Early Signs of War in the 1930’s
War between Japan and China
World wide depression caused by many
factors
European economic problems weakened
the popularity of democratic governments
in Europe
Hoover and Roosevelt ignore these
developments at first-Why?
Young Plan (1930)
 For three generations, you’ll have to slave away!
 $26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 58½ years.
 By 1931, Hoover declared a debt moratorium.
Japanese Attack Manchuria
(1931)
 League of Nations condemned the action.
 Japan leaves the League.
 Hoover wanted no part in an American military action in the
Far East. Why not?
Stimson Doctrine
(1932)
 US would not recognize any territorial acquisitions
that were achieved by force.
 Why would this infuriate the Japanese?
 Japan bombed
Shanghai in 1932
 massive casualties.
FDR’s “Good Neighbor”
Policy
 Important to have all
nations in the Western
Hemisphere united in lieu
of foreign aggressions.
 FDR  The good neighbor
respects himself and the
rights of others.
 Policy of non-intervention
and cooperation.
American Isolationism
What were the Nye
Committee hearings?
What were their
results?
What were the 1935,
1936 and 1937
Neutrality Acts?
Senator Gerald P. Nye [R-ND]
The 1930’s: A Volatile World
FDR Recognizes the Soviet Union
(late 1933)
 FDR felt that
recognizing
Moscow might
bolster the US
against Japan.
 Maybe trade with
the USSR would
help the US
economy during
the Depression.
The Early Aggression of Adolf Hitler
Violation of the
Treaty of Versailles—
Rearmament
Reoccupy and
remilitarize the
Rhineland (1936)
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
The American “Lincoln Brigade”
US Neutrality
Intensified American Isolationism (cont.)
FDR’s “Quarantine Speech” (10/37)
After Japan’s invasion of China
Proposed that democracies should act together to
“quarantine any aggressor”
Ludlow amendment proposed (1938)
Panay Incident (1937)
 December 12, 1937.
 Japan bombed USS
Panay gunboat & three
Standard Oil tankers on
the Yangtze River.
 Japan was testing US resolve!
 Japan apologized, paid US an
indemnity, and promised no further attacks.
 Most Americans were satisfied with the apology.
 Results  Japanese interpreted US tone as a license for
further aggression against US interests.
Fascist Aggression
 1935: Hitler denounced the Versailles Treaty &
the League of Nations [re-arming!]
Mussolini attacks Ethiopia.
 1936: German troops sent into the Rhineland.
Fascist forces sent to fight with Franco in Spain.
 1938: Austrian Anschluss.
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Pact [AXIS]
Munich Agreement  APPEASEMENT!
 1939: German troops march into the rest of
Czechoslovakia.
Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact.
 September 1, 1939: German troops march into
Poland  blitzkrieg  WW II
begins!!!
World War II Begins…
FDR’s response: “Cash and Carry”
 9/21/1939
 FDR persuades Congress to allow the US to aid
European democracies in a limited way:
 The US could sell weapons to the European
democracies on a “cash-and-carry” basis.
 FDR was authorized to proclaim danger zones which
US ships and citizens could not enter.

Results:
 Aggressors could not send ships to buy US munitions.
 The US economy improved as European demands for
war goods helped bring the country out of the
1937-38 recession.
 America becomes the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
U.S. Reaction to the start of WW II
Isolationism at its peak in the
late 1930’s
Neutrality in action but not
thought
CDAAA organized (1940)
Paris falls in June 1940
U.S. Reaction to WW II (cont.)
“America First”
movement (1940)
“Destroyers for bases”
deal (Sept., 1940)
The Lend-Lease Act
(March, 1941)
Lend-Lease Aid to the
Soviets (June, 1941)
U.S. Reaction to Hitler’s Aggression
 American “neutrality
patrols”
 The Atlantic Charter
(Aug. 1941)
 Undeclared naval war with
the Germans in the Atlantic
ocean
USS Greer (Sept. 1941)
USS Reuben James
(Oct. 1941)
Japanese Aggression in the Far East
• Make a list of the sources
of tension between the
US and Japan from the
1880’s to 1940?
After Japan
extended their
control in China,
the US placed
restrictions on
many imports,
including oil
Japan began to
look around
southeast Asia
for resources
The Road to Pearl Harbor
Japan wanted to create the “Greater-East Asia
Co-Prosperity Sphere.” That was code for a
Japanese Empire.
America contested that and hoped the
Japanese would curtail their Pacific Expansion.
Japan saw the Pacific Ocean as an “American
Lake” and the American Navy as a threat to
their ambitions.
 Invades Northern
Indochina (Summer
of 1940)
 Tripartite Pact (Sept.,
1940)
 Invades southern
Indochina (July, 1941)
 The Japanese knew
that this would
threaten US interests
in the Pacific
•Japanese militarists including Prime Minister General
Hideki Tojo wanted war with America and figured we
had no stomach for a protracted Asian war
The task of dealing with the Americans fell to
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
Yamamoto studied here in the United States
(Naval War College and Harvard) and knew us
well. Unlike other Japanese military, he
respected us.
Yamamoto planned the attack on Pearl
Harbor. The idea was to crush the American
Navy and then, hopefully, negotiate a settlement
in place of a long, bloody war.—”Limited
Goals”
Yamamoto promised 6 months of success
before American industrial might turned the
tables
Yamamoto also knew that NOTHING
would make the Americans angrier.
After the raid at Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto
said:
“I am afraid all we have done is awaken
a sleeping giant and filled him with a
terrible resolve.”
The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
A “Surprise” Attack
The significance of the
aircraft carrier
“Day of Infamy”
“Tora, Tora, Tora!”
The problem created by
the attack for the
Japanese
Conspiracy theory?