World War 2 Effects On America Essay

World War II Effects on America More Americans died in World War II than in World War I and the Korean War combined (Robert Kuttner). During World War II, there were over sixty nations involved (Gibson). Even though this war lasted from 1939 to 1945, the Americans did not enter the war until 1941. This war cost America 296 billion dollars or 4,114 billion dollars in today’s economy. World War II affected America socially, economically, and politically. Many people faced social effects during and after the war. After the Hiroshima bombing, many people lost their family members. The men were drafted they were not able to communicate with their friends and family members. The men serving in the war were not able to communicate with their families since the only way of communication was by letter. This caused family traditions and communication to lessen throughout the war. When the men returned from fighting the war, some traditions went back to normal, but not all of them.
Even though there were many negatives to this war, there were also a few positives.
One of the positives to the war was that it helped our country to get out of the Great Depression. The war helped create jobs. While the men were fighting, the women had to start working. The women went to work in factories making firearms, battleships, bombs, and other items for the war. There were young men who would lie about their age, so they could fight. They were able to get away with this because there was not a lot of technology and birth records were not easily available. President Franklin D. Roosevelt prepared America for a “worst case scenario” dilemma. Through this, our country has become
strong.
On December 7, 1941 many Japanese planes attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor close to Honolulu (Staff). The attack started just before 8a.m. Over twenty thousand Americans died that day. After the attack, President Roosevelt wanted to immediately enter the war. A few days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, they became allies with Germany and Italy. After all of this happened, some Americans thought that the Japanese Americans were going to support Japan. Because of this, the government decided to place the Japanese Americans into internment camps.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Americans thought that the Japanese Americans were going to turn on America, and going back to supporting Japan. The Americans started discriminating against the Japanese Americans by saying, “The Japs live like rats, breed like rats and act like rats. We don’t want them.” (Mintz) Since Americans felt this way about the Japanese descendants, the government decided to put them into internment camp. These internment camps were located throughout the country in ten locations. The government wanted the families in the camps to be as self-sufficient as possible, so jobs were created in the camps, including farming, selling groceries, clothes, etc. If the Japanese Americans decided to work, they would be given a wage of five dollars a day. When each person left the internment camps the government gave the person 20,000 dollars, so they could restart their lives (ushistory.org).
In conclusion, even though the war caused many negatives, it also caused our country to become stronger. The war helped us to get out of the Depression, become a super power country, and helped us to make new allies. This war was a great learning experience for our country, also. But the greatest part of the war was that we made it through the war without our country falling apart. Through all the political, economic, and social challenges of World War II we survived!