World War II’s Home Front and the Birth of the Cold War

In this episode, we explore World War II not just as a military conflict, but as a turning point on the American home front and in global politics. We examine what Americans knew about the Holocaust, the refugee crisis, and the moral limits of U.S. action. We also trace how the war reshaped life for Black Americans, women, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans, exposing deep contradictions in American democracy. Then we shift into the early Cold War, showing how wartime alliances gave way to distrust, containment, and a new national security state that would shape U.S. foreign policy for decades.