America & the Road to World War 2
I. American Isolationism & Foreign Policy, 1920s & 1930s
A. After WWI, the U.S. assumed a selectively isolationist foreign policy focusing on economic issues at home & abroad
B. Foreign Policy: Economic Concerns
1. Postwar debts was a major issue in the 1920s; The U.S. hoped to reclaim $10 billion in loans to the Allies
2. The U.S. created the Dawes Plan to assist Germany repay its war reparations
3. But, the depression in the 1930s & the Hawley-Smoot Tariff made postwar recovery more difficult in Europe
C. Foreign Policy: International Peace
1. The USA never joined the League of Nations but did play a role in international affairs aimed at world peace
2. The 1921 Washington Disarmament Conference led to the 5-Power, 9-Power, and 4-Power Treaties
3. In 1928, the USA signed the Kellogg-Briand Act renouncing war
4. The rise of totalitarianism in Japan, Italy & Germany made the world more unstable in the 1930s
a. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 & China in 1937; U.S. forgave Japan for the Panay Incident
b. In Europe, fascist dictatorships came to power:
i. Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist Party in Italy, began to militarize, & attacked Ethiopia
ii. Hitler became leader of the Nazis in Germany, militarized, & attacked Austria & Czechoslovakia
c. The League of Nations failed to stop aggressive expansion, European leaders used appeasement (Munich Pact), and Italy, Germany, & Japan signed
an alliance (Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis)
5. As European dictators came to power, Americans were too preoccupied with the depression to adequately plan
D. Foreign Policy: American Public Sentiment
1. Public sentiment (esp. college students & “Lost Generation” authors) wanted to avoid another “meaningless war”
2. Munitions-makers & bankers were as “merchants of death” & blamed for pulling the U.S. into WW1
3. Pressure by North Dakota Senator Gerald Nye (Nye Committee 1934-1936) led to the 3 Neutrality Acts:
a. Neutrality Act of 1935 banned arms sales to nations at war & warned citizens to avoid trans-Atlantic travel
b. Neutrality Act of 1936 banned loans to nations at war
c. Neutrality Act of 1937 required all trade with warring nations to be on “cash & carry” basis
II. The Road Towards American Intervention
A. As Europe seemed t headed towards WW2, Roosevelt favored intervention & began to ready the U.S. for war
1. In 1937, he hoped use international economic sanctions to “quarantine the aggressors”
2. WW2 began in 1939 with the Nazi-Soviet Pact & German invasion of Poland
B. From neutrality to undeclared war with Germany in 1939
1. When WW2 began, Congress imposed a “cash and carry” policy to allow military sales to the Allies
2. FDR began all-out aid to the Allies with a destroyers-for-bases deal (50 old U.S. ships for 8 European naval bases)
a. Isolationists were appalled that FDR would deviate so far from neutrality (“Fortress of America”)
b. Interventionists led by the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies applauded unlimited aid
3. By 1940, the U.S. favored more involvement; Led to preparedness, the 1st peacetime draft, & FDR’s re-election
4. In 1941,the USA abandoned cash-and-carry & began an “undeclared war” against the Axis Powers in Europe
a. FDR called for a Lend-Lease Act to aid England with military equipment
b. FDR allowed the U.S. navy to transport war supplies to the Allies despite German u-boat attacks on U.S. ships
5. Churchill & FDR agreed to the Atlantic Charter in 1941 to discuss a post-war strategy
III. Pearl Harbor
A. Japan took advantage of European “distraction” & added to its Asian empire; Signed the Tripartite Pact in 1940
B. FDR & Congress retaliated against the Greater East Asia-Prosperity Company with fuel, iron, & oil sanctions
C. Two peace negotiations between the U.S. & Japan failed in 1941; Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941
D. By December 1941, the U.S. was at war in Europe & the Pacific & had full public support
World War 2: The American Homefront & Society
I. Mobilizing an “Arsenal of Democracy”
A. The Homefront
1. FDR hoped to boost American industry to win the war & this boost ended the Great Depression
2. The war impacted women, African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Mexican-Americans
B. Mobilization
1. To meet the demands of a two-front war, the U.S. government grew to its largest size ever
2. The War Powers Act gave the president unprecedented new powers
3. New bureaucracies directed the economy, propaganda, war bonds, & spies
C. The Wartime Economy
1. America’s primary war asset was its ability to outproduce Germany & Japan
2. The War Production Board (WPB) directed American war industry; Supported by 60 million American workers
3. Henry Ford’s River Rouge plant & Henry Kaiser’s naval yards exemplify American industrial output
II. World War 2 Changed American Society
A. The war transformed the West & South
1. California became a major industrial center
2. New industry & military bases were built in the South which helped end sharecropping & tenant farming
B. Women
1. New economic opportunities for women, especially married women in industrial jobs
2. Women entered exclusively male jobs & redefined the woman’s sphere: Rosie the Riveter, WACs, & WAVES
C. Families
1. The war led to high marriage rates, the need for daycare centers, & a rise in child delinquency
2. Public health dramatically improved in the 1940s
D. African-Americans
1. Black soldiers served in segregated units but few saw combat
2. “Double V” campaign led A. Philip Randolph pressured the gov’t for the Fair Employment Practices Committee
3. Continued migration into the North (“Great Migration”) led to racial violence in New York and Detroit
E. Mexican-Americans
1. Mexican-Americans served in hazardous branches of the military & gained high-paying jobs
2. Faced racial discrimination, most notably the Zoot Suit Riots in California
F. Japanese-Americans
1. The Pearl Harbor attack caused many Americans to fear a Japanese attack on the west coast
2. Deprived Japanese-Americans of their rights: Issei had their assets frozen & Nisei placed onto internment camps
III. Win-the-War Politics
A. “Mr. New Deal” shifted to “Mr. Win-the-War”
B. FDR won an unprecedented fourth term, but with a new, more moderate vice president Harry Truman