History 143 Assignment Guide, March 24-26, 2009

Reading: Henretta, America: A Concise History, 745-63; McSeveney, Selected Historical Documents, 283-87, 291-93, 296-99, 303-5 (Sources 1-2, 6, 9-10, 12)

Background information: After reading this assignment, you should know the following:

1. How and why the U.S. moved from neutrality to involvement in the war in Europe.

2. How the federal government, businesses, workers, and Americans on the home front mobilized for war.

3. How the war affected U.S. politics.

4. What life was like on the home front during the war.

Discussion: In class, you should be able to provide detailed answers to these questions:

1. In 1940, how did Franklin Roosevelt try to convince Americans that “wars in Asia and in Europe” mattered a great deal to them?

2. What were the “Four Freedoms”? Why did Roosevelt connect them to world events?

3. Why were Japanese Americans on the West Coast forced into relocation camps? Why did Justice Hugo Black uphold this relocation? Why did Justice Frank Murphy disagree?

4. How did the war affect family life and work opportunities for women?

5. Why did the retired music teacher say, in remembering the war, “the idea of World War Two being called a good war is a horrible thing”?

Personal connection: In class, you should be able to answer this question:

Perhaps you have older relatives who fought in WWII or who remember life on the homefront. If so, what have they told you about their experiences?