1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
● In the 1932 election, Democrat Franklin
D. Roosevelt was elected President of the
USA. Optimistic and a commanding
public speaker, Roosevelt, a former
governor of New York State, was able to
inspire public confidence.
● In 1935, the Social Security Act
established contributory old-age and
survivors` pensions, as well as a joint
federal-state program of unemployment
insurance. Roosevelt’s programs did not
end the Depression. Although the
economy improved as a result of this
program of government intervention, full
recovery was finally brought before the
Second World War.
2. In September 1939, war erupted in Europe. Roosevelt announced
that the United States would be neutral, but not indifferent.
On December, 7, 1941, Japanese bombers struck at Pearl
Harbour naval base in Hawaii. The surprise attack sank or
damaged eight battleships and destroyed almost 200 aircrafts.
The United States immediately declared war on Japan. Four days
later, Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declare war on the
United States.
3. In 1941, Japan had a large navy and a greater
number of aircraft. Prospects for a Japanese military
victory depended on Japan’s being able to defeat the
Americans before the United States could
reconstruct its industrial complex to produce
military equipment. At this Japan failed, and the
United States was soon producing huge numbers of
ships, aircraft and weaponry.
4. The USA feared that Germany might
develop a nuclear weapon, so the
government spent $ 2 thousand million
on the top-secret Manhattan Project,
which produced and tested an atomic
bomb in 1945.
5. American, British and Soviet war
planners agreed to concentrate on
defeating Germany first. British and
American forces landed in North
Africa in November 1942, then
proceeded to Sicily and the Italian
mainland in 1943, liberating Rome on
June 4, 1944, after months of bitter
fighting. Two days later, June, 6, “D-Day”,
allied troops landed in
Normandy. Paris was liberated on
August, 24, and by September
American units were across the
German border. Finally, on April, 25,
1945, the western Allied forces met
Soviet troops at the town of Torgau,
Germany.
6. American forces wanted to invade the
Japanese home islands. In the hope of
bringing the war to a swift end President
Harry Truman ordered to use the atomic
bomb against Hiroshima (August, 6) and
Nagasaki (August, 9). Japan agreed to
surrender on August, 14. Nearly 200,000
civilians died in the nuclear attacks.
After the war, tension quickly developed
between the United States and the Soviet
Union. At the Yalta Conference in February
1945, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin
promised free elections for all the liberated
nations of Europe. The western Allies
restored democracy in Western Europe and
Japan, but Soviet forces imposed communist
dictatorships in Eastern Europe.
7. In 1947, Secretary of State George C.
Marshall proposed a massive aid program
to help rebuild destroyed Europe. The
USSR and the Eastern European nations
were invited to participate in the Marshall
Plan, but the Soviets rejected the offer. The
Marshall Plan was a generous and
successful program. Over four years it paid
out $12,5 thousand million in aid and
restored the economies of Western Europe.
8. At this time, Germany and Berlin were divided in two –
a western zone under American, British and French occupation,
and an eastern zone under Soviet domination. In April, 1949,
the United States allied with Canada, Britain, France, Belgium,
the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark,
Iceland and Portugal to form the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).
In May, 1947, the United States began sending military
aid to the Greek government, which was fighting Communists,
and to Turkey, which had a conflict about territory with the
Soviets.
