Allied Leaders of World War II - United States of America

United States of America

• Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. Roosevelt had come into power during the Great Depression on a promise to heal the country. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, he attempted to aid the Allies without declaring war. He died in office two weeks before the surrender of Germany.

• Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States from 1945 until 1953. Truman took office after the death of Roosevelt. President Truman ordered the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. After the war he oversaw postwar recovery efforts.

• Dwight D. Eisenhower was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe; he had responsibility for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45, from the Western Front.

• George Marshall was General of the Army and the Chief of Staff during the war. As Chief of Staff, Marshall oversaw the largest military expansion in American history. Marshall coordinated Allied operations in Europe and the Pacific. After the war Marshall became Secretary of State and led the post-war reconstruction effort in Europe, which became known as the Marshall Plan. For his role in the recovery he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Henry H. Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. He was the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.

• Ernest King was Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet (1941–45) as well as Chief of Naval Operations (1942–45) and Fleet Admiral (from 1944).

• Henry L. Stimson was Secretary of War from 1940 until 1945. He was an early proponent for war against Germany. As secretary of war Stimson was in charge of much of the organizational and logistical aspects of America's war effort. He oversaw the raising and training 13 million soldiers and airmen, supervised the spending of a third of the nation's GDP on the Army and the Air Forces, helped formulate military strategy, and took personal control of building and using the atomic bomb.

• Cordell Hull was Secretary of State from 1933 until 1944. Hull was responsible for foreign relations before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He sent the Hull note to Japan prior to the attack, which was part of the United States attempt to open Chinese markets to U.S. goods against Japanese interests there. After the war he was the key architect for establishing the United Nations and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

• William Joseph Donovan was the director of the Office of Strategic Services from 1942 until it was disbanded in 1945. Donovan and the OSS was responsible for collecting intelligence by the Army, Navy, and State Department. For his actions he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

• J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1935 until 1972. Hoover and the FBI were responsible for the intelligence in the United States and South America during the war. Hoover had success in shutting down a Nazi spy network in the United States.