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The United States in World War II Notes
1. Define Selective Service:
2. What part did the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) play in World War II?
3. Name some of the minority groups that served in World War II:
4. What happened to America’s auto industry during WW II? What was produced in
these factories?
5. How did America’s labor force change by 1944?
6. Why did FDR create the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) in
1941? What was the focus of this agency?
7. The Manhattan Project was the code name for a project under the jurisdiction of the
OSRD. What was this project?
8. Who wrote a letter to FDR warning him that Germany was attempting to develop an
atomic bomb?
9. Why did FDR create the Office of Price Administration (OPA)? What action did the
OPA take to combat rising prices?
10. Why did FDR create the War Production Board (WPB)? What were some of the
agencies responsibilities?
11. Who met with FDR for three weeks after the Attack on Pearl Harbor? What was
discussed? What decisions were made?
12. Why did Hitler order submarine attacks on U.S. merchant ships in the Atlantic?
13. What did the Allies do to combat German submarines in the Atlantic?
14. What Allied victory was considered the first major turning point in the land war in
Europe? What was the human cost of the victory?
15. “Operation Torch” was an Allied offensive in what country? Who launched the
invasion? Who was being chased?
16. Why did FDR and Winston Churchill meet in Casablanca? What was decided at this
meeting?
17. What happened to Mussolini after the Allies took control of Sicily?
18. Who were the Tuskegee Airmen?
19. What was Operation Overlord or D-Day?
20. By September 1944, what countries were freed of German rule?
21. FDR was elected to how many terms as President?
22. What was the Battle of the Bulge? Who won the battle?
23. What did Hitler do when he realized Germany had lost the war and the Allies were
approaching Berlin?
24. What was celebrated on May 8, 1945?
25. What happened on April 12, 1945?
26. What two countries made up the main Allied forces in the Pacific?
27. The Battle of the Coral Sea saved what country from a Japanese invasion?
28. What happened at the Battle of Midway? Was it a major turning point for the Allies
or the Axis Powers?
29. What is Island hopping?
30. What were Kamikaze attacks?
31. Why did General Douglas MacArthur and the Allied forces invade the Japanese
controlled island of Iwo Jima? What was the result?
32. What was did the Battle for Okinawa cost both in terms of men and equipment? Why
the heavy cost?
33. What did MacArthur predict an invasion of Japan would cost in terms of Allied
deaths?
34. What decision did Truman make that would hopefully end the war sooner?
35. What warning did Truman give Japan in late July 1945?
36. What happened on August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945?
37. What announcement did President Harry Truman make on August 14, 1945?
38. Who met at the Yalta Conference in February 1945?
39. What was decided at the Yalta Conference? (3 major things)
1.
2.
3.
40. What was the result of the Nuremburg war trials? What was not an acceptable
defense?
41. Who occupied Japan after World War II and under whose command? How did Japan
change under this new leadership?
42. How did World War II change the United States on the home front? Who benefited
by these changes?
43. What was the purpose of the G.I. Bill?
44. What happened to many Japanese-Americans (mostly on the west coast) and some
German and Italian-Americans living in the U.S. during World War II?
45. What did President Reagan sign into law in the late 1980’s that impacted JapaneseAmericans?
46. What was dedicated in Washington D.C. on May 29, 2004?