January 24—What is your goal for this
semester?
US entry into WWII
Lecture Outline
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I. U.S. entry into WWII
A. The China Incident
B. U.S. prepares for war
C. Japan prepares for war
D. Pearl Harbor
E. Japanese Internment
Key Terms
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The China Incident
Two-Ocean Naval Act of 1938
Pearl Harbor
The China Incident
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In July 1937 a fight between the Chinese and
Japanese troops in Beijing was used an
excuse by Japan to attempt to gain
hegemony over all over China.
This marked a turning point in American
policy.
President Roosevelt turned to a more clearly
internationalist course. He hoped to keep the
U.S. out of war but not at the expense of the
U.S. foreign policy interests.
Effects of the China Incident
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The U.S. did not want to be cut-out of the
China market.
Roosevelt viewed Chiang Kai-shek and the
Nationalists as a force that one day could
bring democracy to China.
U.S. leaders realized that a Japanese victory
in China could threaten U.S. possessions in
the Pacific.
U.S. Prepares for War
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The Two-Ocean Naval Act of 1938 greatly
increased naval construction.
In 1938 Japan proclaimed its plan for a
“New Order” for East Asia, claiming that the
Open Door Policy no longer applied in
China.
The Pacific Fleet was moved from
California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
U.S. Prepares for War
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In 1939 the U.S. terminated the JapaneseAmerican commercial treaty of 1911, thereby
opening the way for economic sanctions
against Japan.
After Poland’s defeat Congress passed the
“Cash and Carry Act.”
FDR was elected for his third term in 1940.
U.S. Prepares for War
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After the election, Congress appropriated
over $10 billion for military defense and
passed the first peacetime military
conscription law in U.S. history.
“If we want to keep out this war, the
longer we keep the Allies going, that much
longer we stay out of this war.”
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In September 1940 Britain granted the U.S.
long-term leases to 6 Western Hemisphere
bases, and gave two others free, in
exchange for 50 U.S. WWI destroyers.
The eight bases strengthened the ability of
the U.S. to defend the Western Hemisphere.
This marked the end of U.S. neutrality.
Lend-Lease Act
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In December 1940 declared in a radio
address that the U.S. must become “the great
arsenal of democracy.”
In March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was
passed which allowed the U.S. to lend or
lease materials to the Allies with payment to
be worked out later.
The U.S. gave the Allies around $50 billion
worth of goods.
U.S. Prepares for War
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In July 1941 the American Navy began to
convoy British shipping loaded with lendlease as far as Iceland.
In September the destroyer the USS Greer
was attacked by a German submarine.
Roosevelt gave the US Navy orders to attack
German submarines.
In October, the Germans attacked the
destroyer Kearney and sank the Reuben
James.
U.S. Prepares for War
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In November Congress authorized the arming
of merchant ships and their entry into the war
zones.
Japan Prepares for War
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By the spring of 1940 the Japanese
concluded that the U.S. would gain naval
hegemony in the Pacific by 1942, and that
Japan must have access to the oil of the
Dutch East Indies in order to cope with U.S.
power.
In 1941 Japan signed a neutrality pact with
the USSR.
In July 1941 Japanese troops moved into
French Indochina.
Japan Prepares for War
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The U.S. responded by banning oil exports to
Japan and freezing all Japanese assets in
American thereby ceasing all trade between
the 2 countries.
The Dutch and the British did the same.
In December the U.S. gave the Nationalist
Chinese a $100 million loan and promises of
military aid in their fight against Japan.
Pearl Harbor
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On December 7, 1941 a Japanese carrier
task force unleashed a destructive aerial
attack against the Pacific Fleet and nearby
naval and military installations.
5 battleships, 3 cruisers, and lesser warships
were sunk or heavily damaged.
The Japanese destroyed 188 aircraft and
killed approximately 3,000 men.
Japanese Internment
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FDR ordered a secret investigation of
Japanese Americans before Pearl Harbor.
The investigation found that the JapaneseAmericans were loyal and that there was no
“Japanese problem.“
This investigation was kept secret and
ignored.
Japanese Internment
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Executive Order 9066 was issued by FDR in
Feb. 1942
112,000 people of Japanese descent
(71,000 were American citizens) on the
West Coast were imprisoned in 10
internment camps.
They lost $350 million worth of property.
US said they were trying to protect the
Japanese from violence and that it was
military necessity.
Korematsu v. US
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In Dec. 1944 the Supreme Court upheld the
evacuation on the ground that the military
leaders are justified in taking extreme
measures against persons on account of race
to protect national security.
Japanese Internment
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No act of treason was ever proven during the
war against a person of Japanese ancestry.
Many Japanese-Americans fought with great
distinction in segregated units in Europe and
as interpreters in the Pacific.
In 1988 Congress apologized an paid each
survivor $20,000.