United States History Study Guide (Sorry for the Wordiness)

Possible Short Answers

1. Washington Conference of 1921 After WWI, many countries felt as though
the United States got off easy. These countries had billions of dollars in debt,
but the US didnt. A senator names Hughes called together this Conference to
deter future wars, while getting peoples minds off the U.S.s supremacy. He
called for a reduction in fleet sizes for Japan, Britain, and America. This
conference maintained the Open Door Policy in China and Britain, France,
Japan, and the U.S. all promised to respect each others land in the Pacific.
2. Kellog-Briand Pact This Pact ended the Washington Conference of 1921. It
started when the French asked the U.S. to join an alliance against Germany.
Rather than do this, a U.S. Senator proposed a treaty that outlawed war for all
nations. Many nations ended up signing it. It didnt work obviously.
3. Invasion of Manchuria by the Japanese- The Japanese began to feel
threatened by the Chinese governments expansion. Despite protests from
many other countries, they entered Manchuria in 1931. They began to kill
millions Chinese soldiers and citizens. Two rival leaders in China chose to
fight together to get rid of the Japanese troops. As this war intensified, the
Japanese needed more American Oil. Roosevelt, however, stopped selling
Oil to the Japanese in 1941. This is thought to be a reason for Pearl
Harbor.
4. Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act FDR negotiated with other countries. He
promised to lower taxes on items coming in, if they did the same. The result
was an increase in American exports by almost 40%
5. Italian Invasion into Ethiopia The Italians invaded Ethiopia in 1935. After
the League of Nations told them to stop, the Italians left the LoN.
6. War of the Worlds: Directed by Orson Welles. It was meant as a play, but
millions of Americans went into panic. They rushed to hospitals, churches,
and police stations. When it was realized to be a play, Welles and his crew
were under severe criticism for causing public panic.
7. Start of WWII- When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, WWII officially
began. They used a military tactic called Blitzkrieg to destroy the Polish
forces. Blitzkrieg combines air assaults with military soldiers.
8. Fall of France - Several months after the fall of Poland, the Germans took
France using the blitzkrieg style of combat
9. Third Term Campaign The Republican nominated Wendell Willkie to run
against FDR. The Democrats chose FDR because they couldnt find anyone
else. FDR won decisively over Willkie.

Possible IDs:
1. Circular Loans This refers to the policy the US had after WWI of lending
countries money to pay them back
2. FDRs Bombshell-Hoover wanted to insure that US currency was backed by a
certain amount of gold. In a public statement, FDR went against this idea. He
then proceeded for forgive all war debts from WWI.
3. Good Neighbor Policy When the US first acquired Latin America, they used
force to get their ideas to work. Hoover and FDR changed that. They used
their economic influence to control Latin America
4. Neutrality Acts When it became clear that Italy was going to invade
Ethiopia, many Americans wanted to become neutral. They feared being
sucked into war, the way they had in WWI. As a result, America passed the
Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936. These also obviously didnt last.
5. Quarantine Speech In an attempt to stop the Japanese invasion into China,
FDR gave a speech saying that anyone involved in this invasion would be
quarantined by the rest of the world. He didnt specify what type of
quarantine, but it is assumed to be economic sanctions.
6. Appeasement: the act of agreeing to demands to prevent war
7. Cash-and-Carry: If you bought supplies from the govt, you had to be able to
carry them out with your own vehicles. This prevented people from hoarding
military goods, waiting for the price to go up, and selling them for profit, AKA
it prevented people from profiting off the war
8. Atlantic Charter FDR and Wilson got together to lay down certain common
principles for a better future for the world. It called for a full destruction of
the Nazi Party.
9. Tripartite Pact The agreement that made Italy and Germany allies with
Japan

Random Info (Most of This is Very Important)
1. Good Neighbor Policy: During the 1920s, the US spent more time and money
improving the living conditions of Latin America. They did this for two
reasons. First, they wanted to weaken the power of any revolutionary forces
in the area. Secondly, and more importantly, Latin America had resources
that America wanted. (This probably isnt important)
2. Global Depression: In the 1920s, the Depression was very bad in the entire
world, not just in the United States. Many countries asked President Hoover if
he could forgive their debts, but he said no. This caused many countries to
default and even worsened the Depression. Hitler and Mussolini took
advantage of this weakness to gain support. They promised better times if
people supported them.
3. Russia-America: The Americans had distrusted the Russians ever since the
Bolshevik Revolution. However, they formed an alliance because the
Russians feared the Japanese, and thought they would need American help.
They didnt like each other, but they were allies.
4. Isolationism: As time drew on, countries began to grow more isolated.
Germany and Italy withdrew from peace talks. Many Americans wanted
America to withdraw from other countries affairs. This occurred because a
Senator (Gerald Nye) found out that many businesses had pressured
Wilson into joining WW1 to protect their economic interests.
5. Hitler invaded Austria/Munich Conference: When Hitler invaded Austria,
there was very little resistance. After all, the only way to stop them was to go
to war with them, and no one wanted to do that. Hitler now surrounded
Czechoslovakia on 3 sides. On September 29
th
, France and Britain agreed to
give Hitler Czechoslovakia, as long as he didnt take any more countries. He
agreed to these terms. Again, this didnt last very long.
6. Americans want to Help: As the Germans and Italians began to take more and
more territory, the American people began to oppose them. They wanted to
assist the British because they saw the British as the last line of defense
between fascism and America.
7. Helping the British: After his third reelection, FDR began to change Americas
role in the war. Now, the government could give arms that were vital to the
defense of the nation.
8. Germany Invades Russia After Germany invaded the USSR, the United
States decided to increase trade with Russia. The Germans clearly saw that
we were taking sides, so they began to attack our ships.

---PEARL HARBOR HISTORIANS DISAGREE---
I Picked the Easiest Two Historians to Remember (There are More in the Book)

1. Charles Beard He believed that the US forced the Japanese into a position
where they had no choice but to attack. By cutting off Japans access to the raw
materials it needed for its military conquest in China, by stubbornly refusing to
compromise, the US ensured that the Japanese would strike out into the
southwest pacific to take the needed supplies by force. Basically, what did we
expect to happen? He also stated that since the US had cracked the code a few
months earlier, there was no way that the govt didnt know about the attack.
Summary: We had forced them into a bad situation. We knew there was
going to be a war. We just wanted them to attack first, so we could pretend
to be the victims

2. Gordon W. Prage Unlike other historians, he didnt think it was intentional by
the government. Instead, he thought the government had all the information in
front them, but was too stupid to realize what it meant. He then went on to
admire the daring mission that was actually carried out by the Japanese. They did
something that few Americans even thought was possible. From a military
standpoint, the attack on Pearl Harbor was incredibly well done.
Summary: Americans are dumb. Japanese are smart. (This guy is Mr. K)

There is also the information of Hitler, Mussolini, and Churchill that we went over in
class. Then theres the group activity about Gestapo, Fall of 3
rd
Reich, Experiments,
and the Camps themselves.