ABC-1 agreement
(1941) An agreement between Britain and the United States developed at a conference in Washington, DC, between January 29- March 27, 1941, that should the United States enter World War II, the two nations and their allies would coordinate their military p
Bracero program
(1942) Program established by agreement with the Mexican government to recruit temporary Mexican agricultural workers to the United States to make up for wartime labor shortages in the Far West. The program persisted until 1964, by when it had sponsored 4
Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE) (1942) Nonviolent civil rights organization founded in 1942 and committed to the "Double V"�victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. After World War II, CORE would become a major force in the civil rights movement. (884)
D-Day
(1944) A massive military operation led by American forces in Normandy beginning on June 6, 1944. The pivotal battle led to the liberation of France and brought on the final phases of World War II in Europe. (891)
Executive Order No. 9066
(1942) Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizing the War Department to remove Japanese "enemy aliens" to isolated internment camps. Immigrants and citizens alike were sent away from their homes, neighbors, schools, and businesses. The Japanese
Fair Employment Practices Commission
(FEPC) (1941) Threatened with a massive "Negro March on Washington" to demand equal job opportunities in war jobs and in the military, Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration issued an executive order forbidding racial discrimination in all defense plants
Manhattan Project
(1942) Code name for the American commission established in 1942 develop the atomic bomb. The first experimental bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945, in the desert of New Mexico. Atomic bombs were then dropped on two cities in Japan in hopes of bringing t
Midway, Battle of
(1942) A pivotal naval battle fought near the island of Midway on June 3-6, 1942. The victory halted Japanese advances in the Pacific. (887)
National War Labor Board
(NWLB) Established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to act as an arbitration tribunal and mediate disputes between labor and management that might have led to war stoppages and thereby undermined the war effort. The NWLB was also charged with adjusting
Navajo code talkers
Native American men who served in the military by transmitting radio messages in their native languages, which were undecipherable by German and Japanese spies (884)
Office of Price Administration
(OPA) (1941-1947) A critically important wartime agency charged with regulating the consumer economy through rationing scarce supplies, such as automobiles, tires, fuel, nylon, and sugar, and by curbing inflation by setting ceilings on the price of goods.
Potsdam conference
(1945) From July 17 to August 2, 1945, President Harry S Truman met with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British leaders Winston Churchill and later Clement Attlee (when the Labour party defeated Churchill's Conservative party) near Berlin to deliver an u
Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
(1943) Passed amidst worries about the effects that labor strikes would have on war production, this law allowed the federal government to seize and operate plants threatened by labor disputes. It also criminalized strike action against government-run com
SPARs
(U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve )See WAACs (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps).
V-E (Victory in Europe) Day
May 8, 1945, marked the official end of the war in Europe, following the unconditional surrender of what remained of the German government. (897)
V-J (Victory in Japan) Day
August 15, 1945 heralded the surrender of Japan and the final end to World War II. (901)
WAACs (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps), WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and SPARs (U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve
The women's branches of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Coast Guard, established during World War II to employ women in noncombatant jobs. Women now participated in the armed services in ways that went beyond their traditional roles as nurses. (881)
War Production Board
(WPB) Established in 1942 by executive order to direct all war production, including procuring and allocating raw materials, to maximize the nation's war machine. The WPB had sweeping powers over the U.S. economy and was abolished in November 1945 soon af
WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)
See WAACs (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps).
Dwight Eisenhower
United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany
Douglas MacArthur
United States general who served as chief of staff and commanded Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II
Chester Nimitz
United States admiral of the Pacific fleet during World War II who used aircraft carriers to destroy the Japanese navy (1885-1966)
Albert Einstein
German-Jewish physicist that undermined Newtonian physics and developed theory of relativity, predating atom bomb.
Harry Truman
President who actually made the decision to drop the atomic as a means of ending World War II and saving American lives.