American Pageant: 12th editionAP U. S. History

Unit 9

Textbook chapters / Maps & documents
Chapter 35: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
Chapter 36: America in World War II
Chapter 37: The Cold War Begins /
  1. The Atlantic Charter, 1941
  2. The Marshall Plan, 1947

Essential Questions: Think about these questions before, during, and after the reading. They are very general; there is no specifically correct answer. If you understand their complexity and feel confident in using information from the text and the supplementary reading in answering these questions, you should understand the major themes from this period.

  1. Why was America socially, economically, and politically reluctant to become involved in what would become World War 2?
  2. World War 2 marked the beginning of a real civil rights movement among Black Americans. Why?
  3. The New Deal did not stop the Great Depression, World War 2 did. Assess the validity of this statement.
  4. Dropping the atomic bomb was necessary to ending the war. To what extent was this true for those making the decision in 1945?
  5. Respond to the following statement: It was "easier" for America to drop the atomic bomb on Japan because the Japanese are racially different from the majority of Americans; America would never have dropped an atomic bomb on Europe.
  6. What perceptions or misperceptions at the end of World War 2 created the Cold War?
  7. To what extent does the "domino effect" explain America's actions in Asia since the end of World War 2? Is this an example of the Truman Doctrine and of NSC-68? How?
  8. Why did America emerge into the post-World War 2 era as a "super" power?
  9. Compare and contrast the Red Scare at the end of World War 1 and the McCarthyism at the end of World War 2.

Potential free response essay prompts: [At the end of this unit you should be able to answer all of the following using specific names, dates, locations, events (i.e. proper nouns!), to demonstrate your understanding of the significant concepts listed below.]

  1. Describe the major decisions made at the wartime conferences between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. To what extent were these decisions responsible for the Cold War?
  2. Compare and contrast United States foreign policy after the First World War and after the Second World War. Consider the periods 1919-1928 and 1945-1950.
  3. "After the death of Franklin Roosevelt and the end of the Second World War, the United States deliberately abandoned the wartime policy of collaboration and, exhilarated by the possession of the atomic bomb, undertook a course of aggression of its own designed to expel all Russian influence from Eastern Europe...[leaving] Moscow no alternative but to take measures in defense of its own borders. The result was the Cold War."

Assess the validity of this statement.

  1. Analyze the ways in which THREE of the following supported the United States policy of containment in the post-World War 2 era.

the Truman Doctrine

the Marshall Plan

the Berlin airlift

NATO

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