Major Concepts:

1. The United States reluctantly found itself an increasingly important force in world politics in the 1930s, becoming the leading Allied power in the Second World War.

2. The Second World War unleashed on the world by the Axis powers shattered the lives of millions of people around the world and reached new levels of destructiveness, horror, and cruelty; at the same time, in large part because of the war aims of the United States and its allies, Americans continue to remember that war as "the good war."

3. The development of the atomic bomb by the United States was a triumph of American scientific and technological endeavor; at the same time, the decision by President Harry S Truman to drop the atomic bombs on Japan to end the war in the Pacific was difficult and controversial.

Objectives: The student will be able to:

1. Describe the wartime measures of the Federal government designed to build support on the homefront for the military.

2. Analyze the role of the United States military in World War II in terms of world geography, modern technology, and political and cultural values.

3. Evaluate the political and military strategies that contributed to the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan.

Suggested lessons/activity:

DAY ONE

1. This activity is structured around a guest speaker who had been active in administering homefront activities during the war. Give the students copies of CROSSROADS Essay X, Part IV, pp. 11-17, as a homework reading assignment in preparation for the visit.

2. From preparatory discussion with the speaker, introduce, as a minimum, the following home-front experience:
   1. rationing of meats, dairy products, sugar, and other food items (red and blue stamps);

   2. rationing of gasoline and the setting of speed limits of 35 m.p.h. (it may have been even lower in some states);

   3. banners in windows of homes that sent men to the armed forces (gold stars in the windows of homes with family members who had been killed in battle);

   4. saving and reprocessing cooking fats, worn tires, metal and paper products (including foil from gum wrappers);

   5. long waiting lists for new telephone service;

   6. war bonds and stamps purchased in schools;

   7. use of world maps in schools, with pins reflecting military positions and symbols denoting Axis and Allied forces, to follow battles in Europe, Africa, and Asia;

   8. "duck-and-cover" air-raid drills in school;

   9. war songs and motion picures, and other propaganda activities;

   10. CARE packages and cartons for servicemen and servicewomen away from home;

   11. relatives with friends and relations in the armed forces.

3. Have students select one of these activities for further independent study throughout the remainder of the lesson's activities.

DAY TWO

1. Read "Recollections of a Teenager's War Years." Use the reading as a springboard to a discussion of the following question: "What made it possible for the United States to move from peacetime production to wartime production?"

2. Using wall maps of the world, Africa, Europe, and Asia (use maps of good size so that all students can see the "relief" easily), describe the major geographical characeristics of the areas in which land and sea battles occurred. Ask such questions as the following:
   1. What geographical factors suggest why naval power was more significant in the Pacific than in the Atlantic?

   2. How different would tank warfare be in Europe and Africa?

   3. Why would tank warfare be less significant strategically and tactically in the Pacific than in Europe and Africa?

   4. What geographical factors made the war so prolonged?

   5. What geographical factors made it possible for German and Japanese submarines to penetrate within the United States' territorial waters?

   6. Why would the superiority of U.S. aircraft carriers be important in the war against the Japanese?

   7. Why would the U.S. Navy be eager to sink Japanese aircraft carriers?

3. Ask students to define "propaganda." Explain that propaganda in wartime is an important strategic capability in maintaining morale among both civilians and military forces. Present some examples of propaganda used in the United States either to further the American cause or to injure the cause of the Axis powers -- for example, illustrations of stereotyping, name-calling, slogans, and exaggeration of enemy misdeeds. Have students respond to the question, "To what American values were these examples of propaganda directed?"

4. Ask students to find the articles in the United States Constitution that gave the President the power to issue executive orders without the consent of Congress.

5. Summarize (working with students) the lesson in terms of lesson objective number 2.