Period 7: 1890–1945

“The leaders of the three Great Powers—the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Great Britain—have agreed that in two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe has terminated the Soviet Union shall enter into the war against Japan on the side of the Allies on condition that:

1. The status quo in Outer Mongolia... shall be preserved;
2. The former rights of Russia violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904 shall be restored, viz.:
(a) the southern part of Sakhalin as well as all the islands adjacent to it shall be returned to the Soviet Union...”
— Agreement Regarding Japan, Yalta Conference (February 1945)

Which of the following historical developments best explains the willingness of the United States to agree to the terms outlined in the excerpt?

"Suppose my neighbor's home catches fire, and I have a length of garden hose four or five hundred feet away. If he can take my garden hose and connect it up with his hydrant, I may help him to put out his fire. Now, what do I do? I don't say to him before that operation, 'Neighbor, my garden hose cost me $15; you have to pay me$ 15 for it.'... I don't want $15—I want my garden hose back after the fire is over."
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Press Conference, December 17, 1940

The analogy presented in the excerpt was primarily used by President Roosevelt to support which of the following foreign policy actions?

"Our entry into the war was at a time when the military situation of the Allies was critical... The French and British military authorities strongly urged that American units, as they arrived, should be incorporated into their respective armies. I consistently opposed this plan, believing that the American people expected their army to act as a unit and that the morale of our troops would be best maintained under their own officers. Furthermore, it was essential that the United States maintain an independent military identity to ensure a significant role in the postwar peace negotiations."
—Adapted from General John J. Pershing, final report on the American Expeditionary Forces, 1919

Based on the passage, the insistence on maintaining an independent command for the American Expeditionary Forces was primarily intended to achieve which of the following goals?

Source: United States Congress, Teller Amendment, April 20, 1898

"...the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the Island to its people."

The excerpt was most likely included in the joint resolution declaring war on Spain to achieve which of the following goals?

"1. The United States must build an impregnable defense for America.
2. No foreign power, nor group of powers, can successfully attack a prepared America.
3. American democracy can be preserved only by keeping out of the European war.
4. 'Aid short of war' weakens national defense at home and threatens to involve America in war abroad."
— America First Committee, Statement of Principles, 1940

Which of the following developments in United States foreign policy most directly challenged the principles outlined in the excerpt?

The following table displays demographic data for selected American cities experiencing growth due to wartime defense contracts between 1940 and 1944.

Which of the following was a major social consequence of the demographic trends illustrated in the table during the war years?

"We have no desire to isolate ourselves... But we do not propose to enter into alliances or to assume political commitments. We are willing to help, but we must do so in our own way, preserving our independence of action. We believe that we can be of greater service to the world by maintaining this position of detached helpfulness than by becoming a party to European political combinations."

— Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, Address at New Haven, December 29, 1922

The diplomatic approach described in the excerpt is best illustrated by which of the following United States actions during the 1920s?

"Our factories are working day and night to build ships and make shells. Our railroads are strained to the limit to carry supplies to our soldiers. All this requires coal. Every shovelful of coal you save at home helps run a factory or transport a soldier. Save coal to win the war."

— United States Fuel Administration poster, 1918

The efforts described in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following developments on the United States home front?

“Our concern is to keep this country out of war... The Lend-Lease Bill is not a bill to keep us out of war. It is a bill to enable the President to run a private war of his own... If we give him the power to buy, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of any defense article to any country whose defense he deems vital to the defense of the United States, we are giving him the power to carry on a war... without any declaration of war by Congress.”

— Senator Robert A. Taft, radio address on the Lend-Lease Bill, February 1941

Which of the following developments most directly prompted the debate reflected in the excerpt?

"We have a situation in which the farm population, representing roughly thirty percent of the nation, is receiving less than ten percent of the national income. The farmer is producing more than ever before, yet his return is shrinking. He has purchased machinery on credit to increase efficiency, but the resulting surplus has driven prices down. As long as this large segment of our population is unable to purchase the products of our factories, the apparent prosperity of our industrial centers rests on a highly precarious foundation."
— Senator Henrik Shipstead, speech in Congress, 1927

Which of the following best explains how the conditions described in the excerpt contributed to the onset of the Great Depression?

"The phrase [self-determination] is simply loaded with dynamite. It will raise hopes which can never be realized. It will, I fear, cost thousands of lives. In the end it is bound to be discredited, to be called the dream of an idealist who failed to realize the danger until its mischief was done. What a calamity that the phrase was ever uttered! What misery it will cause!"

— Secretary of State Robert Lansing, private memorandum, December 1918

The concern expressed in the excerpt most directly prefigured which of the following developments in the immediate aftermath of World War I?

Source: Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League, October 1899.

"We hold that the policy known as imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends toward militarism, an evil from which it has been our glory to be free. We regret that it has become necessary in the land of Washington and Lincoln to reaffirm that all men, of whatever race or color, are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We maintain that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. We insist that the subjugation of any people is 'criminal aggression' and open disloyalty to the distinctive principles of our Government."

The sentiments expressed in the excerpt were most directly a reaction to which of the following historical developments?

Source: Gifford Pinchot, *The Fight for Conservation*, 1910

"The first principle of conservation is development, the use of the natural resources now existing on this continent for the benefit of the people who live here now. There may be just as much waste in neglecting the development and use of certain natural resources as there is in their destruction... The second principle is the prevention of waste... Conservation stands or falls on the question of whether or not it is reasonable to expect that the men of our time will be as wise and as public-spirited as those who went before them."

The philosophy outlined in the excerpt contributed to debates during the Progressive Era primarily by doing which of the following?

"It seems to me the point as to this measure... is that the time has arrived when we should shut the door. We have admitted enough to preserve the standard of America... We do not want to tangle the skein of America’s progress by keeping on introducing elements that are difficult to assimilate, if not impossible to assimilate, into our population... Let us keep the immigration of the nation to those who can become part of us, who can assimilate with us, and who can help us carry on the great work of building up the republic."

— Senator Ellison DuRant Smith, speech in Congress, April 1924

Which of the following developments in the early twentieth century most directly contributed to the political debate described in the excerpt?

"Whether they will or no, Americans must now begin to look outward. The growing production of the country demands it. An increasing volume of public sentiment demands it. The position of the United States, between the two Old Worlds and the two great oceans, makes the same claim, which will soon be strengthened by the creation of the now inevitable canal of the Isthmus [in Central America]..."

— Alfred Thayer Mahan, *The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future*, 1897

Which of the following developments in the late nineteenth century best explains the perspective expressed in the excerpt?

"We are not isolationists except in so far as we seek to isolate ourselves from war. We do not cease to be concerned with the international problems of the world, nor do we lose our desire to help in their solution. But we are under no illusions as to the ease of that solution... We must keep ourselves free to offer our cooperation in the cause of peace, but we must avoid any alliances or commitments that would make us a party to foreign wars."
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address at Chautauqua, New York, August 14, 1936

Which of the following best describes the primary goal of the foreign policy approach outlined in the excerpt?

“We propose: 1. That every family in America should have a homestead, a home, and the comforts of life, including such things as a radio and an automobile... 2. That no person’s wealth should exceed a few million dollars... 3. That we should limit the hours of work to such an extent that all people may have employment... 4. That we should provide an old-age pension of $30 per month to every person over the age of sixty.”
— Senator Huey P. Long, “Share Our Wealth” radio address, 1934

Which of the following developments in the 1930s was most directly a response to the political pressures represented by proposals like the one in the excerpt?

"The United States is the world's best hope, but if you fetter her in the interests and quarrels of other nations, if you tangle her in the intrigues of Europe, you will destroy her power for good, and endanger her very existence. . . . We would not have our politics distracted and government embarrassed by the conflicts of other lands. We would not have our country's vigor exhausted or her moral force wasted in the direct and general administration of a joint-liability peace treaty."
— Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, speech to the United States Senate, August 1919

Which of the following historical developments is most directly reflected in the concerns expressed by Lodge in the excerpt?

“It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa [Taiwan], and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China.”
— Cairo Declaration, 1943

The excerpt from the Cairo Declaration most directly reflects which of the following Allied postwar planning goals?

Source: Secretary of State John Hay, Open Door Note, September 6, 1899.

"This Government is animated by a sincere desire that the interests of our citizens may not be prejudiced through exclusive treatment by any of the controlling powers within their respective 'spheres of interest' in China, and hopes also to retain there an open market for all the world's commerce...

[Therefore, the United States requests] that each power in its respective sphere of interest or influence... shall in no way interfere with any treaty port or any vested interest within any leased territory or sphere of interest... [and] that the Chinese treaty tariff of the time being shall apply to all merchandise landed or shipped to all such ports..."

The diplomatic policy described in the excerpt was most directly facilitated by which of the following developments?