UNITED STATES HISTORY STUDY GUIDE

Possible Fill-Ins:
1. Island Hopping- The policy the United States had of taking over certain important islands, and
leaving the smaller, less important ones
2. I Shall Return MacArthur said this when he left the island of Bataan. He promised to return
to rescue his men
3. Doolittle Raid The USs retaliation after Pearl Harbor. This raid is shown in the movie Pearl
Harbor
4. Bataan Death-March We talked about this in class. It, along with Pearl Harbor was used to get
Americans mad at the Japanese
5. Guadalcanal (Its a Japanese island) The US marines who landed here were faced with
tremendous ferocity. The fight on Guadalcanal lasted approximately 6 months
6. St. Louis A ship from Europe that carried approximately 1,000 Jews across the Atlantic. They
arrived in Cuba, and were turned away. Then they arrived in America, and were turned away.
They were forced to return to Europe and the Jews spread through several countries, which
soon became controlled by the Nazis. (See America and the Jews)
7. National Defense Research Committee Headed by V. Bush from MIT, they spent $100M of
research of technology.
8. Rosie the Riveter A name given to any women who assisted the war effort in factories
9. Kamikaze Divine Wind A name given to Japanese fighter pilots who suicide bombed US Ships.
Even though they were terrible, Kamikazes were incredibly effective.
10. Zoot Suits (More on them below) The suits that Mexicans wore to display defiance against
the racist whites
11. Braceros (Mexican word) contract laborers
12. Pachucos (Also Mexican word) Mexican street gang
13. Dear John letter A girl breaks up with a guy by sending him a letter
14. Pinup Girl A picture of a model that many soldiers carried around with them. Betty Grable was
the most popular Pinup Girl
15. 442 Military Battalion The most decorated battalion in WWII, and was made up of Japanese
Americans
16. Luftwaffe The German air force
17. Bushido Code The Japanese lived by the Bushido code. It taught them to fight till they died,
and to kill themselves rather than surrender.
18. VE and VJ days Victory in Europe (May 8
th
) and Victory over Japan (August 15
th
)
Possible People:(Bold are important)
1. Erwin Rommel Leader of the Nazi forces in Africa
2. MacArthur Lead the American forces in the Pacific with Nimitz. He became the most powerful
General after the successful battle of Midway
3. Chester Nimitz Lead another American offensive in the Pacific. His offensive would meet up
with MacArthurs and they would join to invade Japan. (Never happened because of the bombs)
4. Patton- Leader of the American forces in North Africa.
5. Montgomery Leader of the British forces in North Africa
Possible IDS
1. Labor Unions (Id be surprised if this wasnt a question) During the war, the government could
see an improvement in the economy. The last thing they wanted was for the Unions to strike
and all that to go to waste. As production of war materials became needed, union membership
rose about 30%. The two biggest things that were passed between Unions and the govt were
the Little Steel formula (maximum of 15% increase on wages during the war) and No-Strike
Pledge(Unions promised not to strike during the war). While union leaders agreed to these
terms, some of the members did not. There were many wildcat strikes (strikes without the
authorization of Union leaders). As a result, the Smith-Connally Act was passed. This granted
the government power to seize plants where the workers were striking, and forced a 30-day
notice to all strikers. (Basically, if you were going to strike, you needed to give 30-day notice).
2. Office of Price Administration (OPA) After the Anti-Inflation Act, OPA had the ability to freeze
the prices of certain goods to stop prices from skyrocketing. This was disliked by the people
because they thought the govt had too much power
3. War Production Board (WPB) In WWI, the WIB was strong and powerful. In WWII, the WPB
was rather weak. It never achieved what the WIB did. Small businesses complained that the
WPB was only giving contracts to the large companies. As the war continued, FDR changed the
WPB into the Office of War Mobilization (OWM). OWM was still rather inefficient. Despite this,
the factories were still able to produce exactly what the military needed. Some people began to
think that we were over producing.
4. The Ultra Project The Germans had a machine(The Enigma) that was very sophisticated. They
thought it was un-crackable. However, a man named Alan Turing built a machine (Bombe) that
was capable of reverse engineering the messages to decode them. His machine, Bombe, was the
precursor to modern computers.
Heres a really interesting video that fully explains the Enigma if anyones interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4V2bpZlqx8
5. The Magic Project While the British and the Polish were decrypting the German Enigma, the
Americans were busy decoding the Japanese messages. Finally, they were able to break the
Japanese code.
6. THE AGE OF SWING Swing, a new form of jazz, became very popular during the war. The music
spread across many different races and cultures. This lead to certain race barriers being broken
down. The swing musicians were the celebrities of their day. The main reason that people
disliked Swing music was because it wasnt traditional music.
7. JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMPS We talked about this a lot in class. There is DEFINITELY going
to be a question about this on the quiz. If you paid attention during the activity your fine. If you
want more information, go to page 754 in the textbook.
8. Liberation of France The Allies were able to destroy many Nazi factories by strategically
bombing certain areas. On June 6, 1944 the Allies invaded Normandy (D-Day). It was the largest
offensive in the history of combat. The Germans were not expected the Americans in
Normandy. Most of the German army was positioned at the narrowest point of the English
Channel.
Random Info/Battles(Bolded ones are most important)
1. Which side to fight with When the US had declared war on the Axis, FDR had a choice. He
could either help the British or the Russians. He knew that if he helped the Russians, Britain
would fall. However, if he helped Britain, the Russians would become very upset with America.
Due to the fact that FDR and Churchill were good friends, FDR decided to support him.
2. Battle of Midway An enormous four day battle. The US suffered great casualties. They sunk 4
battleships while only using one. It turned the tide for the Pacific front. Americans now had the
upper hand. After this battle, they went on the offensive, toward Japan.
3. Kasserine Pass A battle in Tunisia (North Africa). The Germans completely destroyed the
American recruits
4. El Alemein A battle where the British and American forces pushed the Germans out of Egypt
5. Battle of Stalingrad Probably the largest war on the Eastern front. Hitler had placed
tremendous amounts of men and weapons into this battle. He really wanted the Soviets to
collapse. However, they were able to fend him off for ~6 months. He was forced to accept
defeat. The death toll for this battle was the largest death toll of any battle ever. The Germans
lost ~300,000 soldiers and the Russians lost ~1.2M soldiers/civilians.
6. Invasion of Sicily/Fall of Italy- After a 38 day battle, the Allied forces took the island of Sicily.
(Its right below Italy). When faced with imminent defeat, Mussolini fled to Germany, and his
government collapsed. The invasion of France (which the Soviets wanted) was delayed because
the Allies invaded Italy. This angered the Soviets, because the Germans were still attacking them
with full force. The Germans would only stop attacking the Soviets to defend France.
7. America and the Jews By 1942, the American govt knew about concentration camps.
However, they didnt want Jews coming into America. This wasnt an accident. The American
state department was purposely turning away Jews. Assistant Secretary Breckinridge Long (An
anti-Semite) tried his hardest to prevent Jews in large numbers from entering the US. He said
that the best way to help the Jews was to win the war, so the War Department should focus on
attacking, rather than rescuing. The St. Louis was a famous example of this anti-Semitism
8. End of the Depression- WWII finally ended the Great Depression. In 1939, the federal budget
was $9 billion. By the end of 1945 it was around $100 Billion. People began to save their money
during the war. This helped the country out after the war ended. During the war, the
government spent more money than it had ever spent during its entire existence. The national
debt increased as well (about $200 billion increase in debt).
9. Industrialization on the Coasts Because California was the closest state to the Pacific, the
government built many factories there (About 10% of the war budget was spent in CA). This
caused an increase in population in California. The same thing happened on the East Coast. This
is part of the reason there are more people on the coasts than in the middle of the country
today.
10. War and Technology At the beginning of the war, the Germans and the Japanese were doing
most of the technological advances. The Germans tanks and the Japanese aircraft carriers were
unmatched. However, the Allies had access to the assembly line system. This allowed them to
produce 2x as many supplies as the Axis. Further, radar and sonar were both invented. This gave
the Allies the ability to track the locations of airplanes, ships, and submarines. The German
U-Boats, which had dominated during WWI, were no longer viable. The Allies also improved
airplanes, which allowed them to fly longer and higher. These airplanes were guided with new
electronic guidance systems.
11. Black people in the War- African Americans wanted to use the war to get equality. One man,
Philip Randolph, informed the government that he would march on the capitol with 100,000
others. FDR, who feared violence, passed the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). It
really didnt do anything, but it was the first time that the government gave something to
African Americans. Further, many blacks entered into northern cities in search of work. The
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) helped to de-segregate a restaurant in Washington DC. CORE
would go on to produce the civil rights movement. In the war itself, many black soldiers were
fighting alongside white soldiers. Military leaders begin to realize that it was a waste of
resources to separate the two.
12. Native Americans in the War We talked about these guys in class. They are the ones who used
their Navajo language to send message. They were called code talkers. Their code/language was
never broken.
13. Mexicans in the WarThey began to work on farms and in factories. Approximately 300,000 of
them served in the military as combatants. The people that wore zoot suits wore them to
display defiance against the racist white culture. In 1943 several white sailors attacked the
Mexicans that wore them. When they fought back, the police arrested the Mexicans. Later, a
law was passed that banned zoot suits.
14. Women and Children Due to the fact that most men went to war, women were forced to take
up their jobs in factories. Many of these women, who were mothers, were not able to care for
their children. As a result, there was a sharp increase in teen crime. Despite this, a third of all
teens were working during the war years.
15. Chinese People Since 1892, we had not allowed any Chinese people into America. During
WWII, we repealed these laws. Chinese people living in America were now allowed to become
citizens.
16. Dismantling the New DealEver since it had been created, the New Deal was controversial.
Now that unemployment was down, many people saw it was time for the New Deals policies to
be repealed, which they were.
17. 1944 Election FDR chose a new VP (Truman) and was re-elected. However, he was very sick.
He would not live out the rest of that term, and Truman would take over.
18. Battle of the Bulge The Germans were able to push through the Allied lines. It was named this
because the American line swelled around the German offensive. Eventually, the Germans were
stopped in the forests of Bastogne. While this was happening, the Russians were moving even
closer towards Berlin.
19. Fall of BerlinThe Americans and Russians were rivals during WWII. They fought for the same
side, but they didnt like each other. After the Battle of the Bulge, the British and American
forces began pouring into the city of Cologne. There, they found a bridge that allowed them to
cross the Rhine River. This would have positioned them on the edge of Berlin. However,
American leaders decided to give Berlin to the Russians. It was somewhat controversial
amongst the soldiers. Between the Battle of the Bulge(West) and the assault on the Balkans
(East) the Nazi Party was crumbling. On April 30
th
1945, Hitler killed himself and his wife, rather
than face torture by the Russians. The official surrender came on May 8
th
1945. This is called VE
Day (Victory in Europe Day).
20. In the Pacific In 1944, the Americans began to decimate the Japanese. However, on the
Chinese mainland, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Chinese, would not assist the American
General Stillwell. They strongly disliked each other and wouldnt help each other fend off the
Japanese.
21. Battle of Leyte Gulf The Japanese, who could tell they were losing, sent their entire fleet to
attack the Americans at Leyte Gulf. This battle is the largest naval engagement in history. The
Americans effectively crippled almost all of the Japanese Ships. For the rest of WWII, Japan
didnt really have a navy.
22. Battle of OkinawaIn the beginning of 1945, plans were being made to invade the island of
Japan itself. However, there was one more island that needed to be taken before this was
possible. It was one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific. It took approximately three months
to take the island. The Japanese lost 100,000 men, and the US lost about 50,000 men. Many of
the Americans that survived Okinawa lived in fear. They had seen what the Japanese were
capable of. They didnt want to invade the mainland.
23. Manhattan Project (This will be a question)The US gathered together some of the best
scientists and physicists to create a nuclear weapon. It was recently proved that the Germans
were working on a bomb. In the 1930s, a scientist named Fermi discovered that Uranium was
radioactive. This proved that creating an Atomic Bomb was possible. They worked in secret for
several years. Finally, in the deserts of New Mexico, they tested a bomb called Trinity. If you
want to add some names, you can mention Fermi, Oppenheimer, Einstein, Bohr, Feynman. (Fun
Fact about Trinity when they detonated the bomb, they didnt know if the nuclear fission
would ever stop. They just tested it anyway, and hoped it would)
HISTORIANS DISAGREE ATOMIC BOMB (I Picked the Easiest Two)
FOR
Herbert Feis He says that Truman dropped it to save the 1,000,000 lives that would be lost in the
invasion of Japan. He also says that Truman used it to bring an end to the war. He supported the
dropping.
AGAINST
Patrick Blackett He says that the dropping of the bombs wasnt the end of WWII. Instead, it was the
beginning of the cold war. Basically, we opened up the world to the possibility of nuclear war.