War in the Pacific

America at war with Japan

Snow on deck. USS Philippine Sea North Pacific 1945

People to Know

• Douglas MacArthur

• J. Robert Oppenheimer

• Chester Nimitz

• Harry S. Truman

After Pearl Harbor

• Japanese continued to attack throughout the Pacific

– Hong Kong– French Indochina

– Thailand– Much of China

– Malaya– Guam

– Wake Islands– Solomon Islands– Dutch East Indies

– Aleutian Islands (Alaska)

Allies vs. Japan

• Douglas MacArthur commanded allied troops in the Phillipines.

• Japan attacked in 1941• Roosevelt ordered

MacArthur and troops to leave.

• MacArthur vowed, “I shall return”, and return he did…

Deck crew climbing up to get the pilot out. He did. That's a fuel tank his foot is on. Empty?

Doolittle’s Raid

• April 1942

• Allies began to push back against the Japanese

• 16 bombers launched a surprise attack on Tokyo

• Helped lift the spirits of the Americans, while damaging that of the Japanese

Battle of Midway

• Americans had broken Japanese code and knew that Midway was to be the next to be attacked by Japan.

• Nimitz moved the Pacific fleet to protect the island.

• Launched surprise air raids and bombing runs on Japanese carriers, causing heavy damage

• Japan lost 4 carriers, a cruiser and 250 planes.• The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the

war in the favor of the allies

Island Hopping

• After the Battle of Midway, the allies began “island hopping”.

• They went island to island taking territory from the Japanese, and inching closer to Japan itself.

• Eventually, MacArthur was able to keep his promise and return to the Philippines.

Guam

Iwo Jima

• Strategic location for the allies to gain control.

• Needed it as a base to launch air bombing attacks on Japan

• However, it was heavily defended by over 20,000 Japanese troops dug into the sides of the mountain

• 6000 U.S. Marines died taking the island.

Okinawa

• The last obstacle to overcome before reaching Japan

• Even more heavily defended than Iwo Jima• Japanese continued using kamikaze attacks• About 8000 U.S. soldiers lost their lives• More than 100,000 Japanese died• Churchill forecasted the loss of 1 million U.S.

soldiers and 500,000 British…– Atomic Bomb???

Japanese Internment Camps

• There was much prejudice against Japanese-Americans in the U.S.

• Eventually Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps against their will

• Many lost their homes, businesses and personal belongings

• JACL – Japanese American Citizens League was formed after the war to fight for compensation for those who lost their property.

• 1965, congress authorized spending $38 billion to reimburse for losses. This was only a very small percentage of actual losses.

Decision to Drop the Bomb

• J. Robert Oppenheimer led the research on the Manhattan project

• Tested the bomb in July of 1945 in New Mexico

• Truman didn’t learn about the atomic program until he became president

• Now he had a decision to make…• What would you do given the same

information that Truman was given?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• Truman decided to use the atomic bomb.• Tried to get the Japanese to surrender

with the threat of using this weapon on them. Japan would not surrender.

• On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped the Little Boy over Hiroshima

• Three days later the Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki

• Over 200,000 Japanese died

Japan surrenders

• September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan surrenders

• Emperor Hirohito didn’t want his people to suffer anymore.

MacArthur’s occupation

• U.S. forces occupied Japan for 7 years after the war.

• Helped rebuild their economy and established a democratic government. Their constitution is still called the “MacArthur constitution”

Yalta Conference

• Before Roosevelt died, he met with Churchill and Stalin in the Soviet Union to discuss what would happen when Germany was defeated.

• Germany was divided into four zones (U.S., British, French, Soviet)

• United Nations created to replace the failed League of Nations