Transcript Moving Towards War: US Foreign Policy 1934-1941

WWII: Neutrality to War
US HISTORY: SPICONARDI
Foreign Policy
 What was America’s foreign policy in the 1920s?
 Isolationism
 Why would this policy continue into the 1930s?
 Great Depression; had to focus on the economy and domestic
issues
Isolationism? Really?
 THE WASHINGTON NAVAL
CONFERENCE (1921-22) – U.S. hosted
a naval conference in which it
negotiated reductions in the navies
of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, & the
U.S. itself
 KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT (1928) – an
international agreement in which
participant states promised not to
use war to resolve "disputes or
conflicts of whatever nature or of
whatever origin they may be, which
may arise among them"
Do you recognize
the cartoonist?
Dr. Seuss
Why did Americans
believe they could
remain neutral?
The separate beds
meant they were
separated by an
ocean. Europe’s
diseases wouldn’t
spread to America
How does
this cartoon
contradict
the beliefs of
the
American
public
illustrated in
the previous
cartoon?
Neutrality Acts
 Neutrality Act of 1935
 The President of the United States was banned from
Selling arms
 Providing loans
 Giving an form of assistance to nations involved in war


All U.S. citizens traveling on warring ships, did so at their own
risk
 Neutrality Act of 1936
 Extended the 1935 act for additional 14 months
 However, it exempted civil wars
What is the message of
this Dr. Seuss political
cartoon?
According to Dr. Seuss,
why did some
Americans support
neutrality?
What is Dr. Seuss’
criticism of the U.S.’s
neutrality policy?
Neutrality Acts
 Neutrality Act of 1937
 Forbids sale of arms to countries involved in civil wars
 Prohibits U.S. citizens from traveling on belligerent ships
 U.S. ships could not transport passengers or articles to
belligerent nations
 Cash and Carry

U.S. could sell materials to belligerents if
 They paid cash
 Arranged for the transportation of those materials
Lend-Lease Act
 Cash and Carry left the
Allies short on cash
 Lend-Lease (1941)


U.S. could sell or lend war
materials to “any country
whose defense the
President deems vital to
the defense of the United
States”
FDR vowed to keep the
U.S. out of war, but the
country would become the
“arsenal of democracy”
FDR signing the Lend-Lease Act
into legislation
Lend-Lease Act
If your neighbor’s
house is on fire,
you don’t sell him a
hose. You lend it to
him and take it
back after the fire
is out.
Pearl Harbor
 Japanese Aggression
 After the Nanjing Massacre, the
U.S. supported China through
the Lend-Lease Act
 Embargoes and Sanctions
US froze Japan’s assets in
America
 US refused to trade oil, steel
and rubber to Japan

• Japan needed these resources
to continue its imperial march
in the Pacific
Pearl Harbor
 Tripartite Pact (1940)
 Japan, Germany, and Italy made an agreement that if a
country not involved in WWII attacked one of the three, the
others would come to that countries aid
 In November 1941, U.S. intercepted Japanese messages, which
revealed an assault in the Pacific was imminent
Pearl Harbor
Japan believed
attacking Pearl
Harbor would
cripple the US
Pacific Fleet for 18
months, thus
allowing them to
continue their
plans for a Greater
East Asia CoProsperity Sphere.
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese
attacked in two
waves. The first wave
of Japanese planes
were detected on
radar, but believed to
be US bombers
coming from
California.
Pearl Harbor Stats
•2,340 military killed
•48 civilian killed
•1,143 military wounded
•35 civilian wounded
DECEMBER 7, 1941: A DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY
 The attack on Pearl Harbor prompted FDR to ask
Congress for a declaration of war

Congress votes 477 – 1 in favor of war
War
 Germany & Italy declares war on the U.S. on
December 11, 1941