1. Ordered Sharing
“Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong”
Ronald Reagan
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.”
John Adams
“You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.”
Albert Einstein
“The purpose of all wars...is peace.”  
Saint Augustine
“Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong”

2.      “Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

3. America Moves Toward War
16.4 Notes

4. The United States Musters Its Forces
The US stayed neutral at the beginning of the war
Roosevelt wanted the US to revise the Neutrality Acts.
“Cash-and-Carry” program: Permitted nations to buy American arms as long as they paid cash and carried the goods on their ships.

5. The United States Musters Its Forces
France fell quickly to Germany
Britain was being bombarded by the German Luftwaffe
Germany, Japan, and Italy signed a treaty making themselves the Axis Powers
US remains neutral, fearing a “two ocean war”

6. The United States Musters Its Forces
America starts building its military, just in case.
Before the war there were 18 countries with stronger militaries than the US
In 1940, the US initiated a peacetime draft
16 Million Men: years of age
Roosevelt was elected for a 3rd term
Promising to keep America out of war

7. “The Great Arsenal of Democracy”
Roosevelt argued that the US was a weapon for Democracy
In a fireside chat, Roosevelt describing Hitler stated, “No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.”
FDR established the Lend-Lease plan. The US would lease weapons to “any country who defense was vital to the US.”

8. German Wolf Packs
German Submarines, in groups of 15 to 20 patrolled the North Atlantic, sinking transport ships.
Sunk ships faster than the British could build them
Roosevelt gave the US Navy permission to protect Lend-Lease ships up to Iceland

9. Planning for War
Secretly, Churchill and FDR sign the Atlantic Charter.
Expresses the common purpose of the Allies
Allies
US, Great Britain, France, Russia, China
German U-boats sank 2 US Cargo Ships and 1 US Destroyer
Roosevelt said, “America has been attacked, the shooting has started. And history has recorded who fire the first shot”
US still did not go to war
100+ American deaths was not enough to convince Congress to declare war on Germany.

10. Japan
Japan was an expansionist nation, seeking to control all of the Atlantic, including the American controlled Philippines and Hawaii / Guam islands
Japan attacked French controlled Indochina
US retaliated by putting an embargo on Japan
Oil embargo
Nov. 5, 1941 Hideki Tojo sent a set of ambassadors to negotiate peace with the US. On that same day he ordered the Japanese Navy to prepare for War with the US
Dec 6, 1941 Roosevelt intercepted a decoded message that was sent to Japanese ambassadors saying to reject all American peace proposals.
Roosevelt told Henry Hopkins, “This means war,” Hopkins said, It’s too bad we can’t strike first and prevent a surprise,” Roosevelt replied. “no, we can’t do that We are a democracy of peaceful people. We have a good record. We must stand on it.”

16. Attack on Pearl Harbor
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” - Isoroku Yamamoto
Dec. 7, 1941 – “A Date which will live in Infamy”
Japan sent 180 warplanes launched from 6 aircraft carriers to bomb the US military base of Pearl Harbor
18 American ships were sunk or badly damaged
2,400 people died
350 Planes were destroyed
1,178 were wounded
Isolationism was done, it was time for war.