Chapter 35 - America in World War II, 1941-1945 Flashcards
Germany First
Despite attack on Pearl Harbor, the Allies’ strategy was to defeat Nazi Germany first and then focus on Japan
Axis Powers
Germany, Italy, and Japan. American Communists were against these after Hitler attacked Stalin in 1941.
Internment Camps
Relocation of approximately 120,000 japanese people, many of whom were American citizens, to one of 10 internment camps located across the country. Traditional family structure was upended within the camp, as American-born children were solely allowed to hold positions of authority.
Korematsu v. U.S.
(1943) By a 6-3 vote, the court upheld the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans. In Ex parte Endo, the court held that the government could not detain a person whose loyalty had been established.
War Production Board
A federal agency that coordinated US. industry and successfully mobilized the economy to produce vast quantities of military supplies
War Labor Board
(WLB) settled disputes between business and labor without strikes so that production would not be interrupted and morale would be high.
Matthew Perry
He was the military leader who convinced the Japanese to sign a treaty in 1853 with the U.S. The treaty allowed for a commercial foot in Japan which was helpful with furthering a relationship with Japan.
Meiji Government
Around 1900, the Japanese saw what was happening to other Asian nations as European took them over through imperialism. The Japanese transformed their entire society to copy the Europeans under this government. They industrialized, got rid of the samurai, copied European schooling and military, etc.
Picture Brides
Japanese women who married in America after exchanging photos in the mail.
Gentleman’s Agreement
Pact in 1908 that limited Japanese immigration to the USA.
WAACS
Women in a non-combat position in the army.
WAVES
Women in a non-combat position in the navy.
SPARS
Women in a non-combat position in the coast guard.
GI
Nickname for soldiers in WWII.
Braceros
Mexican workers who came to help labor shortage in the USA during WWII.
Rosie the Riveter
Ideal woman during WWII (an icon to pump up women).
A. Philip Randolph
labor and civil rights leader in the 1940s who led the brotherhood of sleeping car porters; he demanded that FDR create a fair employment practices commission to investigate job discrimination in war industries. FDR agreed only after Randolph threatened a march on Washington by African Americans.
Fair Employment Practices Commission
FDR issued this committee in 1941 to enforce the policy of prohibiting employment-related discrimination practices by federal agencies, unions, and companies involved in war-related work It guaranteed the employment of 2 million black workers in the war factories.
Double V -
Campaign popularized by American Black Leaders during WW2 emphasizing the need for double victory: over Germany and Japan and also over racial prejudice in the US. Many blacks were fought in WW2 were disappointed that the America they returned to still hate racial tension
CORE
Congress of Racial Equality, and organization founded in 1942 that worked for black civil rights
Code Talkers
Bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by Cherokee and Choctaw Indians during World War I.
Zoot Suit Riots
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of racist attacks in June 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, between Mexican American youths and white Americans servicemen stationed in Southern California.
Douglas MacArthur
American five-star general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s
Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps.
Battle of the Coral Sea -
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought during 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy
Midway
An enormous battle that raged for four days near the small American outpost at Midway Island, at the end of which the US, despite great losses, was clearly the winner of.
Chester Nimitz
Top admiral of the US Pacific Fleet
Guadalcanal
first major offensive launched by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan; Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders –> allies won
Island Hopping
American navy attacked islands held by the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. The capture of each successive island from the Japanese brought the American navy closer to an invasion of Japan.
Guam
The Second Battle of Guam (21 July – 10 August 1944) was the American recapture of the Japanese-held island of Guam
Wolf Packs
The term wolfpack refers to the mass-attack tactics against convoys used by German U-boats of the Kriegsmarine during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Enigma
German codes cracked by the British allowing the Allies to pinpoint the location of U-boats
Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Bernard Montgomery
In charge of all British military operations during World War 2
El Alamein
Town in Egypt, site of the victory by Britain’s Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery over German forces led by General Erwin Rommel (the ‘Desert Fox’) in 1942-1943.
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought against the Allies
Soft Underbelly of Europe
Name for the coast of Southern Europe. Thought to be less well defended, and was one of the options considered for the invasion of Europe.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Supreme Allied Commander of all Allied forces in WW2
Casablanca
1943 meeting between FDR and Churchill in which the two agreed to step up the Pacific war, invade Sicily, and insist on unconditional surrender
Sicily
1943, U.S. forces commanded by George Patton and British forces under Montgomery invaded and took Sicily
Tehran
A war time conference held at Tehran, Iran that was attended by FDR, Churchill, and Stalin. It was the first meeting of the “Big Three” and it agreed on an opening of a second front (Overlord), and that the Soviet Union should enter the war against Japan after the end of the war in Europe.
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II.
Normandy
The Western Allies of World War II launched the largest amphibious invasion in history when they assaulted Normandy, located on the northern coast of France, on 6 June 1944. The invaders were able to establish a beachhead as part of Operation Overlord after a successful “D-Day,” the first day of the invasion.
George Patton
General George Smith Patton Jr. was a senior officer of the United States Army who commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean and European theaters of World War II
Thomas Dewey
The Republican presidential nominee in 1944, Dewey was the popular governor of New York. Roosevelt won a sweeping victory in this election of 1944. Dewey also ran against Harry Truman in the 1948 presidential election. Dewey, arrogant and wooden, seemed certain to win the election, and the newspapers even printed, “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN” on election night. However, the morning results showed that Truman swept the election, much to Dewey’s embarrassment.
Henry Wallace
former Democratic VP who ran on the New Progressive Party due to his disagreement on Truman’s policy with the Soviets; caused the Democratic party to split even more
Harry S Truman
He took over the presidency during World War II with the death of Roosevelt. He was called by many the “average man’s average man” for his appearance and personality, and he was one of the only presidents without a college education. He was an artillery officer in World War One. He was responsible for the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II..
Battle of the Bulge
December 1944 between Germany and Allied troops; the last German offensive in the West.
Elbe River
Eisenhower held Allied troops at this location, allowing the Soviets to reach Berlin first at the close of the war in Europe.
Holocaust
A methodical plan orchestrated by Hitler to ensure German supremacy. It called for the elimination of Jews, non-conformists, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and mentally and physically disabled.
V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day on May 8th, 1945 celebrated the official defeat of the Nazis and end of WWII in Europe.
Iwo Jima
a bloody and prolonged operation on the island of Iwo Jima in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945)
Okinawa
Site of important battle near Japanese mainland; last battle before atomic bombs; Allies won
Kamikazes
-in World War II, Japanese pilots who loaded their aircraft with bombs and crashed them into enemy ships
Potsdam
the place at which the three allied leaders, Truman, Stalin, and Attlee, met to discuss the distribution of Germany and the ultimatum that they would issue to Japan demanding their immediate surrender
Hiroshima
City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945.
Nagasaki
Japanese city in which the second atomic bomb was dropped (August 9, 1945).
Hirohito
Remained emperor of Japan after atomic bombs were dropped
George Marshall
United States general and statesman who as Secretary of State organized the European Recovery Program.
