The United States Enters WW II

Mr. Macomber Mercedes High School 2006-2007

Objectives

• You will be able to explain why the U.S. became involved in WWII • You will be able to explain why the date 1941 is important

U.S. Neutrality

• Two days after Britain and France declared war against Germany, President Roosevelt declared the United States neutral.

The U.S. Supports England

• Neutrality Act of 1939-

Weapons can now

be sold, but on “cash

and carry “ basis

only • Destroyer Deal Roosevelt trades 50

old U.S. navy

destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for land to build naval

bases

Isolationist Debate

• Fight for Freedom Committee The U.S. Should Fight

Germany Now

(Interventionist position) • Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies- Help Britain (and Russia) fight so we don’t have to by sending more supplies • America First Committee- (led by Charles Lindberg) America should mind our own business and stay out of the war (Isolationist Position)

Election of 1940

• President Roosevelt

ran for an unprecedented

third term as president in the election of 1940 • Both Roosevelt and the Republican candidate, Wendell Willkie, said they would keep the United States neutral but assist the Allied forces. • Roosevelt won by a large margin

Lend Lease Act

• President Roosevelt proposed the Lend-Lease Act (HB 1776), which stated that the United

States could lend or lease arms to any country

considered “vital to the defense of the United States.” • In June 1941, in violation of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Hitler began a massive invasion of the Soviet Union.

• Great Britain, Russia, & China received the bulk of lend lease aid

The Hemispheric Defense Zone

• President Roosevelt developed the hemispheric defense zone, which declared the entire western half of the Atlantic as part of the Western Hemisphere and therefore neutral. • This allowed Roosevelt to order the U.S. Navy to patrol the western Atlantic Ocean and reveal the

location of German submarines to the British.

The Atlantic Charter

• In August 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met onboard a ship near Canada and agreed to the Atlantic Charter. • This agreement committed the two leaders to a postwar world of democracy, nonaggression, free trade, economic advancement, collective security, and freedom of the seas.

Stopping Japanese Ambitions

• In Asia, the U.S. tried to discourage the Japanese from threatening the colonies of countries fighting the Germans (such as Britain & Holland) • The U.S. also wants to stop

Japan’s invasion of China

(a U.S. Ally) and get them

to leave

U.S. Embargoes Japan

• Japan was a country with few natural resources such as iron & oil and imported most of these materials from the U.S..

• In July 1940, Congress passed the Export Control Act, giving Roosevelt the power to restrict the sale of strategic materials–materials important for fighting a war–to other countries

U.S. Embargoes Japan

• Roosevelt immediately blocked the sale of airplane fuel and scrap iron to Japan. • The Japanese signed an alliance with Germany and Italy and became a member of the

Axis powers

• By July 1941, Japan moved into French Indo- China (Vietnam) and Japanese aircraft posed a direct threat to the British Empire bases of Singapore & Hong Kong.

U.S. reacts to Japanese Aggression

• Roosevelt responded to the threat by freezing all

Japanese money in US

banks and reducing the amount of oil shipped to Japan.

• He also sent General MacArthur to the Philippines to build up American defenses there as well as

moved the U.S. Pacific

fleet from its bases in

California to Hawaii.

Japan’s Choice

• Japan was faced with the choice of continuing its war w/ China and having its oil cut off or giving in to U.S. demands that would make

them look weak

• The Japanese decided to

attack resource-rich

(especially oil) British and

Dutch colonies in

Southeast Asia, seize the Philippines, and attack Pearl Harbor so the U.S. Pacific fleet would be crippled and unable to stop them.

Japan Attacks the U.S.

• Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, sinking or damaging 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, killing 2,403 Americans, and injuring hundreds more. • The next day, Dec 8, 1941 President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on

Japan

Germany & Italy Declares War

• On December 11, 1941, Japan’s allies– Germany and Italy– declared war on the United States