Download Chapter 20 Study Guide - Merrillville Community School Corporation

Chapter 25 Study Guide
Overview
This chapter covers American involvement in World War II and its effects on the United States.
At the height of the depression, America tried to legislate isolation from any future foreign
conflicts by enacting a series of Neutrality Acts, but as wars broke out first in Asia and Africa
and then in Europe, the United States gradually amended these laws or President Roosevelt
managed to find ways to moderate their effects. Even before Pearl Harbor, the United States
was involved in a naval conflict with Germany in the North Atlantic. U.S. policy sought to deal
with Hitler’s Germany as the most serious enemy, but the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
partly changed that. The United States and its allies were on the defensive until mid-1942,
when the North African counter-offensive, the Battle of Stalingrad in Soviet Russia, and the
Coral Sea-Midway victories in the Pacific marked the turning of the tide. The war became a
battle of production, with the United States possessing enormous advantages. While the
United States fought the war for democracy, some constituencies still had to fight for
democracy at home. The home front’s involvement in the war changed the lives of many
women and African Americans, who became essential to the wartime economy. Japanese
Americans, mostly from the West Coast, experienced a humiliating and unjust detention even
as many of their sons served with distinction in Europe. The United States became the world’s
greatest single power and stood at the center of global politics. Roosevelt and his successor,
Harry Truman, worked with a range of politicians and experts to develop a new foreign policy
to face these changing conditions.
Learning Goals: After reading this chapter you should be able to:
Discuss the problems in American communities created by wartime changes. Use the Los
Alamos scientists as your example.
Trace the changes in American policy from isolationism to involvement in the war in Europe
and Asia, as well as reactionary critics to the policy.
Summarize the effects of the war on the home front, including business, labor, the family, and
various ethnic groups.
Describe the effects the war had on men and women in uniform.
Outline the strategies needed to win the war in both Europe and the Pacific.
Explain what significant technological and political changes developed in the last stages of the
war.
Compare the U.S. involvement in World War I and World War II in terms of the foreign and
domestic policies that were developed, and the effects of those policies on the nation. (Review
Chapter 22.)
Key Terms:
Blitzkreig
Neutrality Act of 1939
Axis Powers
Lend-Lease Act
Atlantic Charter
War Powers Act
Issei and Nisei
Double V Campaign
Zoot Suit Riots
WAC/WAAC
Nisei Soldiers
Navajo Code Talkers
POW Camps
Operation Torch
Operation Overlord
D-Day
Battle of The Bulge
Eastern Front
Island Hopping
Holocaust
Yalta Conference
Discussion Questions:
1. How did Roosevelt prepare us for war?
2. What was the Atlantic Charter?
3. What role did propaganda play in the US before and during the War?
4. How was the economy organized to help the war effort?
5. What groups of workers replaced the men who went to fight?
6. How did families change with the advent of WWII?
7. What happened to Japanese-Americans during W.W. II?
8. What was the Double V Campaign? Was it successful?
9. How did American Culture change during WWII?
10. How was the military populated?
11. What role did women serve in the military?
12. How was the military life for homosexuals?
13. What was the medical care like for US soldiers?
14. How was treatment for POW’s different?
I will cover the rest of the chapter in class, but make sure you read those sections that
remain.