Kellogg-Briand Pact signed– war is not a national policy President Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Frank B. Kellogg, standing, with representatives of the governments who have ratified the Treaty for Renunciation of War (Kellogg-Briand Pact), in the East Room of the White House.
Congress passes first in a series of Neutrality Acts, extending ban on arms sales and loans to nations engaged in civil wars
Japan attacks China – we send supplies to China, skirting around the Neutrality Acts because Japan didn’t actually declare war - Roosevelt speaks out against isolationism but the isolationists accuse him of trying to lead us to war, so he backs off
We turn back the St. Louis fearing German enemy agents on board, as well as for reasons of anti-Semitism, and fear of losing US jobs and threatening economic recovery
Congress passes “cash and carry” legislation to help Britain and France which will keep us out of war
We have sent 500,000 rifles, 80,000 machine guns, and traded 50 destroyers for leases at British military bases – “decidedly un- neutral”
Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact, becoming the Axis Powers – aimed at keeping the US out of war by being a larger threat
US boosts defense spending and passes 1st peacetime draft – the Selective Training and Service Act for men years old drafting 1 million men for 1 year to serve in Western Hemisphere only
Roosevelt re-elected to 3rd term when Wendell Wilkie proves to believe in many of the same policies Roosevelt gives speech saying the only way to defeat the Axis powers so the world is not living at gunpoint if France and Britain are defeated is to become a “great arsenal of democracy”
Britain is out of money for cash & carry March 1940 – Congress passes the Lend-Lease Act to lend and lease arms and supplies to any country whose defense is vital to the US
Hitler breaks his pact with Stalin and invades the USSR – the US sends lend-lease supplies to USSR – the enemy of our enemy is our friend
Japan invades French owned Indochina so US cuts off all trade with Japan – Japan needs peace to keep oil and supplies for their expansion, so peace talks with US begin
Roosevelt extends terms of draftees, meets with Churchill on USS August to settle on a joint declaration of war aims called the Atlantic Charter, for the common purpose of Allies fighting against Axis powers – which is signed by 26 nations
Roosevelt allows US warships to attack German U-boats in self-defense after wolf packs sink as much as 350,000 tons of supplies in one month. After U-boats sink US destroyers Kearny and Reuben James, order is given to shoot U-boats on site
Japan prepares attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan attacks US base at Pearl Harbor – 2403 people killed, 1178 wounded, 21 ships sunk or damaged, and over 300 planes destroyed
Roosevelt declares war, calling the attack a “day which will live in infamy” 5 million men volunteer to fight – to meet the demands, the Selective Service draft another 10 million