The U.S. Government
Doc A,
H - I - P or P:
Doc B,
H - I - P or P:
1.
What did the United States need to do in order to win the war? a.
What was the role and purpose of the War Production Board? b.
What did the War Powers Act allow FDR to do? c.
How did the government raise an army? d.
Explain the intent of propaganda. What kind of symbols are common in posters and images from the World War II era? e.
What is rationing? Why was it necessary? f.
What did Americans do to overcome the challenges of shortages of materials during the war?
2.
Explain the effect of the war on American industry and the economy:
Doc C,
H - I - P or P:
Soldiers
Doc A,
H - I - P or P:
Doc B,
H - I - P or P:
Doc C,
H - I - P or P:
African Americans
Doc A,
H - I - P or P:
Doc B,
H - I - P or P:
1.
Why were the military challenges of World War II different than in the First World War for the United States? a.
How many men volunteered and were drafted into military service during the war? b.
How did the United States get these men ready to fight the war? c.
Why were American soldiers called “G.I.s”?
2.
How did the U.S. government help keep morale up among soldiers during the war?
1.
During WWII, African Americans ______________ in the military and at home a.
Why weren’t black soldiers allowed to fight in units integrated with white soldiers? b.
Who were the Tuskegee airmen? c.
What economic opportunities continued for African Americans at home that had begun during the First World War?
2.
What kinds of discrimination continued during the Second World
War? How did black Americans begin to confront it? a.
Why did A. Philip Randolph plan a March on Washington?

Doc C,
H - I - P or P: b.
What was the result of the planned march?

Women
Doc A,
H - I - P or P:
Doc B,
H - I - P or P:
Doc C,
H - I - P or P:
Japanese Americans
Doc A,
H - I - P or P:
Doc B,
H - I - P or P:
Doc C,
H - I - P or P:
Discussion Questions:
1.
What similarities do you see between the homefront efforts of WWI and WWII? Differences?
2.
What was the biggest change on the U.S. home front during WWII?
3.
What were the positive effects of the homefront effort? Negatives?
1.
What opportunities did women have during the war? a.
How many women entered the workforce? What kinds of work did they primarily do? b.
How many women joined the military? What was their primary role in the military?
2.
What effects did women going to work have on society during the war?
3.
Why were women forced out of factories and the jobs they held during the war?
1.
What effect did propaganda have on how Americans viewed the
Japanese?
2.
Why did President Roosevelt issue Executive Order 9066?
3.
What effect did internment have on Japanese Americans and
American society?

4.
Which group had it the
“best” during the war?
Who had it the “worst”?