11 - Unit 7: World War II, 1950s, and the Early Cold War

Allied Powers

WWII alliance between Great Britain, China, resistance movements, and later the Soviet Union and United States

Axis Powers

WWII alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Isolationism

The desire to avoid foreign entanglements by remaining disconnected and separate from possible sources of conflict; this ideology was especially popular in the US Congress in the 1920s and 1930s.

Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937

Short-sighted acts passed to prevent American participation in a European war. Among other restrictions, they prevented Americans from selling munitions to foreign belligerents and travel on their ships.

Cash and Carry Policy (1939)

U.S. policy that allowed the sale of material to countries at war, as long as the recipients arranged for the transport using their own ships and paid immediately in cash, assuming all risk in transportation.

Lend-Lease Act (1941)

The program under which the US supplied Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945 in return for a promise of repayment following the war.

"Arsenal for Democracy"

Roosevelt said that America would have to become this phrase in order to help the Allies fight Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan who were viewed as militaristic dictatorships. Sending war materials through the Cash and Carry policy and Lend-Lease Act would achieve this goal without actually declaring war or sending American men to the war.

Pearl Harbor Attack (1941)

1941 Japanese surprise attack on American naval base and airforces in Oahu, Hawaii , leading to the President Roosevelt's declaration of war against Japan and Italy and Germany's subsequent declaration of war on the US.

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Under the command of General Eisenhower, over a million American and British troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France; marked a turning point in World War II.

The Holocaust

Plan orchestrated by Hitler and the Nazis to ensure German supremacy through eugenics and genocide; called for the elimination of Jews, non-conformists, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and mentally and physically disabled; resulted in the horrific deaths of over 6 million victims.

War Productions Board

Regulated the production and allocation of materials and fuel during World War II; directed American industries toward war production; exemplified the massive increase in government control and size during the war under the Roosevelt administration.

GI Bill of Rights (1944)

Provided unemployment, education, and financial benefits for World War II veterans to ease their transition back to the civilian world.

Rosie the Riveter

A propaganda character designed to increase participation of female workers in industrial factories; became a rallying symbol for women to do their part and fill in for servicemen on the homefront.

Double V

Idea popularized during WWII which encouraged African American men to serve in the armed forces to fight Nazi racism oversees, and then return home to fight racism in America.

Japanese-American Internment/Incarceration

Policy adopted by the Roosevelt administration in 1942 under which 110,000 persons of Japanese descent, most of them American citizens, were removed from the West Coast and forced to spend most of World War II in internment camps; it was the largest violation of American civil liberties in the twentieth century.

Executive Order 9066

FDR's order to relocate all persons of Japanese descent living on the West Coast into internment/prison camps.

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

1944 Supreme Court case that found Executive Order 9066 to be constitutional; Fred Korematsu, an American-born citizen of Japanese descent, defied the military order to surrender his freedom; court upheld his arrest and imprisonment saying it was 9066 targeted national ancestry rather than race.

Yalta and Potsdam Conferences (1945)

Two meetings held near the end of WWII (between USA, USSR, and UK leaders) where plans for the post-war world were discussed; included the creation of the United Nations, division Germany and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence by allied powers and Stalin's desire for Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe.

United Nations

Organization of nations to maintain world peace, established in 1945 and headquartered in New York; five permanent members of the Security Council included Britain, China, France, and the Soviet Union.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

32nd POTUS (Democrat); New Deal, "alphabet soup"; court packing; Social Security Act; Fair Labor Standards Act; WWII; died during fourth term in office.

Harry S. Truman

33rd POTUS; Democrat; approved use of nuclear weapons to end WWII; shaped U.S. foreign policy of containment at the beginning of the Cold War.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th POTUS; Republican; Withdrew from Korean War; Interstate Highway Program; 5-Star General; Lavender and Second Red Scares; Little Rock 9

John F. Kennedy (JFK)

35th POTUS (Democrat); Alliance for Progress; Space Race; Cuban Missile Crisis; Peace Corps

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. (with aid from Canada and the United Kingdom) project for the construction of the atomic bomb.

Nuremberg trials (1945)

Series of trials conducted by an International Military Tribunal in which former Nazi leaders were charged with crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes; prosecution was led by Justice Robert H. Jackson.

Containment

American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology.

Marshall Plan (1947)

Plan to revive war-torn economies of Europe through financial aid to prevent support for communism and to promote buying from US businesses.

Berlin Blockade/Airlift (1948-1949)

Stalin's attempt to block access to Berlin to which the US responded by sending food and supplies by airplane to be dropped into the city.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

1949 alliance of nations under mutual agreement to support and protect each other in the event of war (western, non-communist nations).

Second Red Scare/McCarthyism

Post-WWII hysteria focused on the fear of Communists in the US government; peaked when Sen. Joseph McCarthy fueled the movement through false accusations and HUAC investigations

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

Tense confrontation caused when the US discovered Soviet offensive missile sites in Cuba, leading to Kennedy blockading the island from resources, and brought the nations to the brink of nuclear war.

Suburbs/Levittowns

Towns outside of cities consisting of identical, cheap, mass-produced homes; became a popular destination for white middle class families following World War II; Levittowns were the most famous model.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Social reformer who combined her deep humanitarian impulses with great political skills; made major contributions throughout her husband, FDR's, time in office; led the United Nations in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard; characteristic of white middle class culture and the "American Dream" throughout the 1950s.