History

MOBILIZATION FOR TOTAL WAR The nation rapidly geared itself for mobilization of its people and its entire industrial capacity . Over the next three-and-a-half years, war in- dustry achieved staggering produc- tion goals — 300,000 aircraft, 5,000 cargo ships, 60,000 landing craft, 86,000 tanks . Women workers, ex- 222 emplified by “Rosie the Riveter,” played […]

JAPAN, PEARL HARBOR, AND WAR While most Americans anxiously watched the course of the European war, tension mounted in Asia . Tak- ing advantage of an opportunity to improve its strategic position, Japan boldly announced a “new order” in which it would exercise hegemony over all of the Pacific . Battling for survival against Nazi

WAR AND UNEASY NEUTRALITY Before Roosevelt’s second term was well under way, his domestic program was overshadowed by the expansionist designs of totalitarian regimes in Japan, Italy, and Ger- many . In 1931 Japan had invaded Manchuria, crushed Chinese resis- tance, and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo . Italy, under Benito Mussolini, enlarged

A NEW COALITION In the 1936 election, Roosevelt won a decisive victory over his Re- publican opponent, Alf Landon of Kansas . He was personally popular, and the economy seemed near re- covery . He took 60 percent of the vote and carried all but two states . A broad new coalition aligned with the

THE SECOND NEW DEAL In its early years, the New Deal sponsored a remarkable series of legislative initiatives and achieved significant increases in production and prices — but it did not bring an end to the Depression . As the sense of immediate crisis eased, new demands emerged . Businessmen mourned the end of “laissez-faire”

ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL In 1933 the new president, Franklin D . Roosevelt, brought an air of con- fidence and optimism that quickly rallied the people to the banner of his program, known as the New Deal . “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” the president de- clared in his

THE GREAT DEPRESSION In October 1929 the booming stock market crashed, wiping out many investors . The collapse did not in itself cause the Great Depression, although it reflected excessively easy credit policies that had allowed the market to get out of hand . It also ag- gravated fragile economies in Europe that had relied

CLASH OF CULTURES Some Americans expressed their discontent with the character of modern life in the 1920s by focus- ing on family and religion, as an increasingly urban, secular society came into conflict with older rural traditions . Fundamentalist preach- ers such as Billy Sunday provided an outlet for many who yearned for a return

TENSIONS OVER IMMIGRATION During the 1920s, the United States sharply restricted foreign im- migration for the first time in its history . Large inflows of foreigners long had created a certain amount of social tension, but most had been of Northern European stock and, if not quickly assimilated, at least pos- sessed a certain commonality

THE BOOMING 1920s Wilson, distracted by the war, then laid low by his stroke, had mis- handled almost every postwar is- sue . The booming economy began to collapse in mid-1920 . The Repub- lican candidates for president and vice president, Warren G . Harding and Calvin Coolidge, easily defeated their Democratic opponents, James M