2/8/2017
AMERICA MOVING
TOWARDS WAR
C
Edging Towards War
• Europe
• 1939 WWII began - Germany invaded Poland
• The US
• Congress passed the Neutrality Acts
• They were designed to keep America out of
war.
• On your paper, brainstorm what caused the U.S
to enter WWII
Neutrality Laws
• Read “Neutrality Laws” and answer the three questions
in your workbook
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Neutrality Act of 1935
• What were the key provisions of the Neutrality Act of
1935? Why do you think they were included?
• No weapons sold or shipped to nations at war
• Travel on ships of warring nations is done at your own risk
Neutrality Act of 1936
• What provisions were added by the Neutrality Act of
1936? Why do you think these were included?
• No financing or credit to nations at war
Neutrality Act of 1937
• What provisions were added by the Neutrality Act of
1936? Why do you think these were included?
• US citizens forbidden to go on vessels of nations at war
• Cash and Carry: can sell non-war supplies and materials
• Must have immediate payment and the other country
transports
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Discussion
• What were the goals of the Neutrality Acts?
• How were these goals to be accomplished?
• What links do you see between WWI and these laws?
FDR and WWII
• Read “FDR and WWII” and answer the six questions in
your workbook
FDR and WWII
1. When President Roosevelt sent military aide to China,
do you think he broke the law (Neutrality Acts)? Why
or why not?
• Letter of the law vs. spirit of the law
• Letter of the law wasn’t broken – neither Japan or China
were belligerent nations so he could send aid
• Spirit of the law may have been broken – these nations may
not have been at war, but Japan definitely aligned with the
Axis powers
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FDR and WWII
2. How is the Neutrality Act of 1939 different than the
Neutrality Act of 1937?
• Cash and Carry: extended to include weapons
• Added to help Britain and France defeat Hitler
FDR and WWII
3. Why do you think President Roosevelt had to include
the “cash and carry” provision of the Neutrality Act of
1939?
• He didn’t want to push away the Isolationists – technically it
kept the US out of the war (and the war zones) yet it allowed
us to help the nations that we were more closely aligned to
FDR and WWII
4. With the “Destroyers for Bases” deal, do you think
President Roosevelt broke the law (Neutrality Acts)?
Why or why not?
• FDR gave Britain 50 WWI battle ships in exchange for 8
defense bases
• Yes – it wasn’t Cash and Carry
• No – maybe they didn’t pay with cash, but they gave
something just as valuable to the US
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FDR and WWII
5. Explain the Lend-Lease Act. Do you agree, or
disagree with President Roosevelt’s analogy? Why?
• The Lend-Lease Act (March 1941): enabled the US to
send food, oil, weapons, warships, warplanes to the
Allies, in exchange the US was given leases for Allied
military bases during the war
FDR and WWII
6. America declared war on December 8, 1941. What is
odd about the draft? What conclusion can you draw
from this?
• The Draft – first peacetime draft (September 1940)
• Draft happened more than a year before war was
declared
Americans Debate Involvement
• Isolationists – a majority of Americans opposed war
• Neutrality Acts of 1935, 36, 37
• Restrictions of Americans during times of war
• Selling munitions and arms, sailing on ships owned by nations at
war
• Interventionists:
• FDR wanted to intervene
• Neutrality Act of 1939
• Cash and Carry: allowed nations at war to buy goods from the
U.S. if they paid cash and carried on their own ships
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Analysis
1. Do you think President Roosevelt was an Internationalist
or an Isolationist? What evidence supports your
opinion?
2. Considering Nazi and Japanese expansion in the 1930s
would you have been Isolationist or Internationalists?
Why?
FDR Moves Towards Involvement
• Reports from London convinced many Americans that the U.S.
should at least prepare (Battle of Britain, Summer & Fall 1940)
• The Draft – first peacetime draft (September 1940)
• Destroyers for Bases (September 1940): FDR gave Britain 50 WWI
battle ships in exchange for 8 defense bases
• Tripartite Pact (September 27, 1940)
• Germany, Italy, Japan became allies
• The Lend-Lease Act (March 1941): enabled the US to send food,
oil, weapons, warships, warplanes to the Allies, in exchange the
US was given leases for Allied military bases during the war
Moving the US towards war
• In June 1941 Hitler launched a massive invasion of the
USSR
• Even though the USSR was communist both England and
the US promised to help
• In order to better aid England, FDR stopped sending fuel,
iron, and oil to Japan
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Pearl Harbor – Details
• On Sunday December 7,
1941 Japan launched a
surprise attack on the
American naval base at
Pearl Harbor.
• Japan sank or damaged 8
battleships, 3 cruisers, 4
destroyers, and 6 other
vessels.
• Japan destroyed 188
airplanes and killed 2,403
Americans.
• December 8, 1941 the U.S.
declared war on Japan.
• FDR’s “a day that will live in
infamy”
• Four days later Germany and
Italy declared war on
America.
Pearl Harbor – Videos
• WWII Veteran Jim Downing remembers
Pearl Harbor
• http://video.denverpost.com/WWIIVeteran-Jim-Downing-remembers-PearlHarbor-31699244
• USS Arizona
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/
local/the-uss-arizona-wasnt-supposed-tobe-at-pearl-harbor-but-it-becameamericas-most-famousbattleship/2016/12/06/48b33a1a-bbd911e6-ae79-bec72d34f8c9_video.html
• Hollywood Version – Pearl Harbor
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1
niwxQgoY
• FDR asks Congress for Declaration of
War
• http://www.history.com/topics/worldwar-ii/world-war-ii-history/videos/attackpearl-harbor
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