Effects of WW II on the U.S.

and the isolationist policy that had become a national

characteristic in the wake of World War I and the Great

Depression (Johnson, 1997). Even while providing some financial

and material support to Great Britain via the Lend-Lease

Program, the U.S. in general and the Roosevelt Administration in

particular remained somewhat removed from "Europe's War" -

until, of course, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December

7, 1941. After the attack, the United States moved rapidly to

amass a large military machine and to provide that machine with

all of the resources that were needed to wage war on two

disparate fronts. AS Paul Johnson (2000, p. 779) has commented,

Pearl Harbor was, Axis Powers, a "woefully small

military return for the political risk of attacking an enormous,

intensely moralistic nation like the United States."

After the bombing, the U.S. embarked on a mobilization of

human, physical, and financial resources that was without

precedent in history (Johnson, 1997) .The economic doldrums of

the Great Depression, and the isolationist posture of the

majority of American citizens and leaders, were erased in a

single day (Foner, 1998). Eric Foner (1998) stated that few

events have transformed American life as broadly and deeply as

World War II -touching in some way and to some degree upon all

. . .
ies who would otherwise not have attended; is not only created a new class of professional, highly educated workers, but it also fostered social and economic mobility as well (Takaki, 1993) . More significantly, perhaps, the War justified a new and permanent role for the United States as a major world power in terms of its military might, political and diplomatic influence, and economic prosperity (Foner, 1998). A close link was created between corporate-dominated business and a militarized federal government -what President Dwight D. Eisenhower called a "military-industrial complex" that would dominate the national scene throughout the first years of the Cold War and well into the Vietnam Conflict (Foner, 1998) .Industries geared for military production continued to produce for military use after the War, but many products were also transformed into civilian use as well. The national commercial airline industry, for example, benefited enormously from the research and development efforts of the War years and grew dramatically when hostilities ceased. According to Ratner, Soltow and Sylla (1993), great advances in technology were achieved from the scientific research and developments that were so vital to the
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Some common words found in the essay are:
War II, Soltow Sylla, World War, GI Bill, Axis Powers, III Western, Auto Workers, Additionally Jeffries, George Kennan, Harlow Maerz, world war, war ii, world war ii, foner 1998, soviet union, harlow maerz, roberts 1989, ratner soltow sylla, johnson 1997, soltow sylla, sylla 1993, ratner soltow, soltow sylla 1993, harlow maerz 1990, martin roberts 1989,
Approximate Word count = 1545
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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