APUSH Chapter 24 Vocab

Nye Committee

A Senate committee that investigated if arms manufacturers pushed the U.S. into WWI for profit. Its findings increased American isolationism, encouraging Congress to pass laws to keep the U.S. out of future foreign wars.

Neutrality Acts 1935, 1936

laws that banned selling arms or giving loans to nations at war. They reflected a strong desire to avoid entangling the U.S. in the rising conflicts in Europe and Asia.

Cash and Carry Policy

A policy allowing the U.S. to sell war materials to belligerents, provided they paid in cash and transported them on their own ships. It allowed FDR to aid Britain and France while officially staying neutral.

Popular Front

A political alliance between liberal, communist, and labor groups in the late 1930s opposing fascism. It influenced American culture to become more antifascist and socially progressive before WWII.

America First Committee

A powerful anti-interventionist group that fought against U.S. involvement in WWII, arguing for "America First" policies. They influenced public opinion until they disbanded immediately after Pearl Harbor.

Lend-Lease Act

A law authorizing the U.S. to sell, lend, or give war supplies to any nation deemed vital to U.S. defense (like Britain and the USSR). It essentially ended U.S. neutrality by making the U.S. an "arsenal of democracy" before joining the fighting.

Four Freedoms

Goals stated by FDR—Freedom of speech, worship, from want, and from fear—that people everywhere should have. They became a guiding justification for American participation in World War II.

Atlantic Charter

A statement issued by FDR and Winston Churchill setting goals for the post-war world, including self-government and open trade. It helped shape the creation of the United Nations.

Pearl Harbor

A surprise Japanese military strike on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii. It resulted in the U.S. entering WWII and ended isolationist sentiment.

Jeannette Rankin

The first woman elected to Congress and a staunch pacifist who cast the only vote against entering WWI and the only vote against entering WWII. She represents the intensity of the early 20th-century anti-war movement.

Navajo Code Talkers

Native Americans who used their unwritten Navajo language to create unbreakable codes for U.S. military communication. Their efforts were crucial to winning key battles in the Pacific.

Double V Campaign

A slogan and campaign used by African Americans during WWII to fight for victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home. It energized the early civil rights movement

A. Phillip Randolph / March on Washington

A labor leader who threatened a mass protest to force equal employment opportunities for Black workers. This pressure led to FDR issuing an executive order banning discrimination in defense industries.

Fair Employment Practices Committee

A federal agency created to prevent discrimination against Black workers in defense industries. It was a major step toward addressing racial inequality in federal employment.

National War Labor Board

A government agency created to mediate labor disputes during WWII to prevent strikes. It ensured that production of war materials continued smoothly.

GI Bill of Rights

A law providing veterans with money for education, housing, and unemployment benefits. It created a massive, educated middle class and transformed American society post-war.

Executive Order 9066

An order signed by FDR in 1942 allowing the military to remove any person from designated areas, resulting in the internment of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans. It is recognized as a major violation of civil liberties.

Nesei / Issei

Issei were first-generation Japanese immigrants (not allowed to be citizens), and Nesei were their American-born children (citizens). Both groups were affected by internment, with many Nesei fighting for the U.S.

Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) and Hirabayashi v U.S. (1943)

Supreme Court cases that upheld the legality of Japanese internment during wartime. These rulings validated the forced relocation as a security necessity, later recognized as unjust.

Big Three

The allied leaders (Franklin Roosevelt (USA), Winston Churchill (UK), and Joseph Stalin (USSR)) who led the fight against the Axis Powers. They shaped the wartime strategy and the post-war global order.

D-Day (Operation Overlord)

The massive Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France on the beaches of Normandy. It was the turning point that allowed the Allies to begin liberating Western Europe.

Battle of Midway

A crucial naval battle in the Pacific where the U.S. destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers. It shifted the initiative to the U.S. and halted Japanese expansion.

Manhattan Project / Robert Oppenheimer

The top-secret U.S. program, led scientifically by Oppenheimer, that developed the first atomic bomb. It changed warfare forever and led to the end of WWII.

Harry Truman

Vice president who became president after FDR's death in 1945. He made the controversial decision to use atomic bombs on Japan, ending the war, and oversaw the early Cold War.