Transcript Neutrality Act of 1939 - Marshall Public Schools

Chapter 34
• Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War,
1933–1941
I. The London Conference
• The 66 nation London Economic Conference
(1933), revealed how Roosevelt viewed
foreign policy as subordinate to the recovery
of the domestic economic recovery.
– He saw that the proposed policies of stabilizing
currencies might hinder his inflationary policy he
was implementing.
• Not willing to take a chance, Roosevelt scolded the
conference for attempting to make America “take one
for the team” in order to help international trade.
II. Freedom for (from?) the Filipinos and
Recognition for the Russians
• Roosevelt was pulling out of the Philippines to
please the isolationist… i.e. it was too
expensive.
• At the same time, he made the international
gesture of recognizing the Soviet Union in 1933.
– Many U.S. anti-communist conservatives and
Roman Catholics were offended by the move.
– Roosevelt did it for the possible trade relations with
Russia and to have another friend to counter the
growing threat of German power in Europe and
Japanese power in Asia.
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III. Becoming a Good Neighbor
• As Roosevelt committed to becoming a
“good neighbor” to Latin America, he pulled
troops out of Haiti in 1934 and released Cuba
from the most restrictive parts of the Platt
Amendment.
– In 1936, Washington relaxed its grip on the
Panamanians as well.
• Roosevelt was cheered in Latin America as
the “traveling salesman for peace”
IV. Secretary Hull’s Reciprocal Trade
Agreements
• Congressed passed the Reciprocal Trade
Agreements Act in 1934.
– It amended the Smoot-Hawley tariff schedules.
Roosevelt was able to lower the existing rates by as
much as 50%, provided the other countries involved
followed suit.
– Secretary of State Hull, was able to negotiate with
21 countries by the end of 1939.
– It reversed the traditional high-protective-tariff
policy that had been around since the Civil War.
– These agreements undoubtedly bettered the
economic and political relations with Latin America.
V. Storm-Cellar Isolationism
• The Great Depression fed the spread of
totalitarianism. People were looking for
someone to make the world a better place.
– Communist Russia led the way with a ruthless
Joseph Stalin emerging as dictator.
• Hitler proved to be the most dangerous of the
dictators.
– He became a political force for the Nazi party when
he spoke out against the Treaty of Versailles and
Germany’s unemployment levels brought on by its
depression.
• Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of
Nations in 1933 and began rearming (illegally).
• Hitler and Mussolini allied themselves in 1936
under the Rome-Berlin Axis.
• In 1934, Japan sought to become a more
powerful imperial power.
– They terminated the 21 year old Washington Naval
Treaty.
• 1935, Japan pulled out of the League of Nations
and five years later they joined Germany and
Italy in the Tripartite Pact.
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• America, still a little bitter from the ungrateful
defaulting debtor nations passed the Johnson
Debt Default Act, which prevented defaulting
nations from borrowing from the U.S.
VI. Congress Legislates Neutrality
• With the threat of Mussolini’s Ethiopian assault,
Congress wanted to make sure America wasn’t
sucked into another war so they passed the
Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937.
– These acts triggered automatic restrictions the
moment the president proclaimed the existence of
a foreign war.
• No American could sail on a warring vessel, sell or
transport munitions to a warring nation, or make loans to
a warring nation.
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VII. America Dooms Loyalist Spain
• The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 was a dress
rehearsal for WWII.
– Spanish rebels, led by fascist Francisco Franco was
backed by Hitler and Mussolini.
– The Spanish loyalist were backed by Communist
Russia.
– American’s who volunteered to fight for the
struggling republic of Spain were known as the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
VIII. Appeasing Japan and Germany
• In 1937, President Roosevelt delivered the
famous Quarantine Speech in front of an
isolationist crowd.
– He called for a “quarantine” of the aggressors –
primarily through economic embargoes.
– Many isolationist feared that a moral quarantine
would lead to a shooting quarantine.
• Hitler was becoming bolder in Europe as he
openly dismissed the Treaty of Versailles by
introducing a mandatory military force in
Germany.
• In 1936, Hitler marched his military into the
demilitarized German Rhineland, which was
against the Treaty of Versailles.
– Britain and France looked on unsure of what to do.
• Hitler went on to persecute and eventually
exterminate the Jewish population in the areas
he controlled.
– Resulting in over 6 million Jewish casualties.
• Convincing his people to sacrifice “butter” for
guns, Hitler created the most powerful air force
and mechanized ground divisions in the world.
• In 1938, Hitler occupied the German-speaking
Austria.
– Britain and France were wringing their hands,
hoping that Hitler would be satisfied and not take
any more land.
• Empowered by his recent land grabs, Hitler
moved into the Sudetenland of neighboring
Czechoslovakia.
– Britain and France, eager to appease Hitler, sought
to bring the dispute to the negotiation table.
• A conference was finally held in Munich,
Germany, in 1938.
– Western European powers gave up the Sudetenland
with the promise from Hitler that it would be the
last of his territorial claims.
• The Europeans hit their chest and declared that because
of their negotiations, they produced “peace in our time.”
– Appeasement, from then on synonymous with the
word Munich, was basically putting the tail between
the legs.
– Six months later, Hitler went against his word and
took the rest of Czechoslovakia.
IX. Hitler’s Belligerency and U.S.
Neutrality
• As Britain and France were trying to negotiate
with Moscow, the world was stunned to hear
the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression treaty
with Hitler (1939).
– The Hitler-Stalin pact meant that Hitler had a green
light to invade Poland and the Western democracies
without fear of Soviet Union reprisals.
– Stalin was hoping that Germany and the Western
Europeans would kill each other off and allow the
Soviets to walk over both of them in the end.
• Hitler told Poland that he wanted land that had
been taken from Germany and given to Poland
after WWI.
– Poland said no and Germany attacked on
September 1, 1939.
– Britain and France, honoring their commitment to
Poland, declared war on Germany.
• Appeasement had taken too long, Germany took Poland
in three weeks.
– As Germany was working Poland over from the
West, Stalin moved in on the East to take their share
of old Russian Poland.
• WWII was underway.
• America was desperate to stay out of this one,
but an unprepared Britain and France needed
American airplanes and supplies.
– Congress was called to a special session after the
invasion of Poland, and passed the Neutrality Act of
1939 after six weeks of debate.
• This enabled Europeans to buy war materials, but only on
a “cash-and-carry” basis.
– Must pay in cash and carry them away on their own ships.
X. The Fall of France
• The months following the collapse of Poland
were the quiet before the storm.
– Hitler was moving his troops around.
• In 1940, Hitler overran Denmark and Norway,
and shortly after worked Belgium, and finally
smacked into France.
– When France fell, Britain was the last constitutional
power in Europe.
• If Britain fell, Hitler would have all the resources needed
to take anything he wanted.
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• Americans finally woke up to the seriousness of
the situation.
– Congress was forced to recognize our own
unpreparedness appropriated $37 billion toward
the effort.
• More than the total cost of WWI and five times the most
expensive annual New Deal budget.
– Congress then passed its first peacetime draft.
XI. Refugees from the Holocaust
• Kristallnacht, “night of the broken glass” –
November 9, 1938, mobs ransacked Jewish
shops and synagogues,
– 91 Jews were killed and more than 30,000 were
sent to concentration camps.
– Trying to flee Hitler’s onslaught, 937 Jews boarded
the St.Louis and headed for Miami.
• America turned them away due to restrictive immigration
laws. And after being turned away from Canada as well,
they landed in England where they were divided among
England, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, where
many perished by the Nazi’s.
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• After reports of Nazi genocide were verified in
1942, Roosevelt created the War Refugee
Board, saving some 150,000 Jews from the
death camps.
XII. Bolstering Britain
• In 1940, Hitler launched air attacks against
Britain, in what became known as the Battle of
Britain.
– Hitler planned to weaken British defenses and then
launch a ground attack.
– The British Air Force fought hard and forced Hitler
to postpone his invasion.
• America was faced with a decision… create a
fortress in America to withstand a German
attack against us, or help Europe fight on their
soil.
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• Roosevelt chose to side-step U.S. neutrality
obligations and sent Britain 50 WWI destroyers
in an attempt to help them defend against
submarine attacks.
– America received a few bases for 90 years.
• The American public was beginning to favor
sending Britain “all aid short of war.”
XIV. A Landmark Lend-Lease Law
• By late 1940 Britain was getting to the end of
their money and credit options.
– Roosevelt came up with the idea to lend or lease
American arms to Britain. It would be like
barrowing your neighbor a hose to put out a fire.
– Lend Lease Bill (HR 1776), was to send “guns” not
“sons” to Europe.
• America would be the “arsenal of democracy.”
• It would send a limitless supply of guns to anyone fighting
the aggressor.
• Passing the bill was the end of neutrality
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– Hitler viewed the Lend-Lease as a declaration of
war, and Germany began attacking U.S.
merchant ships anywhere they found them.
Map 34-2 p792
XV. Charting a New World
• Hitler and Stalin didn’t trust each other and
were both secretly plotting against the other.
– Hitler finally decided to attack the Soviet Union on
June 22, 1941.
• His plan was to destroy Stalin’s forces within a month or
two and then take another shot at Britain.
• Roosevelt began secretly meeting with Winston
Churchill and one of the results was the eightpoint Atlantic Charter.
– The charter opposed imperialistic annexation,
promised no territorial changes contrary to the
wishes of the inhabitants, affirmed the right for the
people to choose their government, and etc.
XVI. U.S. Destroyers and Hitler’s Uboats Clash
• If war materials were to get to Britain they
would have to be protected from German
submarines.
– Britain couldn’t use its resources to protect the
shipments so it fell to the Americans.
– Roosevelt implemented the convoy system in 1941.
– Americans braced themselves for wholesale attacks
by Hitler’s subs.
XVII. Surprise Assault on Pearl Harbor
• Japans war machine had been dependent on
U.S. shipments of steel, iron, oil, and aviation
gasoline (which was highly unpopular in
America by the way.)
• Roosevelt had tried to hold off an embargo for
as long as he could.
– Finally, in late 1940, he issued the first of the
embargoes on Japan-bound supplies.
– The U.S. also froze all Japanese assets in America.
• Japan had two options:
– Go face to face with America or attack the oil
supplies of Southeast Asia.
• The U.S. ordered Japan out of China in order
to renew trade relations.
– Japan wasn’t having that so the decided to make
war.
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