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U.S. HISTORY LEARNING PACKET
Unit 2: World War II and the Beginning of the Cold War (1930-1963)
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
How has expansion been used to extend political power?
 Who were the “winners” and “losers” of WW II and how are they portrayed and
remembered?
 What impact can an individual have on society?
 Why did the United States go to war?
 How was American society changed by the war?
 What factors contributed to the development and decision to drop the atomic
bomb?
 What were the developments that lead to the Cold War?
WHAT SHOULD YOU UNDERSTAND AT THE END OF THIS UNIT?
As a result of political and economic instability, military dictatorships emerged in
Europe and Asia and pursued aggressive nationalist policies that furthered global
competition for resources and territory.
 US foreign policy following WWI vacillated between interventionism and
isolationism however, the direct attack on Pearl Harbor mobilized the United States to
directly enter the war.
 Economic, social and cultural structures on the US Home Front changed as a result
of involvement in WWII.
 As the war progressed, tensions between the world powers grew over political,
cultural and economic ideologies, which motivated countries to create agreements and
alliances that lead to the Cold War.
KEY VOCABULARY – define at least 20 of the following terms
Adolf Hitler
Battle of Britain
Benito Mussolini
Battle of the Bulge
Emperor Hirohito
Blitzkrieg
Winston Churchill
Chester Nimitz
Fascism
D-Day (Operation Overlord)
Joseph Stalin
Douglas MacArthur
Munich Pact
George Patton
Third Reich
Holocaust
Four Freedoms
Newsreels
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Pamphlets
Lend-Lease Act
Air drops
Neutrality Acts
War posters
Non-Aggression Pact
Iwo Jima
Pearl Harbor
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Quarantine Speech
Manhattan Project
Atomic bomb
Midway
Island hopping
Nuremberg Trials
Okinawa
Pearl Harbor
Stalingrad
V-E Day, V-J Day
Casablanca, Tehran, Potsdam
War bonds
Korematsu v. United States (1945)
Northern Migration
Rosie the Riveter
Selective Services Act
WACs
War Production Board
Japanese Internment Sites
Japanese American Museum
Chinese Civil War
Israel
Korean War
Marshall Plan
Nikita Khrushchev
Truman Doctrine
U-2 Incident
Alliance for Progress
N.A.T.O.
O.A.S.
S.E.A.T.O.
Security Council
United Nations
Warsaw Pact
“Duck and cover”
Japanese Internment
Rationing
Bay of Pigs
Berlin Airlift
Berlin Wall
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Cuban Missile Crisis
Douglas MacArthur
Eisenhower Doctrine
Fidel Castro
Geneva Accords
Hydrogen Bomb
Iron Curtain
Police Action
Test Ban Treaty
Fallout Shelters
National Security Act (1947)
House on Un-American Activities
Committee
Alger Hiss
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Hollywood Blacklist
Sputnik
NASA
National Defense Education Act
Space Programs
Neil Armstrong
John Glenn
Peace Corps
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS – explain at least 5 of the following concepts,
incorporating key vocabulary
Appeasement
Isolationism
Reparations
Totalitarian Governments
Treaty of Versailles
Worldwide depression
The United States at war
The influence of propaganda at home and abroad
Designs for peace
The Home Front
Suspension of Civil Liberties
Suburbanization
Transition to Peacetime
U. S. Military Intervention
Containment
The Cold War
Balance of Power
Organizations for peace
Effects of Cold War on America’s home life
McCarthyism
The Military-Industrial Complex
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES – complete at least 1 of the following activities

Read chapters 16,17, 18 and create an note-set or chapter outlines
Read chapters 16, 17, 18 and complete the “Chapter Assessment” (terms and names,
main ideas and critical thinking sections only) at the end of each chapter.
Extension: now, pick at least one of the following “Habit of Mind” assignments. You
may do more than one for extra credit. Be sure to indicate that you did “extra” on your
paper when you turn it in!
Read Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Quarantine” speech
(http://millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/diglibrary/prezspeeches/roosevelt/fdr_1937_1005
.html). Write a summary of his arguments and explain how a person such as Charles
Lindbergh would have responded to these arguments. (see Habit of Mind #2)
Read George Kennan’s “X” article
(http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/04/documents/x.html). Explain
what circumstances precipitated his writing of this analysis as well as what responses he
recommends from the United States. (see Habit of Mind #3)
Choose one of the images about World War II included in the American Treasures of
the
Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tr11c.html#wwii ). Write an
explanation of the event depicted. (see Habit of Mind #4)
Read Eisenhower’s farewell address
(http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/speeches/eisenhower001.htm). Evaluate
the relevance of his warnings about the military-industrial complex in today’s world. Be
specific. (see Habit of Mind #5)
FIVE HABITS OF MIND
1. Evidence (How do you know that?)
How do we know what’s true and false?
What evidence counts?
How sure can we be?
What makes it credible to us?
This includes using the scientific method and more.
2. Viewpoint (Who said it and why?)
How else might this look if we stepped into other shoes?
If we were looking at it from a different direction?
If we had a different history or expectation?
This requires the exercise of informed “empathy” and imagination.
It requires flexibility of mind.
3. Cause and Effect (What led to it? What else happened?)
Connections?
Is there a pattern?
Have we seen something like this before?
What are the possible consequences?
4. Hypothesizing (What if? Suppose that?)
Could it have been otherwise/
Supposing that?
What if…?
This habit requires use of the imagination as well as knowledge of alternative
possibilities.
It includes the habits described above.
5. Matter (Who cares?)
Relevance?
Does it matter?
WEBSITES, GAMES, LITERATURE, VIDEOS, DOCUMENTARIES (not
required but suggested as enrichment)
Exploring Japanese American Internment
(http://www.asianamericanmedia.org/jainternment/) – site includes video and audio clips
from films, text, photos, historical documents, etc.
After the Day of Infamy: “Man-on-the-Street” Interviews after the Attack on Pearl
Harbor (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afcphhtml/afcphhome.html) – over 200
interviews recorded after the 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor
Rosie Pictures: Pictures Related to American Women Workers During World War II
(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/126_rosi.html) – includes hundreds of images used to
encourage women to join the work force or to highlight other aspects of the war effort
World War II Poster Collection
(http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/collections/wwii-posters/) – includes
images of over 300 posters produced by government agencies during WWII
World War II Photos (http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/) – from the
National Archives
World War II: The Impact at Home
(http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture21.html) – lecture notes from a
University of Wisconsin professor
Japanese American National Museum (http://www.janm.org/) – includes various online
“exhibits”
Cold War: A Brief History
(http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page01.shtml) – focuses on the role of
the atomic bomb in the beginnings of the Cold War
Joseph McCarthy: A Modern Tragedy
(http://www.foxvalleyhistory.org/mccarthy/senator1.htm) – based on an exhibit at the
Outagamie County Historical Society in Wisconsin
SAMPLE TEST QUESTIONS – answer the following questions
1. The United States entered World War II immediately after
A. Russia invaded Manchuria.
B. Germany attacked Poland.
C. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
D. Italy conquered Ethiopia.
2. “Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in
manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and
important source of energy in the immediate future.”
— Albert Einstein, letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, August 2, 1939
The development referred to in Einstein’s letter led directly to
A. a government program to develop the atomic bomb.
B. the first funding of scientific research by the federal government.
C. the delivery of inexpensive electricity to U.S. consumers.
D. the creation of a new cabinet department.
3. Which group of Americans was forced out of their homes and businesses and placed in
internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
A. Chinese Americans
B. German Americans
C. Italian Americans
D. Japanese Americans
4. Which of the following statements does this World War II
poster best support?
A. Women were assigned to unimportant positions.
B. Women worked in nontraditional occupations.
C. Women did not meet the demands placed on them.
D. Women were expected to return to homemaking
after the war.
5. “It must be the policy of the United States to support free
peoples who are resisting . . . armed minorities or . . . outside
pressures.”
– Harry S Truman, 1947
The policy described was part of a larger policy of the Truman
administration that was referred to as
A. nativism.
B. massive retaliation.
C. isolationism.
D. containment.
6. The cartoon depicts United States frustration with (next page)
A. the Good Neighbor policy.
B. Dollar Diplomacy.
C. the Spanish-American War.
D. the Bay of Pigs invasion.
7. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact are best
described as two…
A. organizations founded by the European Economic Community to promote trade
between Europe and the United States.
B. treaties negotiated between the Allies and the Central Powers at Versailles after the
First World War.
C. bodies established by the United Nations to promote peace within multiethnic
European countries such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
D. military organizations made up, respectively, of the United States and its allies and the
Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War.
8. What did the United States government do in response to the event referred to in the
cartoon and headline?
A. The government decided to seek peace immediately and to end the Cold War.
B. The government banned civilian contact between United States and Soviet citizens.
C. The government decided to spend more on both scientific education and the military.
D. The government requested that the United Nations prohibit Soviet space exploration.