Great Depression?

Question

The approach of another world war caught the U.S. largely unprepared. Having just emerged from the Great Depression, there was little time to recruit and train a military, which the nation preferred to avoid. However, the threats from fascism and communism made modern military and technology necessary. The adjustments made during World War II left the U.S. as a superpower afterwards, both economically and militarily. How do economic conditions affect art and culture? Why was America reluctant to join the Allies in World War II? Why can it be said that the war was won by Rosie the Riveter? Was the use of atomic weapons on Japan justified? Why was America both an economic and military superpower after World War II?

Answer 1

Way too much to cover. The US public, both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, favored staying out of the Second World War initially (until Pearl Harbor). The Republicans tended to be isolationist and the liberals were influenced by communist inspired groups that supported the Soviet Union's pact with Nazi Germany (until June 1941 when Russia was invaded).
Rosie the Riveter, meaning US industrial might, assured that the Americans and their allies had more and better weaponry and supplies than the Axis powers. American weaponry was more dynamic, with developments and improvements continually coming on line throughout the war.
As for the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Professor Samuel Eliot Morison, who taught American History at Harvard and was the official US Navy historian of World War II, estimated that at least 200,000 American servicemen would have been killed in the first few weeks of the invasion of Japan. Much greater numbers of Japanese military and civilians likely would have been killed in the fighting, bombing, naval gunfire and destruction. The A bombs likely saved 100,000s of lives, both US and Japan and avoided a communist North Japan as the Soviet Union was going to invade the North of Japan as the US invaded the south.