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The Second World War
Overview
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The post World War I years were tension-filled. The economic boom of the 1920s was not global but the economic chaos of the 1930s was global. Americans were particularly isolationist when war in Europe broke out. At most, some isolationists believed the United States should act to protect the Western Hemisphere. President Roosevelt and others believed the United States should actively aid England's and France's resistance of Germany. Both groups knew that participation in the war would change the United States. Until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the question of involvement was debated. Afterward there was no question. The American political economy was forced to adapt to war. It was a transformation that Americans made willingly. During the war, the nation borrowed heavily, and wartime spending stimulated the economy. War contracts created 17 million jobs. Industrial production doubled. People had jobs and they had money to spend and they spent it. As industry expanded into new cities and regions, workers relocated, too, and organized themselves into a powerful political and economic force. The idealism of earlier wars was lacking in World War II. They were battling totalitarianism, gestapos, and master races. Franklin Delano Roosevelt characterized the Americans' cause in his Four Freedoms: freedom of speech and worship and freedom from want and fear. The Americans attacked the Axis Powers with speed and firepower. Following the Allied invasion of North Africa the United States carried the war to Japan and Europe with a destructiveness never before witnessed. Looking beyond the victory, Americans began to anticipate the difficulties of reconstructing the world and creating institutions necessary for a global economy at peace.
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