America Moves to War

Moving Away from Neutrality

• Sept 1939-FDR revises Neutrality Acts

• Asks Congress for a “cash and carry” provision- allow nations to buy weapons from the US as long as they paid in cash and shipped them themselves

Moving Away from Neutrality

• Providing arms would help France and Britain to defeat Hitler and hopefully keep the US out of war

• Isolationists argued the opposite

• Congress passes cash and carry in 1939

The Axis Threat

• Cash and carry looked like too little too late

• BY summer of ’40 France had fallen and Britain was under siege by the Luftwaffe

The Axis Threat

• September 1940-Japan, Germany and Italy signed a mutual defense treaty-The tripartite Pact

• These three nations became known as the Axis Powers

The Axis Threat

• Tripartite Pact aimed at keeping the US out of the war

• If the US were to declare war on one of the Axis nations, it would face a 2 ocean war

The Axis Threat

• In response, FDR provided the British with “all aid short of war”

• 1940 sent 500,000 rifles, 80,000 machine guns, 50 destroyers

• A “decidedly unneutral act”

Building America’s Defenses

• FDR asks Congress to increase spending for national defense

• Due to isolationism, US was militarily weak

• 18 nations had larger armies than the US– Weak navy– Small airforce

Building America’s Defenses

• Congress boosts defense spending in 1940

• Passed 1st peacetime military draft

• 16 million men registered-1 million of which were drafted

FDR Reelected

• FDR decides to run for 3rd term in office

• Both candidates wanted to support Britain

• Both promised to keep the US out of war

• With very little difference, FDR wins election

The Great Arsenal of Democracy

• FDR says there is no hope of negotiation with Hitler

• Warned that of Britain fell, Axis would be unchallenged to conquer the world

• America would be “living at the point of a gun”

• America had to become “the great arsenal of democracy

The Lend-Lease Plan

• By late 1940-Britain had no more cash to spend on American weapons

• FDR proposed to lend or lease weapons to any country whose defense was vital to the US.

The Lend-Lease Plan

• Isolationists argued bitterly against lend-lease

• Congress passes Lend-Lease Act in 1941

• Not only Britain received lend-lease aid

Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union

• June 22, 1941- Nazis invade Soviet Union with 3 million troops

• Hitler predicted victory in 6 weeks

• Soviets resisted fiercely

Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union

• Soviets pulled back burning everything the Nazis could use-scorched earth policy

• Russian winter set in• German invasion

slowed to a halt• FDR began send

lend-lease supplies to the Soviets

German Wolf Packs

• For lend-lease, supply lines had to be kept open across Atlantic

• Hitler deployed hundreds of submarines to stop shipments

• Wolf Packs (groups of 15-20 subs) searched shipping lanes for cargo

German Wolf Packs

• April-May 1941-Germans sink 1.2 million tons of British shipping

• June 1941-FDR orders US navy to protect shipments as far east as Iceland

• American ships had permission to attack German subs in self-defense

Planning for War-Atlantic Charter

• Congress extends draft another 18 months

• FDR & Churchill met secretly off coast of Newfoundland

• Created a declaration of principles call the Atlantic Charter

Atlantic Charter

• Spelled out causes for which WWII was fought-before the US ever entered it

• 1. Seek no territorial expansion

• 2. No territorial changes w/out consent of inhabitants

• 3. Respect right of people to choose their own form of govmt.

• 4. Promote free trade• 5. Encourage

international cooperation• 6. Freedom from want

and fear• 7. Disarmament of

aggressors• 8. Establish a permanent

system of general security

Atlantic Charter

• Atlantic charter expresses common purpose of the Allies

• Allies- nations joined together to fight the Axis-26 nations

Shooting Begins

• Sept 4, 1941-German U-Boat fires at USS Greer

• FDR announces that US ships fire at German ships on sight

Shooting Begins

• 2 weeks later the Pink Star-a US merchant ship was sunk with enough supplies to feed more than 3.5million British laborers for a week

• Mid October US destroyer Kearny sunk

Japan’s Ambitions

• Japanese expansionists wanted a vast colonial empire

• Invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937

• Japan’s ambitions brought them into conflict with other colonial powers

Japan’s Ambitions

• France, the Netherlands, Britain and the United States had colonies in Asia

• By 1941-France and the Netherlands had fallen to Germany

• Britain was too busy fighting Hitler to fight off Japanese

• Only the US was in the way

Japan’s Ambitions

• Japanese begin pushing south of China in July of 1941

• Took French military bases in Indochina

• US protested this action by cutting off trade with the Japanese

Japan’s Ambitions

• US cuts off oil to Japan• With no oil, Japan could

be defeated without its enemies ever attacking

• New Japanese Prime Minister-Hideki Tojo– Said he would make one

last attempt at peace with Americans

– If this failed, Japan would go to war

Japan’s Ambitions

• November 5, 1941-Tojo’s peace envoy flew to Washington for talks

• On the same day- Tojo orders Japanese navy to prepare for an attack on the US

Japan’s Ambitions

• US had broken Japan’s secret communication codes

• Knew Japan was preparing for an attack

• Didn’t know where or when it would come

• Peace talks went on for a month

Japan’s Ambitions

• December 6, 1941-Japanese peace envoy ordered to reject all American peace proposals

• “This means war”– FDR

Attack on Pearl Harbor

• December 7, 1941-more than 180 Japanese warplanes launched from 6 carriers attacked US naval base at Pearl Harbor

• 90 minutes-Japanese planes barely disturbed by American guns

Attack on Pearl Harbor

• Attack a stunning victory for Japan

• US navy all but crippled

• Japanese lost only 29 planes

Attack on Pearl Harbor

• US losses– 18 ships sunk or badly

damaged– 350 planes destroyed

or badly damaged– 2,400 people died– 1,178 wounded

More losses than the US Navy lost in all WWI

Attack on Pearl Harbor

• December 8, 1941-US declares war on Japan

• December 11, 1941-Germany and Italy declare war on the US