The United States in 1945 (and Yalta/Potsdam)

Question 1

Name 3 parts of the American dream?

Answer 1

• Hard work leads to rewards
• Secure employment
• Dont have to be born rich

Question 2

Who were the two presidents in 1945?

Answer 2

Franklin D.Roosevelt and Harry Truman

Question 3

How had the war helped America’s economy?

Answer 3

• Created employment
• America sold lots of good and their GNP rose

Question 4

When did America become the centre of world finance?

Answer 4

1944

Question 5

Why could America be dominant in international talks in 1945?

Answer 5

They were the only country with an atomic bomb

Question 6

Why was America’s experience of WW2 different to any other country’s?

Answer 6

The fighting wasnt on their soil because plane technology just wasnt advanced enough

Question 7

What executive order was passed in february 1942?

Answer 7

Executive Order 9066

Question 8

What were the impacts of pearl harbour for japenese-americans?

Answer 8

They were told to evacuate their homes in 48 hours and were sent to internment camps

Question 9

How many japanese-americans were sent to camps?

Answer 9

120,000

Question 10

What evidence is there that the discrimination of japenese-americans was purely prejudiced/

Answer 10

None of them had ever been disloyal to the US
In the whole war only 10 people were caught spying for Japan and they were all Caucasian

Question 11

When did the program of gradual release from the internment camps begin?

Answer 11

1944

Question 12

How and when did America attempt to compensate the Japanese-Americans?

Answer 12

In 1988, the 62,000 Japanese-American internees that were still alive recieved $20,000 in compensation

Question 13

How did GIs experience some positives under the war?

Answer 13

Some felt liberated and relieved that society was becoming more accepting

Question 14

Why was the war obiously not perfect for GIs?

Answer 14

Still had to endure 4 years of warfare and all the physical injuries that could come from that

Question 15

How many Americans went to war?

Answer 15

15 million

Question 16

Where and when did the Big Three meet in 1945?

Answer 16

Yalta - February
Potsdam - July/August

Question 17

What were the differences in leaders between Yalta and Potsdam?

Answer 17

Yalta - Stalin, Churchill and FDR

Potsdam - Stalin, Attlee and Truman

Question 18

How were Roosevelt and Truman different?

Answer 18

Roosevelt understood the importance of having strong relations with the soviets whilst being aware of the dangers of communism spreading.

Truman was fiercely anti communist and wanted to prove his authority meaning he was harsh and not at all leniant with Stalin

Question 19

What were 3 agreements made at Yalta?

Answer 19

• Divide Germany into 4 zones of occupation
• Declaration of Liberated Europe signed
• UN formally ratified
• USSR gained land from Poland

Question 20

Which Soviet politician did Truman offend before the Potsdam conference?

Answer 20

Foreign minister Molotov

Question 21

When did the United States participate in the Second World War?

Answer 21

Dec 1941 - August 1945

Question 22

How did the powers of the presidency increase under Franklin D. Roosevelt?

Answer 22

1) When FDR became president, 25% of Americans were unemployed because of the Great Depression so FDR asked roosevelt for unprecedented money, power and federal government programmes to help American economic recovery
2) Roosevelt was hea of state through most of the Second World War, meaning he represented the nation in a time of peril, he chose where to deploy forces and he also allied with America’s most important allies

Question 23

Who voted for FDR’s Democrat party?

Answer 23

• uban ethnic voters in the North eg Irish-Americans
• workers and unemployed people across the natin
• the “Solid South”, the most conservative democrats

Question 24

What was the Republican Party like in 1945?

Answer 24

• greatly influenced by big busienss and the rich
• generally preferred an economy that was unregulated by the federal govt
• hated Roosevelt’s New Deal

Question 25

What statistic shows that America was the wealthiest nation in the world post WW2?

Answer 25

In 1949, the United States only had 7 per cent of the world’s population but 42 per cent of its income

Question 26

What statistic shows that American manufacturing was thriving post-World War Two?

Answer 26

In 1949, America produced half the world’s manufactured goods (56% steel and 80% of cars)

Question 27

What was unemployment like in the 1940s?

Answer 27

Never rose above 4%

Question 28

What was the South like predominantly in 1945?

Answer 28

Predominantly agricultural and its white population kept black residents in a position of legal, economic, social and political inequality

Question 29

What was the North like in 1945?

Answer 29

the North had great cities containing manufacturing industries eg Detroit (cars).

Question 30

Why had West Coast cities expanded, give an example

Answer 30

Expanded because of wartime defence industries eg Los Angeles

Question 31

How had the war decreased regionalism in America by 1945?

Answer 31

• over 10 per cent had left their homes for training camps
• around 13 per cent changed their county of residence
  8 million had permanently located to a different state

Question 32

What was the general direction of this mass migration?

Answer 32

from the agricultural South to the industrial North

Question 33

How did the Second World War help ethnic divisions?

Answer 33

It decreased prejudice against different ethnic groups, as it gave everyone the opportunity to demonstate their patriotism

Question 34

Why was there still ethnic divisions post-war?

Answer 34

ethnics, Catholics and Jewish people still suffered rejudice. JFK’s Irish-American, Roman-Catholic father claimed Boston society never fully accepted him

Question 35

What was the biggest problem for social divisions in America?

Answer 35

The huge variations of wealth

Question 36

Give examples of the variations of wealth in the USA in 1945?

Answer 36

• Exceptionally rich: Rockefeller oil dynasty
• Very rich - Roosevelt family
• Reasonably comfortable - Truman’s in-laws
• Very Poor - black sharecroppers in the South

Question 37

When were tensions between poor and rich demonstrated?

Answer 37

In 1946 when 4.6 million workers went on strike

Question 38

What did Congress pass in 1944 and what did it do?

Answer 38

The GI Bill of Rights, gave aid to returning military personnel through free vocational training and low interest loans and higher education

Question 39

What were the consequences of the GI Bill of Rights (1944)?

Answer 39

• Number of Americans who had a college education and therefore greater economic opportunities, rose from 10 percent in 1939 to 15 per cent in 1948
• Number of homeowners rocketed
• Belief in American dream was confirmed

Question 40

When did Roosevelt die?

Answer 40

April 1945

Question 41

What disadvantages did Truman have when he became President?

Answer 41

• Roosevelt had excluded Tryman from discussions of military and foreign affairs, making Truman feel he had to prove himself as tough and decisive
• Truman was more combative than Roosevelt