APUSH UNIT 8 Exam Guide
“WWII and the Early Cold War, 1942-1960”
Below are the topic outlines and learning targets for Unit 8. They are intended as a general guide to help
you study for exams. If you know what these terms mean and how they fit into the “big picture” of American
history you should do well on the exam.
21. The Second World War
c.. The attack on Pearl Harbor and U.S. declaration of war (2 questions)
- Pearl Harbor, oil embargo,”Rape of Nanking,” invasion of Indochina, Manchuria, Admiral Yamamoto,
d.. Fighting a multi-front war (4 questions)
- Atlantic Charter, Axis Powers, Allied Powers, Tripartite Pact, North Africa Campaign, Operation
Torch, Italian Campaign, D-Day, Operation Overlord, Normandy, Stalingrad, Battle of the Bulge, V-E Day, Battle of the
Coral Sea, Battle of Midway, island hopping, Battle of Okinawa, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, atomic bomb, V-J Day,
Eisenhower, Nimitz, MacArthur, convoy system, Battle of the Atlantic, radar, sonar, Hideki Tojo, Hitler, Hirohito,
Mussolini, Doolittle’s Raid
e. Diplomacy, war aims, and wartime conferences (6 questions)
- “get Germany first,” Atlantic charter, Yalta Conference, Potsdam Conference, Big Three, FDR,
Churchill, Stalin, unconditional surrender,
f. The United States as a global power in the Atomic Age (3 questions)
- Manhattan Project, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, atomic bomb, Enola Gay,
hydrogen bomb, cold war analysis regarding the atomic bomb, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
22. The Home Front During the War
a. Wartime mobilization of the economy (4 questions)
- War Production Board, Office of Price Administration, rationing, women and minorities in the
defense industry, A. Philip Randolph, CORE, National War Labor Board, Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act, income tax,
black market, propaganda, Kaiser shipyards, total war
b. Urban migration and demographic changes (2 questions)
- Great Migration, Detroit Race Riot, Zoot Suit Riot, sunbelt, Los Angeles, new locations of defense
industries
c. Women, work, and family during the war (4 questions)
- Rosie the Riveter, increasing independence and responsibility of women at home and in the work
force, WAAC, gender specific jobs
d. Civil liberties and civil rights during wartime (4 questions)
- propaganda, total war, Japanese internment, Nisei, Korematsu v. United States, JACL, Executive
Order #9066, Tuskegee Airmen, Buffalo Soldiers, Navajo code talkers, Holocaust, genocide, Final Solution, Felix
Longoria, Regimental Combat Unit #442, Truman’s desegregation of the army
e. War and regional development (1 questions)
f. Expansion of government power (3 questions)
- War Production Board, Office of Price Administration, increasing executive power, deficit spending,
23. The United States and the Early Cold War
a. Origins of the Cold War (3 questions)
b. Truman and containment (5 questions)
- containment policy, George Kennan, NSC #68, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Greece, Turkey,
Berlin Crisis, Berlin airlift, “losing China,” impact of the Korean War on his presidency, Fair Deal, Dixiecrats
c. The Cold War in Asia: China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan (5 questions)
-Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Korean War, causes and effects of the Korean War, communists vs.
nationalists, occupation of Japan, MacArthur constitution,
d. Diplomatic strategies and policies of the Eisenhower administration (7 questions)
- containment, brinkmanship, Eisenhower Doctrine, mutual assured destruction, CIA & covert actions
in Middle East and Latin America, John Foster Dulles
e. The Red Scare and McCarthyism (3 questions)
- Red Scare, Joseph McCarthy, army-McCarthy hearings, HUAC, Alger Hiss, Rosenbergs
f. Impact of the Cold War on American society (1 question)
24. The 1950s
a. Emergence of the modern civil rights movement (4 questions)
- Brown v. Board of Education, Double V, impact of WWII, CORE, desegregation of the army,
integration of defense industries, Little Rock Nine
b. The affluent society and “the other America” (3 questions)
- consumerism, planned obsolescence, Michael Harrington, urban decay, urban renewal, automania
c. Consensus and conformity: suburbia and middle-class America (3 questions)
- “the company man,” Levittown, suburbs, baby boom
d. Social critics, nonconformists, and cultural rebels (2 questions)
- rock n’roll, Elvis Presley, beatniks,
e. Impact of changes in science, technology, and medicine (2 questions)
- polio vaccine, Dr. Spock,
Student Self-Reflection – Unit 6 Exam
COMPLETE THIS SECTION WHILE TAKING THE TEST
Question
Key
Learning
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
6a
6c
6c
6c
8e
6d
6d
6a
6d
7c
7b
8a
8d
8c
8b
8b
8e
8b
8b
8b
8d
7c
6d
7b
7c
7b
7a
7b
7b
9a
7a
8d
9a
8b
7c
7b
7b/7c
7c
7b
9a
Knew It
Wasn’t
Sure
Guessed
COMPLETE THIS SECTION DURING THE REVIEW
Got It
Right
Got It
Wrong
Simple
Mistake
Misread
Question
Need to
Re-Study
Question
Key
Learning
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
7c
7b
7b
7c
7b
7b
7b
7b
7b
7c
7c
6b
6b
6d
6b
6a
6b
6b
6b
6b
6b
6a/6b
6b/6d
6b
6b
8c
8d
8d
8b
8a
8b
6a
6a
5h
2d
2d
2g
5e
5b
6d
Knew It
Wasn’t
Sure
Guessed
Got It
Right
Got It
Wrong
Simple
Mistake
Misread
Question
Need to
Re-Study