Connect the Impact of the Liberty Ships of the 1930s to Today’s Society.

World War II was a war filled with violence. The United States did not enter the war until later for fear of this violence. However, they were in the war from the beginning contrary to what most people think. The U.S. was sending supplies through cargo ships to England. These ships were known as liberty ships. Today, there is only one surviving liberty ship that can still function to its fullest, the S.S. Jeremiah O’brien. The O’brien will celebrate its 65th anniversary this year. The O’brien is not only an artifact from our history, but an icon of our country.

In 1939, Germany had already attacked and defeated many countries including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Denmark. Germany had next planned to move into nearby power, France. England, allies with France, sent in troops to the northern part of France. Germany used strategic tactics to cut off the northern allies and pin them into a small town called Dunkirk. Thousands escaped by sea to back to England, however many ships were destroyed and almost all supplies were left in France. England needed supplies fast or they would be defeated as well. The United States saw that if the great powers of France and England fell to Germany, they would soon be attacked. However many Americans did not see this and wanted to remain completely out of the war. President Franklin Roosevelt called for the making of giant cargo ships to send supplies to England. This would prevent the U.S. from entering the violence of the war, but now the U.S. had declared sides and stepped its foot into the war.

The cargo ships were called liberty ships because they would bring liberty to Europe. Nearly 20 shipyards and 2,800 ships were built in a four year period. The ships could