THE ROAD TO PEARL
HARBOR
Part 1
1933:
• FDR takes office
• Hitler becomes dictator
• Japan withdraws from the League of Nations, after
being criticized for aggression in China
1935-37:
• Period of Nazification in Germany: Building the
Third Reich by breaking the Treaty of Versailles
• Anti-Semitic Laws passed in Germany
• U.S. Congress passes the Neutrality Acts:
prohibited the sale of weapons to nations at war, no
loans to nations at war, Americans couldn’t travel on
ships of warring nations
https://google.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/51e21c3b-2853-4a6d-a108-6053e1100fe6
1935-1937: (continued)
• Hitler invades the Rhineland
• Japan invades China: they committed great
atrocities against the Chinese civilians and military
during the conquest
• FDR begins to move away from isolationism:
Quarantine Speech: called for collective (nonmilitary) action by free nations against the dictators
in Europe and Asia
1939:
• WWII begins after the German invasion of Poland
• FDR says the U.S. will remain neutral - but
Americans do not have to be neutral emotionally
• Neutrality Act of 1939: U.S. begins to sell arms
on a CASH & CARRY basis (pay cash, carry on
their own ships)
https://google.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/3884f006-f888-428c-af89-e9d82dfe0859 (start at 3:12)
• The U.S. also provided some financial aid to China
at this time to slow down Japanese expansion
1940:
• France falls to the Nazis; Battle of Britain/
Operation Sea Lion begins
• American public opinion is shifting toward helping
the British
• U.S prepares for war: construction of new war
planes & peacetime draft
1941:
• LEND-LEASE: U.S. would lend the British the
materials they needed to fight the war, and when the
war was over, the materials would be returned ($50
Billion)
• Hitler viewed Lend-Lease as a declaration of war
and ordered attacks on American ships
• FDR delivers his Four Freedoms speech
• FDR meets with Churchill: Atlantic Charter
(common war aims/goals) What will the world
look like after Hitler’s defeat??