America Moves Toward WarAmerica Moves Toward War

An An isolationist isolationist oror neutral neutral America no longer seems America no longer seems

possiblepossible

U.S.’ U.S.’ IsolationistIsolationist Policy Policy• 1920s, U.S. is isolationist

• “U.S. was dragged into war by greedy bankers & arms dealers”

• Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928– 62 countries declare that war would not be used

“as an instrument of national policy”

1912, Blue 1914, Khaki 1924-Present, Green

FDR Not-So Isolationist!FDR Not-So Isolationist!

• 1933: Good Neighbor Policy pulls troops out of Lat. Amer.

• 1934: Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act lowered trade barriers, reduced tariffs

• 1935: Neutrality Acts– Outlawed arms sales or loans to nations at war– Ban on arms sales & loans to nations engaged in civil

war (Spain)

• Continues selling arms to China when Japan attacks them b/c no “formal” declaration of war by Japan– Pearl Harbor = revenge?

Neutrality?● Cash-and-Carry, 1939: allowed warring nations to buy U.S. weapons as long as they paid cash for them & transported the weapons themselves● Selective Training & Service Act, 1940: U.S.’ 1st peacetime draft - 16 mill. registered, 1 mill. drafted

● Lend-Lease Act (1941): lend or lease weapons & supplies to “any country whose defense was vital (necessary) to the U.S.”

Lend-Lease RoutesLend-Lease Routes

Wolf Pack AttacksWolf Pack Attacks• Large groups of German u-boats

patrol the N. Atlantic, sinking

lend-lease ships

● September, 1941: FDR gives U.S. Navy permission to attack U-boats in self-defense.

● By 1943, Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) used

Atlantic Charter: declaration of war goalsAtlantic Charter: declaration of war goals• FDR and Churchill meet secretly in 1941 on USS Augusta• Precursor to United Nations

-Both countries pledge:- collective security

- disarmament - self-determination - economic cooperation - freedom of the seas

Shoot on Sight, 1941Shoot on Sight, 1941

• Escalating German U-boat attacks on American ships (military and merchant)

• FDR tells Navy to shoot U-boats on sight

• Declaration of a full-scale war seemed inevitable...

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you crush him.

Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941

“… a date that will live in infamy”, FDR

- 2,403 Americans killed- 21 ships sunk (no AC)-300 planes severely damaged or destroyed- 1/10 Pacific Fleet!

- Congress declares war on Japan- Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.

- Former American isolationists are now ready to go on the offensive and enter the War.

What do you think?

- Which was the most threatening act the U.S. did prior to going to war? Explain your answer.

-If you knew the U.S. was helping the British before the war, would you have reacted the way the Germans did?