U.S. and the Shadow of War

Militarist Take Control of Japan

Economics in Japan collapsed because Japan had to import the majority of their resources

Japanese military officers blamed the problems on corrupt politicians

Believed that democracy was un-Japanese and bad for the country

Japan Invades Manchuria

Japanese officers invade resource rich Manchuria without government permission

When the Japanese Prime Minister tried to negotiate a peace, he was assassinated.

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Japan viewed themselves as the future of Asia

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.

Hoover-Stimpson Doctrine(1932)

• US would not recognize any territorial acquisitions that were achieved by force.

• Japan was infuriated because the US hadconquered new territories a few decades earlier.

• Japan bombed Shanghai in 1932 massive casualties.

Neutrality Acts: 1935, 1936, 1937

When the President proclaimed the existence of a foreign war, certain restrictions would automatically go into effect:

Prohibited sales of arms to belligerent nations.

Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations.

Forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations at war [in contrast to WW I].

Non-military goods must be purchased on a “cash-and-carry” basis pay when goods are picked up.

Banned involvement in the Spanish Civil War.

This limited the options of the President in a crisis.

America in the 1930s declined to build up its forces!

US Neutrality

Rome – Berlin – Tokyo Axis

1936 - Hitler and Mussolini signed a treaty pledging cooperation on international issues

1936 – Japan aligned itself with Germany and Italy with the Anti-Comintern Pact

Became known as the Axis Powers

Japan Moves

1937 – the Japanese attack China from ManchuriaThe Japanese armed forces were surprised by the level of Chinese resistance that preceded the fall of Shanghai and took out their frustration on the civilians and soldiers who surrendered the city of Nanking in December of 1937. Realistic estimates indicate that 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were killed and that Japanese soldiers raped tens of thousands of the city’s women.

Panay Incident (1937)5 December 12, 1937.

5 Japan bombed USS Panay gunboat & threeStandard Oil tankers onthe Yangtze River.

5 The river was an international waterway.

5 Japan was testing US resolve!

5 Japan apologized, paid US an indemnity, and promised no further attacks.

5 Most Americans were satisfied with the apology.

5 Results Japanese interpreted US tone as a license for further aggression against US interests.

1939 Neutrality ActIn response to Germany’s invasion of Poland.

FDR persuades Congress in special session 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 of the 1939 Neutrality Act: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.”

Anglo-U.S. Friendship

British forces had been driven from the continent. Worse yet, they had been forced to leave their weapons and tanks behind. Britain turned to the United States for help. President Roosevelt responded to the Dunkirk disaster by ordering U.S. military arsenals to send all available war materiel to Britain to replace the lost equipment.

“America First” Committee

Charles Lindbergh

• President Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented third term as president in the election of 1940.

• B

Republican candidate, Wendell Willkie, said they would keep the United States neutral but assist the Allied forces.

The Isolationist Debate

Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

(pages 602–603)(pages 602–603)

• Roosevelt won by a large margin.

The Isolationist Debate

(pages 602–603)(pages 602–603)

"Suppose my neighbor's home catches fire, and I have a length of garden hose four or five hundred feet away. If he can take my garden hose and connect it up with his hydrant, I may help him to put out his fire...I don't say to him before that operation, "Neighbor, my garden hose cost me $15; you have to pay me $15 for it."... I don't want $15--I want my garden hose back after the fire is over. "

- Franklin Roosevelt (March 1941)

In support of the Lend-Lease Act

“Lend-Lease” Act (1941)

Great Britain.........................$31 billionSoviet Union...........................$11 billionFrance......................................$ 3 billionChina.......................................$1.5 billionOther European.................$500 millionSouth America...................$400 millionThe amount totaled: $48,601,365,000

Pearl Harbor

Japan Attacks the United States

• When Britain began moving its warships from Southeast Asia to the Atlantic, Roosevelt introduced policies to discourage the Japanese from attacking the British Empire.

• In 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 and scrap iron to Japan.

• The Japanese signed an alliance with Germany and Italy.

Japan Attacks the United States

• By July 1941, Japanese aircraft posed a direct threat to the British Empire.

• Roosevelt responded to the threat by freezing all Japanese assets in the United States and reducing the amount of oil shipped to Japan.

.

Japan Attacks the United States (cont.)

• The Japanese decided to attack resource-rich British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, seize the Philippines, and attack Pearl Harbor.

Japan Attacks the United States

• Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, sinking or damaging 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, killing 2,403 Americans, and injuring hundreds more.

Japan Attacks the United States (cont.)

Beginning in 1931, ten years before Japan attacked, every graduate of the Japanese Naval Academy had to answer the following question as part of their final examination:

The question remained on the cadets’ exam every year until the beginning of the war in the Pacific. It is not known if the Japanese high command used any of the answers from the ten-year period while planning the real attack.

Final Exam: Essay Question

“How would you carry out a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor?”

• The next day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

Japan Attacks the United States (cont.)

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan . . . I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense . . . No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

  December 8, 1941

Japan Attacks the United States

• On December 11, 1941, Japan’s allies – Germany and Italy–declared war on the United States.

Japan Attacks the United States

• According to the Axis treaty, Hitler did not have to declare war on the U.S. (only if Japan was attacked)

• Hitler grew frustrated with the U.S. Navy’s attacks on German subs in the Atlantic and the Lend-Lease Act

By November 29th, U.S. knew where and whenU.S. interception of a phone conversation from the Japanese

embassy in D.C.• Embassy Worker: "Tell me, what zero hour is. Otherwise, I won't be

able to carry on diplomacy."• Voice from Tokyo: "Well then, I will tell you. Zero hour is December 8th

at Pearl Harbor" (Tokyo time which is Dec 7th Washington time)

Argument Against a Conspiracy Many historians argue that the Japanese just pulled off a brilliant

surprise with everything going right for them.

With the attack coming from the Northeast, American radar operatives thought it was American B-17s coming in from the mainland with a delivery.

Concern in Hawaii was sabotage Any attack on Hawaii by the

Japanese was thought to be coming from acts of sabotage operatives.

At Pearl Harbor the ships were lined up on “Battleship Row” with smaller ships in front to protect from these attacks.

At their airfield the planes were lined up wingtip to wingtip outside to protect against attacks of sabotage.

Both of these make them easy targets for the Japanese.

M/C 3-1Remembering Pearl Harbor

M/C 3-1Remembering Pearl Harbor

M/C 3-1Remembering Pearl Harbor