2.  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.

3.  Congress passes first in a series of Neutrality Acts, extending ban on arms sales and loans to nations engaged in civil wars

4.  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

5.  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

6.  Congress passes “cash and carry” legislation to help Britain and France which will keep us out of war

7.  We have sent 500,000 rifles, 80,000 machine guns, and traded 50 destroyers for leases at British military bases – “decidedly un- neutral”

8.  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

9.  US boosts defense spending and passes 1st peacetime draft – the Selective Training and Service Act for men 21-35 years old drafting 1 million men for 1 year to serve in Western Hemisphere only

10.  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”

11.  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

12.  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

13.  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

14.  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

15.  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

16.  Japan prepares attack on Pearl Harbor

17.  Japan attacks US base at Pearl Harbor – 2403 people killed, 1178 wounded, 21 ships sunk or damaged, and over 300 planes destroyed

18.  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