Deck 22: Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941-1945

Question 1

"D-Day" refers to the:

A) Allied invasion of the Soviet Union.
B) Allied invasion of Europe at Normandy.
C) Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
D) dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan.

Answer 1

Allied invasion of Europe at Normandy.

Question 2

What was the "final solution"?

A) The Allied operation for D-Day.
B) Adolf Hitler's plan to mass-exterminate "undesirable" peoples.
C) The United States' plan for the atomic bombs to be dropped on Japan.
D) Japan's plan to attack Pearl Harbor.

Answer 2

Adolf Hitler's plan to mass-exterminate "undesirable" peoples.

Question 3

Why did Franklin D. Roosevelt announce his candidacy for a third term in 1940?

A) He feared that the Republican incumbent Wendell Wilkie lacked the experience to govern the nation.
B) He argued that the nation should not switch its executive leadership in the middle of war.
C) He argued that the recovery was too fragile and the international situation too dangerous for him to leave his post.
D) He argued that the United States could only defeat the dictators of Italy, Germany, and Japan if they follow the leader with similar authority and power.

Answer 3

He argued that the recovery was too fragile and the international situation too dangerous for him to leave his post.

Question 4

The Lend-Lease Act:

A) authorized military aid to Germany and Japan.
B) authorized military aid to those fighting against Germany and Japan.
C) excluded China.
D) excluded the Soviet Union.

Question 5

Freedom House was an organization that:

A) demanded American intervention in the European war.
B) Jewish refugees could flee to from Europe.
C) believed the European war was not an American concern.
D) raised funds for Japanese-Americans to use for legal fees to bring court cases against the United States for unlawful imprisonment.

Question 6

Freedom of Worship (1943)
Will Durant
This little church is the first and final symbol of America. For men came across the sea not merely to find new soil for their plows but to win freedom for their souls, to think and speak and worship as they would. This is the freedom men value most of all; for this they have borne countless persecutions and fought more bravely than for food or gold. These men coming out of their chapel-what is the finest thing about them, next to their undiscourageable life? It is that they do not demand that others should worship as they do, or even that others should worship at all. In that waving valley are some who have not come to this service. It is not held against them; mutely these worshipers understand that faith takes many forms, and that men name with diverse words the hope that in their hearts is one.
It is astonishing and inspiring that after all the bloodshed of history this land should house in fellowship a hundred religions and a hundred doubts. This is with us an already ancient heritage; and because we knew such freedom of worship from our birth, we took it for granted and expected it of all mature men. Until yesterday the whole civilized world seemed secure in that liberty.
In explaining U.S. involvement in World War II, the kinds of threats to America implied by Durant

A) ultimately led the United States to enter World War II.
B) were secondary to a direct military attack on the United States.
C) played no role in the American war effort at home or abroad.
D) diminished the support of ethnic groups in the United States for the war effort.

Question 7

Which of the following does NOT explain why Americans hoped to avoid involvement in the war in Europe?

A) Many regretted intervention in the First World War, especially after Senate hearings revealed bankers and arms merchants had profited enormously from it.
B) Hitler had admirers in the United States.
C) It was clear to most people that there was little possibility of an Allied victory.
D) Businessmen such as Henry Ford wanted to maintain profitable German markets.

Question 8

How did the Allied campaign in Italy prepare for the ground invasion of France on D-Day?

A) The defeat of Mussolini's regime forced Hitler to redirect valuable German troops to occupy Italy.
B) American soldiers had the opportunity to hone their fighting skills in the much more forgiving Mediterranean theater of war.
C) Allied forces had to secure the Mediterranean for unperturbed access to Middle Eastern oil, a necessary resource for the ground invasion.
D) By occupying Italy, Allied forces were able to channel supplies through Switzerland and France to the westward marching invaders from Normandy.

Question 9

The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: The Public Explanation (1945)
Harry S. Truman
We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war.
It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.
The global position of the United States at the end of World War II represents the culmination of an expansion of power that began during the

A) early republic.
B) antebellum period.
C) Gilded Age.
D) Great Depression.

Question 10

In what aspect of American foreign policy did Franklin D. Roosevelt remove himself from Herbert Hoover's precedent?

A) He called for the era of isolationism toward Europe to be over.
B) He promised nationalists in China to intervene in their civil war.
C) He promised Latin American neighbors to end his predecessor's policy of interventionism.
D) He formally recognized the Soviet Union in an effort to stimulate trade.

Question 11

In 1940, the "cash and carry" plan:

A) allowed Great Britain to purchase U.S. arms on a restricted basis.
B) allowed Germany to purchase U.S. arms on a restricted basis.
C) allowed Japan to purchase U.S. arms on a restricted basis.
D) allowed all belligerents to purchase U.S. arms on a restricted basis.

Question 12

In the United States during World War II:

A) unemployment declined, production soared, and income taxes increased.
B) the economy grew only slightly.
C) income taxes increased only for the wealthy.
D) little was done to regulate the economy.

Question 13

The Four Freedoms:

A) was a campaign slogan of the Republicans.
B) were the war aims of Nazi Germany.
C) were President Roosevelt's statement of the Allied war aims.
D) included the freedom to join the Communist Party.

Question 14

Fascism:

A) was a political movement similar to Nazism.
B) became the political system in Spain by the late 1930s.
C) attracted widespread popularity in Sweden and Switzerland as an alternative to Nazism.
D) A and B

Question 15

Which of the following statements best describes Japan's overseas actions in the 1930s?

A) Japan requested an emergency session of the League of Nations to discuss treaty options with the United States.
B) Japan invaded China in 1931 and 1937 to expand its military and economic power.
C) Japanese diplomats seeking a peaceful solution in a territorial dispute with China were killed in Nanking.
D) Domestic power struggles kept Japan out of international affairs until 1941.

Question 16

Men like Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and Father Coughlin were members of the:

A) America Now! committee, an interventionist group.
B) Anti-Semitism Society, a group that blamed the Jews for the war.
C) America First committee, an isolationist group.
D) Lend-Lease League, a group that supported technology for the war.

Question 17

After the United States entered World War II:

A) Americans saw little military action for the first few months of 1942.
B) Americans immediately won several key battles.
C) it maintained control of the Philippines.
D) Americans experienced a series of military losses.

Question 18

Freedom of Worship (1943)
Will Durant
This little church is the first and final symbol of America. For men came across the sea not merely to find new soil for their plows but to win freedom for their souls, to think and speak and worship as they would. This is the freedom men value most of all; for this they have borne countless persecutions and fought more bravely than for food or gold. These men coming out of their chapel-what is the finest thing about them, next to their undiscourageable life? It is that they do not demand that others should worship as they do, or even that others should worship at all. In that waving valley are some who have not come to this service. It is not held against them; mutely these worshipers understand that faith takes many forms, and that men name with diverse words the hope that in their hearts is one.
It is astonishing and inspiring that after all the bloodshed of history this land should house in fellowship a hundred religions and a hundred doubts. This is with us an already ancient heritage; and because we knew such freedom of worship from our birth, we took it for granted and expected it of all mature men. Until yesterday the whole civilized world seemed secure in that liberty.
Durant's ideas represent one way that

A) Americans justified their isolationism during World War II.
B) the U.S. government mobilized churchgoers to fight against the Germans.
C) Americans rallied around core values being threatened by global totalitarian regimes.
D) communism made its way into the United States during the early years of World War II.

Question 19

Freedom of Worship (1943)
Will Durant
This little church is the first and final symbol of America. For men came across the sea not merely to find new soil for their plows but to win freedom for their souls, to think and speak and worship as they would. This is the freedom men value most of all; for this they have borne countless persecutions and fought more bravely than for food or gold. These men coming out of their chapel-what is the finest thing about them, next to their undiscourageable life? It is that they do not demand that others should worship as they do, or even that others should worship at all. In that waving valley are some who have not come to this service. It is not held against them; mutely these worshipers understand that faith takes many forms, and that men name with diverse words the hope that in their hearts is one.
It is astonishing and inspiring that after all the bloodshed of history this land should house in fellowship a hundred religions and a hundred doubts. This is with us an already ancient heritage; and because we knew such freedom of worship from our birth, we took it for granted and expected it of all mature men. Until yesterday the whole civilized world seemed secure in that liberty.
Durant's assessment of the history of freedom of worship in the United States

A) accurately reflects religious history in the country since colonial days.
B) is true, except in the case of Islam, which was never tolerated in the United States.
C) came at the cost of frequent religious wars between states.
D) overstates religious tolerance over the course of American history.

Question 20

The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: The Public Explanation (1945)
Harry S. Truman
We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war.
It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.
In addition to the belief that using the atomic bomb would save American lives, which of the following considerations most influenced Truman's decision to drop the bomb?

A) The United States wanted to prevent the Soviet Union from attacking Japan.
B) The decision was made according to the strategy agreed upon at the Yalta Conference.
C) The magnitude of the attack was revenge for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
D) The United States wanted to send a message to the Soviet Union that it had this capability.

Question 21

The GI Bill of Rights:

A) was very limited in scope.
B) included scholarships for education for veterans.
C) extended benefits to very few veterans.
D) did not include health insurance.

Question 22

Organized labor assisted in the war effort by:

A) decreasing union membership.
B) agreeing to a no-strike pledge.
C) accepting wage cuts.
D) asking Congress to abolish Social Security.

Question 23

What taste of freedom did women enjoy in World War II?

A) A life beyond the control of men.
B) The thrills and excitement of military service.
C) The blessing of long-term job security.
D) The perks of doing men's jobs.

Question 24

How did World War II affect the West Coast of the United States?

A) The populations of both San Francisco and Los Angeles declined as the prospect of a Japanese invasion led many people to migrate inland.
B) The West Coast cities of Portland and Seattle received a relatively small amount of federal money for their shipyards.
C) Unlike other regions profiting from military-industrial production, growth rates in the West remained essentially flat.
D) Millions of Americans moved to California for jobs and military service.

Question 25

Women working in defense industries during the war:

A) were viewed as permanent workers after the war, so long as they did a good job.
B) made up one-third of the West Coast workers in aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding.
C) had little impact on the war effort.
D) were small in number, as most women took clerical work or joined the military service as nurses.

Question 26

Why did so many American workers walk out of their jobs between 1943 and 1944?

A) They were protesting equal pay for women and men, blacks and whites.
B) They were protesting discriminatory hiring practices of FEPC.
C) They charged their employers with the unseemly expansion of corporate profits.
D) They sought to express moral objections to the mass manufacturing of guns and ordinance.

Question 27

How did "Patriotic Assimilation" differ from "Americanization"?

A) Patriotic assimilation advocated the forced integration of racial and ethnic groups into American society, whereas Americanization promoted tolerance.
B) Patriotic assimilation described the American way of life, where people of different backgrounds could live together in freedom and unite as a people.
C) Both terms essentially described the same wartime cultural practice, but referred to different periods of American history: World War I and World War II.
D) Patriotic assimilation was in reference to ethnic minorities who served in the military and experienced integration and greater equality while fighting overseas.

Question 28

The National Resources Planning Board:

A) urged the curtailment of Social Security.
B) urged the expansion of the welfare state.
C) urged the discontinuation of Keynesian spending in peacetime.
D) urged less government spending in general.

Question 29

The Office of War Information:

A) imprisoned isolationists.
B) cast the war's sole goal as retaliation against the Japanese.
C) attempted to stir up nationalist hysteria.
D) used radio, film, and press to give the war an ideological meaning.

Question 30

What does Henry Luce see as the cure for America in his book The American Century?

A) For America to exert its influence on the world.
B) Deficit spending to end the Depression.
C) Creating a welfare state to fully embrace liberalism.
D) Entering World War II to aid Great Britain.

Question 31

How did World War II change the role of corporations in American life?

A) U.S. corporations became friendly and close collaborators with the federal government.
B) With the loss of its overseas affiliates in Asia and Europe, U.S. corporations once again became predominantly American.
C) Technological innovation and high productivity in the war effort restored the reputation of corporations from its Depression lows.
D) The heavy reliance of the Roosevelt administration on corporate leaders for its wartime agencies left U.S. corporations with the stain of government bureaucracy.

Question 32

The Road to Serfdom:

A) advocated for laissez-faire economics.
B) offered an intellectual basis for the critique of active government.
C) was written by an Austrian-born economist who embraced the label of "conservative" all of his life.
D) A and B

Question 33

On what grounds did the Austrian-born economist Friedrich A. Hayek reject the New Deal state?

A) In all its details, he thought it indistinguishable from National Socialism.
B) The American consumer economy, he thought, lacked the complexity that required economic planning.
C) He was convinced that even the best intentioned government planning efforts would threaten individual liberties.
D) He reasoned that economic planning during the war had almost cost the United States its victory.

Question 34

For most women workers, World War II:

A) had little impact.
B) permanently changed the way employers viewed them.
C) allowed them to make temporary gains.
D) permanently changed the way unions viewed them.

Question 35

FDR's "Economic Bill of Rights":

A) included some provisions for veteran support, but did not have the funding to become law.
B) would have empowered the federal government to secure education, housing, medical care, and full employment for all Americans.
C) was modified to appease conservatives and pushed through Congress by Harry Truman.
D) A and C

Question 36

Who did publisher Henry Luce credit with the provision of "the abundant life" in his blueprint for postwar prosperity, The American Century?

A) The Department of Defense.
B) Returning veterans.
C) Free enterprise.
D) The New Deal state.

Question 37

What did Henry Luce and Henry Wallace have in common?

A) They both believed that the United States should assume an isolationist policy, leading by example, not by action.
B) They were both liberals in their political beliefs and strongly supported the New Deal, which they believed should be spread to the rest of the world.
C) They both put forth a new conception of America's role in the world based in part on internationalism and on the idea that the American experience should serve as a model for all other nations.
D) They both believed that the best course of action for the United States after the war was fiscal conservative policies, including high tariffs and domestic taxes.

Question 38

"Rosie the Riveter":

A) refers to a movie star during World War II.
B) was a term applied only to black women workers.
C) described only single women workers.
D) refers to Norman Rockwell's image of a female industrial laborer.

Question 39

During the war, Americans:

A) experienced the rationing of scarce consumer goods such as gasoline.
B) found fewer consumer goods available by 1944.
C) still suffered from high unemployment.
D) were told that the end of war might bring a return of the Great Depression.

Question 40

What did Roosevelt mean by the phrase "Freedom from Want"?

A) It referred to his support of the Lend-Lease Act, which would equip Great Britain with war matériel.
B) Initially, it was a call to eliminate barriers to international trade.
C) It suggested the Great Depression would not continue after the war.
D) B and C

Question 41

The Manhattan Project:

A) was kept a secret from the entire executive branch except President Roosevelt and Vice President Truman.
B) enabled the development of an atomic weapon based on the theories of German scientists involving energy and matter.
C) was operated jointly by the United States and Great Britain.
D) produced an atomic bomb that was successfully tested before FDR's death in 1945.

Question 42

The "zoot suit" riots of 1943:

A) were a series of fashion shows in Hollywood.
B) involved Mexican immigrants fighting with blacks in Los Angeles.
C) involved autoworkers in Detroit.
D) highlighted the limits of racial tolerance during World War II.

Question 43

During World War II, Native Americans:

A) served in the military and worked in war production.
B) prospered, especially those on reservations.
C) were eligible for GI Bill benefits only if living on reservations.
D) became more isolated within American society.

Question 44

Why did the United States drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima?

A) The invasion of Japan was certain to cost as many as 250,000 American lives.
B) There was no indication that Japan was at all willing to surrender.
C) With the Soviet Union out of the war, the United States was to face the defeat of Japan on its own.
D) Hiroshima was a central site of weapons production in the Japanese empire.

Question 45

How did the struggle against Nazi tyranny discredit racial inequality in the United States?

A) Germany's Nazi leaders, it turned out, had entertained a romanticized fascination with the Confederacy.
B) African-Americans had borne the brunt of the fight against German troops and demonstrated that they were the "master race."
C) The exceptional cruelty American soldiers exercised against Germans had sobered Americans on the idea that they were a "master race."
D) The contradictions between the principle and practice of freedom in the actual status of African-Americans came to the forefront during the war.

Question 46

How did wartime experiences change Mexican-American life in California?

A) Tremendous wage increases prompted young Mexican workers to spend carelessly on frivolous outfits.
B) Employment opportunities in the defense sector attracted Mexican farmworkers to the cities, where they built exclusive barrio neighborhoods.
C) Service in segregated army units motivated Mexican-American activists to join ranks with African-American civil rights groups.
D) Employment opportunities in the defense sector prompted Mexican-Americans to find work outside of their neighborhoods.

Question 47

The double-V campaign was:

A) the Allied war efforts in Europe and Asia.
B) the effort to end discrimination against Mexican immigrants and blacks.
C) women's struggle for acceptance as industrial workers and mothers.
D) the effort to end discrimination against blacks while fighting fascism.

Question 48

Which of the following statements is NOT true of the Asian-American experience during World War II?

A) Complete prohibition of Chinese immigration to the United States ended.
B) A view of the Chinese emerged as gallant fighters against the aggressive Japanese.
C) Executive Order 9066 fully integrated Asian-Americans into U.S. army units serving overseas.
D) Chinese-Americans worked alongside whites in jobs on the home front.

Question 49

During World War II, African-Americans:

A) witnessed the birth of the modern civil rights movement.
B) witnessed the end of Jim Crow laws.
C) served in integrated units in the armed forces.
D) received equal access to the GI Bill of Rights benefits.

Question 50

Black internationalism during World War II:

A) was a new movement with no historical antecedents.
B) was a complete rejection of Marcus Garvey's political ideals.
C) was rejected by W. E. B. Du Bois.
D) connected the plight of black Americans to that of people of color worldwide.

Question 51

The 1943 Texas Caucasian Race-Equal Privileges resolution:

A) specified that Japanese-Americans interned in that state were not allowed to use the same public accommodations as whites.
B) allowed Mexicans equal treatment in public accommodations, while still segregating blacks.
C) stated that German POWs being held in the state could be allowed to enjoy the same public accommodations as whites.
D) segregated blacks and Mexicans from all public accommodations.

Question 52

Which statement about the Japanese-American internment is FALSE?

A) The press supported the policy of internment almost unanimously.
B) The Supreme Court refused to intervene.
C) Japanese-Americans in Hawaii were exempt from the policy.
D) Once their loyalty was proven, they were free to leave.

Question 53

According to Gunnar Myrdal, America's dilemma was a conflict between:

A) America's rhetoric at home and its foreign policy abroad.
B) American values and American racial policies.
C) American business ethos and American labor unions.
D) America's isolationism and Germany's aggression.

Question 54

How did the promise of freedom in the postwar years differ for black and white Americans?

A) African-Americans wanted a return to the New Deal; white Americans wanted the unregulated free market.
B) African-Americans wanted churches to rein in individual freedom, while white Americans embraced consumer individualism.
C) For white Americans, freedom was a position to be defended; for African-Americans, it was a goal to be achieved.
D) White Americans thought of freedom exclusively in terms of property rights; African-Americans thought of it exclusively in terms of civil rights.

Question 55

In Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court:

A) deemed Japanese internment unconstitutional.
B) upheld the legality of Japanese internment.
C) deemed loyalty oaths constitutional.
D) barred Japanese-Americans from serving in the U.S. military.

Question 56

Why did Executive Order 9066 NOT apply to persons of Japanese descent living in Hawaii?

A) In the wake of the U.S. navy's defeat at Pearl Harbor, it was the Japanese that governed Hawaii.
B) The number of Japanese-Americans in Hawaii was so insignificant that the order seemed irrelevant.
C) Since nearly 40 percent of the population was of Japanese descent, the evacuation order would have been impractical.
D) Most persons of Japanese descent in Hawaii actually served in military units.

Question 57

The Fair Employment Practices Commission:

A) applied only to Mexican immigrants working in war production.
B) was the first federal agency since Reconstruction to advocate equal opportunity for blacks.
C) fined those employers who discriminated against blacks.
D) was criticized by the black press.

Question 58

The status of blacks during World War II:

A) strengthened somewhat after the Red Cross reversed its long-standing policy against mixing blood from whites and blacks in its blood banks.
B) changed dramatically, particularly in the South, after a federal antilynching law was finally passed.
C) was not affected by Roosevelt's denunciation of any race of people claiming the right to be "master" over another.
D) in northeastern cities was not always improved, despite the promise of better economic opportunity through wartime jobs.

Question 59

Under the bracero program:

A) Mexican immigrants were denied entry to the United States.
B) Mexican immigrants were eligible for citizenship.
C) Mexicans were encouraged to immigrate, but they were denied the right of citizenship.
D) Indians were encouraged to leave their reservations.

Question 60

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A) Black soldiers sometimes had to give up their railroad cars seats to accommodate Nazi prisoners of war.
B) When World War II began, the air force and marines had no black members.
C) Officially, the GI Bill offered the same benefits to returning black soldiers as it did to whites.
D) Over 1 million blacks served in the armed forces during World War II, many in the first desegregated units in modern military history.

Question 61

Explain how the mass mobilization of American society during World War II helped end the Great Depression in the United States.

Question 62

Compare and contrast the changes brought about as a result of the United States' participation in World War I and World War II.

Question 63

What made it so difficult for the United States to reject the demands of Joseph Stalin for establishing a Soviet sphere in eastern Europe?

A) Roosevelt realized the sacrifices the Soviets had made in their victory in the Eastern front.
B) The Soviet Union had long feared the aggressive governments of eastern Europe.
C) It was hard for Roosevelt to distinguish between eastern European Slavs and Russian-speaking Soviets.
D) Since the United States wanted to create a similar sphere of influence in western Europe, Stalin's request could hardly be denied.

Question 64

What accounted for the tension between Great Britain and the United States at the Yalta conference?

A) Churchill resented Roosevelt's private meetings with Stalin over proposed divisions of conquered Japanese territory in the Far East.
B) Churchill did not agree with Roosevelt's proposal to have the Soviet Union join the war against Japan.
C) Churchill and Roosevelt disagreed over the future status of Britain's overseas colonies.
D) Churchill resented an early suggestion by Roosevelt to allow communism in postwar Europe if the people supported it by popular referendum.

Question 65

What did the members of the new United Nations Security Council all have in common?

A) They all were in control of nuclear bombs.
B) They were all part of the allies that won World War II.
C) They were the wealthiest nations at the time.
D) They all had suffered the least casualties and financial losses during the war.

Question 66

The principles of freedom embodied by the 1941 Atlantic Charter:

A) inspired Britain and France to abandon their overseas colonies after the war.
B) reflected the idea of a global extension of the New Deal that would improve the quality of life for people all over the world.
C) were initially embraced by Stalin after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
D) advocated for racial equality in all nations, including the United States.

Question 67

Which of the following is NOT true of the Yalta conference in 1945?

A) Stalin agreed to allow free and unfettered elections in postwar Poland.
B) The Yalta agreement planted the seeds of conflict.
C) Roosevelt and Churchill did not ultimately object to Soviet postwar control of the Baltics.
D) Stalin agreed to leave southern and eastern Europe out of the Soviet sphere.