Deck 27: War and Peace: 1941-1945

Question 1

In conferences with the Japanese ambassador in the spring of 1941, Secretary of State Cordell Hull

A) attempted to satisfy Japanese demands for raw materials.
B) threatened Japan with war unless it withdrew from the Philippines.
C) insisted that Japan withdraw from China and pledge no further aggression.
D) demonstrated his sophisticated appreciation of the military and political situation in East Asia.

Answer 1

insisted that Japan withdraw from China and pledge no further aggression.

Question 2

The United States declared war on Japan after the surprise attack on December 7, 1941 on

A) Manchuria.
B) French Indochina.
C) Pearl Harbor.
D) Midway Island.

Answer 2

Pearl Harbor.

Question 3

Roosevelt's greatest accomplishment as a wartime leader was his

A) energetic diplomacy at Yalta.
B) skillful administration of war production.
C) brilliant military strategy.
D) ability to inspire people with a sense of national purpose.

Answer 3

ability to inspire people with a sense of national purpose.

Question 4

The World War II board which exercised complete control over domestic prices and wages was the

A) Office of War Mobilization.
B) Supplies Priorities and Allocation Board.
C) Office of Production Management.
D) National Defense Mediation Board.

Question 5

How did the war effort between 1941 and 1945 affect the U.S. standard of living?

A) It lowered the standard of living for women workers.
B) It had almost no adverse effect on the average person's standard of living.
C) It greatly improved the average person's standard of living.
D) It lowered the standard of living for industrial workers.

Question 6

Between 1941 and 1945, spending by the federal government was

A) twice as much as in its entire previous history.
B) paid for entirely by a greatly expanded income tax.
C) almost exactly the same as New Deal expenditures from 1936 to 1940.
D) paid for almost entirely by a national sales tax.

Question 7

To pay almost 40% of the cost of World War II, the government

A) borrowed from corporations.
B) simply printed as much paper money as needed.
C) increased taxes.
D) borrowed from Great Britain.

Question 8

A major social effect of World War II on American life was a

A) declining marriage rate.
B) return of women to the role of full-time housewives.
C) general decrease in the income of workers and farmers.
D) tendency for the population to shift to California and other far western states.

Question 9

During World War II, American families experienced

A) decreasing marriage and birth rates.
B) increasing marriage rates, but decreasing birth rates.
C) decreasing marriage rates, but increasing birth rates.
D) increasing marriage and birth rates.

Question 10

The lives of black Americans improved during and immediately after World War II because

A) the armed forces were fully integrated.
B) Hitler's brutal treatment of Jews led Americans to reexamine their own racial views.
C) black leaders patiently waited for justice while patriotically and unquestioningly supporting the war.
D) Roosevelt made the realization of democracy and equality at home a top wartime priority.

Question 11

During World War II, black males were

A) not allowed to serve in the armed forces.
B) not allowed to serve in the military overseas.
C) incorporated into the regular services without regard to race.
D) permitted to join the various military services, but were segregated.

Question 12

In 1943, young ________ were attacked by rioting sailors in Los Angeles.

A) blacks
B) Japanese
C) Hispanics
D) Chinese

Question 13

"The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such an act will be taken." So said General John L. Dewitt justifying

A) American entry into the war.
B) increased patrols in German American neighborhoods.
C) the requirement that all citizens of Japanese or German descent carry identification cards.
D) the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans.

Question 14

In regards to female entry into the traditionally male-dominated workforce, unions

A) doubted women could handle the work.
B) actively sought women to fill their ranks.
C) defended women's abilities to industrial employers.
D) were ambivalent as long as the work was done.

Question 15

What happened when women entered the work force during World War II?

A) Black women generally had fewer problems.
B) Male resistance evaporated as the demand for labor grew.
C) The government created an extensive daycare program for women with young children.
D) Men welcomed them immediately because of the wartime crisis.

Question 16

Immediately after Pearl Harbor, American and British strategists decided to

A) concentrate first against Japan.
B) develop the atomic bomb.
C) concentrate first against Germany.
D) develop radar.

Question 17

In November 1942, Allied forces made their first attack on Nazi-controlled territory by landing in

A) France.
B) Italy.
C) Sicily.
D) French North Africa.

Question 18

According to the map "The Liberation of Europe," which of the following was a site of a major Allied victory?

A) Berlin
B) Warsaw
C) Vienna
D) Stalingrad

Question 19

The Allied campaign in Italy

A) allowed a dramatically successful invasion of Germany from the south.
B) was disappointing, even though it weakened the enemy.
C) was a humiliating defeat for Eisenhower.
D) advanced far more rapidly than expected.

Question 20

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded

A) Denmark.
B) Italy.
C) North Africa.
D) France.

Question 21

A desperate German counterattack in December 1944, at the German-Belgian border, almost broke the Allied lines. This was the Battle of

A) the Bulge.
B) Ypres.
C) Agincourt.
D) the Argonne.

Question 22

Prior to 1943, Americans

A) had no idea that the Nazis were persecuting Jews.
B) urged Roosevelt to liberate the concentration camps.
C) dismissed the news of Jewish persecution as either propaganda or serious exaggeration.
D) were keenly aware of the deaths of millions of Jews in German death camps.

Question 23

In response to the slaughter of Jews by the Nazis, the Roosevelt administration

A) did almost nothing.
B) destroyed railroads leading to the death camps.
C) helped Jewish refugees escape.
D) bombed the death camps.

Question 24

The technological development which revolutionized naval warfare in World War II was the

A) submarine.
B) airplane.
C) shortwave radio.
D) anti-aircraft gun.

Question 25

The initiative in the Pacific shifted to the Americans as a result of the 1942 battles of

A) Coral Sea and Midway.
B) Manila and Tarawa.
C) Saipan and Guadalcanal.
D) Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

Question 26

The brilliant and egocentric commander of American land forces in the Pacific was

A) Chester Nimitz.
B) George S. Patton.
C) Bernard Montgomery.
D) Douglas MacArthur.

Question 27

The American strategy in the Pacific called for a

A) single drive from New Guinea toward the Philippines.
B) two-pronged drive from New Guinea toward the Philippines and from the central Pacific toward Tokyo.
C) three-pronged drive from New Guinea toward the Philippines, from the central Pacific toward Tokyo, and from Australia toward the Gilbert Islands.
D) single drive from the central Pacific toward Tokyo.

Question 28

The American strategy in the Pacific to conquer only strategic islands was called

A) "leapfrogging."
B) "island bingo."
C) "island hopping."
D) "containment."

Question 29

In August 1942, Americans began their campaign in the Pacific by attacking the island of

A) Eniwetok.
B) Guadalcanal.
C) Okinawa.
D) Iwo Jima.

Question 30

As a result of the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle for Leyte Gulf, Japan

A) was destroyed as a sea power.
B) controlled the major Pacific sea lanes.
C) conquered the Philippines.
D) gained an early advantage against the American navy.

Question 31

During the early 1940s, the Manhattan Project was established to create the

A) atomic bomb.
B) United Nations.
C) jet airplane.
D) Central Intelligence Agency.

Question 32

President Truman dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki because he

A) thought bombing Tokyo would have left Japan without a government to surrender.
B) wanted to persuade the Soviet Union to intervene in the fight against Japan.
C) hoped to bring the war to a quick end and save lives.
D) did not have enough U.S. soldiers for a conventional invasion of Japan.

Question 33

A new period of international cooperation was entered with the signing of what in San Francisco in June 1945?

A) the Armistice
B) the United Nations Charter
C) the Non-Aggression Pact
D) the League of Nations Charter

Question 34

During World War II, mass persuasion campaigns promoted a ______ viewpoint.

A) pro-German
B) pacifistic
C) pro-Soviet
D) isolationist

Question 35

How well did the Soviets cooperate with the Americans during the war?

A) They refused to sign the Declaration of the United Nations of 1942.
B) They shared a common commitment to defeating Hitler and seemed willing to cooperate on postwar problems.
C) They reinstated the Comintern to promulgate world revolution.
D) They cooperated only reluctantly and with great hesitation.

Question 36

The real center of authority in the United Nations was the

A) General Assembly.
B) Economic and Social Council.
C) Security Council.
D) World Court.

Question 37

One of the major limitations of the United Nations Security Council was that

A) only great powers could be members.
B) neither the English nor the French were initially members.
C) all of its actions had to be approved by the General Assembly.
D) any great power could block UN action.

Question 38

How one understands the disagreements among the Allies which emerged late in the war depends on how one views the

A) postwar Soviet system.
B) collapse of the British empire.
C) United Nations.
D) American worldview.

Question 39

A major cause of friction between the Soviets and the other Allies was

A) Soviet plans to invade Italy during the last phases of the war.
B) England's expulsion of British communists after the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany.
C) France's hopes to annex large parts of Germany.
D) Soviet resentment of the British-American delay in opening a second front.

Question 40

At the ________ Conference, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to Soviet annexation of large sections of eastern Poland.

A) Casablanca
B) Yalta
C) Potsdam
D) Geneva

Question 41

Stalin believed that dominating Poland through an unpopular pro-Soviet government

A) would be bitterly resisted by the U.S. and England.
B) was not necessary for future Soviet security.
C) would be popular with Polish-Americans.
D) was of no strategic importance to Britain or the United States.

Question 42

At the Potsdam meeting in July 1945, the victorious Allies agreed to

A) hold free elections in all of Europe liberated from the Nazis.
B) have future discussions on international control of the atomic bomb.
C) divide Germany into four zones of occupation.
D) exact no reparations from Germany because the reparations after World War I had helped cause World War II.

Question 43

World War II "caused a fundamental change in international politics." One aspect of this change was the

A) sudden independence gained by many former European colonies in Africa.
B) formation of a world government under the United Nations.
C) triumph of isolationism in America.
D) reduction of all the western European nations to the status of second-class powers.

Question 44

During World War II, about two million men and women entered the American armed forces.

Question 45

Keynesian economists were proven false when government spending during World War II sparked economic growth.

Question 46

During World War II, the income tax was extended to most workers and the payroll-deduction system for taxes was adopted.

Question 47

World War II tended to reverse the Indian New Deal policies of encouraging preservation of traditional cultures.

Question 48

The many hasty marriages at the beginning of World War II were followed by a dramatic rise in divorces at the end of the war.

Question 49

Winston Churchill insisted that the first priority for American and British strategy should be easing the pressure on the Soviet Union.

Question 50

Although many strategists thought it should be bypassed, General MacArthur believed that the American army should retake the Philippines on its way to Japan.

Question 51

The total battlefield dead in World War II was about 20 million.

Question 52

The best-selling Mission to Moscow by Joseph E. Davies was one of the few strongly anti-Soviet books published during the war.

Question 53

When Henry Luce of Time declared that the postwar era would be the "American century," he was voicing an opinion which few Americans shared.

Question 54

Summarize the steps the Roosevelt administration took to transform the economy from peacetime to wartime production. Explain how the economic changes caused by the war affected Americans' lives.

Question 55

Describe the basic strategy and major campaigns of World War II in Europe from 1941 to 1945.

Question 56

Describe the basic strategy and major campaigns of World War II in the Pacific from 1941 to 1945.

Question 57

Summarize the highlights of American foreign policy from 1941 to 1945. Explain the basic assumptions that guided this policy. Explain how and why this policy began to change in 1945.

Question 58

What is the definition of the following key term:
-D-Day :