Chapter 35 Questions

Due Monday, March 10.

1. What fundamental strategic decision did FDR and the British make in August of 1941? (Be ready to discuss why you think this decision was made.)

2. What were the first great challenges faced by the US economically (on the home front)? How was inflation kept under control? In what specific ways was the level of support for the war different from that of World War I?

3. What was Executive Order 9066? What effects did it have, both during the war and in 1988? What did the Supreme Court eventually rule about it? Name the decision.

4. Discuss the examples of racism on p. 876-7. Why were the Japanese in particular targeted in such a manner?

5. Make a chart of each wartime agency, and its function and leadership. What happened to many New Deal programs due to the demands of the war?

6. How did American labor respond to the war? Name and describe the laws that were passed regarding labor during the war.

7. How, specifically, did the government try to encourage women to enter the workforce? What services were offered? What happened at the end of the war? How did women help in the military? Explain each group in which they participated.

8. Explain how African Americans participated in the war effort. What impact did prejudice still play in their lives? What was the purpose of the “Double V” campaign? How else did African Americans protest discrimination? How and why did African American population patterns shift, and how did technological innovations influence this?

9. What role did Native Americans play during the war, both at home and in uniform? What happened to Hispanics in Los Angeles?

10. How was WWII financed? (Remember the Disney cartoon on the blog!) What happened to the national debt?

11. Make a chart to show what was significant about the battles of Leyte Gulf, Midway, the Coral Sea, Bataan and Corregidor, and Guadalcanal, Marianas, Wake Island, Okinawa, and Guam (Make sure you put them in order!). Which one of these battle made it possible to bomb the Japanese home islands?

12. When was the pivotal victory in the war in the Pacific, and why did the Japanese fail? Explain the strategy of “island hopping” or “leapfrogging” used by the US against Japan. Why was this effective?

13.What tactics did Admiral Chester Nimitz use that were particularly successful? What US territories did the Japanese hold for at least part of the war, and when were they liberated?

14. What was Hitler hoping to achieve by his early use of the U-boat in the Battle of the Atlantic? When did that stop being effective, and why? This is not a code.

15. At what point had the Germans made their greatest advances, and where were they by then? When did bombing of German cities begin?

16. Why did the Soviets have such massively higher casualty totals than the Americans and British did up to 1943? What is the significance of the Battle of Stalingrad?

17. Where and when did the Americans and British first attack Hitler’s “Fortress Europe” to open up a second front, and why was that location chosen? Who were the main commanders of this Operation, which strangely your book does not name ? When did the Axis powers surrender in this area, and when?

18.When and why did Italy surrender, and how did Germany respond?

19. Why was the demand for “unconditional surrender” controversial? Did it eventually have any positive consequences?

20. Why was a REAL second front not opened in Europe until 1944? When had Roosevelt originally promised this would happen?

21. Describe the size, scope, and commanders involved in the operation that finally did open the second front.

22. Give the dates and describe the major participants and topics of each of the wartime conferences that happened among the Allies.

23. Why was the choice of the Democratic candidate for vice president so important in 1944? Why was FDR called the “forgotten man” at the Democratic convention? What were the main points of argument between the two parties?

24. What was Hitler’s last desperate gamble to stop the Allied advance, and what happened? What did US troops discover once they crossed the Rhine river?

25. What happened to Hitler during his last days? What happened to FDR just days earlier? What impact do you think these two events had? When was V-E day?

26. How did submarines and bombers eventually bring Japan to its knees? Why was firebombing so effective, and how did it compare to the later atomic attacks in terms of destruction?

27. When did MacArthur finally fulfill his promise to the Filipino people? How did the Japanese navy try to stop MacArthur? Why did the reconquering of the Philippines take so long?

28. Analyze the desperation and tactics of the battles in the Pacific and how they changed the closer the US troops pushed toward the Japanese mainland.

29. How much did the Manhattan project cost, and how did refugees from Hitler help America gain this new technology? What fear justified this expense?

30. What were the long-term consequences of the USSR joining the war against Japan on August 8, 1945?

31. Explain the terms and conditions of the Japanese surrender.

32. What are the basic points of disagreement over the question of whether the use of atomic weapons in WWII was justified?