HOA - Wright Chapter 4: The Diplomatic Role of the USA in the Second World War, 1941-1945

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd President of the United States; Democrat; led the US through the Great Depression and WWII

Harry S. Truman

33rd U.S. President of the United States: Democrat; succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt upon Roosevelt's death in April 1945; led the country through the last few months of World War II, is best known for making the controversial decision to use two atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945.

Lend-Lease Act

A 1941 law giving FDR the power to sell, transfer, exchange, or lease military equipment to any country to hep it defend itself against the Axis Powers.

Buffer state

A small and usually neutral state between two rival powers

Cairo Declaration

Agreement between FDR, Churchill, and Chiang Kai Shek stating that the US, Britain, and China would strip Japan of all its pre-war and wartime conquests

United Nations Organization

An international peacekeeping organization to which most nations in the world belong, founded in 1945 to promote world peace, security, and economic development.

Zones of occupation

Areas of a defeated country occupied by the victors' armed forces

Security Council

Body of the UN with 5 permanent members -- China, France, Britain, and the US -- and 6 additional members elected to two year terms by the General Assembly

Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister during the majority of WWII

Clement Atlee

British Prime Minister elected in the summer of 1945; joined the Big Three at the Potsdam Conference

Chiang Kai Shek

Chinese Nationalist leader; Cooperated with the Allies during WWII; defeated by the communists in 1949; established the democratic Republic of China in Taiwan.

Operation Overlord

Codename for the planned Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) to open up a Second Front

Moscow Conference (1944)

Conference between Churchill and Stalin during which Churchill proposed the percentages agreement regarding postwar occupation of Eastern Europe

Casablanca Conference (1943)

Conference between FDR and Churchill agreed to postponed the opening of a Second Front in favor of an invasion of Sicily; a decision was made to accept nothing less than an Axis unconditional surrender

Washington Conference (1943)

Conference between FDR and Winston Churchill where Churchill worked to alleviate FDR's remaining concerns about the Italy campaign

Potsdam Conference (1945)

Conference between Truman, Stalin, and Churchill (later Atlee) where the leaders largely discussed the war in the Pacific, but disagreed on the issue of German reparations

Quebec Conference (1943)

Conference during which Churchill and FDR discussed joint US/UK military operations and initial plans for Operation Overlord

Washington Conference (1941-1942)

Conference during which FDR and Churchill agreed to launch Operation Torch in North Africa and adopted the "Declaration of the United Nations"

Quebec Conference (1944)

Conference during which FDR and Churchill initially disagreed about the role the British would play in the Pacific, but also discussed plans for governance of the American and British zones of occupation in postwar Germany

Tehran Conference (1943)

First meeting of the "Big Three" -- FDR, Churchill, and Stalin; During this meeting the US and Britain confirmed May 1944 as a timeline for opening a Second Front, Stalin agreed to enter the war in the Pacific after the defeat of Germany; postwar division of Germany was discussed

Adolf Hitler

German Fascist dictator; Leader of the National Socialist Workers Party, or Nazis; Elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he quickly established himself as an absolute dictator.

"Declaration of the United Nations"

Invited all the countries fighting the Axis powers to pledge to remain together until the Axis powers were defeated

Atlantic Charter

Joint declaration, in August 1941, by Roosevelt and Churchill, stating common principles for the free world; self-determination, free choice of government, equal opportunities for all nations for trade, permanent system of general security and disarmament

General George C. Marshall

Secretary of State during and after WWII; came up with a program of economic aid to help Europe recover after the war

Joseph Stalin

Soviet leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition; led the USSR during WWII and the early years of the Cold War

Second Front

Stalin's wish for the USA and the UK to open another theater of was in France against the Germans in order to take the pressure off the Soviet forces on the Eastern Front

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII; orchestrated the D-Day invasion

Yalta Conference (1945)

Tense 1945 meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin to make plans for the post-war world

Potsdam Declaration

Warning issued by the Allies to Japan on July 26, 1945 that it must surrender or face "prompt and utter destruction"