ch 25 apush terms - so far

“Good Neighbor” policy

to address bitterness in Latin America over previously imperialistic policies, FDR declared this policy that would renounce the right to *any* nations right to intervene in another’s affairs. Troops were withdrawn from several countries and the Platt Amendment was ended. From then on, the US has only offered assistance to Latin American countries economically. 

Anschluss

Hitler declared union between Austria and Germany, in 1938 as German tanks rolled into Vienna - he was welcomed w open arms

Neutrality Acts, Gerald Nye

a series of laws passed from 1935-1937 in response to the peoples’ longing for peace. They kept the U.S. out of wars with Europe. Some of the things outlawed were arms sales and loans to countries in war. These concreted the isolation of the U.S. and its citizens. This North Dakota senator was a huge factor in the development of these acts and the spread of isolationism.  

Nuremberg Laws

Hitler’s hatred toward the Jews resulted in these 1935 laws that stripped Jews of the right to German citizenship and increased restrictions of Jews in all spheres of German educational, social, and economic life

Kristallnacht

November 9-10, 1938. A frenzy of arson, destruction, and looting against Jews in Germany. Translates to English as the Night of Broken Glass

St. Louis

A German ocean liner filled with 950 Jewish refugees that US Immigration officials turned away when they asked for entrance in Ft Lauderdale, FL. A Coast Guard cutter stood guard to make sure that nobody jumped off to swim to shore. The liner would turn back and most of the passengers would die at the hands of the Nazis.  

cash and carry

American neutrality policy that opposed Nazi GermanyFDR persuaded Congress to amend the neutrality acts to allow belligerents to purchase US weapons as long as they paid cash ad carried the arms away in their own ships  so that there wouldn’t be any debts or American merchant ships sunk at sea

Committee to Defend America First

a political group led by Allen White that opposed allied aid in WWII. They said that FDR was lying to Americans about the neutrality acts and urged for reinforcement and support of said neutrality acts.  

lend-lease

war time policy proposed by FDR, the US could lend or lease any war material to any nation vital to America’s security 

Atlantic Charter

FDR and Churchill met on a warship and issued a statement that condemned aggression, affirmed national self-determination, and endorsed principles such as collective security, free trade, and disarmament, similar to the 14 points

Pearl Harbor

When Japan took over Indochina in 1941, the US froze all Japanese assets and set an embargo on Japan, and that cut off of oil hurt the Japanese economy. Under the rule of prime minister General Hideki Tojo, Japan set a deadline that if the US didn’t yield by December of that year, Japan would attack, although it was thought by the US after cracking a Japanese diplomatic code that they would go for Dutch or UK possessions. On December 7, 1941, Japanese dive-bombers attacked the US Naval Base of Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, killing over 2400 Americans. FDR called it “a day which will live in infamy” and Congress declared war the next day.  

James F. Byrnes and the Office of War Mobilization

became ‘assistant president’ after persuasion by FDR. Eventually became head of the OWM which was in charge of production, transportation, and distribution. He left the Supreme Court after 16 months despite leading the Dept. Of State before the Cold War.  

Smith-Connally War Labor Disputes Act of 1943

empowered the president to take over any facility where strikes threatened wartime production

Manhattan Project

code name for the top-secret program to develop the atomic bomb, started by FDR when warned of German attempts at the same thing. Employing American and Europeans alike, Soviets were excluded, the program employed more than 120,000 people, spent nearly $2 billion, and was led by J Robert Oppenheimer 

Office of War Information

Established by FDR in June 1942 in order to shape public opinion, employing over 4k artists, writers, and advertising specialists to explain the war to the public and work against enemy powers’ propaganda. This organization painted the war as amoral effort and resulted in Hollywood films with a special focus on negative stereotypes of the Japanese

Operation Torch, Operation Overlord (D-Day)

the first time Nazi Germany had action against the U.S. Its goal was to open a second front while also ending the desert war. It was successful in taking pressure off of the Soviet Union and it allowed for the Allies to push deeper towards Berlin. After the second front opened, this other operation was enacted. General Eisenhower led the allies to an attack on German-invaded Europe. Both operations were a success to the allied powers.  

Battle of Stalingrad

An August 1942- Jan 1943 battle regarded as a turning point of the war in which Soviet forces beat 2/3 of the Nazi’s army on the eastern front. The Red Army was successful in defending Moscow, saving Stalingrad, and saving Leningrad, which was under siege. The death toll was more than all of the American lives lost during the entire war.

Battle of the Atlantic

An umbrella term for the fight between Allied and Axis powers (particularly Germany) over the Atlantic, utlizing naval power in the fight against German U-boats, eventually expanding to aerial and radar tech

Battle of the Bulge

Hitler's desperate attempt, throwing his last reserves against American positions. Named for the “bulge” eighty miles long and fifty miles wide that Hitler’s troops drove into the Allies’ line, the battle lasted a month. At the end, American troops stood on the banks of the Rhine, meaning that Hitler had failed to stop Allied advance into Germany. It had cost the US 55,000 soldiers dead or wounded, and 18,000 taken prisoner. 

Battle of Midway

a base between Asia and Hawaii that was attacked by Japan. The U.S. was able to decipher and signal the planned attack which resulted in a huge defeat of the Japanese. General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz can be credited with the persistence of the north advance.  

Rosie the Riveter

symbol of women who assumed what had been “men’s work” in war industries on the home front 

WAC (Women's Army Corps), WAVE (Navy Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Relief), WASP (Women’s Air force Service Pilots (9 civilian))

over 300,000 women joined the armed forces and were given regular military status and served position other than nurse. They replaced men in non combative jobs and overall women gained a new sense of their potential

“Double V” campaign

seeing that the US gov’t needed loyalty and labor of united people, black leaders entered WWII to secure equal rights; a spokesperson insisted that African American support of the war depended on America’s commitment to racial justice. They demanded this kind of campaign to gain victory of discrimination at home as well as on the war front.

Congress of Racial Equality

civil rights organization founded in 1942 with the end goal of desegregating public facilities in northern cities, taking inspo from Gandhi’s nonviolent protest

Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

He led the March-On-Washington which gained the compromise of Executive Order 8802; this prohibited discrimination in work relating to the war. This was an African American led labor organization which consisted of railway workers. It was the first union led by African Americans that became a branch in the AFL.

Executive Order 9066; Nisei and Issei; Korematsu Case (1944)

This was the removal from military areas anyone deemed a threat. Although not a single Japanese American was apprehended for espionage or sedition, neither the FBI nor military intelligence uncovered any evidence of disloyal behavior by Japanese Americans, the military ordered the eviction of all of these two types of Japanese people from the West Coast. Japanese Americans lost and estimated $2 billion in property and possessions. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the evacuation, stating that it would not question government claims of military necessity during time of war.