UNIT 7, CH 24

World War II transformed the United States by greatly expanding federal power, boosting the economy, and reshaping American society. The government took stronger control through laws like the War Powers Act, increased taxes, and programs that mobilized industry for war production. The war also created new opportunities for women and minorities in defense jobs, though it exposed injustices like Japanese American internment. Internationally, the U.S. shifted from isolationism to global leadership, helping defeat fascism and emerging as a superpower. After the war, America played a central role in shaping the postwar world politically, economically, and militarily.

Fascism

Political system characterized by extreme nationalism, dictatorship, suppression of opposition, and strong central control

Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator of Italy (1922–1943) who allied Italy with Nazi Germany during WWII

Adolf Hitler

Leader of Nazi Germany (1933–1945) who started World War II in Europe and orchestrated the Holocaust

National Socialist (Nazi) Party

Germany’s fascist political party led by Hitler that promoted extreme nationalism, anti-Semitism, and Aryan racial superiority

Rome–Berlin Axis

1936 alliance between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

Neutrality Act of 1935

U.S. law aimed at keeping America out of foreign wars by banning arms sales to nations at war

Charles A. Lindbergh

Famous aviator and leading spokesperson for the isolationist America First Committee before WWII

Popular Front

Coalition of leftist political groups that united to oppose fascism in the 1930s

Munich Conference

1938 meeting where Britain and France allowed Hitler to take part of Czechoslovakia in an attempt to avoid war (appeasement)

Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies

U.S. organization that supported helping Allied nations while avoiding direct involvement in war

America First Committee

Isolationist group that opposed U.S. entry into WWII before Pearl Harbor

Four Freedoms

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 speech outlining four essential freedoms: speech, worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear

Lend-Lease Act

1941 law allowing the U.S. to supply military aid to Allied nations without immediate payment

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of Great Britain during most of WWII and a key Allied leader

Atlantic Charter

1941 agreement between FDR and Churchill outlining Allied goals for the postwar world

Hideki Tojo

Japanese prime minister during much of WWII and a leader in Japan’s military expansion

Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941 Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii that led to U.S. entry into WWII

War Powers Act

Law granting the president expanded authority to conduct war during WWII

Revenue Act

WWII-era law that greatly increased taxes to help pay for the war

Code talkers

Native American soldiers, especially Navajo, who used their language to create unbreakable military codes

Executive Order 8802

1941 order banning racial discrimination in the defense industry

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)

1944 law providing returning veterans with benefits such as education funding and home loans

Harry S. Truman

U.S. president who took office after FDR’s death in 1945 and authorized the use of atomic bombs on Japan

Zoot suits

Flashy suits worn by some young Mexican American men; associated with the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles

Executive Order 9066

Order authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII

Gordon Hirabayashi

Japanese American who challenged internment and curfew orders during WWII

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe who led D-Day; later U.S. president

D-Day

June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France at Normandy

Holocaust

Systematic murder of six million Jews and millions of others by Nazi Germany

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. program that developed the atomic bomb during WWII