Ch 16 sec 4 notes American Moves Toward War p.550
Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, and then Poland, and the bombing of Britain
made the US begin to reconsider their isolation policies. They began to think about
how, when and why they might enter the conflict in Europe.
September 1939 – after the Blitzkrieg, FDR persuaded Congress to pass a “cash and
carry” provision that allowed warring nations to buy weapons made here as long as
they paid cash and transported them away in their own ships – the Neutrality Act of
1939 made this change to the law.
Even though people protested the change, it looked as if the cash and carry policy
might be too little too late. In summer 1940 France fell and Britain was under direct
attack. FDR wanted to provide “all aid short of war” – he sent 500,000 rifles, 80,000
machine guns and 50 old destroyers traded in exchange for leases on British
military bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland.
September 27 1940 – The Tripartite Pact, a mutual defense pact was signed by
Germany, Italy and Japan in an effort to keep the US out of the war. These powers
became known as the Axis Powers. This pact guaranteed that any act by the US to
join in the war in Europe would result in an attack from Japan as well. A two ocean
war was the last thing the US wanted, and hopefully this would keep them at bay.
Back in the US Congress was boosting defense spending. The first peacetime military
draft created a million man army to serve in the Western hemisphere strictly for
defense. Men would serve for a year, and only on this side of the oceans. FDR drew
the first numbers for this draft himself, and told the radio audience “This is a most
solemn ceremony.”
FDR breaks with tradition and runs for a third term as president in 1940. He wins,
re-elected with 55% of votes cast.
It became more and more obvious that US involvement in this war was inevitable.
FDR told Americans that we must become the “Great Arsenal of Democracy” because
if Britain fell to Germany and the Axis powers that we would “be living at the point
of a gun.” FDR took steps to support the British in their fight.
Lend-Lease Plan – By 1940 Britain is broke. In order to keep supplying them with
arms and supplies, FDR created a policy that said he could lend or lease arms to
“any country whose defense was vital to the United States.” FDR said the plan was
the equivalent of lending your garden hose to your neighbor when their house was
on fire to keep the fire from spreading to your house. Congress passes the LendLease Act in March 1941.
June 1941 Hitler violates his non-aggression pact with Stalin and invades the Soviet
Union – FDR sends lend/lease supplies to the USSR – agreeing with Churchill who
said if Hitler invaded Hell we should work with the devil himself.
Transporting the lend/lease goods across the Atlantic was problematic, German
wolfpacks of unterseeboots or submarines in groups of up to 40 patrolled the
Atlantic to intercept and sink these shipments. Despite the convoys the Germans
sank 350,000 tons of supplies in a single month. FDR gave the US Navy escorts
permission to attack these U-Boats in self-defense. By 1943 radar and arial
surveillance reduced the effectiveness of wolfpack attacks.
August 1941 – FDR convinces Congress to extend the term of draftees, and began
planning for the war that he felt was sure to come.
FDR and Churchill met and signed the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration of war
aims. It pledged collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic
cooperation and freedom of the seas. Roosevelt felt he couldn’t yet ask for a
declaration of war – he would, however, wage war and do all he could to “force an
incident”.
(The Atlantic Charter later became the basis of a new document called “A
Declaration of the United Nations” signed by 26 nations, that expressed the common
purpose of the Allies, who had fought the Axis powers. 4/5s of the human race
signed onto this document, as Churchill observed.)
By September 1941 – a German U-Boat fired on a US destroyer. FDR told the Navy to
shoot German subs on sight. Two weeks later a US merchant ship Pink Star was sunk
off Greenland. By mid-October torpedoed the US destroyer Kearny and killed 11,
then the sinking of the destroyer Reuben James, killed 100 sailors. FDR declared that
America had been attacked, and that history would remember who fired the first
shots. The Senate finally allowed merchant ships to be armed. The declaration of
war seemed to be coming soon.
Japan Attacks the US
While Hitler was keeping the British and the US busy Japan took the opportunity to
expand its territories in the Pacific. Unprotected European colonies were easy
pickins’ and soon East Asia was united under Japanese rule. The only thing standing
in the way of Japan’s ambitions were the islands held by the US in the Pacific.
The US response to Japanese aggression in the Pacific was to cut off trade with
Japan, an embargo that included oil that was desperately needed to fuel the
Japanese war machine. Japanese officials needed to persuade the US to lift the
embargo or they would seize the Dutch East Indies to have control of the oil fields
there. This would mean war.
Hideki Tojo, despite a promise to Emperor Hirohito to try and preserve peace with
the US, ordered the Japanese Navy to prepare for an attack on the US. The US had
broken the Japanese codes, and knew that this attack was being planned. Late in
November FDR sent warnings to all the US bases in the Pacific about this pending
attack, but emphasized that Japan would need to strike the first blow. In the
meantime the Japanese ambassador and the US diplomats continued to go though
the motions of a peace treaty. Then on December 6 a message was intercepted that
instructed the Japanese ambassadors to reject all peace proposals from the
Americans. FDR knew that the attack must be imminent.
December 7, 1941 – the attack on Pearl Harbor
Early the next morning Japanese war planes attacked Pearl Harbor naval base on the
island of Oahu in Hawaii. The attack lasted for an hour and a half. 2403 Americans
were killed, and 1178 were wounded. 21 ships were sunk or damaged, including 8
battleships. More than 300 aircraft were severely damaged or destroyed. This was a
terrific blow to the US Pacific naval fleet, more damage in two hours than the whole
of WWI. Fortunately three aircraft carriers were at sea, and missed the attack. They
would become the basis for the fleet that would be needed for the war ahead.
In his speech to Congress on December 8th FDR said that the Pearl Harbor attack on
December 7 1941 was a “day that will live in infamy, an unprovoked and dastardly
attack” – Congress agreed and quickly declared war against Japan, three days later
Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. FDR knew it would take time
to rebuild the navy and the air force, and that it would mean that the US would face
a long fight and may have to face many defeats before it was ready to fight at full
force.
After the Pearl Harbor attacks the isolationists in the US lost support. It was clear
that the US could not avoid this conflict, and would soon be fully involved.