This document provides an overview of key events leading up to and during World War II. It discusses the global economic conditions during the 1930s Depression that contributed to rising nationalism and isolationism. It also outlines major US involvement in the war such as Roosevelt's speeches advocating for involvement, the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the US into the war, and the total mobilization of the home front industry and population. Finally, it notes some of the social impacts and controversies of the war period in the US, such as treatment of Jewish refugees, internment of Japanese Americans, and continued discrimination faced by women and African Americans.

1. WWII

2. The Lead-up to
War

3. Depression
“Men and women all over the
world were seriously
contemplating and frankly
discussing the possibility that the
Western system of Society might
break down and cease to work.”

4. Autarky
 Economic independence or self-sufficiency

5. Fascism
 Radical authoritarian nationalism

6. Two Strategies
 Self-sufficiency
 Free trade

7. Isolationism

8. Global Outlook
 “The Arsenal for Democracy” (Dec. 29, 1940)
 The Four Freedoms Speech (Jan. 6, 1941)
 The Atlantic Charter (Aug. 14, 1941)

10. The US Goes to War
 Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941
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11. The Homefront

12. Total War

13. Jobs &
Enlisting

16. Portraying the
Enemy

22. Protecting
Soldiers

24. Contributing
to the war
effort

26. Ironies

27. American Anti-Semitism
 The St. Louis, 1939
 938 Jewish refugees

28. Japanese Internment
Camps
 Over 110,000 people of Japanese heritage
 62% of internees were US citizens

30. The Aftermath

31. How was the war won?
 The Western front
 The Eastern front

32. A New Global
Outlook

33. The “Good War”?

34. The GI Bill

35. The
Marginalized
and the War

36. Women

37. African Americans
 Segregation in the defense industries & armed forces
 A. Philip Randolph
 Double V Campaign

38. Ethnic Americans
 The GI Bill