APUSH Chapter 24 Vocabulary

Fascism (p. 768)

Fascism (p. 768)

A system of government characteriszed by strict social and economic control and a strong, centralized government usually headed by a dictator.

National Socialist (Nazi) Party (p. 768)

German political party led by Adolf Hitler, who became chancellor of Germany in 1933. The party’s ascent was fueled by huge World War I reparation payments, economic depression, fear of communism, labor unrest, and rising unemployment.

Rome-Berlin Axis (p. 769)

A political and military alliance formed in 1936 between German dictator Adolf Hitler and the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Neutrality Act of 1935 (p. 769)

Legislation that sought to avoid entanglement in foreign wars while protecting trade. It imposed an embargo on selling arms to warring countries and declared that Americans traveling on the ships of belligerent nations did so at their own risk.

Popular Front (p. 770)

A small but vocal group of Americans who pushed for greater U.S. involvement in Europe. American Communist Party members, African American civil rights activists, and trade unionists, among other members of the Popular Front coalition, encouraged Roosevelt to take a stronger stand against European Fascism.

Munich Conference (p. 770)

A conference in Munich held in September 1938 during which Brittain and France agreed to allow Germany to annex the Sudetenland - a German-speaking border area of Czechoslovakia - in return for Hitler’s pledge to seek no more territory.

Committee to Defend American by Aiding the Allies (p. 771)

A group of interventionists who believed in engaging with, rather than withdrawing from, international developments. Interventionists became increasingly vocal in 1940 as war escalated in Europe.

America First Committee (p. 771)

The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost United States isolationist pressure group launched against American entry into World War II. Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak.

Four Freedoms (p. 771)

Identified by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the most basic human rights: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The President used these ideas of freedom to justify support for England during World War II, whcih in turn pulled the United States into the war.

Lend-Lease Act (p. 771)

Legislation in 1941 that enabled Britain to obtain arms from the United States without cash but with the promise to reimburse the United States when the war ended. The act reflected Roosevelt’s desire to assist the British in any way possible, short of war.

Atlantic Charter (p. 772)

A press release by President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August 1941 calling for economic cooperation, national self-determination, and guarantees of political stability after the war.

Pearl Harbor (p. 773)

A naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, taht was attacked by Japanese bombers on December 7, 1941; more than 2,400 Americans were killed. The following day, President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan.;.

War Powers Acts (p. 773)

The law that gave President Roosevelt unprecedented control over all aspects of the war effort during World War II.

Revenue Act (p. 775)

An act that expanded the number of people paying income taxes from 3.9 million to 42.6 million. These taxes on personal incomes and business profits paid half the cost of World War II.

Code Talkers (p. 776)

Native American soldiers trained to use native languages to send messages in battle during World War II. Neither the Japanese nor the Germans could decipher the codes used by these Navajo, Comanche, Choctaw, and Cherokee speakers, and the messages they sent gave the Allies great advantage in the battle of Iwo Jima, among many others.

Executive Order 8802 (p. 780)

An order signed by President Roosevelt in 1941 that prohibited “discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin” and established the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC).

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944) (p. 780)

Popularly known as the GI Bill, legislation authorizing the government to provide World War II veterans with funds for education, housing, and health care, as well as loans to start businesses and buy homes.

Zoot Suits (p. 783)

Oversized suits of clothing in fashion in the 1940s, particularly among young male African Americans and Mexican Americans. In June 1943, a group of white sailors and soldiers in Los Angeles, seeking revenge for an earlier skirmish with Mexican American youths, attacked anyone they found wearing a zoot suit in what became known as the zoot suit riots.

Executive Order 9066 (p. 787)

An order signed by President Roosevelt in 1941 that authorized the War Department to force Japanese Americans from their West Coast homes and hold them in relocation camps for the rest of the war.

D- Day (p. 790)

June 6, 1944, the date of the Allied invasion of northern France. This was the largest amphibious assault in world history. The invasion opened a second front against the Germans and moved the Allies closer to victory in Europe.

Holocaust (p. 792)

Germany’s campaign during World War II to exterminate all Jews living in German-controlled lands, along with other groups the Nazis deemed “undesirable.” In all, some 11 million people were killed in the Holocaust, most of them Jews.

Manhattan Project (p. 793)

Top-secret project authorized by Franklin Roosevelt in 1942 to develop an atomic bomb ahead of the Germans. The Americans who worked on the project at Los Alamos, New Mexico (among other highly secretive sites around the country), succeeded in producing a successful atomic bomb by July 1945.