1. Key People in World War II

2. Benito Mussolini
Fascist dictator of Italy; allied with Hitler’s Germany

3. Adolf Hitler
Fascist leader of Nazi Germany, architect of genocide

4. Francisco Franco
Fascist leader of Spain, refused to join the Axis powers; Spain’s neutrality helped the Allies

5. Joseph Stalin Communist leader of the Soviet Union
Totalitarian Dictator; sided with the Allies against Germany

6. Haile Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia, 1930-74
Forced into exile when Italy invaded in 1935
Received British assistance in 1941 to recapture Ethiopia
Regarded as Messiah of Africans by Rastafarians
1936 Time Man of the Year

7. Neville Chamberlain
Conservative Prime Minister of England at the beginning of WWII ( ); tried to avoid the war by appeasing Hitler

8. Winston Churchill
Prime Minister of Great Britain after Chamberlain ( ), became a hero for leading the Allies to victory
Brilliant orator; able to inspire British people
Made famous Iron Curtain speech in Fulton, MO 1946
Soldier, journalist, author, painter & politician
1940 Time Man of the Year

9. Charles de Gaulle
General that led the Free French Forces during WWII; became President of France after the war
1959 Time Man of the Year

10. Hideki Tojo
Prime minister of Japan in World War II; sided with Germany to expand Japanese control in the Pacific Ocean; tried and executed for war crimes

11. J. Robert Oppenheimer
Physicist that directed the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons
“the father of the atomic bomb”
What is a scientist’s responsibility to humanity? (debate question…)

12. What about the engineers of the gas chambers at the concentration camps? Are they responsible for the hundreds of thousands that die in the chambers? (all, partially, or not at all)
What is a builder’s responsibility to humanity? (debate question…)
Gas chamber at Malthausen camp

13. A. Philip Randolph
Civil rights leader, President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, socialist
proposed a march on Washington in 1941 to protest segregation in war industries and the military; cancelled it after Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Act to enforce equality in defense industries (a compromise);
Should your goals every be compromised? (debate question…)
Randolph continued to lead the civil rights movement including coordinating the 1963 March on Washington with MLK and Bayard Rustin
Time magazine photo Oct. 1943

14. Erwin Rommel Nazi General; commanded the troops in Africa
known as the Desert Fox for his skill and victories
Most popular General in Germany

15. Dwight D. Eisenhower Five Star General of U.S. Army
Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe
planned D-Day invasion
became a war hero and later President ( )
Time Man of the Year 1944

16. Omar Bradley General in the U.S. Army
commander in North Africa and then Europe during and after the D-Day invasion
Helped ensure Allied victory

17. George S. Patton
U.S. Army General during WWII; commanded troops in North Africa, Sicily, and Europe
Strict discipline with troops, tough, controversial, helped trick Germans into thinking the Allied attack would be in a different place than Normandy

18. Douglas MacArthur U.S. General
commander in the southwest Pacific against Japan
When Allies were forced out of the Philippines he famously said, “I shall return.”

19. Chester Nimitz Five-star Admiral in the U.S. Navy
his troops decoded important warning about Japanese invasion of Midway to save the battle
led historic victories in the Pacific

20. Albert Einstein German born theoretical physicist
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and the most famous scientist of the 20th century
Warned FDR that Germans might be developing an atomic weapon

21. Emperor Hirohito Japanese Emperor during World War II-1989
Never tried for war crimes
Allowed to remain Emperor after the war (for stability)

22. Franklin Roosevelt
Led U.S. through the Great Depression and World War II
Time Man of the Year 1941

23. George C. Marshall American military General during WWII
Chief military adviser to FDR
Skilled organizer
Later Secretary of State
Policies supported post-war reconstruction of Europe which became known as the Marshall Plan (1948)
Time Man of the Year 1943