NOTE-TAKING GUIDE: Of the People: A History of the United States CHAPTER 25 “The Second World War: 1941 – 1945”
COMMON THREADS· What strategic and domestic issues were at stake in the debate over America’s entry into the war?
· Did the war consolidate or overturn New Deal reforms?
· In what ways did the war generate economic opportunities and highlight issues of civil rights?
OUTLINE
Island in a Totalitarian Sea
A World of Hostile Blocs
The Good Neighbor
America First?
Means Short of War
Turning the Tide
Midway and Coral Sea
Gone with the Draft
The Winning Weapons
The Second Front
Organizing for Production
A Mixed Economy
Industry Moves South and West
New Jobs in New Places
Women in Industry
Between Idealism and Fear
Japanese Internment
American Landscape: Manzanar
No Shelter from the Holocaust
Closing with the Enemy
Taking the War to Europe
Island Hopping in the Pacific
Building a New World
America and the World: Bretton Woods
The Fruits of Victory
Conclusion
WHO?
Charles Lindbergh
Benjamin O. Davis
Chester W. Nimitz
George S. Patton
Braceros
Rosie the Riveter / WHAT?
City busting
Internment
Atomic bomb
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Which was more important to victory at Midway—planning or luck?
2. Why did the population of the West grow so rapidly during the war?
3. Contrast isolationist and internationalist viewpoints. Did they imagine different futures for the United States?
4. Thurgood Marshall worried about the emergence of “gestapos” in America. What did he mean?
5. According to American leaders, what caused World War II? How did their answers to that question affect their plans for the postwar world?
6. The government used propaganda and repressive laws to control domestic opinion during World War I. Why was there no repeat of those policies in World War II?
7. Some historians blame Roosevelt for luring the United States into war. How might that historical view be rooted in the isolationist/internationalist debate?
NOTES: TO FOLLOW UP / QUESTIONS TO ASK IN CLASS