Oklahoma Social Studies USH.C.5

Standard Cluster

Analyze the United States of America’s role in international affairs by examining the major causes, events, and effects of the nation’s involvement in World War II. Describe the transformations in American society and government policy as the nation entered World War II. Examine fascism in Germany and Italy, including its roots in economic depression, effects of the Versailles Treaty, and ideology, culminating in German rearmament and militarization of the Rhineland. Examine the roles of appeasement and isolationism in the United States of /America’s reluctance to respond to Fascist military aggression in Europe and Asia including the Neutrality Acts. Evaluate the industrial mobilization and psychological preparation for war as reflected in President Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech. Describe programs initiated to support Great Britain, including Lend-Lease, Destroyers for Bases and Cash and Carry. Examine President Franklin Roosevelt’s leadership, including how he motivated Americans with the Day Which Will Live in Infamy speech, his role as commander in chief, and his diplomatic efforts to maintain the Grand Alliance. Explain the reasons for President Roosevelt’s executive order for the incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent, the experiences of Japanese families, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Korematsu v. United States of America. Describe the war’s impact on the home front (e.g., rationing, the Bracero program, bond drives, conversion of factories for wartime, federal regulation of production and labor, the entry of large numbers of women and minorities into the workforce, prisoner of war camps, and the treatment of Americans of German and Italian descent). Analyze the series of events affecting the outcome of World War II. Identify major battles, military turning points, and key strategic decisions in both the European and Pacific Theaters of Operations (e.g., Pearl Harbor, the D-day Invasion, Stalingrad, Midway, Okinawa, Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima, and the island-hopping strategy). Describe the roles of individual American leaders, including Generals MacArthur and Eisenhower, as well as the unique contributions of special fighting forces (e.g., Tuskegee Airmen, 442nd Regimental Combat team, Indian Code Talkers). Explain the purpose of the Allied conferences at Yalta and Potsdam and how such negotiations would affect post-war Europe. Analyze President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb and describe the legacy of the development and use of atomic weapons. Summarize the United States of America’s reactions to the events of the Shoah (Holocaust). Describe the United States of America government’s reactions to news of the Shoah during the war including condemnation of Nazi genocide of Jews and creation of the War Refugee Board. Describe the liberation of concentration and death camps and the immigration of Shoah (Holocaust) survivors. Examine the United States of America’s participation in the Nuremberg Trials which held Nazi leaders accountable for war crimes. Examine the impact of World War II on the lives of American citizens. Examine how wartime employment in the civilian economy and the armed services contributed to an end of the Great Depression’s unemployment. Explain changes in society during the postwar era (e.g., urban population migration to the suburbs, the baby boom, growth of the middle class, home ownership, development of mass media, consumerism). Describe the goals and effects of the G.I. Bill of Rights and Truman’s “Fair Deal” on the average citizen. Assess the influence of Phillip Randolph regarding efforts to eliminate employment discrimination and the impact of President Truman’s decision to desegregate the United States of America’s armed forces.

Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026)