United States

Mary Carillo sat contemplating the radio broadcast she had just listened to from her garden apartment in Greenbelt, Maryland. She was not particularly shocked by the outcome, but was concerned about the effect it would have on the lives of her two sons, Robert and Stephen.  It was 8 December 1941 and America’s involvement in the Second World War was now official. While some thought that entry into the War was inevitable sooner or later, but the reason for its entry was completely unpredicted. The day before, Japanese warplanes attacked, without warning, the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They killed 2,400 American servicemen and servicewomen and destroyed a number of warships, as well as aircraft on the ground.

Students will study a range of photographic evidence about America’s involvement in the Second World War in order to reach a judgement about whether they were right to enter the war at the end of 1941. Students will develop their understanding of America’s role by selecting appropriate text to support primary evidence, ordering and prioritising the evidence to fit the enquiry and evaluating the utility of evidence. In conclusion, they will consolidate their knowledge and understanding by reviewing the extent of change and continuity in America’s role and then reach a reasoned judgment about whether America’s decision to enter the war at the time was justifiable.

The purpose of this enquiry is for students to develop an awareness and understanding of the importance of photographs in re-constructing events from the past that forms collective memory, often on a national scale. Students are required to study an iconic photograph from America’s role in the Second World War in order to assess the significance of the event photographed. They will also assess the contribution of photographic images to collective war memories.

Students are given Resource K: Commemorating war. Students try to link and/or work out the odd one out. The objective is for students to understand that they represent different ways of commemorating twentieth century conflicts. The odd one out is the Cenotaph which is a British memorial, whilst all of the others commemorate specifically American involvement in wars.