Text E American Domestic Situation During World War II

1.  Americans at home sacrificed while soldiers fought overseas. By the end of the war, more than 12 million American soldiers had joined or were drafted into the military. Widespread rationing(配给) occurred. For example, to purchase sugar, families were given coupons based on size. They could not buy more than their coupons would allow. However, rationing covered more than just food — it also included goods such as shoes and gasoline.

 

2.   Some items were just not available in America. Silk stockings made in Japan were not available — the new synthetic（合成的） nylon stockings replaced them. No automobiles were produced from February 1943 until the end of the war to move the manufacturing to war specific items.

 

3.  Many women entered the work force to help make munitions（弹药） and implements（器具）of war. These women were nicknamed “Rosie the Riveter（铆钉机）” and were a central part of America’s success in war.

 

4.  Wartime restrictions were imposed on civil liberties. A real black mark（污点） on the American home front was the Executive Order No. 9066 signed by Roosevelt in 1942. This ordered those of Japanese-American descent to be removed to “Relocation Camps.” This law eventually forced close to 120,000 Japanese-Americans in the western part of the United States to leave their homes and move to one of ten “relocation" centers or to other facilities across the nation. Most of those relocated were American citizens by birth. They were forced to sell their homes, most for next to nothing, and take only what they could carry. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act that provided redress（损失赔偿） for Japanese–Americans. Each living survivor was paid $20,000 for the forced incarceration（监禁）. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush issued a formal apology. However, nothing can make up for the pain and humiliation that this group of individuals had to face for nothing more than their ethnicity.

 

5.  In the end, America came together to successfully defeat fascism abroad. The end of the war would send the U.S. into a Cold War due to concessions made to the Russians in exchange for their aid in defeating the Japanese. Communist Russia and the United States would be at odds with each other until the downfall of the U.S.S.R. in 1989.

 

Questions for Discussion or Reflection

1. What sacrifices did Americans at home make while soldiers were 

    fighting overseas?

2. What role did American women play in the war?

 

 

Proper Names

Adolf Hitler  阿道夫·希特勒

Bataan Peninsula  巴丹半岛

Blitzkrieg  闪电战

Fascism  法西斯主义

Guadalcanal  瓜达康纳尔岛

Guerilla Warfare  游击战

Hiroshima  广岛

Holocaust   (二次大战时纳粹对犹太人的)大屠杀

Isolationism   政治或经济上的孤立主义 

Nagasaki   长崎

Neutrality Acts   《中立法》

Pearl Harbor    珍珠港

the Atlantic Charter   《大西洋宪章》

the Battle of Stalingrad   斯大林格勒战役 

the Commonwealth of Nations  英联邦

the Coral Sea   珊瑚海

the Inter-Allied Declaration  《同盟国宣言》

the Jews and the Slavic people  犹太和斯拉夫人

the Lend Lease Act   《租借法》

the Midway Island Battle 中途岛战役 

the Munich Pact   《慕尼黑公约》

the Nazi  纳粹

the Security Council   (联合国)安理会

Winston Churchill     温斯顿·丘吉尔

 

 

Notes

1. The Commonwealth of Nations: It is usually known as the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, most of which are former British colonies, or dependencies of these colonies (the exceptions being the United Kingdom itself and Mozambique). No single government in the Commonwealth, British or otherwise, exercises power over the others, as in a political union. Rather, the relationship is one of an international organization through which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status, and co-operate within a framework of common values and goals.

 

2. The Inter-Allied Declaration: It is a declaration“to work together with other free peoples, both in war and in peace." It was signed in London on 12 June 1941, as the first step towards the establishment of the United Nations.

 

3. The Midway Island Battle: The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The battle permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), in particular through the loss of four fleet carriers and over 200 irreplaceable experienced naval aviators. The Midway operation, like the attack on Pearl Harbor, was not part of a campaign for the conquest of the United States, but was aimed at its elimination as a strategic Pacific power, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere.

 

4. The Neutrality Acts: They were the acts to limit U. S. involvement in future wars. They were based on the widespread disillusionment with World War I in the early 1930s and the belief that the United States had been drawn into the war through loans and trade with the Allies .

 

5. The Atlantic Charter: It was drafted at the Atlantic Conference (codenamed Riviera) by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U. S.) President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was the essential blue-print for the Post War world and is the foundation for many of the international treaties and organizations that currently shape the world.

 

6. The Cold War: It was the state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. Throughout this period, rivalry between the two superpowers was expressed through military coalitions, propaganda, espionage, weapons development, industrial advances, and competitive technological development, which included the space race.