World War II Key Terms

World War II Key Terms

• Pearl Harbor was a surprise Japanese attack on a U.S. base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, that brought the U.S. into WWII.
• The Lend-Lease Act allowed the U.S. to provide weapons to Allied countries before officially entering WWII.
• Cash and Carry enabled the U.S. to sell goods to countries at war, provided they paid in cash and transported the goods themselves.
• Executive Order 9066 led to the forced relocation of Japanese Americans into internment camps.
• Korematsu v. United States was a Supreme Court case that ruled internment was legal during wartime.
• The Office of War Information (OWI) disseminated U.S. propaganda and increased support for the war.
• The War Production Board shifted U.S. factories from producing civilian goods to military production.
• Rationing limited the availability of consumer goods like gas, meat, and sugar to support the war effort.
• Victory Gardens were personal gardens grown to supplement food supplies at home.
• Rosie the Riveter symbolized women who worked in factory jobs during WWII.
• D-Day, on June 6, 1944, marked the Allied invasion of Normandy and was a turning point in Europe.
• V-E Day, on May 8, 1945, signified Victory in Europe when Germany surrendered.
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the cities where the U.S. dropped atomic bombs in August 1945.
• V-J Day, on August 15, 1945, signified Victory over Japan and the end of WWII.
• The United Nations was an international peacekeeping group established in 1945 after WWII.
• The GI Bill in 1944 provided veterans with assistance for education, jobs, and housing after the war.
• The Nuremberg Trials were conducted to try Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• The Final Solution was the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people, also known as the Holocaust.
• Navajo Code Talkers were Native Americans who used their language to create unbreakable military codes.
• The Tuskegee Airmen were an all-Black group of fighter pilots in the U.S. military.
• Island Hopping was the U.S. strategy to defeat Japan by capturing key islands in the Pacific.
• Internment Camps were locations where Japanese Americans were detained during WWII.

WWII Practice Questions & Answers

• Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was the event that caused the U.S. to enter WWII.
• The Lend-Lease Act was intended to provide U.S. military aid to Allied countries before the U.S. officially entered the war.
• Executive Order 9066 resulted in Japanese Americans being placed in internment camps.
• The main ruling in Korematsu v. U.S. was that the internment of Japanese Americans was constitutional during wartime.
• The Office of War Information (OWI) spread propaganda to gain public support for the war.
• D-Day was the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France (Normandy) on June 6, 1944.
• Germany’s surrender, V-E Day, on May 8, 1945, ended WWII in Europe.
• The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to Japan's surrender, ending WWII in the Pacific on V-J Day.
• The GI Bill helped WWII veterans with education, housing, and job training.
• The Final Solution was the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
• The purpose of the War Production Board was to convert factories to wartime production.
• Victory Gardens were home gardens intended to help with food shortages and support the war effort.
• The Navajo Code Talkers were Native Americans who created unbreakable codes for the U.S. military.
• The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American fighter pilots in WWII.
• The Island Hopping strategy involved the U.S. capturing key islands in the Pacific to advance closer to Japan.