STUDY QUESTIONS

CALIFORNIA:  AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY (8th Ed.)

CHAPTER 27  -  WARTIME GROWTH AND PROBLEMS

1. How much money did the federal government spend within the continental U.S. between 190-1946, and how much of that was spent in California alone?
2. What effect did that federal spending have on the state's economy and employment?
3. What forms did federal spending take in the state?
4. Who was Henry J. Kaiser?  What incentives did he offer to entice workers into his factories?
5. What kind of growing pains did cities such as Richmond and Vallejo experience during the war?
6. What kind of prejudices did women and minorities face during the war in California?  How did minorities in particular seek to prove their loyalty and "Americanness?"
7. What happened at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine on July 17, 1944?  What were the racial aspects to the tragedy?
8. In what ways did the aircraft industry became so important to California's growth?
9. What percentage of the southern California aircraft industry workforce was female?
10. What advantages did California have in attracting major aircraft producers such as Douglas, Lockheed, and Northrup?
11. What role did newspapers play in whipping up anti-Japanese sentiment in the state even before the War started?
12. What was the purpose of the California Join Immigration Committee in 1921?
13. What were the beliefs of important public leaders such as Ulysses S. Webb and Earl Warren (both who served as state Attorney General) about the racial traits of persons of Japanese origin?
14. What was Lt. General John L. DeWitt's initial position in December 1941 about the relocation of Japanese Americans away from the coast?  How did the Roberts Report on the bombing of Pearl Harbor change his view in late January 1942?
15. What was DeWitt's reasoning as explained in his report to the Secretary of War as to why Japanese Americans should be relocated?
16. What was President Roosevelt's reason for agreeing to relocation?  What was the opinion of his Attorney General Francis Biddle?
17. How many Japanese Americans were living along the West Coast in 1942?  How many were Nisei and how many were Issei? (What's the difference between Nisei and Issei?)
18. What were the names of the two relocation centers in California?  Where were they?
19. What effect did relocation have on Japanese families?
20. Why does the argument offered for relocation based on "military necessity" NOT hold up under scrutiny?
21. Why do the authors feel that the Supreme Court's decisions in the Hirabayashi case (1943) and Korematsu and Endo cases (1944) set a dangerous precedent for civil liberties in war time?

Key Names, Terms, and Concepts