Chapter 35: World War II

ABC-1

agreement with Britain that adopted the strategy of "getting Germany first" then focusing on the Pacific

"Double V"

For African Americans: a victory over fascism abroad and AND a victory over segregation at home

Office of Price Administration

WWII Office that installs price controls on essential items to prevent inflation

Smith-Connelly Act

allowed government to seize tied up industries

merchant marine

civilian ships and sailors that transported food, weapons, and munitions

Detroit race riot

1943, largest riot in a year in which the United States saw eight major riots. Forty-three people were killed during the violence.

internment camps

Detention centers where more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated during World War II

War Production Board

government agency that decided which companies would make war materials and how to distribute raw materials

Issei

Name for Japanese immigrants during the war who were not eligible for US citizenship b/c of their race

Nissei

American-born children of Japanese immigrants; second generation Japanese Americans.

black market

an illegal market in which goods or currencies are bought and sold in violation of rationing or controls

WAACS

"Women in Arms." Females who were drafted into the *army* for non combative duties

WAVES

Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service in the *Navy*

SPARS

women serving in the *Coast Guard*

A. Philip Randolph

America's leading black labor leader who called for a march on Washington D.C. to protest factories' refusals to hire African Americans, which eventually led to President Roosevelt issuing an order to end all discrimination in the defense industries

Fair Employment Practices Committee

Enacted on June 25, 1941 to prohibit discrimination in the armed forces

braceros

Mexican workers that were brought to America to work during World War II

CORE

Congress of Racial Equality; advocated nonviolent reform

code talkers

Navajo Indians recruited by the U.S. Marine Corps to transmit messages in the Navajo language

zoot-suit riots

attacks by U.S. sailors against Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles

OSRD

Office of Scientific Research and Developement: made improvements in sonar and radar, along with pesticides and penicillin. Worked on Manhattan Project

Bataan/Corregidor

The last strands of American and Filipino forces against the Japanese before they overran the Philippines were here, also key point for the American liberation of the Philippines from Japan. McCarthur vowed to return here

Douglas MacArthur

Commanded Allied troops in the Pacific during World War II. He was forced to surrender the Philippines in 1941 and was thereafter obsessed with its recapture, which he accomplished in 1944.

Battle of the Coral Sea

A battle between Japanese and American naval forces that stopped the Japanese advance on Australia

Chester Nimitz

United States admiral of the Pacific fleet during World War II who used aircraft carriers to destroy the Japanese navy in the Battle of Midway, successfully combined forces of air, land, and sea in battle

Battle of Midway

U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in World War II

Guadalcanal

First U.S. land victory over the Japanese

leapfrogging

refers to the tactic of the US forces in WWII that involved sinking Japanese troopships and warships bringing reinforcements, thereby neutralizing Japanese strongholds and moving on, leaving them to die on the vine

wolf packs

a group of German uboats that hunted Allied ships

"Desert Fox"

nickname given for German General Erwin Rommel; led German forces through North Africa

Bernard Montgomery

British general who in an attack at El Alamein was able to drive the Germans away from the Suez Canal

Stalingrad

site of a Red Army victory over the Germany army in 1942-1943. The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point in the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Dwight Eisenhower

leader of the Allied forces in Europe during WW2--leader of troops in Africa and commander in DDay invasion-elected president

Casablanca Conference

January 1943 conference between FDR and Churchill that produces Unconditional Surrender doctrine

Teheran

City where Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill met to plan a second front to divert the Germans from Russia

D-Day

June 6, 1944 - Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. The turning point of World War II.

Aachen

in October of 1944, this was the first German town that the Allies captured

George S. Patton

Allied Commander of the Third Army. Was instrumental in winning the Battle of the Bulge. Considered one of the best military commanders in American history.

Thomas E. Dewey

the Governor of New York (1943-1955) and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency in 1944 and 1948

Henry A. Wallace

FDR's liberal vice president during most of WWII, dumped from the ticket in 1944

Battle of the Bulge

last German offensive through the Ardennes forests in December 1944; Germans lost

Harry S. Truman

VP under Roosevelt, President when Truman died

V-E Day

May 8, 1945; victory in Europe Day when the Germans surrendered

Okinawa

Site of important battle near Japanese mainland; last battle before atomic bombs; Allies won

kamikazes

Japanese suicide pilots

Postdam Conference

Stalin, Truman, and Churchill came together to decide how Germany would be punished. Their goals were to establish order, settle peace treaty issues, and deal with the effects of WWII. Truman found out about atomic bomb

USS Missouri

Place where Allies and Japanese met for the Japanese to surrender

B-29s

New bombers, "superfortresses," were used to bomb Tokyo and the cities of Japan. The Japanese tried to shoot them down. They were used to deliver the atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Saipan

In 1944, this was the first large island in the central Pacific to fall, giving the US a platform for B-29 raids.

"silent service"

American submarines

El Alamein

Town in Egypt, site of the victory by Britain's Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery over German forces led by General Erwin Rommel (the 'Desert Fox') in 1942-1943.

"Marianas Turkey Shoot"

Battle of the Philippine Sea; Japanese lost 600 aircraft and 3 aircraft carriers, meant that the Japanese didn't have much left, Spruance criticized for not being aggressive enough because there were four more Japanese aircraft carriers

Jiang Jeshi

he led the Chinese Nationalist army and fiercly resisted the invasion of Japan

Anzio

battle that allowed allies to occupy Rome