2. The United States and World War II
What were the main reasons that the United States entered World War II?
• German submarines sinking American merchant ships.
• Japans invasion of China and the treatment of the Chinese.
• The attack of Pearl Harbor.
3. Coded Messages in World War II
Why were coded messages so important
for both the Allie and Axis Powers
during World War II and why was it
important to have strong codes?
• They were used to tell important
information without enemies
knowledge.
• If there secrets were discovered the
enemies could learn where to attack
and put countless lives in danger.
• The Enigma code was a code system
used by Germany during World War
II.
• Using a modified Enigma machine the
Germans felt like they had come up
with a code that none of there
enemies could decipher and used it for
all of there military communications.
• The British were able to crack the
code in 1940 and used the information
to stop the Axis Powers in North
Africa.
4. Navajo Code Talkers
• The United States wanted to create a
code that they felt like would be
impossible for there enemies
(especially the Japanese) could not
crack.
• Philip Johnston, an engineer from Los
Angeles, suggested to U.S Marine
Corps that they should use Navajo for
there coded messages.
• Johnston, as a kid lived on the Navajo
reservation since his father was a
missionary and was able to speak
Navajo himself.
5. Navajo Code Talkers Cont.…
• Navajo was a complex un-written
language that very few outside of the
Navajo people could understand.
• The Navajo marines were able to
encode, transmit, and decode a three-
line English message in about 20
seconds.
• These codes helped the Allied Powers
(especially the Americans) in many
battles such as the Battle of Iwo Jima.
6. • Imagine that you are a non-Japanese American after the attack on Pearl
Harbor. There is fear everywhere that another attack could happen and that
there might be Japanese spies living among you. Would you agree with the
government choice to put Japanese Americans in internment camps and why
or why not.
• Now imagine that you are a son or daughter of a Japanese immigrant. Your
family dose not interact at all with Japan and your family considers
themselves American. The government has decided to take your family from
your home, sell most of your belongings, and put your family in an interment
camp. How would you feel about this situation and would you be able to
understand why the government has arrested you for no reason
7. The 442nd Regiment
• The 442nd regiment was composed of
Japanese Americans from mostly
Hawaii who volunteered for the
United States Army.
• These men fought for the United
States even though many of them had
family members who were locked up
in United States internment camp.
• The reasons why the United States
was willing to have Japanese
Americans fight in the war was
because they needed more troops
especially since they were needing
troops to fight with the Allies in
Germany and fight in the Pacific
against the Japanese.
8. The 442nd regiment
• The 442nd regiment was sent into the
Vosges Mountains which is on the
outskirts of France to save 1st
Battalion, 141st Regiment of the 36th
"Texas" Division who were surrounded
by Germans.
• After five days of fighting and heavy lost
of men the 442nd regiment was able to
save the Texans.
• The 442nd regiment was used at the end
of World War II and broke through the
Gothic line which was a very heavily
defended part of Northern Italy by the
Germans.
• They were able to break through the
Germans defenses and had them on the
run until they surrender on May 2,
1945.
9. The Tuskegee Airman
• Based on the trailer for the movie Red
Tails who do you think the Tuskegee
Airman were and what did they do to help
the United States during World War II
10. The Tuskegee Airman
• In World War II there was still a lot of
discrimination against African
Americans thanks to Jim Crow Laws.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first
African-American military aviators in
the United States Armed Forces.
• Even with discrimination by laws and
fellow solders the airman were able to
prove themselves and be sent into
battle.
• 996 men completed training with 450
of them becoming fighter pilots and
the others became bomber pilots.
11. The Tuskegee Airman
• The pilots were originally sent in
April of 1943 to help the Allied
Powers against the Axis Powers.
• There hard work got them sent to
help in Allied campaigns in Italy and
Germany
• There main job during the war was
that they protected bomber pilots on
escort missions deep in the enemy
territory.
• The impact and color barriers that the
Tuskegee Airman broke would lead to
future events against segregation in
the United States.
