WWII: America Enters the War

1. WWII: America Enters the War

2. Neutrality • President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared U.S. neutral two days after France and Britain declared war on Germany • Official position at the beginning of WWII: Neutrality • U.S. supported Britain and France • Neutrality laws banned the sale of weapons to nations at war (Germany, France, Britain)

3. Destroyers-for-Bases Deal • British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked FDR for American destroyers (battleships) • Britain had lost ½ of its own destroyers by 1940 • Britain needed destroyers to: • Protect cargo ships from German U-Boats • Protect Great Britain from German invasion • FDR trades 50 U.S. destroyers for the right to build military bases on British-controlled land • Newfoundland • Bermuda • Caribbean Islands

4. American Isolationism • Isolationism- policy to avoid participation in foreign affairs (European wars) • Debate: • Isolation • Stay out of war in Europe • Intervention • Enter War • Help Allies • Protect Democracy • Fight Dictators

5. FDR Defends the Four Freedoms • Four Freedoms U.S. and Britain stood for: • Freedom of Speech • Freedom of Worship • Freedom from Want • Freedom from Fear

6. Lend-Lease Act • Allowed U.S. to lend or lease arms to any country considered “vital to the defense of the United States” • Allowed FDR to send weapons to Britain if Britain returned them, or paid the U.S. back after the war • FDR feared the fall of Britain • Germany, Japan, and Italy would conquer the world • U.S. should be the great “arsenal of democracy” • Keep the British fighting so U.S. doesn’t have to • America sent $40 billion in weapons, vehicles, and supplies to Britain

7. Nazi-Soviet Pact • Hitler violates the Nazi-Soviet Pact • Germany invades USSR • American Lend-Lease Act sends aid to USSR • Britain vows to aid any country willing to fight against Nazism

8. Hemispheric Defense Zone • British Navy did not have enough ships to stop German U-Boats from patrolling the Atlantic Ocean • Hemispheric Defense Zone • Western half of the Atlantic Ocean was part of the Western Hemisphere = Neutral • U.S. Navy patrolled the western Atlantic • Reported U-Boat positions to British

9. Atlantic Charter • Agreement between America and Britain to post-war relationship • Democracy • Non-aggression • Free Trade • Economic Advancement • Freedom of the Seas • 15 anti-Axis (Germany, Italy) nations signed Atlantic Charter • FDR pledged to force an “incident” which would justify him opening hostilities • U-Boats and American destroyers face-off in the Atlantic • “Shoot-on-sight” policy

10. Embargoes on Japan • Britain needed all ships in Europe • Left India and other British colonies in Asia unprotected • FDR helps Britain by hindering Japanese ability to seize British colonies • FDR applies economic pressure to Japan • 1940 FDR restricts the sale of strategic materials (materials important for fighting a war) to Japan • Scrap Iron • Steel • Oil • Airplane fuel • Japan signs alliance with Germany and Italy

11. Embargoes on Japan • 1941, FDR sends Lend-Lease aid to Japanese-occupied China • Wanted China to keep Japan from gaining territory in Asia • Failed • Japan invaded Indochina • Threatened British colonies • FDR response to Japanese aggression in Asia • Japanese assets in U.S. frozen • Reduce oil shipments to Japan • Sends General MacArthur to Philippines to build-up U.S. military presence

12. Embargoes on Japan • Japan responds to U.S. military build-up in the Philippines and oil embargo • Planned to attack: • British Colonies • Dutch Colonies • The Philippines • American fleet at Pearl Harbor