Download Teacher`s Guide

1940–1949
Lesson 5
LESSON 5
The Decade of 1940–1949
LESSON ASSIGNMENTS
You are encouraged to be very attentive while viewing the video program. Review
the video objectives and be prepared to record possible answers, in abbreviated
form, as you view the video. The topics and time periods may differ from the
chapters of the textbook your school system is using. Each video program
chronicles a wide array of events and personalities during a specific decade of the
20th century. Keep in mind that one of the overarching goals of each lesson is to
help you understand how past historical events and actions by historical
personalities did not occur in a vacuum, and that they are inextricably interwoven
in your society today.
Video:
“The Decade of 1940–1949” from the series, The Remarkable 20th Century.
Activities:
Your teacher may assign one or more activities for each lesson.
OVERVIEW
The decade of the 1940s was dominated by World War II. The war helped pull the
U.S. out of the depression, and women flooded the labor market in an attempt to
fill the labor vacuum left when the men went to war. War posters abounded,
encouraging Americans to conserve with slogans such as “Save Waste Fats for
Explosives—Take Them to Your Meat Dealer” and “Have You Really Tried to Save
Gas By Getting Into a Car Club?” One of the most famous of all wartime posters
was “Rosie the Riveter,” which was symbolic of the patriotic woman who
encouraged women to join the work force.
The horrors of the war were not confined to the battlefield. Ten people in the
United States were convicted of spying for Japan during the entire course of
World War II, all of who were Caucasian.Yet, the U.S. Government constructed
internment camps that confined thousands of Japanese Americans for no other
reason than their lineage. Meanwhile in Germany, millions of Jews were being
herded into concentration camps. But, the Holocaust resulted in more than just
confinement in camps; it resulted in mass murder.
World War II had not even come to a close before the seeds of the “Cold War”
took root. World War II ended Japanese, German, and Italian aggression, but it
also spawned the “Red Scare” in the United States that shared many similarities
to the “Red Scare” of 1918–1919.
41
Teacher’s Guide
Lesson 5
1940–1949
Franklin D. Roosevelt died toward the end of the war, after having been elected
an unprecedented four times. He was replaced by Harry Truman who would
make the decision to drop the atomic bombs, face the realities of the “Cold
War,” and address the growing discontentment of African Americans who resent
second-class citizenship in military and civilian life.
By 1947 there were 13 television stations available to the general public. At the
end of the war there were only 5,000 television sets, with five-inch black and
white screens, in American homes. By 1951, 17 million had been sold. Who can
forget the “Howdy Doody Show” and Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town”?
Computers were developed in the early forties, and a digital computer named
ENIAC, weighing 30 tons and standing two stories high, was completed in 1945.
The big bands of Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, and others dominated the music
scene. Eventually many of the singers with the big bands struck out on their own.
Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Billy Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald led the hit parade.
Dr. Benjamin Spock revolutionized child rearing with his “common sense”
suggestions on raising children. He was just in time for the baby boom that
resulted when the GIs returned from the war.
LESSON GOAL
To evaluate the major ramifications of World World II with reference to the
“Cold War,” treatment of racial, ethnic, and religious groups, and the impact of
propaganda.
VIDEO OBJECTIVES
The following objectives are designed to assist the viewer in identifying the most
significant aspects of the video segment of this lesson.You should take succinct
notes while viewing the video.
Video: “The Decade of 1940–1949”
1. Determine three key reasons for U.S. entry into World War II and three key
effects of the U.S. entry into the war.
2. Analyze how World War II affected the following groups of people:
a. African Americans in the U.S.
b. Japanese Americans in the U.S.
Teacher’s Guide
c. Jews in the U.S. and Europe.
3. Evaluate why President Franklin Roosevelt was elected to four terms as
president.
4. Ascertain the causes of the “Cold War.”
5. Identify three of the most significant cultural developments in the 1940s and
be prepared to defend your choices.
42
1940–1949
Lesson 5
TIME CODES
Time Code Year
00:00
00:30
1940
01:57
02:07
1940
Topic
Opening
Overview
Title
World Politics
02:42
03:16
1940
1940
US Politics
Entertainment
03:38
04:08
1940
1940
US Politics
World Politics
07:20
1940/41
US Politics
08:50
1941
Entertainment
09:51
11:04
11:24
1941
World Politics
1942
World Politics
1 9 4 0 / 4 1 World Politics
13:54
1941
US Politics
15:26
1941
World Politics
16:52
1942
Entertainment
18:06
1942
Entertainment
19:33
1942
Social Issues
20:09
1942
World Politics
22:47
24:54
25:35
1942
1942
1942-44
Social Issues
Social Issues
World Politics
28:10
1944
Overview
28:51
1944/45
World Politics
32:10
1945
US Politics
32:41
1945
World Politics
33:34
1945
World Politics
Description
Opening
Howard K. Smith intros decade
Episode V: 1940s
Germany in Poland; Japan
occupies much of Asia
Isolationism
Movies: W. C. Fields, Mae West,
Kathryn Hepburn, Cary Grant
Roosevelt wins 3rd term
Denmark, Norway, Belgium,
France fall; Churchill becomes
Prime Minister; Battle of Britain;
Edward R. Murrow
Roosevelt builds up military; LendLease Act
Movies: Sgt. York, Citizen Kane;
Sports: baseball – Joe DiMaggio
Hitler invades USSR
U-Boats
Roosevelt freezes Japanese assets;
General Tojo; Pearl Harbor
Men Enlist; Rosie the Riveter; US
Japanese & internment camps
The Final Solution; German
concentration camps
Movies: Casablanca, White
Christmas; Music: Frank Sinatra
Stars enlist & entertain;
Hollywood Canteen
Recycling; Victory Gardens; War
Bonds
Japan expands to Southeast Asia;
Battles of Coral Sea & Midway;
Guadalcanal = Turning Point;
Allies seize North Africa; Rommel;
Germany lays siege to Stalingrad
Black Americans in war effort
Journalists – Pyle & Cronkite
Patton marches to Rome;
Eisenhower & D-Day;
assassination attempt on Hitler
Howard K. Smith segues between
1st and 2nd half of 1940 decade:
innovations
Paris is liberated; Russians free
Poland; MacArthur in the East;
Battle of the Bulge; Allies uncover
Death Camps; Mussolini executed
Roosevelt dies; Truman
inaugurated
Yalta Conference; Hitler commits
suicide; V-E Day
Iwo Jima; Okinawa; Atom Bomb;
Hiroshima & Nagasaki; Japan
surrenders
43
Teacher’s Guide
Lesson 5
Time Code Year
37:21
1945
38:03
38:20
38:33
39:01
39:55
41:27
43:08
48:40
50:02
50:49
1940–1949
Topic
Social Issues
Description
Baby Boom Era begins; GI Bill of
Rights
1945
World Politics
United Nations
1946
Discoveries & Technology First computer
1946
Social Issues
Christian Dior fashions; the bikini
1947
World Politics
Nuremberg Trials; Iron Curtain;
Truman Doctrine
1947
Social Issues/
Sports: baseball & Jackie
Entertainment
Robinson
1947
Discoveries & Technology Dead Sea Scrolls; Yeager & Sonic
Boom
1947-49 World Politics
India wins independence;
Marshall Plan; Division of
Germany; Czechoslovakia falls to
Communism; NATO; Israel is
created
1948
US Politics/ Social Issues Civil rights in the military
1948
US Politics
Dewey v. Truman
1948
Social Issues
House Committee on UnAmerican
Activities & Alger Hiss
51:37
1949
World Politics
52:53
1949
Overview
54:15
Closing
Red Army takes China; Soviets get
A-Bomb; The Cold War
Howard K. Smith talks about the
Cold War
Closing Credits
WEB ACTIVITIES
These activities are not required unless your teacher assigns them. They are
offered as suggestions to help you learn more about the material presented in
this lesson.
Activity 1—World War II Poster Art
1. Access the National Archives and Records Administration “Powers of
Persuasion Poster Art From World War II” at http://www.nara.gov/exhall/
powers.html and review the background information.
2. Select one poster from each of the following categories to analyze:
Teacher’s Guide
Man the Guns
It’s a Woman’s War Too
United We Win
Warning! Our Homes Are in Danger Now
This Is Nazi Brutality
He Knew the Meaning of Sacrifice
He’s Watching You
Stamp ’em Out!
Four Freedoms
Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, Or Do Without
3. Access the “Poster Analysis Worksheet” located at: http://www.nara.gov/
education/teaching/posters/analysis.html.
Use the worksheet as a basis for analyzing the posters you have chosen.
44
1940–1949
Lesson 5
Activity 2—Internment of Japanese Americans During World War II
Access the following Web sites and review the historical background of
internment of Japanese Americans during World War II:
University of Washington materials related to the Japanese
American incarceration
http://www.lib.washington.edu/Manuscripts/front.html
University of Washington Camp Harmony
http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/Exhibit/default.htm
Executive Order No. 9066
http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/images/jpamer/execordr.html
National Archives. Documents and photographs related to
Japanese Relocation during World War II
http://www.nara.gov/education/cc/relocate.html
American Memory Fellows Program
Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson99/fear/intro.html
Students should complete one of the following lessons.
1. Access the National Archives “Written Document Analysis Worksheet” at
http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/analysis/write.html and use it as a
basis to analyze “Executive Order No. 9066” located at: http://
dizzy.library.arizona.edu/images/jpamer/execordr.html.
2. Access the Library of Congress student resources page, which contains a
link to a photograph of a Japanese-American child being evacuated with his
parents to Owens Valley http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson99/
fear/intro.html.
After analyzing the photograph, answer the questions listed on page 3 of the
Web site under the heading “Procedure” Activity One.
3. Access the National Archives Web site titled “Documents and Photographs
Related to Japanese Relocation during World War II” at http://www.nara.gov/
education/cc/relocate.html.
Then access the links to the following photographs:
4. “Posting of Exclusion Order”
7. “Children Pledge Allegiance”
Teacher’s Guide
14. “Sorting Baggage”
17. “High School Campus at Heart Mountain”
Access the National Archives “Photograph Analysis Worksheet” and use the
worksheet as a basis for analyzing the four photographs.
http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/analysis/photo.html
45
Lesson 5
1940–1949
Activity 3—Holocaust
Note to teachers and students
Access the “Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust” at http://www.ushmm.org/
misc-bin/add_goback/education/guidelines.html which is published by the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum before assigning lessons related to the
Holocaust.
You must be very careful in using the Web to do research about the
Holocaust. Many sites may contain inappropriate graphics or be
extremely misleading.
1. Access the following Web sites and review the historical background of the
Holocaust.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/education/
A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust. Student Activities
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/Holocaust/activity/activity.htm
The Nizkor Project
http://www.nizkor.org/
An Introductory Summary of the Holocaust
http://library.thinkquest.org/12663/summary/
Holocaust and Issues that Relate to the Holocaust
http://killeenroos.com/link/holocaus.htm
National Archives and Records Administration
Holocaust-Era Assets
http://www.nara.gov/research/assets/weblinks.html
Do one of the following lessons:
a. Access “Gallery 1 of Holocaust Images” from A Teacher’s Guide to the
Holocaust at http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/Holocaust/resource/gallery/gallery.htm.
Select two images from the following two categories:
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Resistance
Access the National Archives and Records Administration “Photograph
Analysis Worksheet” at: http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/analysis/
photo.html.
Teacher’s Guide
Use it as a basis for analyzing the documents you select.
b. Access “Documents” from A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust at http://
fcit.coedu.usf.edu/Holocaust/resource/document/document.htm.
Then access two of the three links listed below:
Hitler on Propaganda
The Wannsee Protocol
46
1940–1949
Lesson 5
Statements by Leading Nazis on the “Jewish Question”
Then access the National Archives and Records Administration “Written
Document Analysis Worksheet” at http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/
analysis/write.html. Use it as a basis for analyzing the two documents you
select.
PRACTICE TEST
After watching the video and reviewing the objectives, you should be able to
complete the following Practice Test. When you have completed the Practice
Test, turn to the Answer Key to score your answers.
Multiple-choice
Select the single best answer. If more than one answer is required, it will be so
indicated.
1. Harry Truman supported U.S. recognition of the new state of Israel for all of
the following reasons except:
A. humanitarian sympathy for the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.
B. a desire to preempt Soviet influence in Israel.
C. a wish to retain the support of American Jewish voters.
D. pressure from the State and Defense departments.
2. Jian Jieshi and the Nationalist government lost the Chinese civil war to the
communists and Mao Ze-dong mainly because:
A. Jiang lost the support and confidence of the Chinese people.
B. the United States failed to give Jiang enough aid.
C. Mao received much assistance from the Soviet Union.
D. communists with the Truman administration undermined Jiang’s efforts.
3. Underlying the origins of the Cold War lay a fundamental disagreement
between the United States and the Soviet Union over postwar arrangements
in:
Teacher’s Guide
A. Europe.
B. Asia.
C. the Middle East.
D. the Third World.
47
Lesson 5
1940–1949
4. One sign of the stress that post-World War II geographic mobility and the
baby boom placed on American families was the:
A. popularity of advice books on child rearing by Dr. Spock.
B. increasing reliance on television as a “baby sitter.”
C. increased number of long-distance telephone calls.
D. redistribution of income.
5. Action by the United States against Adolf Hitler’s campaign of genocide
against the Jews:
A. was far too slow in coming.
B. included the admission of large numbers of Jewish refugees into the
United States.
C. involved the bombing of rail lines used to carry victims to the Nazis
death camps.
D. was slow in coming, because the United States did not know about the
death camps until near the end of the war.
6. Japanese-Americans were placed in concentration camps during
World War II:
A. due to numerous acts of sabotage.
B. in retaliation for the placement of Americans in concentration camps by
the Japanese.
C. as a result of anti-Japanese prejudice and fear.
D. all of the above.
7. African-Americans did all of the following during World War II except:
A. fight in integrated combat units.
B. rally behind the slogan “Double V” (victory over dictators abroad and
racists home).
C. move north and west in large numbers.
D. form a militant organization called the Congress of Racial Equality.
Teacher’s Guide
48
1940–1949
Lesson 5
Essay/Problem Questions
8. How did World War II affect:
a. the role of the national government in American life?
b. the relationship between the government and the economy?
c. minority groups in the U.S.?
d. the traditional two-term limit on holding the office of the presidency?
9. What action do you think the U.S. Government should have taken with
regard to the following issues? Defend your answers.
a. internment of Japanese-Americans
b. the Holocaust
c. entry into World War II
ANSWER KEY
Multiple Choice:
Essay/Problem Questions
1. D Ref.V 2
8. Ref.V 1; 2; 3
2. A Ref. V 4
9. Ref.V 1; 2
3. A Ref. V 4
4. A Ref. V 5
5. A Ref. V 2
6. C Ref.V 2
7. A Ref. V 1; 2; 3
Teacher’s Guide
49
Lesson 5
Teacher’s Guide
50
1940–1949