Chapter 27 introduces the second world war. Relations between Japan and the United States deteriorated after Japan resumed its war against China in 1937. Neither the United States nor Japan desired war. Roosevelt considered Nazi Germany to be a more dangerous enemy and dreaded the prospect of a two-front war. In the spring of 1941, Secretary of State Cordell Hull demanded that Japan withdraw from China. Even moderates in Japan did not accept Hull’s demand for total withdrawal. In July 1941, the United States retaliated against Japan’s occupation of Indochina by freezing Japanese assets in America and placing an embargo on petroleum. Militarists assumed control of Japan’s government, and while the pretense of negotiation continued, Japan prepared to implement war plans against the United States. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Congress declared war on Japan the following day, and on December 11, the Axis powers declared war on the United States.

Chapter 28 introduces a new enemy abroad and at home. Economists feared that the end of the war would result in a return of the depression. Pent-up consumer demand for houses, automobiles, and other consumer goods, however, spurred production. The G. I. Bill of Rights (1944) enabled veterans to pursue education, learn a trade, or start a business. The first issue he confronted after the war was reconversion of the economy.

Chapter 29 introduces Kennedy in Camelot. Kennedy made a show of presenting himself to the public as young, vigorous, athletic, and intellectual. That carefully constructed image, however, was misleading. Kennedy was no intellectual. He had a myriad of health problems, for which he took heavy doses of painkillers and amphetamines. In addition, he engaged in a reckless series of extramarital sexual adventures. Members of his administration prided themselves on being the best and the brightest. Like the president himself, his administration failed to live up to the image it fashioned for itself.