United States History

Homework 5-A
Identifications:
Fascism: In summary, facism was a mindset that believed what people should be working
towards is defending their nation, should be willing to sacrifice for personal rights and liberties
for said nation, and fed off the idea of enemies of the nation. (usually pinned on minorities
calling them “enemies of the nation'')

Nazism: Nazism is a kind of fascism that goes against the idea of having a parliamentary
government and or liberal democracy. This was the main thought process of the Germans during
WWII and primarily Adolf Hitler.

Isolationism: Isolationists held the belief that the United States had no real reason to get
involved in World War II. The belief was that it ultimately was a disagreement between foreign
countries. They argued that the wisest course of action was for the United States to stay clear
from foreign affairs and focus on the depression.

“Good Neighbor” Policy: Put into place by FDR and trade between the US and Latin America
became more open as a result of the Good Neighbor Policy due to the reduction of tariff barriers.
U.S investing into the area increased as well as an increase in exports to Latin America. Military
support for the Allies during World War II was improved when Latin America sided with the
Allies during WWII.

Kellogg-Briand Treaty: In the Kellogg-Briand Treaty two clauses were settled on, first of which
prohibited the use of war and the second urged signatories to solve conflicts peacefully with war
being outlawed. This was basically put into effect to keep the US neutral during WWII therefore
making FDR unable to bring the US into war.

Nye Committee: Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota formed a committee in 1934 to look
into the nation's involvement in World War I; this committee revealed the enormous profits that
armaments manufacturing had earned during the conflict and looked into World War I bankers
and manufacturers.

Munich Conference: In a nutshell, Hitler wanted Czechoslovakia to complete his “perfect

German empire” as most of the people in this area were German speaking and of German
descent. In the Munich Conference they agreed that Germany would get Czechoslovakia as long
as it did not invade any more areas (as expected this promise was killed pretty fast).

Lend-Lease Program: FDR being fed up with the idea that the US was unable to help the Allies
during the war, as the US was unable to sell supplies to any nation to keep its neutrality.
However, nothing said that the US could not lend other nations supplies, so the US “lends” other
nations supplies to assist them in WWII.

Atlantic Charter: After FDR and prime minister Winston Churchill meet, they decide that the
United States and Great Britain would be allies in WWII (against axis aggression). It also
outlined FDR’s vision for the postwar era, which said that people should have the right to choose
their own form of government.

Pearl Harbor: Pearl harbor was a US naval base located by Honolulu Hawaii. On December 7,
1941 Japanese fighter planes attacked Pearl Harbor bombing as much as they could before
fleeing. Many US naval ships and aircrafts were destroyed in the attack on pearl harbor and in
the attack, more than 2,400 Americans (civilians included) died, with another 1K injured.

Casablanca Conference: The Casablanca Conference was a 10 day meeting held with FDR and
Winston Churchill. At this meeting, FDR and Churchill discussed how over the course of the
coming year the British would coordinate the Allie’s military against Axis powers.

Battle of Midway: The Battle of Midway was a battle between the US and Japan. The battle,
while considered a naval battle, was fought almost entirely in the air. This battle was fought in
the Midway islands and was a US victory due to the Allies being able to “reuse” men as they
were knocked down, while Japan was unable to as once they landed they would be in the Allie’s
territory.

Battle of Stalingrad: The battle of Stalingrad was a battle fought between the Soviet Union and
Germany. One of the bloodiest battles in US history with over 2M casualties in this battle alone.
In this battle the Soviets were able to constrict the Germans ability to resupply which forced
German forces to scramble together and try and keep what they could.

War Production Board: The War Production board was used to boost production in the US for
the war effort. The production of non essential goods was banned and production of
firearms,planes, etc. were prioritized above all. The board ensured that factories would receive
all the supplies needed to produce the most war goods in the shortest amount of time. The WBP
produced over $185 billion worth of supplies to support the war.

“Relocation” Program: The relocation program to put it blatantly had japanese people
incarcerated for no justifiable reason. Due to fear of another attack after pearl harbor the US
military took people of Japanese descent, put them into relocation centers, and kept them there
until the end of the war when they could finally return home. However, most of the people's
homes would have been auctioned off so when they returned other people would be in their
homes.

Tehran Conference: In the Tehran Conference the big three Allied powers, FDR, Churchill, and
Stalin met to discuss an invasion of France (at the time occupied by Germany). Allied powers
agreed to open a front in western Europe (nicknamed Operation Overlord) and that the war
would end with Germany surrendering (no compromises).

“D-Day”: One of the largest amphibious invasions was carried out by Allied forces on June 6,
1944. The Allies landed in Normandy (Operation Overlord) marked the beginning of a long and
bloody battle to free France from Nazi control.
Battle of the Bulge: German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forest of
Belgium and France on December 16, 1944. This event marked the beginning of the Battle of the
Bulge, but it quickly backfired when German soldiers were forced to retreat when the Allied
military forces attacked back.

Yalta Conference: If the soviets agreed to help the Allies in the war then they agreed to give the
Soviet Union a sphere of influence in Manchuria. Churchill warned FDR that Stalin would use
the land to only further the expansion of the Soviet Union, but FDR dismissed this and assumed
that Stalin would keep his promise.

Potsdam Conference: Churchill, FDR, and Stalin agreed that once Germany surrendered it would
be split into four post-war occupation zones under the supervision of American, British, French,
and Soviet soldiers.

Short Essay Questions:

1. The flaws of progressivism were shown through the surge of isolationism during WWI
and the Great Depression. The belief that people were getting better and better as
believed by progressives had gone down the drain with the realization of how brutal war
could have been. Fear of interacting with other nations became common to avoid a
similar instance of WWII happening again. While this ideology came from the past with
the US straying away from European affairs in the past, now the US could make a much
larger impact making isolationism even more common.
2. The USA's entry intoWorld War II had a number of effects on California, for one
California's agriculture sector expanded enormously. More than likely if the US had not
joined World War II California’s agriculture would have remained pretty poor. With the
increase of production of food and weapons for the USA’s entry into World War II a
large sum of the food had to be made in California. However, after the bombing of Pearl
Harbor the creation of Japanese internment camps. This was to supposedly protect the
American people in fear of another event like Pearl Harbor, however with this many
innocent 2nd or 3rd gen Japanese people were imprisoned for no legitimate reason.
3. When the US joined WWII they had to increase production for all essential goods, such
as food and military supplies. Because of this, companies had to hire more people to meet
the given demand, due to this many people who would not have normally been hired for
these positions were hired. Normally there was a heavy stigma against women doing a
“mans” job and minorities (such as african americans) would have not been hired for
many well paying jobs. However, with the increase in demand for people in work this
changed and somewhat broke some of the barriers between the different races and
genders. While this did not completely eliminate racism/sexism it definitely helped level
the playing field between a white man and an african american or a woman.