America at 250: WWII, America’s Rise to Greatness

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months… The eyes of the world are upon you… The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you…”  -General Dwight D. Eisenhower

By the 1930s, the phrase “the war to end all wars” used to describe World War I had proven to be false. Some political leaders in Germany felt betrayed by the Treaty of Versailles. One - named Adolph Hitler - led efforts to overthrow the government there and was eventually appointed chancellor in 1933. In 1934 following President Paul von Hindenberg’s death, Hitler proclaimed himself Fuhrer of Germany. He and his National Socialist (Nazi) Party in 1935 rejected the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions on German rearmament. A year later Hitler invaded the Rhineland, formed what has been termed the Rome-Berlin Axis with Italy and subsequently signed the Anti- Comintern Pact with Japan, which Italy joined a year later. The Axis Powers- Germany, Japan and Italy- would eventually wage war in most of Europe and around the globe causing the deaths of more than 60 million people- the deadliest conflict in human history.

Why did World War II happen? Many scholars believe the harsh treatment of Germany was a primary cause, but there were numerous events which led to the escalations that produced this horrendous maelstrom. Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 proved that country’s leaders were favorable to military action to acquire territories they believed vital to their interests. Germany’s annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938 indicated Hitler’s ambitions were not restricted to Germany’s own borders. When he invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, it was obvious to all: a new era of military aggression had begun and was playing out around the world.

A Debacle Hard to Imagine

Considering a catastrophe so immense, one might wonder how such a series of events could be allowed to happen. The answer lies in the extremely fragile peace - more accurately, temporary suspension of military actions- which occurred in the aftermath of World War I. Though the League of Nations formed in 1920 had as its primary goal the prevention of war through collective security and disarmament, within just 11 years those dreams were shattered with Japan’s aggression in the Far East. As difficult as it is for us today to envision a worldwide conflict involving dozens of countries, a chain of events 90 years ago was the perfect crucible for it to develop. Leaders of more aggressive nations believed they had a right to capture and control territories and resources of other countries, almost regardless of the consequences.

As Hitler’s armies marched across Europe, conquering France and then seriously threatening England, it became quite clear that naked aggression against non-threatening nations was not only the ‘new norm’- it had become the ‘world view’ of the Axis Powers. As with the sinking of several American ships and the Lusitania in World War I, it took belligerence aimed toward the United States for us to become involved. With Japan’s brazen attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, American politicians “woke up” to the fact that such actions could easily come to our own shores. President Roosevelt’s hesitation to become directly involved was born of the fact that our nation had been in a major war just over a generation before- and had no appetite for another such endeavor. Yet December 7th convinced him that we would not only be involved, we would become the “arsenal of democracy” he had promised a year earlier in one of his “Fireside Chats”, when he agreed to provide England weapons and supplies to fight Nazi aggression.

It took years of bloody conflict, but it became clear that the Axis Powers were poised to collapse. Italy surrendered in September 1943; Germany capitulated in May 1945. Left standing was Japan, whose leaders vowed to fight to their deaths and never surrender. Newly inaugurated President Truman inherited the Manhattan Project and the atomic bomb, which he utilized in drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Finally, Japan surrendered and people around the world breathed a collective sigh, but the nuclear age had begun, with many scholars questioning where we were headed..

America Hears the Call- and Pennsylvania Steps Up to the Plate

More than any other event, World War II brought the entire industrial might of the United States to a level of achievement never seen before. The War Production Board directed companies around the nation to help in the war effort. Ford Motor Company stopped making automobiles for private consumption- and started building B-24 Liberator bombers for the Air Force. General Motors and Chrysler made aircraft engines, tanks and guns; Alcoa produced aircraft. Washing machine maker Maytag began making airplane parts; toy train maker Lionel started creating compasses for use by the U.S. Navy. IBM shifted away from tabulating machines and began constructing military ordnance; Kodak was crafting fuses for bombs. Because of the huge draw of men into the conflict, millions of women took their places along the assembly lines and in manufacturing plants, helping enormously in the war effort. By 1945, HALF of the military manufacturing capacity of the entire world was right here in the United States.

The Keystone State played a major role in helping to win the war. More than 1.2 million Pennsylvanians served in the military during World War II, in every theater of operations. The Pittsburgh area ramped up steel production dramatically and the state produced numerous other war materials, including iron, aluminum and synthetic rubber, which went into aircraft, landing crafts, jeeps, tanks and munitions.

A New Industrial Powerhouse Emerges

Despite the calamity, World War II transformed America into the most dominant military, industrial and economic superpower on Earth. As Europe and Asia lay in smoldering ruins, U.S. corporations hummed along at levels impossible to conceive just a few years before, leading the globe in output, creating manufactured goods at unprecedented levels. America also emerged richer than many of the other nations, with two-thirds of the world’s gold reserves, a decisive lead in the development of nuclear energy and a stable economy with a roaring stock market, moving past the stagnation of the Great Depression. So, a global disaster became a success story- which is what America is really all about: turning crisis into opportunity, moving from failure to achievement.