sources of us-japanese conflict legacies of racism – immigration restrictions “oriental”...
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Sources of US-Japanese Conflict
Legacies of Racism– Immigration Restrictions
“Oriental” Exclusion Law, 1924
Japanese Resentments of Western Colonial Domination of the Pacific
Conflict Over Resources, Worsened by the Great Depression
Japan’s alliance with the Axis
US-Japan Negotiations, 1941
US insists Japan Break Axis Alliance, Withdraw from China, and promise no more aggression as price for resuming oil sales
Japan insisted US resume oil sales and force China to accept Japanese peace terms before it pledged non-aggression
Japan bet that Germany would defeat Great Britain and Russia
IMPACT OF PEARL HARBOR
Unites AmericansEnds IsolationismNow a grave military blowMobilizes US industry for war—key
factor in US victory
WWII AND THE CIVILIAN ECONOMY
Ended the depression, incomes of those at bottom improved substantially
Higher incomes, less spending power Military priorities created shortages in civilian
goods and services– Women expected to compensate with their unpaid
labor– Rationing of gasoline, food products– Price controls
WWII AND THE CIVILIAN ECONOMY
Labor shortages, esp. in heavy industry High wages, many jobs unionized Removal of millions of men from the civilian
economy New opportunities for women and minorities
(especially outside of the South) Rising workforce participation by women,
esp. married women and mothers
Citizenship Rights and the War
Internment of Japanese Americans -- sustained by court decisions, racial basis
Regarded as an enemy race
Citizenship Rights and the War
African Americans mobilized in Double V campaign – women led membership drives for NAACP, protests of various kinds
Veterans important in activism after the war – GI Forum
Japanese American Draft Resisters
1920
1924 U.S. “Oriental Exclusion” Law
1931 Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
1936 Anti-Comintern Pact
1937 Japanese Invasion of China
1938 U.S. Economic Aid to China; Restrictions on Japan
1940 Japan Aligns with Germany and Italy; U.S. Lend Lease Bill to Allies
1941 (July) – Japan Occupies Indo-China
US WARTIME STRATEGY
Aid Grand AlliancePriority of War in EuropeHeavy reliance on Soviets to do the bulk
of the fighting until D-Day—20-25 million Russian deaths
Use the atomic bomb against Japan to win war quickly, reduce American casualties, and prevent Soviet inroads in Asia