AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM 
AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR
Pre-WWII Isolationism & after WWII began,
the U.S. attempted to continue its prewar
policy of neutrality…UNTIL PEARL HARBOR
AMERICA TURNS TO NEUTRALITY
• Sacrifices for democracy made by US during WWI
seemed pointless with rise of dictatorships 
isolationism
• Growing isolationism in early 1930s
– 1. Nye Committee: documented huge profits
that arms factories had made during WWI
– 2. European refusal to repay their loans/war
debts
• the Neutrality Act of 1935 = made it illegal for
Americans to sell arms to any country at war
• the Neutrality Act of 1937 = continued the ban of
selling arms to countries at war and required
warring countries to buy nonmilitary supplies from
the United States on a “cash and carry” basis.
– Pick up with own ships & pay cash – no loans &
no attacks on American ships
ROOSEVELT & INTERNATIONALISM
• President FDR supported internationalism.
• Internationalists believe that trade between
nations creates prosperity & helps to prevent
war.
• After Japan launched a full-scale attack on
China (1937), FDR authorized the sale of
weapons to China, saying that the Neutrality
Act of 1937 did not apply, since neither China
nor Japan had actually declared war.
– Roosevelt warned that the nation should
not stand by and let an “epidemic of
lawlessness” infect the world. “There is
no escape through mere isolation or
neutrality.”
FDR SUPPORTS ENGLAND
• FDR + CHURCHILL = BROS
• NEUTRALITY ACT OF 1939 = allowed warring countries to buy
weapons from the U.S. as long as they paid cash & carried the arms
away on their own ships.
• DESTROYERS-FOR-BASES DEAL: President Roosevelt used a loophole
in the Neutrality Act of 1939 and sent 50 old American destroyers
to Britain in exchange for the right to build American bases on
British-controlled Newfoundland, Bermuda, and Caribbean islands.
EDGING TOWARD WAR
• FOUR FREEDOMS: U.S. & GB both stand for freedom of speech, freedom of
worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear.
• THE LEND-LEASE ACT = the U.S. could lend or lease arms to any country considered
“vital to the defense of the United States.”
• THE HEMISPHERIC DEFENSE ZONE: declared the entire western half of the Atlantic
as part of the Western Hemisphere and therefore neutral. This allowed Roosevelt
to order the U.S. Navy to patrol the western Atlantic Ocean and reveal the location
of German submarines to the British.
• THE ATLANTIC CHARTER: Agreed to in Aug. 1941 by President Roosevelt & Prime
Minister Winston Churchill. This agreement committed the two leaders to a
postwar world of democracy, nonaggression, free trade, economic advancement,
and freedom of the seas.
THE ISOLATIONIST DEBATE
• After the German invasion of France and the rescue of
Allied forces at Dunkirk, American public opinion
changed to favor limited aid to the Allies.
• The America First Committee opposed any American
intervention or aid to the Allies.
• FDR ran for an unprecedented 3rd term as president in
the election of 1940 & won by a large margin
• Both FDR & the Republican candidate, Wendell
Willkie, said they would keep the U.S. neutral but
assist the Allied forces.
GERMAN AGGRESSION
• (1941) In violation of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Hitler began a
massive invasion of the Soviet Union.
• GERMANY IS ATTACKING US VIA SUBMARINE WARFARE
(AGAIN)
• After a German U-boat fired on the American destroyer Greer,
Roosevelt ordered Am. ships to follow a “shoot-on-sight” policy
toward Ger. submarines.
• Germans torpedoed & sank the American destroyer Reuben James
in the North Atlantic.
JAPAN V. THE UNITED STATES
• AMERICA EMBARGOS JAPAN: July 1940, Congress passed
the Export Control Act, giving Roosevelt the power to
restrict the sale of strategic materials–materials
important for fighting a war–to other countries.
– Roosevelt immediately blocked the sale of airplane
fuel & scrap iron to Japan.
• Japanese aircraft threaten British Empire. FDR responded
to the threat by freezing all Japanese assets in the U.S. &
reducing the amount of oil shipped to Japan.
– He also sent General MacArthur to the Philippines to
build up American defenses there.
JAPAN ATTACKS PEARL HARBOR
 U.S. ENTERS WWII
• Japanese decided to attack resource-rich British & Dutch
colonies in Southeast Asia, seize the Philippines, & attack
Pearl Harbor
• “Date which will live in infamy”: Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941, sinking/damaging 21 ships
of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, killing 2,403 Americans, &
injuring hundreds more. (*KNOW THIS DATE OR YOU’RE
UN-AMERICAN!)
• The next day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to
declare war on Japan  Dec. 11, 1941, Japan’s allies–
Germany & Italy–declared war on the U.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt13c3olXkU
• “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will
live in infamy—the United States of America was
suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval
and air forces of Japan…I believe I interpret the
will of the Congress and of the people when I
assert that we will not only defend ourselves to
the uttermost, but we will make very certain that
this form of treachery shall never endanger us
again…No matter how long it may take us…the
American people in their righteous might will win
through to absolute victory.” - FDR
America’s Response to Hostilities in Europe - Part I
Isolationism- The belief that the US should avoid international conflict and
commitments that might drag the nation into another war.
America was isolationist because:
1.Potential mass number of war casualties.
2.Financial costs of a world war.
3.Distance between Europe and America.
4.The Nye Committee was a government investigation that found that arms factories
had made huge profits during the war and had, as a result, manipulated (pamphlets,
propaganda, lobbying) the US into war.
– Fearing the rise of aggression in Italy and Germany Congress passed Neutrality
Act of 1935. It made it illegal for the US to sell arms to any country at war. The
Neutrality Act of 1937 added that warring countries had to buy nonmilitary
supplies. One stipulation of this act was the “cash and carry” policy, meaning
that countries buying supplies had to pay cash (to avoid debt dependency) and
they had to transport the goods themselves. This was to prevent another
Lusitania or Sussex sinking, like had been done in WWI.
America’s Response to Hostilities in Europe – Part II
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In July of 1937 Japan launched a full attack of China. FDR, an internationalist, or one who did
want to get involved in world affairs, claimed that since neither side had declared war, that the
US could sell China weapons. FDR sold the Chinese weapons and angered the Japanese; one of
the precursors of the Pearl Harbor attack.
FDR, realizing that only Great Britain stood in the way of Hitler having complete control of
Europe, and also having established a close relationship with Winston Churchill, wanted to get
involved in the war effort. The Neutrality Laws still stood in his way.
The Neutrality Act of 1939 – the US can sell arms to warring nations, but only on cash and
carry basis.
But there was opposition to American involvement.
The America First Committee was a powerful isolationist group that firmly opposed any
American intervention or aid to the Allied powers.
Finally, after FDR was re-elected, he passed a new bill called the Lend-Lease Act, which
allowed the US to provide arms to “any country vital to the defense of the US.” This basically
meant the US could send weapons to Britain, China, and the USSR, as long as they promised to
return or pay rent for them after the war.
FDR argued that the US, if not fully involved in the war, should at least be “the great arsenal of
democracy” for the rest of the world.
Why Japan attacked?
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Great Britain had many territories and bases in the Pacific, an area vulnerable to
Japanese attacks.
FDR then sought to discourage (and weaken) the Japanese from attacking British
territories and bases by putting economic pressures on Japan.
To the US’s advantage, Japan depended on the US for 80% of key war materials such
as steel, iron, fuel, and especially oil.
In July of 1940 Congress passed the Export Control Act, giving the President the
ability to restrict the export and sale of strategic materials. He immediately blocked
the sale of fuel and scrap iron to Japan. (80% of Japans oil came from the US). This
infuriated the Japanese who signed an alliance with Germany and Italy.
In 1941 FDR began sending lend-lease arms to China, this was supposed to aid the
Chinese in defeating or at least holding Japan. This also angered the Japanese.
Early Sunday morning on December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a massive attack
on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor. 21 ships were damaged or destroyed, 188
airplanes were destroyed, and 2403 Americans were killed.
By the next morning Congress had declared war on Japan.
On December 11th Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.