American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 26: AMERICA IN A WORLD AT WAR

Main themes of Chapter Twenty-six:

• The initial American strategies for fighting the European and Pacific fronts, and the military engagements that characterized the first half of the war



• The profound effect of World War II on the American economy, and the attempts by the Roosevelt administration to stabilize the wartime economic boom



• The impact of the war experience on organized labor and minorities at home



• The development of advanced technologies during the war and their impact on the course of the conflict



• The events leading to Allied victory in Germany and Japan, culminating in the fall of Berlin and President Truman's decision to use the Atomic Bomb

• The efforts of the federal government to mobilize the nation's economy for war production



• The critical importance of the vast productive capacity of the United States in defeating of the Axis



• The effects of American participation in the war on the Depression and on New Deal reform



• The changes that the wartime involvement brought for women, labor, and racial and ethnic minorities



• The contributions of the United States military to victory in North Africa and Europe



• The contributions of the United States military to victory in the Pacific



• The historical disagreement over President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb