Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check for updated links to U.S. history sites.

Allow one week to teach this chapter.

In answering multiple-choice questions, students should be using words and context clues within the question stems and answer choices when there is no obvious answer on first reading. Part of developing critical thinking is learning how to look for clues and assess them.

The chapter has three main themes. The first is the effort on the part of isolationists to keep the United States out of war as compared to the contrasting efforts of Roosevelt to prepare the American public for war and aid the nations fighting Hitler. By the 1930s, many Americans had concluded that the nation's participation in World War I had been a mistake. Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts limiting the sale of munitions to warring countries. These actions were in part taken as a result of the findings of the Nye Committee, which laid much of the blame for World War I on international bankers and arms makers. Some Americans started a campaign known as "America First" and attempted to turn the country toward a policy of isolationism. It was against this background that Roosevelt attempted to help the nation's allies.

The second theme is the effect on the home front once the United States joined the war. Japanese Americans, women, and African Americans were especially affected by the war. Japanese Americans were uprooted and interned, while women and African Americans found new opportunities for jobs. The latter still encountered massive discrimination.

The final theme is the dissension among the allies, namely the United States' and Great Britain's opposition to the designs of Joseph Stalin and the USSR. At the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union held conflicting views of who had won the war and what would be the outcome of the war. The Soviet Union wanted a buffer against Europe, and the United States wanted to fulfill its goal of establishing democracies.

Have students engage in a debate about whether the United States should have dropped the atomic bomb to end World War II. Six students should participate in the debate—three on either side of the question. Designate a moderator and a timekeeper. Also designate research assistants for each team who will do research to help the debaters and coach them on their presentations. The rest of the class will be the audience and must prepare three questions based on research to ask the debaters. Collect these questions and grade the "audience" on their individual efforts.

You might also find these additional readings useful in developing students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities: