Chapter 16 Section 4 America Moves Toward War

Moving Away from Neutrality Sept 1939-FDR revises Neutrality Acts Asks Congress for a “cash and carry” provision- allow nations to buy weapons from the US as long as they paid in cash and shipped them themselves

Moving Away from Neutrality Providing arms would help France and Britain to defeat Hitler and hopefully keep the US out of war Isolationists argued the opposite Congress passes cash and carry in 1939

The Axis Threat Cash and carry looked like too little too late BY summer of ’40 France had fallen and Britain was under siege by the Luftwaffe

The Axis Threat September Japan, Germany and Italy signed a mutual defense treaty-The tripartite Pact These three nations became known as the Axis Powers

The Axis Threat Tripartite Pact aimed at keeping the US out of the war If the US were to declare war on one of the Axis nations, it would face a 2 ocean war

The Axis Threat In response, FDR provided the British with “all aid short of war” 1940 sent 500,000 rifles, 80,000 machine guns, 50 destroyers A “decidedly unneutral act”

Building America’s Defenses FDR asks Congress to increase spending for national defense Due to isolationism, US was militarily weak 18 nations had larger armies than the US –Weak navy –Small airforce

Building America’s Defenses Congress boosts defense spending in 1940 Passed 1 st peacetime military draft 16 million men registered-1 million of which were drafted

FDR Reelected FDR decides to run for 3 rd term in office Both candidates wanted to support Britain Both promised to keep the US out of war With very little difference, FDR wins election

The Great Arsenal of Democracy FDR says there is no hope of negotiation with Hitler Warned that of Britain fell, Axis would be unchallenged to conquer the world America would be “living at the point of a gun” America had to become “the great arsenal of democracy

The Lend-Lease Plan By late 1940-Britain had no more cash to spend on American weapons FDR proposed to lend or lease weapons to any country whose defense was vital to the US.

The Lend-Lease Plan Isolationists argued bitterly against lend- lease Congress passes Lend-Lease Act in 1941 Not only Britain received lend-lease aid

Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union June 22, Nazis invade Soviet Union with 3 million troops Hitler predicted victory in 6 weeks Soviets resisted fiercely

Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union Soviets pulled back burning everything the Nazis could use- scorched earth policy Russian winter set in German invasion slowed to a halt FDR began send lend-lease supplies to the Soviets

German Wolf Packs For lend-lease, supply lines had to be kept open across Atlantic Hitler deployed hundreds of submarines to stop shipments Wolf Packs (groups of subs) searched shipping lanes for cargo

German Wolf Packs April-May 1941-Germans sink 1.2 million tons of British shipping June 1941-FDR orders US navy to protect shipments as far east as Iceland American ships had permission to attack German subs in self- defense

Planning for War-Atlantic Charter Congress extends draft another 18 months FDR & Churchill met secretly off coast of Newfoundland Created a declaration of principles call the Atlantic Charter

Atlantic Charter Spelled out causes for which WWII was fought- before the US ever entered it 1. Seek no territorial expansion 2. No territorial changes w/out consent of inhabitants 3. Respect right of people to choose their own form of govmt. 4. Promote free trade 5. Encourage international cooperation 6. Freedom from want and fear 7. Disarmament of aggressors 8. Establish a permanent system of general security

Atlantic Charter Atlantic charter expresses common purpose of the Allies Allies- nations joined together to fight the Axis-26 nations

Shooting Begins Sept 4, 1941-German U-Boat fires at USS Greer FDR announces that US ships fire at German ships on sight

Shooting Begins 2 weeks later the Pink Star-a US merchant ship was sunk with enough supplies to feed more than 3.5million British laborers for a week Mid October US destroyer Kearny sunk

Japan’s Ambitions Japanese expansionists wanted a vast colonial empire Invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937 Japan’s ambitions brought them into conflict with other colonial powers

Japan’s Ambitions France, the Netherlands, Britain and the United States had colonies in Asia By 1941-France and the Netherlands had fallen to Germany Britain was too busy fighting Hitler to fight off Japanese Only the US was in the way

Japan’s Ambitions Japanese begin pushing south of China in July of 1941 Took French military bases in Indochina US protested this action by cutting off trade with the Japanese

Japan’s Ambitions US cuts off oil to Japan With no oil, Japan could be defeated without its enemies ever attacking New Japanese Prime Minister-Hideki Tojo –Said he would make one last attempt at peace with Americans –If this failed, Japan would go to war

Japan’s Ambitions November 5, Tojo’s peace envoy flew to Washington for talks On the same day- Tojo orders Japanese navy to prepare for an attack on the US

Japan’s Ambitions US had broken Japan’s secret communication codes Knew Japan was preparing for an attack Didn’t know where or when it would come Peace talks went on for a month

Japan’s Ambitions December 6, Japanese peace envoy ordered to reject all American peace proposals “This means war” –FDR

Attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, more than 180 Japanese warplanes launched from 6 carriers attacked US naval base at Pearl Harbor 90 minutes-Japanese planes barely disturbed by American guns

Attack on Pearl Harbor Attack a stunning victory for Japan US navy all but crippled Japanese lost only 29 planes

Attack on Pearl Harbor US losses –18 ships sunk or badly damaged –350 planes destroyed or badly damaged –2,400 people died –1,178 wounded More losses than the US Navy lost in all WWI

Attack on Pearl Harbor December 8, US declares war on Japan December 11, Germany and Italy declare war on the US