As Critical to Allied Victory	306	(5)
Williamson Murray
Science Revolutionizes Warfare	311	(9)
Gordon Wright
Further Reading	320	(2)
The United States and the Holocaust	322	(37)
The National Origins Act Restricts Immigration, 1924	324	(1)
Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent Reveals American Anti-Semitism, 1921--1922	324	(3)
Public Opinion Polls Reveal American Attitudes About Jews in Europe, Refugees, and Immigration, 1938--1945	327	(3)
The New York Times Reports on the St. Louis Tragedy, 1939	330	(1)
Jan Karski of the Polish Underground Gives an Eyewitness Account of the ``Final Solution,'' 1942--1944	331	(4)
The State Department Receives and Suppresses News of the ``Final Solution,'' 1942	335	(3)
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Denounces State Department Behavior to Roosevelt, 1944	338	(1)
U.S. Soldier Clinton C. Gardner Remembers the Liberation of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1945	339	(20)
The American Failure to Rescue European Jews	341	(8)
Henry L. Feingold
The Successes of American Rescue and The Limits of The Possible	349	(8)
William J. Vanden Heuvel
Further Reading	357	(2)
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Allied Diplomacy for War and Peace	359	(35)
The Atlantic Charter States Allied War Aims, 1941	361	(1)
Josef Stalin Demands Territorial Settlements, 1941	362	(3)
The Allies Announce Formation of the Grand Alliance: The Declaration by the United Nations, 1942	365	(1)
Roosevelt Enunciates the Unconditional Surrender Policy, 1943	366	(1)
The Allies Agree on Postwar Policies: The Moscow Declaration on General Security, 1943	366	(1)
Roosevelt Informs His Allies of His Postwar Plans, 1942 and 1943	367	(3)
The Allies Agree to a Postwar International Organization: The Dumbarton Oaks Agreement, 1944	370	(2)
Churchill and Stalin Divide Eastern Europe, 1944	372	(1)
The Allies Reach Postwar Agreements at the Yalta Conference, 1945	372	(5)
Roosevelt Sends Letters to Stalin and Churchill, 1945	377	(17)
The Ignorance and Naivete of Roosevelt's Wartime Diplomacy	379	(8)
Frederick W. Marks III
The Astuteness and Appropriateness of Roosevelt's Wartime Diplomacy	387	(6)
Robert Dallek
Further Reading	393	(1)
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II	394	(33)
Albert Einstein Informs President Roosevelt of the Potential for an Atomic Bomb, 1939	396	(1)
Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter Shares with FDR Physicist Niels Bohr's Suggestion that the Soviets Be Informed of the Atomic Bomb Project, 1944	397	(1)
Churchill and Roosevelt Reject Informing the Soviets, 1944	398	(1)
President Harry S Truman Recalls How He Learned About the Atomic Bomb Project, 1945	398	(1)
The Franck Committee Warns of a Nuclear Arms Race and Calls for a Noncombat Demonstration of the Bomb, 1945	399	(3)
The Scientific Panel of the Interim Committee Recommends Combat Use of the Bomb Against Japan, 1945	402	(1)
Undersecretary of the Navy Ralph Bard Objects to the Unannounced Use of the Bomb, 1945	403	(1)
Manhattan Project Commanding General Leslie Groves Reports the Results of the Alamagordo Test, 1945	404	(1)
A Photographer Captures Hiroshima Two Months After the Atomic Bomb of August 6, 1945	405	(1)
Public Opinion Polls Show Strong Support for the Atomic Bomb, August, September, and December 1945	405	(1)
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson Has Second Thoughts on Atomic Secrecy, 1945	406	(21)
Dropping the Atomic Bomb Was Neither Necessary Nor Justifiable	408	(4)
Gar Alperovitz
Dropping the Bomb Was Necessary and Justifiable	412	(7)
Robert P. Newman
Were There Viable Alternatives to Dropping the Atomic Bomb?	419	(7)
Barton J. Bernstein
Further Reading	426	(1)
History and Memory: The Legacy of World War II	427	(44)
Postwar Mythmaking About World War II	428	(9)
Michael C. C. Adams
The World the War Made	437	(4)
David M. Kennedy
The War Transformed American Liberalism	441	(7)
Alan Brinkley
Americans Reevaluate Japanese American Incarceration	448	(5)
Roger Daniels
Culture War Erupts Over the 1994--1995 Smithsonian Institution's Enola Gay Exhibition	453	(8)
Richard H. Kohn
Why Did the Holocaust Become a Major Postwar Issue?	461	(9)
Peter Novick
Further Reading	470	(1)
Appendix General World War II Histories and Reference Works	471