America Moves Toward War

1. America Moves Toward War Chapter 16, Section 4

2. Cash-and-Carry Law • Allowed U.S. to sell weapons to nations who were at war as long as those nations paid cash and transported the weapons themselves • Designed to help Britain and France • FDR argued this would help Britain and France defeat Germany and would keep U.S. out of the war

3. Axis Powers • Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a mutual defense treatyknown as the Tripartite Pact • Aimed at keeping the U.S. out of the war • If U.S. joined the war, it would face a two-ocean war in the Atlantic and Pacific

6. U.S. Increased Aid to British • U.S. sent rifles and machine guns to the British • U.S. traded old naval destroyers for British naval bases in the Western Hemisphere

7. Building U.S. Defenses • U.S. increased military spending • Congress passed first peacetime military draft • Nazi victories started to move U.S. away from isolationism

8. Roosevelt Elected to Third Term • FDR decided to run for an unprecedented third term as President • FDR and his opponent both supported aid to Britain and both promised to keep the nation out of war • FDR won election

10. Election of 1940

11. “The Great Arsenal of Democracy” • FDR told the nation that it was not possible to have peace with Hitler • FDR warned that if Britain fell then Hitler would try to conquer the rest of the world • FDR said that the U.S. needed to help defeat the Axis powers by being the “great arsenal of democracy”

12. Lend-Lease Act • By late 1940, Britain was out of cash • FDR suggested a lend-lease plan • U.S. would lend or lease weapons and supplies to any nation “whose defense was vital to the United States” • Americans favored the plan, and Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941

13. U.S. Neutrality Isolationist Position Interventionist Position The events of Europe affected the U.S. and the world Germany was interested in worldwide conquest America could not live peacefully in a Nazi-controlled world The U.S. had an obligation to defend democracy • U.S. should not tie its future to the eternal wars in Europe • U.S. would suffer financial and military hardships • The war was Europe’s problem • America had its own problems

15. Germany Invaded the Soviet Union • Hitler and Stalin had entered into the Non-aggression Pact in 1939 • Hitler violated the agreement in June 1941 and invaded the Soviet Union • Germany and the Soviet Union were at war

16. Supporting Stalin • FDR and the United States began sending lend-lease aid to the Soviet Union • Some Americans opposed sending aid to a communist country • Churchill: If Hitler invaded Hell, the British would be allies with the Devil

17. German Wolf Packs • Supply lines had to be kept open to Britain and to the Soviet Union • Germany used U-boats (submarines) to attack U.S. supply ships • Wolf packs attacked U.S. ships in coordinated attacks • FDR gave U.S. Navy permission to sink German U-boats in self-defense

19. Naval Attacks • Allied ships began to use sonar to locate German submarines • U.S. and Germany were essentially at war in the Atlantic by the summer of 1941 • Sept. 1941: FDR gave U.S. ships the power to shoot any U-boat on sight

20. The Atlantic Charter • FDR and Churchill agree to a joint declaration of war goals called the Atlantic Charter • FDR told Churchill that he couldn’t ask for a declaration of war from Congress yet • But U.S. would do all it could to help wage war on Germany

22. The Allies • The Atlantic Charter became the common goals of the Allies in World War II • Signed by 26 nations • Nations that fought against the Axis powers

23. Prelude to War • FDR gave order for U.S. Navy to shoot German submarines on sight • German U-boats continued to torpedo U.S. ships • Congress allowed merchant ships to be armed • U.S. and Germany on the verge of war

24. Japan’s Ambitions in the Pacific • Japan invaded China in July 1937 • Japan began conquering British and French islands in the Pacific • Only U.S. island territories remained as an obstacle to Japanese control of the Pacific

25. Japanese officers after the invasion of China

29. U.S. Cut Off Trade to Japan • U.S. protested Japanese aggression by halting trade with Japan • Japan could not live without oil from the U.S. • Japanese leaders warned that Japan would have to convince U.S. to stop embargo or would have to capture Dutch East Indies for oil fields

30. Peace Talks with Japan • Japan and U.S. entered into peace talks • But Tojo prepared for an attack on the U.S. • U.S. intercepted Japanese message and learned Japan was preparing for an attack • Did not know where • FDR warned Pacific military commanders of an imminent strike • FDR wanted Japan to strike first

33. On the Verge • Peace talks continued • On Dec. 6, 1941, U.S. intercepted message telling Japanese peace negotiators to reject any American proposals • U.S. knew that this likely meant war

35. Pearl Harbor • Pearl Harbor was largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific • Japanese goals for the attack: • Weaken U.S. navy to prevent resistance • Break U.S. morale • Cost U.S. time in rebuilding its navy

37. Photo of attack, taken from a Japanese plane

38. Attack on Pearl HarborDecember 7, 1941 • 180 Japanese aircraft launched from six aircraft carriers attacked Pearl Harbor • Attack lasted an hour and a half • Attack launched in two waves • U.S. antiaircraft guns barely made an impact

50. Results: Sank 4 battleships Damaged 4 battleships Sank or damaged 3 cruisers and 3 destroyers Destroyed 188 aircraft Damaged more than 100 additional aircraft Killed 2,403 Injured 1,178