Imperialism, WWI, & Post-War Changes
What was the name of the policy that all nations should have equal access to trade with China?
The Open Door Policy.
Name 3 sources of tension or disagreement of the 1920s.
Traditionalism vs. Modernism / Science vs. Religion
Nativism vs. Immigration
Urban vs. Rural Lifestyles
Prohibition vs Freedom of Alcohol
The Changing Role of Women
Racial Tension
Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and what was the impact of this attack?
Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and what was the impact of this attack?
Why: Japan wanted to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet so it wouldn't interfere with Japanese expansion and conquest of resource-rich territories in Southeast Asia, especially after the U.S. imposed a severe oil embargo on Japan.
Impact: It severely damaged the Pacific fleet, but critically, it completely united a divided public opinion and forced the United States to officially enter World War II the very next day.
What was the term for the geopolitical barrier and ideological divide that isolated Eastern Europe from the West after World War II?
The Iron Curtain (coined by Winston Churchill).
What is the term for the active, professed, and nonviolent refusal to obey certain government laws, demands, or commands?
Civil Disobedience
What was the name of the revolt in response to the Open Door Policy?
The Boxer Rebellion (or Righteous and Harmonious Fists uprising).
Name two causes and two effects of the Dust Bowl.
Causes:
Severe, prolonged historic drought.
Over-farming/poor agricultural practices
High winds across the Great Plains.
High mechanization of farming
Loss of natural vegetation and topsoil erosion.
Effects (Accept any two):
"Black Blizzards" / massive, choking dust storms that blanketed towns and suffocated livestock.
Massive crop failures and widespread farm foreclosures.
Mass migration of farmers out of the Plains region (often called "Okies") toward the West coast.
High rates of respiratory illnesses (such as "dust pneumonia") among children and the elderly.
Implementation of federal soil conservation programs (like planting windbreaks/trees and teaching contour plowing).
What were 3 demographic groups most impacted by World War II and how they were impacted.
Japanese Americans: Suffered massive violations of civil liberties when FDR signed Executive Order 9066, forcing over 110,000 Japanese Americans into isolated internment camps due to wartime hysteria.
Women: Entered the industrial workforce in unprecedented numbers (symbolized by "Rosie the Riveter") to fill manufacturing and factory jobs vacated by men fighting overseas. They also served in non-combat military roles (WACs and WASPs).
African Americans: Faced continued segregation in the military but fought valiantly (like the Tuskegee Airmen). On the home front, they mobilized for the "Double V" Campaign (victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home) and migrated north/west for defense industry jobs.
Mexican Americans: Experienced new employment opportunities through the Bracero Program, which brought Mexican agricultural workers to the U.S. to solve labor shortages, though they also faced domestic friction (such as the Zoot Suit Riots).
What is the term for the intense period of anti-communist suspicion and "witch hunts" in America during the early 1950s, named after a prominent U.S. Senator?
McCarthyism (or the Second Red Scare).
Name 3 African American Civil Rights leaders.
Martin Luther King Jr.: Leader of the SCLC who championed nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience.
Malcolm X: Minister and human rights activist who initially advocated for Black Nationalism and self-defense "by any means necessary."
Rosa Parks: NAACP activist whose act of defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
A. Philip Randolph: Pioneering labor and civil rights leader who organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and proposed the original 1941 March on Washington, paving the way for the 1963 March.
John Lewis: Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a key leader of the Freedom Rides and Selma March.
Huey P. Newton: Co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which advocated for armed community patrols, black empowerment, and social programs in urban neighborhoods.
Explain the difference between Muckraking and Yellow Journalism.
Muckraking was a form of investigative journalism aimed at exposing real social ills, political corruption, and corporate greed to spark progressive reforms (e.g., Ida Tarbell exposing Standard Oil, Upton Sinclair exposing the meatpacking industry).
Yellow Journalism was a style of reporting that used sensationalized, exaggerated, or fabricated headlines primarily designed to outsell rivals and inflame public emotion (e.g., pushing the U.S. into the Spanish-American War).
What were two causes of the Great Depression? (The Dust Bowl is not one of them)
The Stock Market Crash of 1929
Bank Failures and Panics
Overproduction in Agriculture and Industry
High Tariffs and Protectionist Trade Policies
Easy Credit / Consumer Debt
Name 3 specific ways everyday American citizens or minority groups directly supported and protected the war effort on the home front or in communication.
Rationing: Citizens used government-issued ration books to strictly limit their consumption of vital goods like gasoline, sugar, meat, tires, and coffee.
Planting "Victory Gardens": Families grew their own fruits and vegetables in backyards and public parks to free up commercially grown food for troops overseas.
War Bonds: Citizens lent money to the federal government by buying war bonds to directly finance the massive costs of the military effort.
Using the Navajo Code (Minority Group): Navajo service members served as radio operators in the Pacific, using an uncrackable code based on their unwritten language to protect secure Allied communications.
Working in Defense Plants / Factories: Millions of citizens and minorities worked around the clock building planes, tanks, and ammunition, making America the "Arsenal of Democracy."
What was the Tet Offensive and what was it's impact?
The Tet Offensive was a massive, coordinated surprise attack by the Viet Cong on over 100 cities in South Vietnam, dealing a profound psychological blow that exposed a massive gap between optimistic government reports and battlefield realities. By proving the conflict would be far longer and more difficult than Washington anticipated, the offensive shattered public confidence in the military strategy.
What Supreme Court case established that "separate but equal" was unconstitutional, and what supreme court case did it overturn?
Established it was unconstitutional: Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
Overturned: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
Name 3 forms of early 1900s US diplomacy and explain how they are different.
Big Stick Diplomacy (Teddy Roosevelt): Focused on using the threat of military/naval power ("speak softly and carry a big stick") to police the Western Hemisphere and achieve foreign policy goals.
Dollar Diplomacy (William Howard Taft): Focused on using American financial investments and economic influence to secure stability and favorable relationships in Latin America and Asia, rather than relying on military force.
Moral/Missionary Diplomacy (Woodrow Wilson): Focused on spreading democracy, human rights, and American values, refusing to recognize or support foreign governments that were undemocratic, oppressive, or hostile to the U.S.
Isolationism (Interwar Period / 1920s–1930s): Focused on avoiding political and military entanglements with foreign nations, particularly in Europe. Rather than actively intervening or expanding U.S. influence abroad, isolationism prioritized national self-reliance, domestic economic growth, and strict neutrality to keep America out of foreign conflicts.
Explain the difference between Hoover and Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression.
Herbert Hoover believed in rugged individualism and volunteerism. He thought the federal government should not give direct relief (handouts) to citizens, fearing it would make them dependent on Washington. He favored a "trickle-down" approach, focusing federal aid on banks and businesses.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) believed in direct, aggressive federal intervention via his New Deal. He favored a "bottom-up" approach, utilizing massive deficit spending to provide immediate federal relief (jobs and money) straight to struggling citizens and introducing sweeping regulations to fix the financial system.
Identify 3 major military strategies, operations, or secret programs used by the Allies to fight and successfully end World War II in both theaters.
Island Hopping (Pacific Theater Strategy): Bypassing heavily fortified Japanese islands to strategically capture weaker, key islands to establish airfields closer and closer to mainland Japan.
Operation Overlord / D-Day (European Theater Operation): The massive Allied amphibious invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, which opened a critical second front in Europe and led to the liberation of Western Europe.
The Manhattan Project (Secret Program): The top-secret U.S. scientific research and development program that successfully designed and built the world's first atomic bombs, which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war.
Strategic Bombing (Both Theaters Strategy): Massive Allied aerial bombing campaigns targeted at destroying the enemy's industrial infrastructure, factories, railroads, and cities to break their economy and morale.
The Battle of Midway (Pacific Theater Operation): A critical 1942 naval battle where the U.S. intercepted and destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers, successfully halting Japan's eastward expansion and turning the tide of the war in the Pacific.
The Battle of the Bulge (European Theater Operation): The successful Allied defense against Germany’s final, desperate counter-offensive in the Ardennes forest in late 1944, which depleted Germany’s remaining armored forces and opened the way to Berlin.
Convoy System and Sonar/Radar (Atlantic Strategy): Grouping merchant ships together under the protection of warships and using advanced tracking technology to defeat German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Explain the difference between the United Nations and NATO.
The United Nations (UN) is a global, international organization open to all countries, formed primarily to facilitate open diplomacy, debate, global cooperation, and peaceful conflict resolution to prevent future world wars.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a specific, Western military alliance based on collective security ("an attack on one is an attack on all"), formed strictly to provide mutual military defense against the threat of Soviet/Communist aggression.
Name 3 strategies implemented by the Civil Rights movement.
Sit-ins: Activists peacefully sat at segregated lunch counters and refused to leave until served, disrupting business as usual to highlight injustice.
Boycotts: Economically crippling segregated systems by refusing to use them (e.g., the Montgomery Bus Boycott).
Marches and Mass Demonstrations: Large-scale public gatherings designed to show solidarity and force national media/political attention (e.g., the March on Washington, Selma to Montgomery March).
Litigation / Legal Challenges: Using the court system and filing lawsuits to challenge unconstitutional segregation laws (led heavily by the NAACP legal team).
Freedom Rides: Testing federal desegregation laws by riding integrated buses directly into the deeply segregated South.
Explain how Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points and the Treaty of Versailles were alike and different.
Alike: Both documents aimed to formally end World War I, establish a new post-war map of Europe, and both contained the foundational framework to create the League of Nations to preserve global peace.
Different:
Wilson’s 14 Points focused on "peace without victory," aiming to prevent future wars through open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, self-determination for ethnic groups, and lenient treatment of Germany.
The Treaty of Versailles was driven by European Allied desires for revenge and security. It harshly punished Germany by forcing them to accept the War Guilt Clause, pay massive financial reparations, surrender strategic territory, and severely strip down their military.
Identify 3 specific New Deal programs or acts created by FDR's administration and explain what they did.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): Provided outdoor environment-related jobs (planting trees, building parks) to unemployed, unmarried young men.
Social Security Act (SSA): Created a safety net providing pensions for retired workers, unemployment insurance, and aid for disabled citizens.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Insured individual bank deposits to restore public trust in the banking system and prevent future bank runs.
Works Progress Administration (WPA): A massive public works program that employed millions of people to build infrastructure (roads, bridges, schools) and funded projects for artists, musicians, and writers.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Regulated the stock market and restricted buying on margin to prevent another catastrophic crash.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): Built dams and power plants in the impoverished Tennessee Valley to control flooding and bring electricity to rural areas.
What were two programs Roosevelt created to contribute weapons to World War II without the US getting involved. Bonus points: What did they do?
Cash and Carry Policy (1939): Allowed warring nations (specifically Britain and France) to buy military goods from the U.S., provided they paid cash immediately and transported the goods on their own ships.
Destroyers for Bases (1940): the U.S. traded 50 aging WWI-era naval destroyers to Great Britain. In exchange, Britain granted the U.S. 99-year rent-free leases on land to build military and naval bases across British territories in the Western Hemisphere (such as Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the Caribbean).
Lend-Lease Act (1941): Allowed the U.S. to "lend" or "lease" military equipment, weapons, and supplies to any country whose defense FDR deemed vital to the security of the United States (primarily Great Britain and later the Soviet Union).
Explain the difference between the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.
The Truman Doctrine was a political and military commitment providing financial and military aid to specific nations (originally Greece and Turkey) actively fighting off communist takeovers, explicitly establishing the U.S. policy of containment.
The Marshall Plan was a massive economic recovery program that offered over $13 billion to rebuild any war-torn European nation. Its goal was to stabilize European economies, because prosperous, stable countries were far less likely to turn to communism out of desperation.
Name 3 Civil Rights leaders outside of the African Civil Rights movement.
1. Cesar Chavez or Dolores Huerta: Leaders of the Chicano Movement who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association to fight for the labor rights of Mexican-American agricultural workers.
Dennis Banks or Russell Means: Leaders of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who fought for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and systemic reclamation of Native lands.
Betty Friedan or Gloria Steinem: Prominent figures of the Second-Wave Feminist Movement who fought for women's reproductive rights, workplace equality, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Harvey Milk: One of the first openly gay elected officials in American history, who became a foundational leader for the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Larry Itliong: A prominent Filipino-American labor leader who organized the Delano grape strike alongside Mexican-American farmworkers.