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In 1935 the first neutrality act was passed, which meant that America would not be allowed to sell weapons to warring nations. In 1939 Americans steered clear of the war that broke out in Europe. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first and only president elected to three terms. He answered all critics with Abraham Lincoln's slogan "Dont change horses in midstream." He was nominated to his third term in 1940. Shortly afterward, in March of 1941, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed us to sell or lend war materials to any country whose survival was vital to the defense of the United States. America was slowly getting involved with the war.
On December 7, 1941, everything changed. Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, was attacked and heavily bombed by the Japanese. The next day Roosevelt, Congress, and the American people declared war on both Japan and Germany. World War II was already two years old when America entered the war.
Even though Japan was conquering bits and pieces of Asia, that was not FDR's main concern. He was more worried about Hitlers advance through Europe. By 1940 Germany had taken over Holland and France. FDR felt that if he waited any longer, it would be too late to protect the rest of Europe. At the end of 1941 the United States faced a tremendous task. America had to change its economy into making goods for the war.
It was also crucial for America to build up its armed forces. The draft was created. Over 10 Million men were drafted. Another six million men and women enlisted. Even though the war would be fought in many distant places, victory depended on the war effort at home. During the war women were encouraged to take jobs.
They were able to gain better pay than ever before. The war also changed fashion. Instead of wearing skirts, many women began to wear trousers. Many think that this was also the beginning of the feminist movement. In early 1942, Germany seemed almost unstoppable.
Most of Europe was in German hands. German soldiers started taking over some of Russias territory. But the Russians fought back fiercely. As the Russians retreated from the invading Germans, they burned crops and farmland so that the Germans would find the conquered territory useless. This caused terrible hardships among the civilians, and millions of Russian citizens suffered and died. On the other side of the world in the Pacific, Japan also seemed unbeatable.
Right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese overran Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Because America was focusing on the war in Europe, there were few troops to spare for the incredible task of defending the Pacific. Because America and other Allied countries were fighting the war on three large fronts, the war continued for much longer than everyone hoped for. But by the end of 1942, the tide seemed to be changing. The allies started having success. In October of 1942, major victories were being won on all three fronts, in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific.
Meanwhile, Mussolini was having trouble with the Italian people who were getting tired of the war. There were ongoing revolts. The Italians eventually overthrew Mussolini. In September of 1943, the new Italian forces joined forces with the Allies. Things were looking better and better. But the war was far from over.
June 6 th, 1944 was D-Day, the day when the Allies launched their invasion of Europe with a fleet of 4000 ships. Troops landed on the French coast at Normandy. They faced immediate gunfire. Americans suffered heavy losses, but they pushed on. On August 25, 1944 the Allies entered Paris. The French were liberated from German rule.
It was election time again, and to no ones surprise, FDR was running again. He won the election. But five months later while on vacation, Roosevelt suffered a stroke and died. Truman was now the President.
American troops continued making advances in Europe. On May 7 th, 1945 Germany surrendered. Now America could concentrate on fighting the war in the Pacific. America used a strategy called Island Hopping. By the late spring of 1945 American bombers were pounding the Japanese home islands. American ships bombarded the coast.
The Japanese people were suffering terribly, but the Japanese would still not consider surrendering. In late July the Allies proposed the Potsdam Declaration. They told Japan to surrender or face prompt destruction. Japan ignored the Allied threat. On August 6, 1945, an American bomber dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan.
Japan still said nothing. Three days later the United States dropped another atomic bomb - in Nagasaki. The blast killed 50, 000 people. Japan then had no choice but to surrender. My grandfather, Alfonso Herrera, was born in 1924 in Santa Paula, California. His father was a stone mason.
He had four brothers who all went into the Army with him in World War II. Hes now 73 years old and lives in San Fernando, California. My great-great-great-uncle, Jimmy Snyder, was born in 1916 in Board, Pennsylvania. His father was a coal miner. He had ten older brothers who all fought in World War I. Jimmy was the only brother who fought in World War II.
He is now 82 years old, and he lives with us in Santa Barbara. (I interviewed both men in their homes, using the exact same questions. I wrote all of their answers down as accurately as possible. I have only edited their words to eliminate repetition and make things clear. ) Alfonso: I didnt really think about the war very much until I was drafted. My family didnt want me to go, but I didnt have any choice. When the war began, I worked for Sears & Roebuck as a tire reaper. That involved lots of mechanical and automotive work.
Jimmy: I didnt give it much thought until it started. Thats when I was transferred from the Navy to the Merchant Marine. My father and my ten brothers had all been in the service in World War I, so they were rather opposed to me entering the Navy in the first place. But when I entered the Navy, it was just about the only job around because of the Depression. Ever since the fifth grade, Id heard about the Navy, and since I was a lifeguard when I was a teenager, I knew that Id be able to swim if anything ever happened to a boat I was on. So the idea of being out at sea seemed pretty nice to me.
Besides, it was either go in the service or go to work in the coal mine with my father, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. So when the U. S. entered World War II, I was already in the Navy. Alfonso: I was 18 when I was drafted. I didnt choose anything.
When they drafted me, they just put me in the Army's Ninth Armored Division. That was March 19 th, 1943. Jimmy: I was 19 when I entered the Navy, but I was 26 when the war started. At the very beginning, they needed more ocean-going transport than they needed sailors. We were already involved in some of the lend-lease stuff, moving supplies to Europe and across the Pacific, and I guess they needed more transport at the very beginning, so I was transferred over to the Merchant Marine. Alfonso: By the Spring of 1945, I was in Buchenwald and Dachau Germany with the Ninth Armored Division.
I was transported there by the Army, first by train across the U. S. , then across the Atlantic aboard The Queen Mary. Jimmy: In the Spring of 1945, I was in Port Au Prince, Haiti, aboard a Standard Oil tanker, a real rust-bucket. We had been transporting oil between the States and the other Allies and were on our way to the Panama Canal and the Pacific battle zones. Alfonso: We fought the Nazi SS Troops as well as the German Infantry. Everybody's fighting tactics were determined by the weather, which in the Winter of 1944 - 45, was extremely cold.
The Nazi tactics were purely defensive at this point, as the Ninth Armored Division was clearly on the move toward Berlin. One of the things that still stands out in my mind about the Nazis, particularly the officers, is that even in the struggle of wartime battle, they were very stylishly dressed. Their uniforms were perfect grey flannel with nice buttons and beautifully shined black boots. The other thing I remember about the regular troops we came across is that they were extremely young, much younger than most of us. Jimmy: Whenever we were in the Atlantic, we were always worried about the German U-boats. We didnt have radar on board most of the ships working the Merchant Marine, so we did a lot of dead reckoning which wasnt too dependable.
When we were in the Pacific, there was always trouble with the Japanese fleets, especially toward the end when the kamikaze planes were used. Once we had three transports in a fleet, cruising in pretty tight formation when the Japanese came after us with everything they had. Our sister ship just off our starboard side took a kamikaze hit right on deck. Missed us by about fifty yards, Id say. Our tactic for the kamikazes was to shoot them down before they could get to us. The one enemy that stands out in my mind is this Japanese kamikaze pilot who didnt go for his target, but ditched in the sea instead and was captured by us.
I met him after we took Okinawa and he told me how they flew their missions. One shot of sake wine and a long lecture about dying for their emperor. They had a pretty strong believe in the afterlife and honor, I guess. Anyway, I guess this guy had a stronger belief in the here and now. Alfonso: The most action I ever saw was in Bastogne, near the Luxembourg border. We were trying to relieve the 101 st Airborne Division under General McAuliffe.
The 101 st was being pinned down and forced to surrender by the German Army. McAulliffe is the one who was supposed to surrender to the Germans. Instead, he sent them the famous message: Nuts. We came in with of Gen. Patton's Third Army under Col. Blanchard.
Our tanks and men traveled 150 miles in 19 hours, which was sure a surprise to the Germans. That was all on the day after Christmas, 1944. I was personally in charge of our companys bazooka squad. They were great weapons, but very heavy and bulky. I was riding on the back of a halftrack as we were trying to create a defensive position. There was a tank in front of us.
Once we had our defensive perimeter, we broke for lunch. There was a lot of noise nearby with rocket shells landing in the vicinity. But you could tell by the noise whether or not a shell was going to come close enough to worry about. We were all pretty calm about it until we heard one coming down right on our position. Suddenly, eating lunch wasnt quite as important as it had been. There was a sudden explosion about 20 yards away, and I went diving off the halftrack.
I felt a pain in my foot, and when I got up and saw about 15 of my guys dead on the ground all around me, the pain in my foot became pretty bad. I fell down and covered my head when more shells started to land all around us. I was calling out for the Medics, but nobody was around. Pretty soon, things got quiet again, and I jammed my rifle into the ground and hung my helmet...
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Research essay sample on World War Ii Lend Lease
