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World War II

Topics at a Glance

Issue Brief

D-Day Omaha image

D-Day? What’s That?

As people all over the world observe the 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy – widely considered the turning point of World War II

America’s Wars of the 20th Century

Public Perspective, August/September 1997. Was our intervention a mistake? Different conflicts, different results, different verdicts. Read more ..

World War II & the Lessons of History

Public Perspective, August/September 1995.[D]espite World War II's monumental importance and its looking shadow over the ensuing decades, public knowledge ...

Related Data

NORC: The Early Years

The National Opinion Research Center is a non-profit organization associated with the University of Chicago. NORC has been conducting polls since 1941. There are over 150 NORC polls from the 1940s and 1950s that document the public's opinion.

The Roper Organization

Under the direction of survey pioneer Elmo Roper, the Roper Organization conducted the landmark Fortune studies: over seventy survey projects undertaken between 1938 and 1949.

American Soldier Studies of WWII

On the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Research Branch of the Information and Education Division of the War Department conducted the first in a series of large-scale surveys of personnel in the United States armed forces.

Charts & graphics

Concerns about Economic Effects of Defense Spending Pre-WWII
Ratings of Job Done by Different US Troops, WWII
Comparison of Air Forces Duty in Europe and Pacific in WWII
Would you choose combat flying again? (WWII)
Ages of Heavy Bomber and Fighter Pilots, WWII
Attitudes towards military strategies WWII
Perceptions of Fighting Abilities of Allies and Enemies, WWII
Greatest Military Threat, WWII