America & WWII Flashcards
What were the Axis powers?
The alliance of Germany and Italy established in October 1936, joined by Japan in November 1936; later, other countries joined.
What is D-DAY?
June 6, 1944; nearly 200,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers under the command of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower landed in Normandy in northwestern France.
What was the Holocaust?
Systematic genocide of Europe’s Jews during WWII; six million died.
What was the Bracero Program?
Agreed to by the Mexican and American governments in 1942, tens of thousands of contract laborers crossed into the United States to take up jobs as domestic and agricultural workers.
What were the Zoot suit riots?
In 1943, club-wielding sailors and police officers attacked Mexican American youths wearing flamboyant clothing on the streets of L.A.
What was Order 9066?
In February 1942, this order relocated all persons of Japanese descent from the West Coast.
What was the Potsdam Conference?
The last meeting of the major Allied powers; took place outside Berlin from July 17 to August 2, 1945, where Truman, Stalin, and Attlee finalized plans begun at Yalta.
What was the Atlantic Charter?
Agreement issued August 12, 1941, following meetings in Newfoundland between President FDR and British P.M. Winston Churchill, signaling the Allies’ cooperation and stating their war aims.
What happened on December 7, 1941?
The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
What was the Office of War Information?
Responsibilities included pro-Allied and anti-Axis propaganda.
Who were the Tuskegee Airmen?
The first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a precursor of the U.S. Air Force.
Who were the Navajo Code Talkers?
Native Americans used to send messages in their native tongue, which no one else could decipher.
What happened in Hiroshima & Nagasaki?
Japanese cities that were destroyed by American-made atomic bombs.
