America Moves
Toward War
Chapter 16, Section 4
Cash-and-Carry Law
 Allowed U.S. to sell weapons to
nations who were at war as
long as those nations paid cash
and transported the weapons
themselves
 Designed to help Britain and
France
 FDR argued this would help
Britain and France defeat
Germany and would keep U.S.
out of the war
Axis Powers
 Germany, Italy, and
Japan signed a mutual
defense treaty known
as the Tripartite Pact
 Aimed at keeping the
U.S. out of the war
 If U.S. joined the war, it
would face a two-ocean
war in the Atlantic and
Pacific
U.S. Increased Aid to British
 U.S. sent rifles and
machine guns to the
British
 U.S. traded old naval
destroyers for British
naval bases in the
Western Hemisphere
Building U.S. Defenses
 U.S. increased military
spending
 Congress passed first
peacetime military draft
 Nazi victories started to
move U.S. away from
isolationism
Roosevelt Elected to Third Term
 FDR decided to run for an
unprecedented third term
as President
 FDR and his opponent
both supported aid to
Britain and both promised
to keep the nation out of
war
 FDR won election
Election of 1940
“The Great Arsenal of
Democracy”
 FDR told the nation that it was
not possible to have peace
with Hitler
 FDR warned that if Britain fell
then Hitler would try to
conquer the rest of the world
 FDR said that the U.S.
needed to help defeat the Axis
powers by being the “great
arsenal of democracy”
Lend-Lease Act
 By late 1940, Britain was out of
cash
 FDR suggested a lend-lease
plan
 U.S. would lend or lease weapons
and supplies to any nation “whose
defense was vital to the United
States”
 Americans favored the plan, and
Congress passed the Lend-Lease
Act in March 1941
U.S. Neutrality
Isolationist Position
Interventionist Position
 U.S. should not tie its
 The events of Europe
future to the eternal wars in
Europe
 U.S. would suffer financial
and military hardships
 The war was Europe’s
problem
 America had its own
problems
affected the U.S. and the
world
 Germany was interested in
worldwide conquest
 America could not live
peacefully in a Nazicontrolled world
 The U.S. had an obligation
to defend democracy
Germany Invaded the Soviet
Union
 Hitler and Stalin had
entered into the Nonaggression Pact in 1939
 Hitler violated the
agreement in June 1941
and invaded the Soviet
Union
 Germany and the Soviet
Union were at war
Supporting Stalin
 FDR and the United States
began sending lend-lease aid
to the Soviet Union
 Some Americans opposed
sending aid to a communist
country
 Churchill: If Hitler invaded Hell,
the British would be allies with
the Devil
German Wolf Packs
 Supply lines had to be kept
open to Britain and to the
Soviet Union
 Germany used U-boats
(submarines) to attack U.S.
supply ships
 Wolf packs attacked U.S. ships
in coordinated attacks
 FDR gave U.S. Navy
permission to sink German Uboats in self-defense
Naval Attacks
 Allied ships began to use
sonar to locate German
submarines
 U.S. and Germany were
essentially at war in the
Atlantic by the summer
of 1941
 Sept. 1941: FDR gave
U.S. ships the power to
shoot any U-boat on
sight
The Atlantic Charter
 FDR and Churchill agree
to a joint declaration of
war goals called the
Atlantic Charter
 FDR told Churchill that
he couldn’t ask for a
declaration of war from
Congress yet
 But U.S. would do all it
could to help wage war on
Germany
The Allies
 The Atlantic Charter
became the common
goals of the Allies in
World War II
 Signed by 26 nations
 Nations that fought against
the Axis powers
Prelude to War
 FDR gave order for U.S.
Navy to shoot German
submarines on sight
 German U-boats
continued to torpedo U.S.
ships
 Congress allowed
merchant ships to be
armed
 U.S. and Germany on the
verge of war
Japan’s Ambitions in the Pacific
 Japan invaded China in July
1937
 Japan began conquering
British and French islands in
the Pacific
 Only U.S. island territories
remained as an obstacle to
Japanese control of the
Pacific
Japanese officers after the invasion of China
U.S. Cut Off Trade to Japan
 U.S. protested Japanese
aggression by halting trade
with Japan
 Japan could not live without oil
from the U.S.
 Japanese leaders warned that
Japan would have to convince
U.S. to stop embargo or would
have to capture Dutch East
Indies for oil fields
Peace Talks with Japan
 Japan and U.S. entered into
peace talks
 But Tojo prepared for an attack on
the U.S.
 U.S. intercepted Japanese
message and learned Japan was
preparing for an attack
 Did not know where
 FDR warned Pacific military
commanders of an imminent strike
 FDR wanted Japan to strike first
On the Verge
 Peace talks continued
 On Dec. 6, 1941, U.S.
intercepted message
telling Japanese
peace negotiators to
reject any American
proposals
 U.S. knew that this likely
meant war
Pearl Harbor
 Pearl Harbor was
largest U.S. naval base
in the Pacific
 Japanese goals for the
attack:
 Weaken U.S. navy to
prevent resistance
 Break U.S. morale
 Cost U.S. time in
rebuilding its navy
Photo of attack, taken from a Japanese plane
Attack on Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
 180 Japanese
aircraft launched
from six aircraft
carriers attacked
Pearl Harbor
 Attack lasted an hour
and a half
 Attack launched in two
waves
 U.S. antiaircraft guns
barely made an impact
Results:
Sank 4 battleships
Damaged 4
battleships
Sank or damaged 3
cruisers and 3
destroyers
Destroyed 188
aircraft
Damaged more
than 100 additional
aircraft
Killed 2,403
Injured 1,178
Reaction to Pearl Harbor
 FDR: “a date which will live
in infamy”
 FDR knew that U.S. would
have to absorb many losses
in the war as it built up its
military and rebuilt its navy
 FDR requested a declaration
of war the following day
President Roosevelt asks for a declaration of war on December 8, 1941
U.S. Declared War
 Congress approved FDR’s
request for a declaration of
war against Japan
 Three days later, Germany
and Italy declared war on
the U.S.
 U.S. faced with the
prospect of a two-front war
The End of Isolationism
 Americans united after the
attack on Pearl Harbor
 Former isolationists
supported an all-out war
effort
 Defense spending would
end the Great Depression
Pearl Harbor Memorial