Agenda
• Go over 11.4 study guide
• Illustrated Timeline
• Start CAT: Home Front
On the back of your study guide copy the
following (for later):
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Neutrality Act of 1935
Neutrality Act of 1937
Neutrality Act of 1939
Destroyers for Bases – 1940
Export Control Act – July, 1940
America First Committee – Sept. 1940
Presidential Election – Nov. 1940
Lend-Lease Act – Dec. 1940
Hemispheric Defense Zone – 1941
Lend-Lease Aid to China – 1941
Atlantic Charter – Aug. 1941
Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7, 1941
Review from 11.1
– Neutrality Act of 1935
• Illegal to sell arms to any country at war
– Neutrality Act of 1937
• Countries at war must buy non-millitary items through
the “cash and carry” policy
– “Cash and Carry” Policy
• All items purchased must be paid for with cash and
shipped from US on the buyers own ships.
11.1 – America and the World
II. America Turns to Neutrality
A. Why were Americans discouraged by the rise of
dictatorships in Europe and Asia? The rise of
dictatorships made the sacrifices they had made
during WWI seem pointless
B. What was isolationism? The philosophy that the US
should focus on its own problems and avoid
international commitments that might drag the
country into another war.
11.1 – America and the World
C. Why did isolationist ideas become even
stronger in the United States in the 1930s?
• First in June 1934, all of the debtor nations
from WWI except Finland announced they
would no longer pay their war debts to the
US.
• At about the same time books and articles
appeared, arguing that arms manufacturers
tricked the US into entering the war.
11.1 – America and the World
D. What were the purposes of the neutrality acts
passed by Congress between 1935 and 1937?
• The Neutrality Act of 1935 made it illegal for
Americans to sell arms to any country at war.
• As the Spanish Civil War increased, Congress passed
another act banning sales to either side.
• The Neutrality Act of 1937 also required warring
countries to buy nonmilitary supplies from the US on
a “cash and carry” basis (no credit).
11.1 – America and the World
E. What was internationalism? The idea that
trade between nations creates prosperity and
helps prevent war.
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
1. What were the elements of the weaker
version of the Neutrality Act passed by
Congress in 1939? It allowed warring
countries to buy arms from the US so long as
they paid cash and carried the goods away
on their own ships
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
2. When did the US face its first test in
remaining neutral? In May 1940, when
Churchill asked Roosevelt for Old American
destroyers
3. How did Roosevelt manage to give Churchill
the destroyers he asked for? He bypassed
the provisions of the Neutrality Act that
required cash for purchases by giving him
the destroyers. (Destroyers for Bases)
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
4. What did Churchill give FDR instead of cash
for the destroyers? The right to build
American bases on British-controlled
Newfoundland, Bermuda, and British islands
in the Caribbean.
5. When did public opinion about the
destroyers-for-bases deal begin to shift?
After the German invasion of France and the
rescue of the Allied forces at Dunkirk
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
6. What did the Fight for Freedom Committee
promote? The repeal of the neutrality laws
and stronger action against Germany
7. Who were the members of the America First
Committee? Staunch isolationists opposed
to any aid to the Allies; some famous
members included aviator Charles Lindbergh
& Senator Gerald Nye
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
8. What was a major reason that Roosevelt was
reelected in 1940? Many voters preferred to
stick with a president they knew during the
crisis period
9. What were the “Four Freedoms” for which
both the US and Britain stood?
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Freedoms of speech & worship
Freedoms from want & fear
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
10. How did FDR get around the “cash and carry”
requirement of the Neutrality Act when Britain
could no longer meet those terms?
The President created the “Lend-Lease” act
through which the US would be able lend or lease
arms to any country considered “vital to the
defense of the US.”
This proposal meant the US could send weapons to
Britain promised to return them or pay rent for
them when the war ended.
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
11. What was the purpose hemispheric defense zone?
British ships carrying arms and supplies from US
were being attacked by German subs in Atlantic.
FDR could not order the Navy to protect the ships,
since the US was still neutral (technically). He
declared that the entire western half of the Atlantic
was part of the Western Hemisphere and therefore
neutral too. Then US ships could patrol the
western Atlantic and radio the location of German
subs to the British.
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
12. What was the text of the Atlantic Charter? It
committed the US and Britain to a post-war world
of democracy, non-aggression, free trade,
economic advancement, and freedom of the seas.
13. What was the Export Control Act? An act giving
FDR the power to restrict the sale of strategic
material (materials important for fighting a war) to
other nations. FDR used this act to immediately
block the sale of airplane fuel and scrap iron to
Japan.
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
14. What was the Japanese response to the Export
Control Act? They were furious and signed an
alliance with Germany and Italy, formally becoming
a member of the Axis Powers.
15. Why did FDR extend lend-lease aid to China? Japan
had invaded China in 1934, and by 1941 it
controlled much of the Chinese coast. FDR hoped
that lend-lease aid would enable the Chinese to tie
down the Japanese and prevent them from
attacking elsewhere.
Chapter 11.4 Study Guide
16. Why did the Japanese decide to attack Pearl
Harbor? In response to the Japanese threat in
China Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the US
and reduced the amount of oil being shipped to
Japan. The reduced oil supply jeopardized Japan’s
war against China, so the Japanese military made
plans to attack the resource-rich British and Dutch
colonies in southeast Asia and to seize the
Philippines and attack the American fleet at Pearl
Harbor. They could not risk leaving the US with a
navy fleet in the Pacific to oppose their plans.