History 104 Test 3

Blitzkrieg

"Lighting war" first wave: planes take out infrastructure second wave: tanks carrying thicker army to take out infrastructure planes didn't get third wave: infantry take out any other human existance

domination of the skies

-By spring of 1944, the German air force couldn't give anymore resistance -One of the most important reasons for our ultimate success against Germany -people back home made the 24/7 raids possible

How did events before the Civil Rights Era play a role in the Civil Rights movement?

-The Reconstruction Amendments abolished slavery, gave blacks citizenship rights, and black men the right to vote, but Redemption got around amendments by sharecropping, literary tests, and grandfather clause -Plessy v. Ferguson challenged laws because the black only train car was incredibly filthy but the separate facilities were not unconstitutional as long as they were equal -The NAACP used its funding to get men into law schools so they had an army of black lawyers -Black migration during WWI and II gave a lot of black men the right to vote, increasing numbers, and became an important block of voters -Fair Employment Act was passed after WWII and was the first time since reconstruction that the fed gov tried to fix racial problems in work force. Veterans were also mad after fighting for democracy (became strength of the movement) so Truman integrated the military

What was rationing?

Everyone had a ration card for gas and food at grocery stores. People began rationing tires, car pooling, growing victory gardens, and changed buying habits. Encouraged people to spend money on movies, sporting events, and things for personal consumption instead of big ticket items so industries only made stuff for war time

What was Japanese internment?

Everyone of Japanese ancestry (about 110,000 people), both citizens and non-citizens were confined in remote areas to camps. Not concentration camps, but their civil liberties were still taken away. There grew a cultural feeling of Japanese being sneaky bastards because Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack.

Two major events that changed the tide against Germany

German military was successful in Russia, but Russians kept falling back and burning countryside because winter was coming. Germans would have no resources and got stuck in Stalingrad. They were surrounded by 200,000 Russian troops and was the first time Hitler's army was stopped. Bernard Montgomery and US troops surround 275,000 Italian and German troops in North Africa. They surrender and now Germany has to go on the defensive.

V-E Day

Germany begins to surrender and Hitler commits suicide. All German troops surrendered on May 7, 1945, and the next day would declare victory in Europe and the defeat of the evil that was the Nazi Empire

In what ways was JFK a "Cold Warrior" when it came to spending and in his policies regarding Cuba?

He increased government spending on military and put Eisenhower's plan to take back Cuba into action. The Soviet Union carefully watched him to see if they had to worry and JFK showed them he was willing to use military to stop communism.

Why was JFK in Dallas, Texas?

He knew passing the Civil Rights Bill would hurt his rep in the South so he spent a lot of time trying to gain support and started with the largest Southern state

Hunt for communists in the US

House of UnAmerican Activities Committee convinced people that there were communist spies and communists spreading anti-American and anti-democracy messages

What are the legacies of the 60's?

How you feel about which possible reason for the Great Society's success defines your opinion on politics today. Government programs are bette: democrat Smaller government doesn't cost as much, so taxes can be reduced: republican

What was the "domino theory?

If communism spread to Greece or any other country, countries surrounding will fall and so on until communism is sweeping the globe, so we can't let that first domino fall

Conclusions about American isolationism

In the 1930s, the US was strongly isolated and was reflected in the neutrality acts. Radio and newsreels made it hard to be disconnected from the world and our affection to the British eroded this isolation sentiment to the point of passing Lend-Lease. It was Japan that totally destroyed our isolationism and got us in to the war

Civil Rights Movement Conclusions

It didn't begin in the 50s, it started during reonstruction but had its biggest successes in the 50s and 60s because of the brown v board case, tactics of using white violence as an asset, and because of the Cold War.

Stubborn defense of the Philippines

Japanese don't surrender due to honor code (dishonor in this life and afterlife) and they were afraid of what americans would do to them if they did. This makes combat in the Pacific brutal and plays a role in ending the war the way we did, ultimately sets us up to be a world power

JFK: Cold War and Civil Rights Conclusions

Kennedy was a Cold Warrior who almost got the world destroyed, but brought about a temporary setback in the arms race. He had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the civil rights movement, but ended up supporting this good piece of legislation (best since reconstruction)

What was the "Great Society" and its programs?

LBJ's way to end poverty, programs got more money into medicare and Medicaid, more money into public schools, created a program to tear down ghetto (slum) buildings and rebuild, and created the National Endowment for the Arts. He expanded New Deal like programs to get money into the hands of people, dependent on federal gov

War Bonds

Loans given by the people that the government promised to pay back with interest when the war was over. Celebrities like Clark Gabel and Carol Lumbar gave speeches on this

Conclusions of the American Homefront in WWII

Mobilization got us out of the great depression and taught us we all had a role to play in winning this war. Society was geared toward doing everything possible to win the war and it is what Americans did on the home front that played the primary role in winning.

Brown v. Board of Education

NAACP went into schools to interview kids and argued that facilities were unequal based on what they do to blacks' self-esteem. Thirgood Marshall argued that when you grow up seeing the difference in facilities, you can't help growing up thinking that something is wrong with being black. The Supreme Court ruling was that separate was inherently unequal and ordered schools districts in the South to desegregate with "all deliberate speed"

N.O.W.

National Organization for Women Mostly women from the New Left who still felt discriminated against. Pushed for equal pay for equal work, daycare for working moms, abortion rights, engaged in sit-ins and burning bras protests

Why did we have so much success on D-day?

No matter how many men killed, boats sank, planes shot down we were able to just keep coming with more of everything. Everybody back home's job was to keep them firing, and they did.

What are N.A.T.O and the Warsaw Pact?

North Atlantic Treaty Organization: started with 14 countries and an attack on one of them was an attack on all. It protected small european countries from the Soviet Union and allowed US bases to be built in european countries (gives us the ability to deliver atomic bomb on Soviet Union Warsaw Act: agreement between the Soviet Union and eastern european (puppet) countries, an attack on one of them was an attack on all

How did certain leaders gain power, hold onto it, and what did they aspire to do with it?

Once Nazis got control through military, they made it illegal to be any other political party and if you weren't you were killed. Hitler and Mussolini needed each other because they were facists in a world based on democracy so they formed a military alliance. Mussolini wanted to bring back the Roman Empire (europe, middle east, and africa that touch the Mediterranean) and Hitler believed that Germanic people should take back Russia and Europe. Japan believed they were the superior Asians and believed all other Asian resources should be theirs, so they tried to conquer the rest of Asia.

SNCC

Organization formed by college students angered by other students getting arrested for sitting at a lunch counter. Coordinated these sit-ins so after some were arrested, another group of black and sometimes white students would go take their place. SNCC perfected the technique of breaking the law, getting a violent reaction from whites, getting national media attention, creating a moral crisis, and getting government to react

War Refugee Board

Organization to help people who have been misplaced by warfare -Stopped bombing railroad lines going to camps because Jews might be escaping -The intelligence committee needs to make fake identities for people who've escaped or managed not to get rounded up

the invasion of Italy

Our landing there inspired Italians so they rose up and killed Mussolini.

What was mobilization and what impact did it have on the economy?

Preparing for war FDR stopped trying to balance budget by the end of the 30s because taxes were already as high as ever. Taxes went down during war and gov civilian jobs went up, got the US out of the Depression, more people had good paying jobs and felt comfortable spending $

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology The US had no history of spending money outside the country before this

Birmingham, 1963

Project C: mass protests and mass challenges of laws. Everyday protestors would meet at Baptist Church and give marching orders to troops. The sheriff, Bull Conner opposed the civil rights movement and rolled out tanks, police dogs, fire dept horses.

Who was "Rosie the Riveter?"

Propaganda that promoted women working in war industries -showed women you can work at a certain age and be attractive while doing it -suggested that when war is over men will get their job back and women will go home -gave women a sense of freedom and led to the second wave of feminism

Hitler's first solution

Put pressure on Jews to get out of Germany voluntarily by giving them no voice, shutting down business, persecution, and being told they infected their perfect race). Many tried to leave, but no one would take them in and we had restrictive immigration quotas, so Jews just went back.

What were the Inchon Landings?

Rather than land in South Korea and drive out the North like they did in WWII, Mcarthur puts troops on boats into the Yellow Sea around North Koreans and into Inchon. Brilliant military maneover that saved South Korea.

What helped the allies win the war?

Russia took the brunt and kept resisting due to the number of Russians, Britain stubbornness, industrial resources and might of the US

Freedom Rides

SNCC would load up on Greyhound buses in DC and travel through South to Nola. Black members would get off the front and go into white waiting rooms and whites would do vice versa. Members were so badly attacked in Birmingham they were sent to the hospital and JFK put pressure on Alabama governor. Police and national guard lined the highway but protection disappeared after leaving the city and JFK was furious when blacks were beaten by federal marshalls in Montgomery. JFK ordered buses to desegregate all facilities.

What was the "great fear" at home and how did it shape America's culture?

That we would be attacked by the Soviets at any time because they also had the bomb -bomb shelters became a fad (even though they wouldn't do anything) -schools drilled "duck and cover" into kids' heads, knowing that this wouldn't do anything, to comfort them, but it really just made them more paranoid that this could actually happen -movies in the 50s reflected our fear of things coming out of the sky to hurt us (sci-fi) because the Soviets got spudnick, a satellite into space before us

Cold War Conclusions

The Cold War started over the question of what to do with Germany. It played itself out in Asia and at home, making the world even more dangerous than it was during WWII and making Americans extremely paranoid. It revealed again the hypocrisy of our democracy through the HUCA's violation of people's rights and the willingness to spend money on the Cold War, but not desegregating our own country

Why did we decide to "contain" the Soviets?

The Soviet Union had puppet soviet governments, allowing countries to have elections, but strongly controlled them by military causing people to vote communist. They were technically free, but strings were being pulled. Truman Administration, Kennan, argued puppet gov is a product of the fact that communist gov always seeks to spread and its our job to contain this expansion if we're going to take on this world leader role. An attempt of a revolution in Greece was proof of this theory, so Truman brought it to Congress

What was the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift?

The most successful foreign policy argued by Marshall to divide money to give to europeans to build countries after war so they won't be so needy. In times of need communism looks more appealing. This created an enormous amount of good will toward the US and countries were ready to do anything we asked, but the only thing we wanted was to combine our zone to create a brand new country based on democracy and capitalism (Western Germany and Berlin) US flied planes over our sector dropping medical supplies, food, and other necessities

Who got drafted in WWII?

There was no shortage of volunteers after Pearl Harbor, but government knew this adrenaline would run out. All men 18-45 were drafted (32 million)

why did the "Dixiecrats" hate Truman?

These were Southern democrats that separated themselves after Eleanor Roosevelt was vocal about the race problem in the South. Truman desegregated the military and made it illegal to prevent blacks from moving into redlined areas if they had the money. Dixiecrats blocked pieces of legislation that would end racial problems.

What was "redlining?"

This goes back to the FHA (new deal program) that helped people get loans for houses by having the government guarantee banks that they would give them back money if people couldn't pay off loans. The fed gov marked off neighborhoods guaranteed to pay back loans and one that weren't (distributed racially). Truman made it illegal to prevent blacks from moving into these redline areas if they had the money to do so.

How did the media affect JFK's election?

This was the first election tv played a major role in. Although both candidates were moderates and public opinion polls thought Nixon would win, JFK was younger, more attractive, more energetic, and was the voice of the young generation. Nixon seemed liked he was lying due to the lights on tv, while JFK didn't have a problem. Aura was important to voters than substance of what they were saying so JFK won

Midway

This was when we really got Japan back. Our communication dept broke Japanese code so we knew they were after a chain of islands. We made the impression that we believed Japs were going after islands off of Alaska, but we actually sent the bulk of our military to Midway. This changed the tide of war because Japan was on the defensive for the remainder. We did this just by fighting on the defensive.

decision to drop the atomic bomb

Truman's first meeting as president he learned about the atomic bomb. They didn't know what the casualties would be, but estimated 1-10 million if we invaded Japan ourselves. Civilians became targets due to the gov decision to drop the bomb, but it might have actually saved more lives. Both towns were legitimate military targets (industrial), but casualties were 100% civilian.

Fair Deal

Truman's platform, he wanted to -keep up New Deal programs -put military on the forefront of racial integration -keep up Cold War spending -passing a package of things to try to end racial inequality

Missle Crisis

US routinely flew over Cuba to get intelligence after failure and they were building missile silos. Kennedy admin got in touch with Krushchev (Soviet union was behind this). JFK wouldn't stop missiles being made in Turkey pointing at them, so he wouldn't stop making them in Cuba. We were sending our Navy to stop Soviet ships from coming but Krushchev responding "well they're coming" (could've been the last day on earth)

How did the Korean War play itself out?

US wanted to turn toward North Korea and liberate the country, but they were getting too close to China. China pushed forces back into South Korea. Both forces built trenches and the war reached a stalemate similar to WWI. Mcarthur wanted to drop bomb to end stalemate but that would be stupid to drop bomb on communism because the Soviet Union would then drop them. Truman shuts him down and Mcarthur says hes not man enough then gets fired. After 2 1/2 years we just quit, able to save South Korea (democratic).

What was the impact of the WWII on America?

WWII made the US a world power, made Americans realize that big businesses aren't that bad and industries were stronger and untouched, we had the bomb, and 1 million deaths.

Does America have an unblemished record in its response to the Holocaust?

We knew that Jews were being rounded up and restricted to ghettos and by 1941 they were taken to concentration camps to work on war industry, but didn't know that they were systematically murdered from the start. We wanted to liberate camps but didn't want to take the Jews. The War Refugee Board saved 200,000 Jews, while 6 million of them died.

Race to Berlin

We were not going to make the same mistake we did in WWI, the war was not ending until we took Germany. It was a friendly race with Britain and other US troops (who would get the honor). But we were really racing Russia because both sides of German troops were weakened we had a sneaky suspicion that Russia might not leave if they get Berlin

Why was the Cold War crucial to the success of the Civil Rights movement?

We were spending billions to stop communism from spreading and most people in those countries of central and south america and africa have darker skin and were very aware of the movement because the soviet union made sure it was front page new around the globe. "If this is how they treat people of color in their own country,why should we believe in America's democracy?"

In what ways was American democracy hypocritical during the time of the Cold War?

We were trying to make the world a place where democracy grows and expands and willing to spend money on other countries, but don't fully have democracy back home. Dixiecrats and republicans block pieces of legislation Truman tried to pass to end racial problems

New Left

White, middle class college students inspired by civil rights movement (or involved with) and now lashing out at all forms of discrimination in US (dress codes, greek system, parietal rules like curfews, restrictions on free speech on campus) Main focus: protesting the war

Black Panthers

a black political organization that promoted self-reliance to the extreme. Believed there would be a revolution where blacks rise up and overthrow whites. They armed themselves, policed their own neighborhoods and threatened any cops that came in, and burned down ghettos. They scared America and made the country more willing to embrace MLK.

"America First"

a phrase that promoted isolationism, we can't take care of the world committee's main purpose was to make sure we stayed out of war if it doesn't threaten us

master race

believed Germans were superior to others because they got out of the depression through democratic socialism and no one else did

Operation Torch

first full scale offensive in North Africa led by Eisenhower

Bermuda Conference

high profile meeting between Churchill, Stalin, and FDR about military strategy and liberate concentration camps

Bay of Pigs

implementation of Ike's plan to train Cuban refugees in our country in guerilla tactics, use our navy to drop them off at the Bay, while giving them air support to get into Cuba and have a counter revolution to overthrow Castro. JFK decided not to give air support last min because it would be an embarrassment if planes got shot down. This doomed the refugees.

"Germany First"

not prepared for two full scale wars at once, focused on limiting resources in Germany first

War Production Board

overlooked companies and made sure factories converted to making supplies for war not peace time, they would get tax breaks id they did and if not, they were labeled as unpatriotic. contracts between government and businesses basically stated that they would buy whatever businesses made no matter the amount

In what ways did various media help to connect what people were doing at home, to what the armies were doing?

radio shows had themes that we have to sacrifice for something bigger than ourselves Movies like Casablanca, and actors like John Wayne did the same as radio shows Newsreels showed that what people were doing at home was making our soldiers successful

Air War in Europe

-more important part to our success -Britain started bombing raids over Germany in 1941, but US helped in bombing campaigns. Hit legit military targets, which were anything the Germans could use (blitzkrieg) -US was concerned about only hitting military targets, while Britain didn't care about civilian casualties considering what happened to them -agreement: US bombed during the day and Britain at night (Germany was bombed 24/7)

Why were the American people isolationists during the 1930s?

After WWI there was an intense anti-war sentiment. America believed they needed to be isolated because other country's problems were not their own, the US had their own problems (Great Depression)

How did Europe respond to Hitler at first?

Countries "understood" when Hitler stopped following the Treaty of Versailles because they didn't have money to pay tariffs and they were trying to build armies back up. Czech wanted help because of their Jewish population so Britain came to the rescue

Doolittle Raid

First air attack on Japan. US didn't have any bases close enough to Tokyo so found 14 crews that could get a bomber off the ground in the distance that is needed to get off an aircraft carrier. Men had the choice, but they were infused with nationalism and wanted to get back at Japan. All crews got off deck, dropped bombs, and got away, but 50% were killed, survivors were helped by the Chinese, and there was little significant damage. Morale still went through the roof and Japs decided they better speed up attacks on US possessions

What started WWII?

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939

Impact of Brown v. Board of Education

It set the precedent that theoretically makes all Jim Crow laws across the board unconstitutional if you challenge them in court, but the only way to do this is to break the laws.

What was accomplished by the civil rights movement

JFK came on TV and gave the first speech about civil rights any pres has given since Lincoln and proposed the Civil Rights Bill, which would make all Jim Crow illegal in one full swoop

missile crisis solution

Krushchev would back ships away if Kennedy promised never to make another military attempt to overthrow the cuban gov and got him to dismantle his missiles in Turkey. Perception was that the US won, but really the whole world won. better communication between the US president and Soviet premiere was made (red phone) and agreed to stop testing of certain types of nuclear weapons (atmospherical)

March on Washington

Largest movement at that time to promote a cause, put pressure on the government to pass the bill.

Lend-Lease

Legislation that got around the neutrality act so we could help Britain by sending planes because it was seen as vital to our own defense.

Who are some of the people who were called to testify, who got "blacklisted"?

People with some authority like teachers, coaches, celebrities. Senator McCarthy scrutinized Hollywood and blacklisted producers. He said the army was too sympathetic towards communism and should've gotten North Korea. People saw how ridiculous this witch hunt was and that it ruined innocent lives, but still stopped some

Kennedy's Domestic Policy

Pushed for a major tax cut so citizens could hold onto more of their monthly paycheck and spend more money (stimulated the economy).

Truman's Miracle

Republican strength grew after WWII and public opinion and exit polls showed he was going to lose but Truman won the election of 1948. During his campaign he wrote off states he knew he wasn't going to win and concentrated on states he had a chance with

Albany, Georgia

SNCC decided to test a new tactic of demonstrating against a mass target (restaurants, theaters, pools,etc.). The sheriff understood this tactic and learned from MS to not let them get beat up and just throw them in jail, so they were all arrested and put into different facilities in neighboring cities. No violence, no media attention no moral crisis, failure

What was going on in Germany, Italy, and Japan during the Great Depression?

The Depression was worldwide. They all became facist dictatorships using military control.

How did isolation reflect in legislation passed by Congress?

The Neutrality Acts were passed, stating that if you are on a ship to a country at war, you're on your own and we cannot trade or do business with countries at war with each other

How did we get involved in a war in Korea?

The US and Russia played a role in driving Japan out of Korea in WWII. US drove them North and rebuilt the South, Russia did the same for the North. The North attacked the South in 1950 trying to reunify, but we couldn't let this happen due to the Truman Doctrine, so we went to the UN and a multinational force led by Mcarthur went into South Korea

latch key children

carried their keys to let themselves in when their parents were working or fighting the war, had to take care of siblings

D-day

-After being successful in North Africa, industrial output reached its fullest potential, and dominated skies over Europe, US was ready for a second front. -Eisenhower would lead operation because most troops were American, and an overwhelming majority of equipment was american. -moment when the US takes over the role of leadership over western civ -largest military operation US had been involved in -flooded Germany with misinformation, but they were still prepared with obstacles on beach, machine guns, and bunkers -almost every man died in first wave before getting off boat -10,000 casualties due to troubles coming ashore, 156,000 allies on shore by the end

What major Civil Rights events took place during JFK's presidency?

-JFK sent troops and US federal marshals to Ole Miss to get a student registered after the governor of MS encouraged students to prevent that from happening. Two marshals were killed but MS got integrated. -JFK made a deal with the governor of AL to let him give a speech in the doorway about how the gov was being a tyranny over states, but JFK would use troops after to get a student registered into UA

What are some of the most famous convictions?

-Rosenbergs: couple working in weapons program -Alger Hiss: state department official that sent military weapon technology in form of microfilms

On what issues did the U.S. and the Soviet Union cooperate over?

-Soviet Union placed provisional gov (temp. Russian gov) on areas driving Germany out, theoretically would let countries decide what kind of gov they wanted after war and chaos was over. The US didn't like this but was cooperating because they might need help with Japan. -The US joined the UN because they had to take on the role of world leadership to prevent wars like this from happening ever again. Their first big decision was the recreation of Israel as a homeland of Jewish people -Nuremberg: put top German officials on trial -US argued that destroying Germany wouldn't destroy German nationalism, so they divided Germany into 4 sections and further divided Berlin into what would become East and West Berlin

What are the major Civil Rights events that took place during LBJ's presidency?

-freedom summer: SNCC students set up schools to educate people on how to pass literacy tests, raised money for poll taxes, and gained moral support to get blacks to vote in MS. 15 members were lynched (some were white) and for 4 little girls were killed at 16th Street Baptist Church after the KKK threw in dynamite -Selma: after freedom summer, the movement had a march on Montgomery. The sheriff was like bull conner and they were mercilessly beaten at their first attempt. MLK led the second march, but turned around when they saw state troopers. The state national guard protected protestors on third attempt. Led LBJ to go to Congress and demanded a... -voting rights act: made it illegal to have anything restrict people's ability to vote besides citizenship, age, and criminal background. Had US federal marshals escort people to get registered or to vote who were wouldn't out of fear and intimidation

Leapfrogging technique

-send in marines to take position on island, Japs will counterattack but we'll wear them out -once Japs send reinforcement, we'll send in the Navy to drive them away -get marines out and send in army to clean up resistance that remains and the marines will leap frog to next island army has the most difficult job because Japanese don't surrender, so they have to kill every last one, which is hard in the jungle so the resort to guerilla tactics

How was America transformed by WWII?

15 million people changed location to be close to loved ones, move to training camps, or for work. Many Northerners stayed in the south where training camps were. Western states had the most impact with factories because the were closest to untapped natural resources

Leapfrogging Plan

A multinational force will work its way up from Australia and retake areas in Southeast Asia captured by Japanese. Almost an exclusively American operation was US troops would move up from Australia to all tiny islands until reaching Japan directly. Didn't have to capture every island because islands would neutralize between two captured one.

Death March

After 4 months, Us surrenders to Japan on the Bataan peninsula. McCarther was taken out but said "I shall return". American prisoners were forced to march to camps without food, water, or help. Japs cut off heads of fallen soldiers. More men died on the walk then the previous 4 months in the pacific

Why did Churchill believe that the war had been won when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor?

America's isolation sentiment was gone and they didn't start this war, but they were going to finish it

hippies

Another radical group that had the same concerns as the New Left, but didn't believe in democracy or that you could really change this country. Weakened the effectiveness of New Left -separated themselves from the mainstream society -sexual freedom, communal living -heavy drug use (LSD, acid) to "free mind form programming"

How did JFK's assassination solidify his image?

Assassination is what made his rep. His admin hadn't done much besides almost get the world destroyed and get dragged kicking and screaming in the civil rights movement. It could be argued that it wasn't about what he did in his first term, but what he could've done in his second. Sadness and tragedy solidified that JFK was a great man and everyone loved him (even if they didn't vote for him)

Little Rock

Attempted to integrate schools, started with 9 black students (little rock nine). The governor tried to prevent this by saying he'd been getting word that people outside of the community were coming to stop this so the police turned the nine away, making Eisenhower angry (state vs. federal power). The governor agreed not to use police to stop or help out with integrations so riots broke out. Eisenhower got Arkansas national guard and sent US army paratroopers and for the rest of the school year, military escorted kids.

How did LBJ use JFK's death to get the Civil Rights Bill passed?

Began to push for the bill by saying JFK was a martyr, which put pressure on Congress and further caused grief throughout the nation

What happened at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain that began to erode American isolationism?

Britain got into the war because of France and went to Dunkirk to leave by boat, but Germany was closing in quickly. All British citizens who had any watercraft of any kind went themselves to pick up soldiers. Americans saw newsreels and the isolation sentiment began to erode because of the special connection the US has with Britain. As well as the attack on civilians during the battle of Britain, intended to demoralize. Churchill gave speeches saying Germany would have to kill every last person before they took Britain

Montgomery bus boycott

Buses were segregated, blacks had to walk through the back of the bus after they paid, and have to give up seat/stand if white people filled up the bus. After Rosa Parks (NAACP secretary) the black community decided they weren't ok with this and boycotted until buses desegregated (hurt companies). These women that walked home were subject to violence and the media attention sped up the court's process to rule the Montgomery bus segregation unconstitutional based on Brown v. Board.

Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?

Capturing China caught America's attention, Japan froze assets in US and placed an embargo so the US stopped selling Japan steel and oil. US wouldn't make an agreement with Japan because they were allies with Germany and was a common enemy with Russia

What sorts of civilian organizations helped the war effort?

Civilian Defense Committee: organized air raid drills, fear that we could undergo what's happening in Britain, so we could lessen damage and casualties if it did happen USO: boosted moral of troops by sending care packages, having high profile entertainment shows (Bob Hope), put on dances in small towns/cities near training bases so soldiers had something wholesome to do on weekends Boy and Girl Scouts: went door to door to get newspapers, scrap metals, rags, etc. to be used for tanks, bombs, and planes