Chapter 35: America in World War II
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44 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Fair Employment Practices Committee | signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prohibit racial discrimination in the national defense industry. It was the first federal action, though not a law, to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States |
| Jiang Jieshi | Chinese nationalist leader that was against Mao, he was supported by the US, but loss to Mao, and fled with his followers to Taiwan. |
| "Rosie the Riveter" | Symbol of American women who went to work in factories during the war |
| A. Philip Randolph | America's leading black labor leader who called for a march on Washington D.C. to protest factories' refusals to hire African Americans, which eventually led to President Roosevelt issuing an order to end all discrimination in the defense industries. |
| acclamation | enthusiastic approval |
| Albert Einstein | German physicist who developed the theory of relativity, which states that time, space, and mass are relative to each other and not fixed. |
| Bataan Death March | Brutal march of American and Filipino prisoners by Japanese soldiers in 1942 |
| Battle of Midway | U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in World War II. |
| Battle of Okinawa | U.S victory over Japan on an island 350 miles from mainland Japan; March-June 1945 |
| Battle of the Bulge | WWII battle in which German forces launched a final counterattack in the west |
| beachhead | an area on a hostile shore occupied to secure further landing of troops and supplies |
| bracero program | Program where the United States labor agents recruited thousands of farm and railroad workers from Mexico. The program stimulated emigration for Mexico. |
| Casablanca Conference | A wartime conference held at Casablanca, Morocco that was ttended by de Gaulle, Churchill, and FDR. The Allies demanded the unconditional surrender of the axis, agreed to aid the Soviets, agreed on the invasion Italy, and the joint leadership of the Free French by De Gaulle and Giraud. |
| Chester W. Nimitz | Commander of the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific and brilliant strategist of the "island hopping" campaign |
| concentration camp | A camp where prisoners of war, political prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions |
| Congress of Racial Equality | Organization Founded by pacifists in 1942 to promote racial equality through peaceful means. |
| D-Day | The most important battle in the European part of the war where the Allies stormed beaches and made it through to the mainland, landing in France and moving towards Germany |
| deposed | removed from office or power |
| Douglas MacArthur | United States general who served as chief of staff and commanded Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | American General who began in North Africa and became the Commander of Allied forces in Europe. |
| Erwin Rommel | German field marshal noted for brilliant generalship in North Africa during World War II. |
| genocide | systematic killing of a racial or cultural group |
| George S. Patton | He commanded the American armored divisions across France after D Day |
| Guadalcanal | One of the Solomon Islands, where the first Allied offensive in the Pacific took place. |
| Harry S. Truman | President of the US after Roosevelt's death; approved the use of the atomic bomb against Japan |
| Henry Stimson | Secretary of War during War World II who trained 12 million soldiers and airmen, and who agreed to the building of the atomic bomb and the decision to use it. |
| island-hopping strategy | Strategy whos main goal was to move the war closer to Japan: when US forces move from island to island using each as a base to capture the next |
| Joseph Stalin | Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition |
| kamikazes | Japanese suicide pilots |
| Korematsu vs U.S | Case which affirmed constitutionality of Japanese-American concentration camps |
| Manhattan Project | Code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II |
| NAACP | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to work for racial equality |
| Navajo "code talkers" | Navajo soldiers in the Pacific used their own language as a code for sending vital messages. |
| Office of Price Administration | WWII Office that installs price controls on essential items to prevent inflation |
| Potsdam Conference | The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held at Potsdamn, outside Berlin, in July, 1945. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War. |
| second front | The invasion of western Europe by the U.S ,British, and French in 1944. This invasion was to take presure off the Russians and divide the Germans. It was established by the D-Day Invasion. |
| Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act | This authorized the federal government to seize industries and made strikes against government operated industry a criminal offense |
| Teheran Conference | This refers to the famous pre-war meeting between Joseph Stlain of the Soviet union, winston churchill and franklin D. Roosevelt in Tehran, Iran. |
| Thomas E. Dewey | the Governor of New York (1943-1955) and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency in 1944 and 1948 |
| U-Boat | a German submarine |
| underground | a secret group organized to overthrow a government or occupation force |
| WAACs | "Women in Arms." Females who were drafted into the army for non combative duties in WWII. |
| WAVEs | Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service in the Navy |
| War Production Board | government agency that decided which companies would make war materials and how to distribute raw materials |
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