| A | B |
|---|
| Neutrality | US policy at the beginning of WWII |
| Pearl Harbor | Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor FDR said would live in infamy |
| Lend-Lease Act | gave the president authority to sell or lend equipment to countries to defend themselves against the Axis powers |
| Defeat Hitler First | Strategy followed by America and her Allies |
| island hopping | seizing islands closer and closer to Japan and using them as bases for air attacks on Japan, and for cutting off Japanese supplies through submarine warfare against Japanese shipping |
| Stalingrad | prevented Germany from seizing the Soviet oil fields and turned the tide against Germany in the east. |
| El Alamein | prevented Hitler from gaining access to Middle Eastern oil supplies and attacking the Soviet Union from the south |
| Normandy | the liberation of western Europe from Hitler began |
| Midway | ended the Japanese threat to Hawaii and began a series of American victories in the ―island hopping‖ campaign, carrying the war closer and closer to Japan |
| Hiroshima and Nagasaki | ordered bombed by President Truman to force Japan to surrender |
| Tuskegee Airmen | African-American pilots who served in Europe with distinction named for Tuskegee Institute |
| Nisei Regiment | Asian American unit that earned a high number of decorations |
| rationing | used to maintain supply of essential products to the war effort |
| Navajo code talkers | sent messages with an oral, not written language; impossible for the Japanese to break |
| women | entered the workforce during war |
| censorship | restriction of information |
| genocide | The systematic and purposeful destruction of a racial, political, religious, or cultural group |
| minority units | suffered high casualties and won numerous unit citations and individual medals for bravery in action |
| Geneva Convention | attempted to ensure the humane treatment of prisoners of war by establishing rules to be followed by all nations |
| Bataan Death March | American POWs suffered brutal treatment by the Japanese after surrender of the Philippines. |
| Nuremberg trials | Nazi leaders and others were convicted of war crimes. |
| final solution | Germany’s decision to exterminate all Jews |
| draft | used to provide personnel for the military. |
| war bonds | used for financing the war. |
| Battle of Britain | Germany pounded Britain from the air |
| WASPs | pilots in the Women’s Army Air Corps |
| reparations | payments made by US government to Japanese Americans who were interned |
| Allies | Great Britain France US & USSR |
| nonaggression pact | violated by Germany when they invaded the USSR |
| Rosie the Riveter | symbolized the new roles for women in the workplace. |
| Britain | Held Hitler off in Europe until the US joined the war |
| Poland | WWII started when Germany invaded this country |
