World War II 3: biographies

311 Pages·1999·3.634 MB·English

by  George Feldman

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Biographies
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Biographies
Kelly King Howes
Edited by Christine Slovey
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Kelly King Howes
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i Staff
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Christine Slovey, U•X•L Editor
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Carol DeKane Nagel, U•X•L Managing Editor
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Tom Romig, U•X•L Publisher
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g Rita Wimberley, Senior Buyer
o Evi Seoud, Production Manager
i Mary Beth Trimper, Production Director
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Keasha Jack-Lyles, Permissions Associate
I: Margaret A. Chamberlain, Permissions Specialist
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Eric Johnson, Cover Art Director
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a Pamela A.E. Galbreath, Page Art Director
W Cynthia Baldwin, Product Design Manager
Barbara J. Yarrow, Graphic Services Supervisor

d Linda Mahoney, LM Design, Typesetting
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Howes, Kelly King
World War II: Biographies / Kelly K. Howes
p. cm.
Includes biographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7876-3895-1
World War, 1939-1945 Biography. I. Title
D736.H69 1999
940.53’092’2 99-27166
[B]–DC21 CIP
This publication is a creative work copyrighted by U•X•L and fully pro-
tected by all applicable copyright laws, as well as by misappropriation,
trade secret, unfair competition, and other applicable laws. The authors
and editors of this work have added value to the underlying factual mate-
rial herein through one or more of the following: unique and original
selection, coordination, expression, arrangement, and classification of the
information. All rights to this publication will be vigorously defended.
Copyright © 1999 U•X•L, An Imprint of the Gale Group
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part
in any form.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Advisory Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Reader’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Words to Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Biographies
Frank Capra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Neville Chamberlain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chiang Kai-Shek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Winston Churchill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Jacqueline Cochran. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Charles de Gaulle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Dwight D. Eisenhower . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Hermann Göring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Hirohito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Adolf Hitler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
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Oveta Culp Hobby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Franz Jaggerstatter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Fred T. Korematsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Douglas MacArthur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
George C. Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Bernard Montgomery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Benito Mussolini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
The Navajo Code Talkers. . . . . . . . . . . . 175
J. Robert Oppenheimer . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
George S. Patton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Ernie Pyle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Jeannette Rankin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Erwin Rommel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Franklin D. Roosevelt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Joseph Stalin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Edith Stein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Dorothy Thompson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Hideki Tojo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Harry S. Truman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii
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Advisory Board
Special thanks are due for the invaluable comments and sug-
gestions provided by U•X•L’s World War II Reference
Library advisors:
• Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History, University of
Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, Michigan
• Sara Brooke, Director of Libraries, The Ellis School, Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania
• Jacquelyn Divers, Librarian, Roanoke County Schools,
Roanoke, Virginia
• Elaine Ezell, Library Media Specialist, Bowling Green
Junior High School, Bowling Green, Ohio
• Melvin Small, Department of History, Wayne State Univer-
sity, Detroit, Michigan
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Reader’s Guide
World War II: Biographiespresents the life stories of thirty-
one individuals who played key roles in World War II.
The many noteworthy individuals involved in the war could
not all be profiled in a single-volume work. Stories were
selected to give readers a wide perspective on the war and the
people who played a part in it, including political and military
leaders, enlisted men, and civilians. World War II: Biographies
includes readily recognizable figures such as U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, as well as
lesser-known individuals such as Franz Jaggerstatter, an Aus-
trian conscientious objector killed by the Nazis for refusing to
serve in the German army, and Dorothy Thompson, an Amer-
ican journalist who wrote against Hitler’s political and social
policies in the years before the war.
Other Features
World War II: Biographies begins with a “Words to
Know” section and a timeline of events and achievements in
the lives of the profilees. The volume has more than sixty
black-and-white photos. Entries contain sidebars of related,
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interesting information and additional short biographies of
people who are in some way connected with the main
biographee. Sources for further reading or research are cited at
the end of each entry. Cross-references are made to other indi-
viduals profiled in the volume. The volume concludes with a
subject index so students can easily find the people, places,
and events discussed throughout World War II: Biographies.
Comments and Suggestions
We welcome your comments on World War II: Biogra-
phies, as well as your suggestions for persons to be features in
future editions. Please write, Editors, World War II: Biographies,
U•X•L, 27500 Drake Rd., Farmington Hills, Michigan 48331-
3535; call toll-free: 1-800-877-4253; fax to [phone]; or
send e-mail via http://www.gale.com.
x World War II:Biographies
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Words to Know
A
Allies: The countries who fought against Germany, Italy, and
Japan during World War II. The makeup of the Allied
powers changed over the course of the war. The first
Allied countries were Great Britain and France. Ger-
many defeated France in 1940 but some Free French
forces continued to fight with the Allies until the end
of the war. The Soviet Union and the United States
joined the Allies in 1941.
Afrika Korps: The experienced, effective German troops who
fought under German field marshal Erwin Rommel in
the North African desert.
Anschloss: The 1938 agreement that made Austria a part of
Nazi Germany.
Antisemitism: The hatred of Jews, who are sometimes called
Semites.
Appeasement: Making compromises in order to stay on neu-
tral terms with another party or country.
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