American Studies: New Deal, WWII, and McCarthyism Study Guide

A comprehensive vocabulary set covering the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II theaters and strategies, and the onset of the Cold War and McCarthyism.

Herbert Hoover

The 31st U.S. President who held office during the start of the Great Depression and was associated with the philosophy of rugged individualism.

Rugged individualism

The belief favored by Herbert Hoover that individuals should succeed through their own efforts rather than relying on government assistance.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

The 32nd U.S. President who implemented the New Deal to combat the Great Depression and led the country through most of World War II.

New Deal

A series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by FDR to provide Relief, Recovery, and Reform during the Great Depression.

Fireside chats

A series of informal radio addresses given by FDR to explain his policies and reassure the American public.

Relief, Recovery, Reform

The three main goals of the New Deal: immediate aid for the unemployed (Relief), programs to fix the economy (Recovery), and permanent changes to prevent future depressions (Reform).

Bonus Army

A group of World War I veterans who marched to Washington D.C. in 1932 to demand early payment of their promised government bonuses.

Hoovervilles

Shantytowns built by homeless people during the Great Depression, named sarcastically after President Herbert Hoover.

WPA, FDIC, SSA

Key New Deal agencies and acts: the Works Progress Administration (jobs program), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (bank insurance), and the Social Security Act (retirement/disability benefits).

Island hopping

A military strategy used by the U.S. in the Pacific Front to selectively capture Japanese-held islands to move closer to mainland Japan.

Senator Joseph McCarthy

A Wisconsin Senator who became the face of the anti-communist Red Scare in the 1950s by making unsupported accusations of subversion.

McCarthyism

The practice of making unfair or unsubstantiated accusations, particularly related to communism, common during the Cold War era.

Pacific Front

The theater of World War II fought in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia against the Empire of Japan.

European Front

The theater of World War II fought in Europe and North Africa against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The two Japanese cities where the United States dropped atomic bombs in August 1945 to end World War II.

Manhattan Project

The secret U.S. research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II.

Isolationism/America First

The policy or doctrine of avoiding involvement in the political affairs of other countries, which was prominent in the U.S. before Pearl Harbor.

Lend-Lease

A 1941 policy allowing the U.S. to provide military aid to foreign nations whose defense was vital to U.S. security.

Cash and Carry

A policy where the U.S. allowed Allied nations to buy goods if they paid in cash and provided their own transportation for the items.

Pearl Harbor

A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

Japanese internment camps/ E.O. 9066

The forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII authorized by Executive Order 9066.

Four Freedoms

FDR’s proposed goals for a better world: Freedom of speech, Freedom of worship, Freedom from want, and Freedom from fear.

Atomic bomb

A powerful nuclear weapon developed during the Manhattan Project and used to bring a definitive end to the war with Japan.

Harry S. Truman

The 33rd U.S. President who took office after FDR’s death and made the decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

A high-ranking general in WWII who served as Supreme Allied Commander and later became the 34th U.S. President.

Red Scare

The widespread fear of a potential rise of communism or anarchism in the United States, particularly during the early Cold War.

Mutually Assured Destruction

A military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both.

Communism

A political and economic system that the U.S. sought to contain during the Cold War due to ideological conflicts.

D-Day

The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, which opened a major front against Nazi Germany in Europe.