America Moves Towards War

Roosevelt Asks Congress for Aid

• Cash and Carry

&

The Axis is Formed

• The Tripartite Pact• The Axis Powers - Germany, Italy, and Japan

Aim of the Tripartite Pact

To keep the US out of the war!

Rebuilding American Defenses

• Selected Service Act– 16 million men between 21-35 required to register– 1 million drafted in first peace-time draft for 1

year.• Nation dramatically increases defense

spending in 1940.

I have seen war, and I hate war.

Roosevelt Runs for Re-Election

• Runs for third term against Wendell Willkie

Election Results, 1940

“Arsenal of Democracy”• Lend-Lease Plan

– Britain had no cash left– “Any country whose defense was vital to the

United States.” – Lend-Lease Act - Passed 1941

• Grew to spend over $50 billion • Arms leased to both Great Britain and the Soviet Union

“Aid short of War”

• 500,000 rifles• 80,000 machine guns• US trades 50 old

destroyers for leases on British military bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland.

A decidedly unneutral act.

German U-Boat Attacks

• Wolf Packs

German U-Boat Attacks

• Germans tried to strangle Britain by cutting off supplies to the island from the Empire.

• German U-Boats destroy shipping faster than the British could build ships.

German U-Boat Attacks

• In response to the unprecedented level of U-Boat attacks, President Roosevelt orders US to guard shipments as far east as Iceland.

• US Ships could fire on U-Boats in self-defense

Germany Invades the Soviet Union

Germany Invades the Soviet Union

• Hitler views the Soviet Union as the great bastion of Communism and Jews – both needed to be exterminated.

• Lebensraum – Living Space

Germany Invades the Soviet Union

Planning for War

• US extends the Draft by 18 mos. By a vote of 203/202

• The Atlantic Charter – a statement of the aims of the war aims of the Allies.

The Atlantic Charter

1. Seek no territorial expansion2. Pursue no territorial changes without the consent of the

inhabitants.3. Respect the right of people to choose their own form of

government4. Promote free trade among nations5. Encourage international cooperation to improve

peoples’ lives.6. Build a secure peace based on freedom and want of fear.7. Work for disarmament of aggressors8. Establish a “permanent system of general security.”

US is attacked

• US Destroyer Greer – none dead

• US Destroyer Kearny – 11 sailors dead

• US Destroyer Rueben James – 100 sailors dead

• Roosevelt orders Navy to “Shoot on sight”

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck you before you crush him. These NAZI submarines are the rattlesnakes of the Atlantic.

Japan Extends its Empire

• Japans vision for empire brought it into conflict with the:– Dutch, British, French, Chinese, and the US.

• China invaded 1931 and 1937• French Indochina invaded (Vietnam,

Cambodia and Laos.)

Japan Extends its Empire

• The US Responded to this aggression by cutting off trade with Japan.

• Japan did not have oil reserves – their expansion required oil, they could not survive without it.

• Either the US ends its embargo, or the Japanese invade the Dutch East Indies to get their own.

Japan Extends its Empire

• Hideki Tojo comes to power as Prime Minister

Japan Extends its Empire

• Emperor Hirohito

Japan Extends its Empire

• Admiral Isuroko Yamamoto

Japan and US engage in Peace Talks

• Tojo promised the Emperor that he would make every effort to make a final attempt to preserve the peace with America.

• November 5, 1941– Tojo sends special peace envoy’s to Washington.– Tojo instructs his Admirals to prepare plans to

attack the US.

“Peace Talks”

• America had decrypted the Japanese army secret codes– We knew the Japanese were planning to attack

us; what we didn’t know was WHERE???– US wanted to have Japan commit “the first

overt act.”

Where will they attack?

“Peace Talks” Break Down

• December 6, 1941– Japan sends a communiqué to its diplomats to end

peace negotiations– President is notified; President predicts war is

around the corner.

December 7, 1941• “A date which will live in infamy…”• Japan attacks on an early Sunday morning at Pearl

Harbor, Hawaii (Pacific Fleet Headquarters) – Nearly the entire US Pacific Fleet was incapacitated or

destroyed; the Japanese lost 29 planes.

• Cost of the attack:– 18 ships sunk or destroyed– 350 planes destroyed or severely damaged– 2,400 dead, 1178 wounded– Largest naval loss since WWI

Isolationist SentimentThe only thing left now to do is to lick the hell out of them.

“I have awoken a sleeping giant.”

Said after the attack on Pearl Harbor.