24.4 America Moves toward War
I the United States Musters Its Forces

A.
B.
C.
D.
As Germans enter Poland, Roosevelt issues an official proclamation of Neutrality as required by
the Neutrality Acts
o While doing so he begins to prepare for the war he knew would eventually come
Moving Cautiously Away From Neutrality
 FRD calls special session of Congress to revise Neutrality Acts
 FDR asks for a “cash and Carry” provision that would allow nations to buy American
arms as long as they paid cash and carried the goods home on their own ships
o Argued this will help France and GB beat Hitler while keeping US out of the war
 Cash and carry was voted into effect
The Axis Threat
 It seemed as America’s cash and carry policy was too little too late
o France fell and GB under siege
 Japan, Germany, and Italy sign the Tripartite Pact
o Tripartite pact= pledge that is one nation came under attack the other would
help 3 nations becoming known as the Axis powers
 Aimed to keep US out of war because if US declares war on one they declare war on all 3
o America began to ship thousands of battle ships and ammunition to allied
powers
Building Americas Defenses
 After years of isolationism the country was militarily weakFDR asking congress to
increase in national defense budget
 Passed the nation’s first peacetime military draft
o Selective Training and Service Act
Roosevelt’s Re-election
 Roosevelt decides to break the 2 term tradition set by GW and run for re-election
 FDR and his opponent both agreed to send aid to Britain but stay out of the war
 FDR wins
II “The Great Arsenal of Democracy”

FDR’s fireside chat argues that US must help defeat the Axis threat because if Britain falls it
would be left living “at the point of a gun”
o The US, he says, must turn itself the “great arsenal of democracy”
A. The Lend-Lease Plan
 Britain runs out of $$ to spend in the arsenal of Democracy (US) so FRD proposes a plan
he calls “lend-lease” to replace “cash & carry”
o Lend-lease= the pres. Would lend or lease arms and other supplies to any
country whose defense was vital to the USLend-Lease Act
 Hitler ignores his pact with Stalin and invades the Soviet Union
o Soviets retreat and institute a scorched earth policy in which they burn anything
they leave behind that may be useful to the enemy
 FDR send Lend-Lease help to the Soviets
B. German Wolf Packs
 To prevent lend-lease aid from helping GB and the Soviets, Hitler deployed his U-boats
(German submarines)
o Wolf packs= groups of 15-20 subs that patrolled shipping lanes to destroy cargo
 German U boats were successful as they were sinking more British ships faster than
British could replace them
 Something had to be done or else the US was wasting money FRD orders navy to
protect lend-lease shipments
o Gave US warships permission to attack German U-boats in defense
III Planning for War
 FDR had to fight against the isolationists who put up a strong fight against extending the draft
A. Atlantic Charter
 FDR and Churchill secretly meet on a ship on which Churchill hopes to get a strong mil.
Commitment from the US but gets a declaration from FDR called the Atlantic Charter
o Atlantic Charter= spell out the causes for WWII and pledges that the US and GB
would ….
1. Not seek terr. Expansion
2. Not seek ter. Changes w/o consent of inhabitants
3. Respect right of ppl to choose their own gov’t
4. Promote free trade among nations
5. Encourage inernat’l coop to improve lives
6. Build secure world peace based on freedom from want and fear
7. Work for disarmament of aggressors
8. Establish a permanent system of general security
 Atlantic charter became basis for “A Declaration by the Unites Nations
o Allies= those who joined together to fight against the Axis powers
 UN charter signed by 26 nations including Soviet Union and China
B. The Shooting Begins
 German U Boat fires 2 torpedoes at the US destroyer Greer
o 2 weeks later a merchant ship is sunk & US destroyer Kearny torpedoes
o Roosevelt says “history has recorded who fired the first shot”
 As the death toll mounted, Congress lifted the ban against arming merchant ships
IV Japan Attacks the United States
A. Japan’s Ambitions
 Japanese expansionists had come face to face with many colonial empires and only the
US and its Pacific islands remained in its way
 Take over French military bases in French Indochina (Vietnam/Cambodia)
o US responds to aggression by cutting off trade with japan & instituting an oil
embargo
 w/o oil Japan could not fuel its war machine
o Japan sends “peace” envoy to convince US to lift embargo while simultaneously
Preparing for an attack against the US
 US had broken Japans secret com. Codes and new a strike was imminent but did not
know where
o Although we knew it was coming FDR insisted that Japan needed to strike the
first blow
B. The Attack on Pearl Harbor
 Japanese dive bombers flew low over Pearl Harbor, the US’ largest naval base in the
Pacific
o The attack stunned the pacific fleet who never saw it coming (waters too
shallow for torpedo attacks & too far from mainland Japan)
 Attack on Pearl Harbor was a victory for the Japanese (crippled the US pacific fleet in
one blow)
o Suffered more damage and loss than in all of WWI
 December 7th, 1941 “a date that will live in infamy”->war declaration by Congressend
of isolationist policy