The fundamental strategic decision of World War II made by President Roosevelt and the British at the very beginning was
a. to plan for a "second front" in western Europe as soon as possible.
b. to force Italy out of the war first by attacking the "soft underbelly" of Europe.
c. to arouse the American people to an idealistic crusade of the same sort that Woodrow Wilson had so effectively used in World War I.
d. to concentrate first on the war in Europe and to place the Pacific war against Japan on the back burner.
e. to fight an equally vigorous naval war against Japan and a land war against Germany and Italy.
D
Once at war, America's first great challenge was to
a. pass a conscription law.
b. raise an army and navy.
c. extend aid to the Soviet Union.
d. develop atomic weapons.
e. retool its industry for all-out war production.
E
Overall, most ethnic groups in the United States during World War II
a. were further assimilated into American society.
b. were not allowed to serve in the military.
c. had their patriotism questioned as in World War I.
d. cast their vote for Republican candidates opposed to the war.
e. served in ethnically distinct military units.
A
Japanese Americans were placed in concentration camps during World War II
a. due to numerous acts of sabotage.
b. in retaliation for the placement of Americans in concentration camps by the Japanese.
c. as a result of anti-Japanese prejudice and fear.
d. because many were loyal to Japan.
e. a1l of the above.
C
The minority group most adversely affected by Washington's wartime policies was
a. German Americans.
b. blacks.
c. Japanese Americans.
d. American communists.
e. Italian Americans.
C
The general American attitude toward World War II was
a. resentment at having to disrupt civilian life.
b. gratitude that the Great Depression was finally over.
c. a fervent ideological belief in democracy and hatred of fascism.
d. less idealistic and ideological and more practical than the outlook in World War I.
e. that it was necessary to defend white American society against racial assaults.
D
In the period from 1885 to 1924, Japanese immigrants to the United States were
a. poorly educated.
b. primarily from the island of Hokkaido.
c. some of the poorest people to enter the county.
d. almost exclusively males.
e. a select group who was better educated than most European immigrants.
E
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941,
a. it took nearly two years for the county to unite.
b. the conflict soon became an idealistic crusade for democracy.
c. the government repudiated the Atlantic Charter.
d. a majority of Americans had no clear idea of what the war was about.
e. the idea of allying with the Communist Soviet Union was repugnant.
D
During World War II, the United States government commissioned the production of synthetic __________ in order to offset the loss of access to prewar supplies in East Asia.
a. textiles
b. rubber
c. tin
d. fuels
e. plastics
B
A. War Production Board
1. assigned priorities with respect to the use of raw materials and transportation facilities
B. Office of Price
2. controlled inflation by Administration rationing essential goods
C. War Labor Board
3. imposed ceilings on wage increases
D. Fair Employment
4. saw to it that no hiring Practices Commission discrimination practices were used against blacks seeking employment in war industries
a. A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1
b. A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
c. A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
d. A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
e. A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3
B
While most American workers were strongly committed to the war effort, wartime production was disrupted by strikes led by the
a. Teamsters.
b. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
c. Longshoremen's International Union
d. United Mine Workers.
e. Industrial Workers of the World.
D
During World War II,
a. there were no strikes by any unions.
b. unions actively combated racial discrimination.
c. farm production declined.
d. for security reasons, the bracero program with Mexico was temporarily halted.
e. labor unions substantially increased their membership.
E
The employment of more than six million women in American industry during World War II led to
a. equal pay for men and women.
b. a greater percentage of American women in war industries than anywhere else in the world.
c. the establishment of day-care centers by the government.
d. a reduction in employment for black males.
e. a strong desire of most women to work for wages.
C
The main reason the majority of women war workers left the labor force at the end of WW II was
a. union demands.
b. employer demands that they quit.
c. male discrimination on the job.
d. government requirements to hire veterans.
e. family obligations.
E
African Americans did all of the following during World War II except
a. fight in integrated combat units.
b. rally behind the slogan "Double V" (victory over dictators abroad and racism at home).
c. move north and west in large numbers.
d. form a militant organization called the Congress of Racial Equality.
e. serve in the Army Air Corps.
A
During World War II , most Americans economically experienced
a. serious hardships due to rationing of essential goods.
b. prosperity and a doubling of personal income.
c. a continuing struggle to find employment.
d. growing class conflict between the wealthy and the working class.
e. prosperity in the cities but disastrous conditions on farms and in small towns.
B
The northward migration of African Americans accelerated after World War II because
a. the southern system of sharecropping was declared illegal.
b. Latinos had replaced blacks in the work force.
c. mechanical cotton pickers came into use.
d. northern cities repealed segregation laws.
e. the South made it clear that they were not wanted.
C
The Japanese made a crucial mistake in 1942 in their attempt to control much of the Pacific when they
a. failed to take the Philippines.
b. unsuccessfully attacked the oil-rich Dutch East Indies.
c. overextended themselves instead of digging in and consolidating their gains.
d. sent their submarine force on a suicide mission at the Battle of Midway.
e. attacked Alaska and Australia.
C
Until spring 1943, perhaps Hitler's greatest opportunities of defeating Britain and winning the war was
a. the possibility of a successful invasion across the English Channel.
b. that German U-boat would destroy Allied shipping.
c. the defeatism of pro-Fascist elements within upper-class British society would.
d. that General Rommel would conquer Egypt and the Suez Canal.
e. that the American-British-Soviet alliance would collapse.
B
The Allies postponed opening a second front in Europe until 1944 because
a. they hoped that Germany and the Soviet Union would cripple each other.
b. men and material were needed more urgently in the Pacific.
c. the Soviet Union requested a delay until it could join the campaign.
d. they believed that North Africa was more strategically vital.
e. of British reluctance and lack of adequate resources.
E
Roosevelt's and Churchill's insistence on the absolute and "unconditional surrender" of Germany
a. eventually complicated the problems of postwar reconstruction.
b. clearly shortened the war.
c. was largely unacceptable to the Soviets, who hoped to encourage a Communist revolution inside Germany.
d. may have prevented a "separate peace" between Hitler and Stalin.
e. encouraged anti-Hitler resisters in Germany to try to overthrow the Nazis.
A
President Roosevelt's promise to the Soviets to open a second front in western Europe by the end of 1942
a. was fulfilled by the invasion of North Africa.
b. was made to deceive Stalin and encourage him to slow his army's movement into Eastern Europe.
c. strongly supported by Churchill and British military leaders.
d. utterly impossible to keep.
e. the key goal to which all American military efforts were directed
D
The major consequence of the Allied conquest of Sicily in August 1943 was
a. a modification of the demand for unconditional surrender of Italy.
b. the overthrow of Mussolini and Italy's unconditional surrender
c. the swift Allied conquest of the Italian peninsula.
d. a conflict between Churchill and General Eisenhower over the invasion of the Italian mainland.
e. the threat of a Communist takeover of the Italian government.
B
After the Italian surrender in August 1943,
a. the Allies found it easy to conquer Rome and the rest of Italy.
b. the Soviets accepted the wisdom of delaying the invasion of France and pursuing the second front in Italy.
c. the British demanded the restoration of the monarchy in Italy.
d. the Americans withdrew from Italy to prepare for D-Day.
e. the German army poured into Italy and stalled the Allied advance.
E
The real impact of the Italian front on World War II may have been that it
a. delayed the D-Day invasion and allowed the Soviet Union to advance further into Eastern Europe.
b. prevented the rise of fascism or communism in Italy after the war.
c. enabled the Americans to appease both British and Soviet strategic demands.
d. enabled the United States to prevent Austria and Greece from falling into Soviet hands.
e. destroyed the monastery of Monte Cassino and other Italian artistic treasures.
A
At the wartime Teheran Conference,
a. the Soviet Union agreed to declare war on Japan within three months.
b. the Big Three allies agreed to divide postwar Germany into separate occupied zones.
c. the Soviet Union agreed to allow free elections in Eastern European nations that its armies occupied at the end of the war.
d. plans were made for the opening of a second front in Europe.
e. it was agreed that five Big Powers would have veto power in the United Nations.
D
Hitler's last-ditch attempt to achieve a victory against the Americans and British came in
a. the Battle of the Bulge.
b. the Battle of the Rhineland.
c. the attempt to assassinate Churchill and Roosevelt.
d. an attempt to arrange a negotiated peace with Stalin.
e. the final U-boat campaign against the American navy.
A
The spending of enormous sums on the original atomic bomb project was spurred by the belief that
a. a nuclear weapon was the only way to win the war.
b. the Germans might acquire such a weapon first.
c. the Japanese were at work on an atomic bomb project of their own.
d. scientists like Albert Einstein might be lost to the war effort.
e. the American public would not tolerate the casualties that would result from a land invasion of Japan.
E
Which of the following was not among the qualities of the American participation in World War II?
a. a group of highly effective military and political leaders
b. an enormously effective effort in producing weapons and supplies
c. a higher percentage of military casualties than any other Allied nation
d. the preservation of the American homeland against invasion or destruction from the air
e. the maintenance and re-affirmation of the strength of American democracy
C
Franklin Roosevelt undermined the London Economic Conference because
a. its members insisted on rigid adherence to the gold standard.
b. any agreement to stabilize national currencies might hurt America's recovery from depression.
c. such an agreement would involve the United States militarily with the League of Nations.
d. the delegates refused to work on reviving international trade.
e. it was dominated by British and Swiss bankers.
B
As a result of Franklin Roosevelt's withdrawal from the London Economic Conference,
a. inflation in the United States was reduced.
b. the United States was voted out of the League of Nations.
c. tensions rose between the United States and Britain.
d. the United States began to pull out of the Depression.
e. the trend toward extreme nationalism was strengthened.
E
One internationalist action by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first term in office was
a. the formal recognition of the Soviet Union.
b. joining the League of Nations.
c. establishing military bases in China.
d. his support of the Tydings-McDuffie Act.
e. his commitment to Philippine independence.
A
Roosevelt's recognition of the Soviet Union was undertaken partly
a. in order to win support from American Catholics.
b. because the Soviet leadership seemed to be modifying its harsher communist policies.
c. in hopes of developing a diplomatic counterweight to the rising power of Japan and Germany.
d. to win favor with American liberals and leftists.
e. to open opportunities for American investment in Siberian oil fields.
C
In promising to grant the Philippines independence, the United States was motivated by
a. treaty obligations.
b. doubts about the islands' potential profitability.
c. the view that the islands were militarily indefensible.
d. the realization that the islands were economic liabilities.
e. regrets over their imperialistic takeover in 1898.
D
Franklin Roosevelt embarked on the Good Neighbor policy in part because
a. there was a rising tide of anti-Americanism in Latin America.
b. Congress had repealed the Monroe Doctrine.
c. he feared the spread of communism in the region.
d. the policy was part of the neutrality stance taken by the United States.
e. he was eager to enlist Latin American allies to defend the Western Hemisphere against dictators.
E
As part of his Good Neighbor policy toward Latin America, President Roosevelt developed more generous policies of
a. encouraging Mexican immigration into the United States.
b. removing American controls on Haiti, Cuba, and Panama.
c. Latin American strongmen in Argentina and Brazil.
d. returning the Guantanamo naval base to Cuban control.
e. moving Puerto Rico toward its independence.
B
The 1934 Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
a. raised America's tariff schedule.
b. inhibited President Roosevelt's efforts to implement his Good Neighbor policy.
c. increased America's foreign trade.
d. was most strongly opposed in the South and West.
e. was aimed at isolating Italy and Germany.
C
President Franklin Roosevelt's foreign-trade policy
a. lowered tariffs to increase trade.
b. encouraged trade only with Latin America.
c. continued the policy that had persisted since the Civil War.
d. was reversed only after World War 11.
e. sought protection for key U.S. industries.
A
Throughout most of the 1930s, the American people responded to the aggressive actions of Germany, Italy, and Japan by
a. assisting their victims with military aid.
b. giving only economic help to the targets of aggression.
c. beginning to build up their military forces.
d. demanding an oil embargo on all warring nations.
e. retreating further into isolationism.
E
Fascist aggression in the 1930s included Mussolini's invasion of __________, Hitler's invasion of __________, and Franco's overthrow of the republican government of __________.
a. Egypt; France; Poland
b. Albania; Italy; Austria
c. Ethiopia; Czechoslovakia; Spain
d. Belgium; the Soviet Union; France
e. Ethiopia; Norway; Portugal
C
By the mid- 1930s, there was strong nationwide agitation for a constitutional amendment to
a. increase the size of the Supreme Court.
b. limit a president to two terms.
c. ban arm sales to foreign nations.
d. require the president to gain Congressional approval before sending U.S. troops overseas.
e. forbid a declaration of war by Congress unless first approved by a popular referendum.
E
Passage of the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937 by the United States resulted in all of the following except
a. abandonment of the traditional policy of freedom of the seas.
b. a decline in the navy and other armed forces.
c. making no distinction whatever between aggressors and victims.
d. spurring aggressors along their path of conquest.
e. balancing the scales between dictators and U.S. allies by trading with neither.
A
The Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937 stipulated that when the president proclaimed the existence of a foreign war,
a. Americans would be prohibited from sailing on the ships of the warring nations.
b. America would sell arms and war materials only to the victim of aggression.
c. American bankers would be allowed to make loans to only one of the warring nations.
d. the United States intended to uphold the tradition of freedom of the seas.
e. U.S. diplomats and civilians would be withdrawn from both warring nations.
A
From 1925 to 1940 the transition of American policy on arms sales to warring nations followed this sequence:
a. embargo to lend-lease to cash-and-carry.
b. cash-and-carry to lend-lease to embargo.
c. lend-lease to cash-and-carry to embargo.
d. embargo to cash-and-carry to lend-lease.
e. lend-lease to embargo to cash-and-carry.
D
America's neutrality during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 allowed
a. Hitler to conquer Spain.
b. the Loyalists to win the war.
c. Roosevelt and Franco to become personal friends.
d. the Soviets to aid the Spanish republic.
e. Spain to become a fascist dictatorship.
E
Franklin Roosevelt's sensational "Quarantine Speech" in 1937 resulted in
a. a belief in Europe that America would stop Fascist aggression.
b. a wave of protest by isolationists.
c. support from both Democratic and Republican leaders.
d. a slowing of Japanese aggression in China.
e. a modification of the Neutrality Acts.
B
In September 1938 in Munich, Germany,
a. Britain and France consented to Germany's taking the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
b. Hitler declared his intention to take Austria.
c. Hitler signed the Axis Alliance Treaty with Japan.
d. Britain and France acquiesced to the German reoccupation of the Rhineland.
e. Britain and France declared that an invasion of Poland would mean war.
A
Probably the greatest obstacle to America's acceptance of more Jewish refugees from Europe was
a. a failure of moral imagination and belief that the Holocaust could actually be happening.
b. internal tensions between German-Jewish and eastern European Jewish communities in the United States.
c. the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924.
d. inadequate means for getting refugees from Europe to the United States.
e. the general belief that most Jews wanted to create a new state of Israel.
A
The U.S. military refused to bomb Nazi gas chambers such as those at Auschwitz and Dachau because of the belief that
a. bombing would kill the Jews kept there.
b. bombing would divert essential military resources.
c. the military was unsure of the gas chambers' location.
d. such attacks would not seriously impede the killing of Jews.
e. all of the above.
B
America's neutrality effectively ended when
a. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
b. Germany attacked Poland.
c. the conscription law was passed in 1940.
d. France fell to Germany.
e. Italy "stabbed France in the back."
D
In 1940, in exchange for American destroyers, the British gave the United States
a. "most favored nation" status.
b. a role in developing the atomic bomb.
c. eight valuable naval bases in the Western hemisphere.
d. access to German military codes.
e. six air bases in Scotland and Iceland.
C
By 1940 American public opinion had come to favor
a. the America First position.
b. active participation in the war.
c. permitting U.S. volunteers to fight in Britain.
d. shipping Britain everything except military weapons.
e. providing Britain with "all aid short of war."
E
The surprise Republican presidential nominee in 1940 was
a. Wendell L. Willkie.
b. Robert A. Taft.
c. Thomas E. Dewey.
d. Alfred E. Landon.
e. Charles A. Lindbergh.
A
Franklin Roosevelt was motivated to run for a third term in 1940 mainly by his
a. personal desire to defeat his old political rival, Wendell Willkie.
b. belief that America needed his experienced leadership during the international crisis.
c. mania for power.
d. opposition to Willkie's pledge to restore a strict policy of American neutrality.
e. belief that the two-term tradition limited democratic choice.
B
The 1941 lend-lease program was all of the following except
a. a focus of intense debate between internationalists and isolationists.
b. a direct challenge to the Axis dictators.
c. the point when all pretense of American neutrality was abandoned.
d. the catalyst that caused American factories to prepare for all-out war production.
e. another privately arranged executive deal, like the destroyers-for-bases trade.
E
In 1940, Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie avoided deepening the sharp divisions among the American people when he
a. avoided attacking the New Deal.
b. refused to raise the racial issue.
c. declined to criticize Roosevelt for seeking a third term
d. avoided attacking the draft.
e. avoided attacking Roosevelt for his increasingly interventionist policies.
E
After the Greer was fired upon, the Kearny crippled, and the Reuben James sunk,
a. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act.
b. the United States Navy began escorting merchant vessels carrying lend-lease shipments.
c. Congress allowed the arming of United States merchant vessels.
d. Congress forbade United States ships to enter combat zones.
e. Roosevelt told the public that war was imminent.
C
Japan believed that it was forced into war with the United States because Franklin Roosevelt insisted that Japan
a. withdraw from the Dutch East Indies.
b. withdraw from China.
c. renew its trade with America.
d. break its treaty of nonaggression with Germany.
e. find alternative sources of oil.
B
Arrange these events in chronological order: (A) Munich Conference, (B) German invasion of Poland, (C) Hitler-Stalin nonaggression treaty.
a. A, C, B
b. B, C, A
c. C, B, A
d. C, A, B
e. A, B, C
A
Arrange the following events in chronological order: (A) fall of France, (B) Atlantic Conference, (C) Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.
a. B, A, C
b. A, B, C
c. C, B, A
d. A, C, B
e. C, A, B
D