Term | Definition |
Isolationism | US foreign policy after WWI — avoid involvement in international conflicts. |
Cash ‘n Carry Policy | 1939 law: countries could buy US arms if they paid cash and carried them away themselves. |
Lend-Lease Act | 1941 law: US could "lend" weapons to Allies to help fight Axis powers, without direct involvement yet. |
Four Freedoms Address | FDR’s 1941 speech promoting freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, freedom from fear. |
America First Committee | Group opposed to US entering WWII, believed US should focus only on defense. |
Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941) | Surprise attack by Japan on US naval base; caused US to enter WWII. |
War Production Board | Gov’t agency that organized American factories to make war supplies during WWII. |
A. Philip Randolph | Civil rights leader who pushed FDR to ban discrimination in defense industries. |
Double V Campaign | African American campaign for victory against fascism abroad and racism at home. |
Fair Employment Practices Committee (Exec Order 8802) | FDR’s order banning racial discrimination in defense jobs during WWII. |
Marriage rates | Marriage rates skyrocketed during and right after WWII due to wartime urgency and postwar optimism. |
Rosie the Riveter | Symbol of women working in factories during WWII to support the war effort. |
WAAC to WACs | Women's Auxiliary Army Corps became Women's Army Corps — women officially served in US Army. |
Japanese Internment | Forced relocation of 120,000 Japanese Americans to camps during WWII, often without evidence of disloyalty. |
Korematsu v. United States | Supreme Court case upholding internment camps as constitutional during wartime. |
Bracero Program | US recruited Mexican workers to fill agricultural jobs during WWII labor shortages. |
Zoot Suit Riots | 1943 racial clashes in LA between American servicemen and Mexican American youths. |
Allied bombing campaign over Germany | Intense air raids by British and US forces to destroy German industry and morale. |
Tuskegee Airmen | All-Black US Army Air Force squadron famous for their skill and bravery in combat. |
Normandy Invasion / D-Day (June 6, 1944) | Massive Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France; major turning point in Europe. |
Dwight Eisenhower | US general who planned and led D-Day; later became US President. |
Battle of Midway (June 1942) | Huge US naval victory over Japan — turning point in the Pacific War. |
Battle of Guadalcanal (1942-43) | First major US land victory in Pacific, critical in stopping Japanese expansion. |
Island hopping campaign | US military strategy of capturing strategic islands moving closer to Japan. |
Kamikaze planes | Japanese suicide pilots who crashed into Allied ships during late stages of the war. |
Robert Oppenheimer | Scientist who led the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. |
Manhattan Project | Secret US project to build the atomic bomb during WWII. |
Harry S. Truman | US President after FDR; made decision to drop atomic bombs, started Cold War policy of containment. |
Battle of Iwo Jima (Feb-March 1945) | Brutal Pacific battle; US needed island for airbases near Japan. |
Yalta Conference (Feb 1945) | Meeting of FDR, Churchill, Stalin to plan postwar Europe; agreed on Germany's division. |
Potsdam Conference (July 1945) | Meeting of Truman, Stalin, Attlee; warned Japan to surrender; tensions with Soviets grew. |
Enola Gay | US bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. |
Hiroshima and Nagasaki | Cities in Japan destroyed by atomic bombs, leading to Japan's surrender. |