DIPLOMACY AND POLITICS OF WORLD WAR II NCHE

DIPLOMACY AND POLITICS OF WORLD WAR II NCHE - TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY Dekalb, Georgia Allan M. Winkler January 29, 2013

The Attack

Questions to Consider • How Did Conflict in Europe and Asia Affect the United States? • Could War Have Been Avoided? • How Did the War Aims of the Grand Alliance Members Differ? • How did the War Unfold? • What Was the Diplomatic Legacy of World War II?

The Road to War • Collapse of the Peace – Europe – Asia • American Response – Neutrality Acts – End to Isolation • War – Europe -- Undeclared War for the U. S. A – Asia -- Pearl Harbor

Adolf Hitler

Benito Mussolini

The Road to War • Collapse of the Peace – Europe – Asia • American Response – Neutrality Acts – End to Isolation • War – Europe -- Undeclared War for the U. S. A – Asia -- Pearl Harbor

Emperor Hirohito

The Road to War • Collapse of the Peace – Europe – Asia • American Response – Neutrality Acts – End to Isolation • War – Europe -- Undeclared War for the U. S. A – Asia -- Pearl Harbor

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

War Leaders • United States -- FDR • Great Britain -- Winston Churchill • Soviet Union -- Joseph Stalin

War Leaders • United States -- FDR • Great Britain -- Winston Churchill • Soviet Union -- Joseph Stalin

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt • Background – – Schooling Early Career Polio Political Career • Election of 1932 • Affection for FDR • Management Style

FDR’s Qualities • • Self-Assurance Confidence Inscrutability Reserve Serenity Political Savvy Persuasiveness

FDR’s Self-Assurance

FDR’s Qualities • • Self-Assurance Confidence Inscrutability Reserve Serenity Political Savvy Persuasiveness

FDR’S Political Savvy

FDR’s Qualities • • Self-Assurance Confidence Inscrutability Reserve Serenity Political Savvy Persuasiveness

War Leaders • United States -- FDR • Great Britain -- Winston Churchill • Soviet Union -- Joseph Stalin

War Aims & Strategy • War Aims – USA – GB – USSR • War Strategy – Europe First – Cross-Channel Invasion? – Second Front?

Unfolding of the War • • North Africa Italy Europe via the English Channel Asia

Conferences • • Casablanca -- January 1943 Teheran -- November 1943 Yalta -- February 1945 Potsdam -- July 1945

Response to the Holocaust • Anti-Semitism in America • Obstruction in the State Department • The War Refugee Board

The Atomic Bomb • The Effort to Create a Bomb • Decision to Use the Bomb • Impact of the Bomb