Big Picture

Questions

1. What was especially significant about the bombing of Pearl Harbor in terms of the history of foreign strikes against the United States?
2. On which World War II Axis power did the United States Congress first declare war?
3. Why was the demand for labor in the United States so great during the war?
4. How did Executive Order 8802 affect American defense industries?
5. How do Issei differ from Nisei?

Answers

1. It was the first major attack by a hostile power on United States soil.
2. Japan.
3. Munitions plants, airfields, ship-building factories, and other industries under pressure to meet extraordinary wartime demands needed labor—and lots of it. As the war escalated and the demand for military equipment, vehicles, and ammunition multiplied, so too did the number of available jobs. Exacerbating the great demand for new workers, the military draft had drained the labor force of millions of young men.
4. It effectively banned racial discrimination in national defense industry employment.
5. Both are Americans of Japanese heritage. Issei are first-generation Japanese immigrants, while Nisei are children of Issei, born in the United States.