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Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War. p. 815-820. Congress Passes the Landmark Lend-Lease Law.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War p. 815-820
Congress Passes the Landmark Lend-Lease Law • Britain was running out of money, but Roosevelt didn’t want all the hassles that came with calling back debts, so he came up with the idea of a lend-leaseprogram in which the arms and ships, etc. that the U.S. lent to the nations that needed them would be returned when they were no longer needed. • Senator Taft retorted that in this case the U.S. wouldn’t want them back because it would be like lending chewing gum then taking it back after it’d been chewed!
U. S. 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
The 1941 lend-lease bill was: • A focus of intense debate between internationalists and isolationists. • A direct challenge to the Axis dictators. • The point when all pretense of American neutrality was abandoned. • The catalyst that caused American factories to prepare for all-out war production. • Though it was argued over heatedly in Congress, it passed, and by war’s end, America had sent about $50 billion worth of arms and equipment. • The lend-lease program was basically the abandonment of the neutrality policy, and Hitler recognized this. • Before, German submarines had avoided attacking U.S. ships, but after the passage, they started to fire upon U.S. ships as well, such as the May 21, 1941 torpedoing of the Robin Moor.
Hitler’s Assault on the Soviet Union Spawns the Atlantic Charter • On June 22, 1941, Hitler shockingly attacked Russia, breaking the agreement of the nonaggression pact! • Neither Stalin nor Hitler had ever actually trusted each other, and both had been expecting a double-cross from the beginning of the arrangement. • Hitler assumed his invincible troops would crush the inferior Soviet soldiers, but the valor of the Red army, U.S. aid to the U.S.S.R. (through lend-lease), and an early and bitter winter, stranded the German forces at Moscow and shifted the tide against Germany. Now Hitler was forced to divide his forces and fight a war on 2 fronts. He had made his greatest mistake….
Unexpected Guest, 1941 Stalin joins the democracies,Britain and America.
FDR and new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean to discuss the war. • What became known as the Atlantic Conference was held in August 1941 and the result was the eight-point Atlantic Charter (similar to Wilson’s earlier Fourteen Points). Main points included….. • There would be no territorial changes contrary to the wishes of native peoples. • The charter also affirmed the right for native people to choose their rulers (self-determination). • It declared disarmament and a peace of security, as well as a new League of Nations. • Isolationists charged that FDR was interfering with official neutrality policy, while ignoring the fact that the U.S. was already in an undeclared war since Hitler’s submarines were already blatantly attacking American ships.
U.S. Destroyers and Hitler’s U-Boats Clash • To ensure that arms sent to Britain would reach there, FDR agreed that a U.S. convoy would have to escort them, but only as far as Iceland, and Britain would take over from there. • There were clashes, as U.S. destroyers like the Greer, the Kearny, and the Reuben James were attacked by the German u-boats. • By mid-November 1941, Congress annulled the now useless Neutrality Act of 1939.
Surprise Assault at Pearl Harbor • Japan was still embroiled in war with China, but when America suddenly imposed embargoes on key supplies on Japan in 1940, the imperialistic nation believed it had no choice but to either back off of China or attack the U.S. They chose the latter. • The Americans had broken the Japanese code and knew that they would declare war soon, but the U.S. thought that the Japanese would attack British Malaysia or the Philippines since it was so much closer to Japan. Wrong.
Before After
Instead, the paralyzing blow struck Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941 (“a date which will live in infamy” as FDR famously declared the next day in his declaration of war speech). • Japanese air bombers suddenly attacked the naval base located there (where a vast majority of the Pacific U.S. fleet was located), wiping out many ships and planes and killing or wounding over 3,000 men. • The next day FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan, and on December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy reciprocated by declaring war on the U.S. • The United States had once again found itself in world war…..
America’s Transformation from Bystander to Belligerent • Up until the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, most Americans still wanted to stay out of war, but afterwards the event sparked such passion that it completely infuriated Americans into supporting the war effort. • This had been long in coming, as the U.S. had wanted to stay out of war, but had still supported Britain more and more as the Axis Powers had become continuously aggressive. • Plus, the U.S. had been against the Japanese aggression in Asia all along but had failed to take a firm stand on either side. • Finally, America had realized that appeasement would not work against “iron wolves,” and that only total war against dictatorship and anarchy could make the world safe for democracy.
