Fascism

• A government controlled by intense nationalism and militancy

• Dictators gave patriotic speeches as propaganda to gain a following

• Typically ruled by forcefully and often violently suppressing opposition and criticism, and controlling all industry and commerce

Adolf Hitler

• Wrote Mein Kampf

• Rose up the ranks of the Nazi Party

• Was a powerful orator who used this skill to rise up to eventually become a fascist dictator

• Initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland

• Central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims

Quarantine Speech

• Given by FDR in 1937

• Declared that the US would break off trade ties and interactions with nations ruled by aggressive and imperialist dictators

• Called for an international "quarantine of the aggressor nations" as an alternative to the political climate of American neutrality and non-intervention that was prevalent at the time

The Axis Powers

• Included Germany, Italy, and Japan

• United in their opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion

• Invaded Poland, then Scandinavia, then France

• Hitler massacred large numbers of Jews and Slavs along the way

Nye Commission

• Created in 1934

• A United States Senate committee (April 12, 1934 – February 24, 1936), chaired by U.S. Senator Gerald Nye

• Investigated the financial and banking interests that underlay the United States' involvement in World War I and the operations and profits of the industrial and commercial firms supplying munitions to the Allies and to the United States

• A significant factor in public and political support for American neutrality in the early stages of World War II

Lend-Lease Act

• 1941

• Gave President Roosevelt virtually unlimited authority to direct material aid such as ammunition, tanks, airplanes, trucks, and food to the war effort in Europe without violating the nation's official position of neutrality

• Intended to assist in the defense of nations whose security was deemed vital to the security of the United States

• FDR advocated creating the program as a way to provide indirect support for the Allies without engaging the U.S. in a war for which there was not yet overwhelming public support

Good Neighbor Policy

• Implemented by FDR

• Primary goal was to ensure mutual friendly relations between the U.S. and the nations of Latin America

• Stressed non-intervention rather than military force

Pearl Harbor

• 1941

• Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

• Japan’s aim was to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and those of the United States

• After the US Congress declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the US

Allied Powers

• Included the Soviet Union, US, China, and Britain

• Did not share common political aims, and did not always agree on how the war should be fought

• Was eventually composed of 26 nations, which branded themselves the United Nations

Douglas MacArthur

• An American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army

• Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s, and he played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II

War Production Board

• 1942

• An agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II

• Mobilized the American war economy

• Halted New Deal and war material production

• Replaced the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board and the Office of Production Management

Bracero Program

• 1942

• Grew out of a series of bi-lateral agreements between Mexico and the United States

• Millions of Mexican agricultural workers immigrated to the US on short-term work contracts to work in the fields, boosting the US’s wartime economy

Rosie the Riveter

• 1942

• An allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies

• Her slogan was “We Can Do It”

• Many female workers took over the positions of male jobs once the men had gone off to war

Radar

• 1941

• Used to detect the presence of objects and intercept the waves of German planes

• Increased combat effectiveness

• Used by both the Allies and Axis powers in World War II, which had evolved independently in a number of nations during the mid 1930s

George C. Marshall

• An American army officer and statesman

• Rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, then served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense under Truman

• Served as the Chief of Staff during WWII

George S. Patton

• A general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944

• Used a strategy of aggressive offense and harsh discipline, which resulted in fewer casualties

Battle of Midway

• 1942

• Took place six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea

• A turning point between the Allied Powers and Japan

• The US destroyed many Japanese aircraft carriers, saving Midway Island

Normandy (D-Day)

• 1944

• The goal of this attack was to divide the German forces and end Nazi rule

• During Operation Overlord, the Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches, establishing a beachhead

• The Allied forces were able to reclaim France and pushed the Nazis back to Germany

Battle of Iwo Jima

• 1945

• A major battle in which the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II

• The US’s long-range bombers attacked the Japanese mainland

Manhattan Project

• Created 3 atomic bombs

• Led by J. Robert Oppenheimer

• 1945 - Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, creating huge devastation and leading to Japan surrendering

United Nations

• 1945

• Composed of 50 nations

• Ratified by the Security Council

• Agreed to peaceful use of atomic energy and the elimination of atomic weapons

• Purpose of maintaining international peace and security and developing friendly relations among nations

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

• 1944

• Attended by the US, UK, China, and the USSR

• Proposals for the establishment of a "general international organization", which was to become the United Nations, were formulated and negotiated

Nuremberg Trials

• 1946

• The Allied powers put Nazi leaders and Japanese war criminals on trial

• Tried for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II

Holocaust

• 1942

• The genocide of European Jews during World War II

• The Nazis used killing squads and concentration camps

• The Allies were eventually able to liberate these camps by force

BIG PICTURE

• Italy, Germany, Japan - Fascist regimes

• US tried to stay neutral → Pearl Harbor → Joined Allied Powers

• Mobilized US war economy + women workers

• WWII - Global + technical weapons

• US vs. Japan - Battle of Midway + 2 atomic bombs