Deck 23: World War II

Question 1

Joseph Stalin was motivated to sign a nonaggression pact with Hitler by

A) the Soviets' need for economic and military aid.
B) Stalin's desire to gain control of Eastern Europe.
C) Stalin's sense that he needed to preempt a Nazi invasion.
D) the need for an ally given widespread anti-communism in Europe.

Answer 1

Stalin's sense that he needed to preempt a Nazi invasion.

Question 2

Adolf Hitler's popularity within Germany was a consequence of German

A) frustration with post-World War I deprivations.
B) admiration for the policies of Mussolini and Franco.
C) fear of future aggression by neighboring France.
D) desire to prevent the spread of Soviet communism.

Answer 2

frustration with post-World War I deprivations.

Question 3

The America First Committee was designed to

A) protect American investments in Europe in the face of German victories.
B) advocate America's continued neutrality in foreign wars.
C) protest congressional approval of the Lend-Lease Act.
D) block Roosevelt's attempt to run for a third term as president.

Answer 3

advocate America's continued neutrality in foreign wars.

Question 4

The differing post-World War II priorities of the Allied nations became apparent

A) during the Yalta Conference.
B) after Roosevelt's death.
C) when Paris was liberated.
D) at the Potsdam Conference.

Question 5

The Lend-Lease Act did not violate the Neutrality Acts because

A) the equipment it provided to Great Britain was obsolete.
B) no American servicemen were sent to Europe as a result.
C) the British received no aid from the federal government.
D) no weapons or munitions were actually sold to the British.

Question 6

Roosevelt wanted to delay opening a second front in World War II because he

A) did not want to appear to be doing Stalin's bidding.
B) felt greater loyalty to Great Britain than to the Soviets.
C) feared losing public support with a series of early losses.
D) wanted to see the Germans and Soviets destroy each other.

Question 7

The Tripartite Treaty resulted in

A) Germany and Italy declaring war on the United States.
B) Japan bombing the Pearl Harbor naval base.
C) the United States ending all trade with Japan.
D) Congress agreeing to repeal the Neutrality Acts.

Question 8

Stalin interpreted his Allies' delay in opening a second front as evidence of their

A) poor strategic thinking.
B) fear of military defeat.
C) inadequate manpower.
D) anti-Soviet sentiments.

Question 9

What did Germany do to trigger a declaration of war by Great Britain and France?

A) Forced unification with Austria
B) Launched an invasion of Poland
C) Provided support for Spain's Franco
D) Forged an alliance with the Soviet Union

Question 10

Which of the following pre-World War II treaties outlawed the use of war as a vehicle for advancing a nation's policy agenda?

A) Treaty of Versailles
B) Kellogg-Briand Pact
C) Atlantic Charter
D) Munich Accord

Question 11

What convinced the majority of Americans that they would eventually need to enter World War II against Germany?

A) The successful Nazi invasion of France
B) Discovery of Nazi concentration camps
C) Germany's support of Spain's Franco
D) The German blitzkrieg across Europe

Question 12

During World War II, German submarines began sinking American ships after

A) Roosevelt won his third presidential term.
B) the United States began a military draft.
C) Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act.
D) the signing of the Atlantic Charter.

Question 13

The Atlantic Charter laid the framework for which postwar organization?

A) The International Monetary Fund
B) The United Nations
C) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
D) The Non-Alignment Movement

Question 14

Most of the Americans who fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War were

A) Republicans.
B) Spanish speakers.
C) African Americans.
D) Communists.

Question 15

Which of the following nations belonged to the Axis Powers?

A) Italy
B) France
C) Spain
D) Poland

Question 16

The decision by Great Britain and France to sign the Munich Accord with Germany was considered an act of

A) isolationism.
B) internationalism.
C) appeasement.
D) neutrality.

Question 17

The D Day invasion was led by

A) General Douglas MacArthur.
B) General George Patton.
C) General Dwight Eisenhower.
D) General Curtis LeMay.

Question 18

Tensions between the United States and Japan prior to Pearl Harbor resulted from

A) Japan's continuing efforts to occupy and control China.
B) American missionary efforts to convert the Japanese.
C) competition between the two for control of Manchuria.
D) Japan's refusal to become an American trading partner.

Question 19

The popularity of novels such as A Farewell to Arms and All Quiet on the Western Front, both published in 1929, reflected American

A) pride in its servicemen and military might.
B) affection for allies France and Great Britain.
C) continuing antipathy toward Germany.
D) desire to avoid involvement in another war.

Question 20

The Allies' first significant military success after the United States entered World War II took place in

A) France.
B) Germany.
C) Egypt.
D) the Soviet Union.

Question 21

President Franklin Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practice Committee in order to

A) begin the process of desegregating the military.
B) prevent a march to protest racial discrimination.
C) show support for the Double V campaign.
D) fulfill a promise to his wife, Eleanor.

Question 22

The architect of a proposed march on Washington to protest racial discrimination in 1941 was

A) A. Philip Randolph.
B) Bayard Rustin.
C) Fred Korematsu.
D) Ignacio Lutero Lopez.

Question 23

The Japanese surrender was precipitated by

A) receiving an ultimatum from President Truman.
B) the advance of the Soviet army into Manchuria.
C) the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
D) the dropping of an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

Question 24

The rise in the marriage rate during the 1940s was a consequence of

A) the number of men at war.
B) a lack of consumer goods.
C) the decline in unemployment.
D) mass relocation and separation.

Question 25

Which law authorized the president to reorganize federal agencies any way he thought necessary?

A) The War Powers Act
B) The Neutrality Acts
C) The Lend-Lease Act
D) The Fair Employment Practices Act

Question 26

Most Americans found dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was acceptable because they believed it

A) would prevent the Russians from entering the war in the Pacific.
B) saved the lives of thousands, perhaps millions, of American soldiers.
C) demonstrated American military and technological superiority.
D) would ultimately be less expensive than continuing the ground war.

Question 27

Which nation suffered the greatest number of casualties as a result of World War II?

A) Germany
B) Great Britain
C) France
D) The Soviet Union

Question 28

During World War II, the majority of women who entered the wartime workforce were over the age of 35 because younger women

A) didn't have the necessary skills and experience.
B) worried that factory work was not "feminine."
C) struggled to arrange for child care.
D) were less self-sacrificing than older women.

Question 29

Union workers who went on strike during World War II were protesting

A) long hours and forced overtime.
B) the lack of available childcare.
C) dangerous working conditions.
D) corporate profiteering at their expense.

Question 30

How did American schoolchildren aid in the war effort during World War II?

A) They recycled rubber and scrap metal.
B) They worked in victory gardens.
C) They handed out propaganda pamphlets.
D) They entered early military training programs.

Question 31

Which of the following properly describes the American public's perception of women's industrial work during World War II?

A) Their insistence on employment hampered the war effort.
B) Women did not belong in industry under any circumstances.
C) Their new jobs were the beginning of a new era in economic equality.
D) Women temporarily filled positions that were rightfully those of men.

Question 32

Which of the following is true about the American movie industry during World War II?

A) Studios steered clear of war themes.
B) Americans' military service and overtime work kept them away from the theaters.
C) Hollywood studios suspended film production in order to conserve important raw materials.
D) Movie attendance during the war years reached a new record level.

Question 33

The lack of urgency with which the United States responded to Jewish refugees can be attributed to

A) ignorance of the concentration camps.
B) anti-Semitism within the government.
C) fear of overburdening the economy.
D) lack of support from the other Allies.

Question 34

Like the Great Depression, World War II led to

A) massive unemployment.
B) cuts in farm production.
C) government growth.
D) antibusiness hostility.

Question 35

Kamikaze attacks on American battleships reflected Japanese

A) desperation in the face of defeat.
B) determination to fight to the last man.
C) loyalty to their emperor, Hirohito.
D) retaliation for the firebombing of Tokyo.

Question 36

In 1945, the Allies met at Yalta to plan for the postwar future but were divided over

A) who would rule Poland.
B) how to divide Germany.
C) how to punish Japan.
D) the future of atomic technology.

Question 37

How much more costly than World War I was World War II for the United States?

A) Two times
B) Five times
C) Eight times
D) Ten times

Question 38

To help cover the costs of World War II, the federal government

A) increased corporate taxes.
B) increased income taxes.
C) fired government workers.
D) capped war workers' salaries.

Question 39

The first evidence of the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people reached the American public

A) before the United States entered the war.
B) in 1942.
C) in 1944.
D) when the concentration camps were liberated.

Question 40

American women in industrial employment during World War II

A) enjoyed excellent opportunities for advancement.
B) relied on federally funded child care assistance.
C) received lower pay than men for the same work.
D) remained stuck in textile manufacturing and domestic service.

Question 41

The banning of zoot suits on the streets of Los Angeles in 1943 can be interpreted as

A) an attempt to prevent public fighting between whites and Mexicans.
B) a way to prevent the excessive use of cloth for nonmilitary purposes.
C) a response to pressure from the U.S. navy.
D) an act of discrimination against young Mexican American men.

Question 42

Both the Congress of Racial Equality and the League of United Latin American Citizens organized campaigns that challenged

A) job discrimination based on race.
B) denial of minority citizens' voting rights.
C) segregation of public accommodations.
D) segregation within the military.

Question 43

Figure 23.1, Real Gross Domestic Product of the Great Powers, 1938-1945, shows which of the following developments?

A) Great Britain remained economically largely unaffected by the war.
B) The French economy benefited from German occupation.
C) Japan benefited from being isolated from European markets.
D) The United States expanded its economic dominance dramatically.

Question 44

Civil rights activism among racial and ethnic minorities increased during World War II because

A) the war heightened their sense of American identity and sense of entitlement to the rights of citizenship.
B) they felt the need to protest the government's clampdown on civil liberties and repression of Japanese Americans.
C) they wanted to prevent Nazi and fascist ideas and policies from spreading to the United States.
D) they were offended that an American general had commented, "A Jap's a Jap. It makes no difference whether he is an American or not."

Question 45

During World War II, when civil rights activists spoke of a two-front war, they were connecting

A) their fight against racism at home to the nation's fight against the Nazis.
B) the war against Japan to discrimination against Japanese Americans.
C) the war in Europe to race riots in American cities like Detroit and Los Angeles.
D) the war in Europe to tensions between the races within the American military.

Question 46

Map 23.1, World War II in Europe, 1941-1945, illustrates the long war against Nazi Germany on the Eastern and Western Fronts. Which of the following offers the proper chronology of some of the major battles in the European theater of war?

A) Battle of Britain - El Alamein - Fall of Stalingrad - Liberation of Rome - Battle of the Bulge
B) El Alamein - Fall of Stalingrad - Battle of Britain - Battle of the Bulge - Liberation of Rome
C) Fall of Stalingrad - Battle of Britain - Battle of the Bulge - Liberation of Rome - El Alamein
D) Liberation of Rome - Battle of Britain - El Alamein - Battle of the Bulge - Fall of Stalingrad

Question 47

Americans of Italian and German descent received better treatment than Japanese Americans during the war because

A) there were fewer of them.
B) they were more assimilated.
C) they joined the military.
D) they were more patriotic.

Question 48

The image of Holocaust survivors shows emaciated men in the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany after liberation by American troops of the 80th Army Division. What explains the facial expressions of these men?

A) The joy of liberation and enthusiasm for a new life in the United States
B) The fear of the American liberators
C) The lack of concern about events around them
D) The deep scars their ordeal left on their bodies and souls

Question 49

Congress lifted the Chinese Exclusion Act during World War II

A) because the United States needed Chinese workers.
B) to bring Chinese men into the American military.
C) because China was being occupied by Japan.
D) to assimilate Chinese immigrants into the mainstream.

Question 50

The doubling of the percentage of African Americans in the South who were registered to vote in the mid-1940s was the result of the

A) service of African American men in the military.
B) activism of the Congress of Racial Equality.
C) impact of the Smith v. Allwright decision.
D) their relocation from rural areas to cities.

Question 51

Fred Korematsu was exceptional among Japanese Americans during World War II because he

A) challenged the government's denial of his civil liberties.
B) renounced his American citizenship after the war.
C) made the best of life in the internment camps.
D) was born in the United States and lived in the West.

Question 52

The racial tensions that arose in urban areas during World War II can be attributed to

A) overcrowding and competition for housing.
B) the growing numbers of juvenile delinquents.
C) the influx of contract workers from Mexico.
D) protests and antidiscrimination campaigns.

Question 53

Which group of American Indians provided an essential wartime service by using their little known tribal language for coded messages in the Pacific theater?

A) The Iroquois
B) The Navajo
C) The Pueblo
D) The Cherokee