Transcript Notes-2 - WLWV Staff Blogs

Notes 2
Moving Away from Neutrality
& Pearl Harbor
Moving Towards War

As conflict
continued to grow in
both Europe and the
Pacific, FDR called a
special session of
Congress in
September of 1939
to revise the
Neutrality Acts.
Moving Towards War

He suggested that a ‘cash-and-carry’
provision be added, which stipulated that
warring nations could buy American
arms so long as they paid for them in
cash, and carried them on their own
ships. FDR felt that providing aid to help
Britain and France to defeat Hitler would
keep the United States out of war.
Moving Towards War

Unfortunately by the
summer of 1940 France
fell to Hitler and Britain
was under siege. To make
matters worse, Japan,
Italy and Germany
signed a mutual defense
treaty, which is known as
the Tripartite Pact. These
three nations became
known as the Axis
Powers.
Moving Towards War

What problem does the Tripartite Pact
create for the United States?
Moving Towards War

In hopes of avoiding an
armed conflict, FDR provided
the British with all aid
possible short of war to help
defeat Hitler. He sent 500,000
rifles and 80,000 machine
guns to replace ones that had
been lost in battle. The US
also traded 50 old destroyers
for leases on British military
bases in the Caribbean and
Newfoundland.
Moving Towards War

American’s began to
worry about the growing
conflict in Europe, causing
Congress to boost
defense spending to
strength the US military.
One of the most important
pieces was the institution
of the first peacetime
draft.
Moving Towards War

The Selective
Training and Service
Act was passed in
1940, and required
that all males 18-65
register for the draft.
16 million men were
registered, and 1
million were drafted
that year.
Moving Towards War

That fall FDR ran for his 3rd
presidential term and was
reelected with 55% of the popular
vote. Not long after the election FDR
had a fireside chat to inform
Americans that there was no hope
of negotiating peace with Hitler and
that they must turn the US into “the
great arsenal of Democracy.” He
believed that arming the Allies was
the only way to keep the US out of
war with the Axis.
Moving Towards War

By the end of 1940 however the powers in
Europe no longer had cash to spend. FDR
suggested replacing cash-and-carry with a
plan he called ‘lend-lease.’ This plan stated
that the president could lend arms and other
supplies to any country whose defense was
vital to the United States. Congress eventually
passed this act in March of 1941 and provided
$7 billion dollars to support it.
Moving Towards War

Although Britain largely benefited from
lend-lease, they were not the only
country to receive aid. In 1941 Hitler
invaded Russia, completely
disregarding his existing peace treaty
with Stalin, which caused the US to send
supplies to the USSR as well.
Moving Towards War

The main problem with providing aid
was how to actually get the supplies to
the areas in need. Hitler deployed
hundreds of German U-Boats
(submarines) to prevent delivery of this
aid by attacking supply ships.
Moving Towards War

Groups of 15-20 Uboats, called Wolf
Packs, patrolled
shipping lanes hoping
to sink these cargo
ships. In five weeks
Germans sank 1.2
million tons of British
supplies. FDR
responded by allowing
American warships to
attack German U-boats
in self-defense
Pearl Harbor

By 1941 Japanese militarists
had pushed for continued
Japanese expansion,
moving to take control of
French military bases in
Vietnam, Cambodia and
Laos. In hopes of
suppressing this
aggression, the US put an
embargo on the trade of oil,
the life source of the
Japanese war machine.
Pearl Harbor

Knowing that oil was
necessary, Japan entered into
peace negotiations with the
US. In the middle of these
talks however, American
intelligence cracked
Japanese code that outlined
Japan’s intent to attack the
US after November 5th, 1941.
FDR immediately sent out a
“war warning” to all
American military leaders in
Hawaii, Guam and the
Philippines.
Pearl Harbor

On November 6th, 1941 American
intelligence intercepted and decoded a
Japanese message that instructed Japan’s
peace envoy to reject all peace
proposals offered by US government.
FDR knew that war was imminent.
Pearl Harbor

Early the next day,
over 350 Japanese
dive-bombers
attacked Pearl
Harbor in Oahu,
Hawaii, the largest
US naval base in
the Pacific.
Pearl Harbor

The attack came in two
waves and barely lasted
two hours, but in that time
Japan was able to
devastate the entire US
pacific fleet of 18 ships.
Close to 190 planes were
destroyed, 2,400 people
were killed and another
1,200 were wounded.
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor

The next day FDR
addressed Congress
and asked for a
declaration of war on
the empire of Japan,
which was quickly
approved. Three days
later, Italy and
Germany declared
war on the United
States.
Pearl Harbor

How did Pearl Harbor affect
Isolationism?