Essential Question :

1. Essential Question: • What factors led the United States to shift from isolation in the 1920s & 1930s to an active war participant by 1941? • Warm-Up Question: • What caused World War 2? • How do these factors compare to the reasons for the outbreak of World War 1?

2. American Isolationism & Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s

3. Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s • After WWI, the U.S. assumed a selective isolationist foreign policy • Americans wanted to maintain the economic boom of the 1920s & desperate for an answer to the depression in the 1930s • But, the U.S. did play an active role in attempts at international disarmament& economic stability

4. Foreign Policy: Economic Policy In 1924, Hoover negotiated a reduction in German debt, an extended time period to repay debts, & U.S. loans to help Germany make payments to France & England The U.S. Foreign Debt Commission canceled a large portion of these debts, but insisted that some of the money be repaid • In the 1920s, the most divisive international issue was war debts: • Europeannations owed the U.S. $10 billion; Attempts to reclaim these debts led to anti-American sentiment in Europe • When Germany could not repay $33 billion in reparations, the U.S. negotiated the Dawes Plan The Dawes Plan helped stabilize the German economy, allowed Germany to repay the Allies, and helped France & England repay their debts to the United States

5. Foreign Policy: Economic Policy • But the Great Depression made post-war recovery in Europe difficult in the 1930s: • The Hawley-Smoot Tariff in 1930 limited European attempts to sell their goods in the U.S. • The U.S. was unable to provide loans, leaving Germany unable to repay reparations & Europe unable to repay its war debts

6. Foreign Policy: International Peace The USA, England, Japan, Italy, & France signed the Five-Power Treaty & agreed to limit construction of battleships & aircraft carriers But, neither the Nine- or Four-Power Acts had provisions to enforce these agreements The Nine-Power Treaty reaffirmed the Chinese Open-Door Policy England, USA, Japan, France signed the Four-Power Treaty agreeing to collective security • The USA never joined the League of Nations, but did play a role in attempts to avoid future wars: • At the Washington Disarmament Conference in 1921, world leaders agreed to disarmament, free trade, & collective security • In 1928, almost every nation, including the USA, signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as a tool of foreign policy

7. Foreign Policy: International Peace • These agreements did not last: • Japan needed raw materials to continue its industrial expansion • Japan began to create an Asian empire by attacking Manchuria in 1931 & China in 1937 • In both occasions, the League of Nations reprimanded Japan but chose no punitive measures

8. Totalitarian Regimes: Hideki Tojo & Emperor Hirohito

9. In 1937, Japanese pilots bombed the USSPanay, a U.S. gunboat stationed in China, killing 3 Americans. The U.S. accepted Japan's apology & promise against future attacks Japan Invades Manchuria Unlike the USS Maine or Lusitania, few Americans called for war against Japan

10. Totalitarian Regimes: Benito Mussolini

11. Totalitarian Regimes: Hitler

13. The Munich Pact “Peace in our time”

14. Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

15. Foreign Policy: International Peace • In the 1930s, FDR & Congress were preoccupied with the Great Depression to adequately plan for new world conflicts involving totalitarian dictators • The rising threat of war in Europe & Asia strengthened Americans’ desire to avoid involvement in another world war

16. Foreign Policy: Citizen Attitudes • In the 1920s & 1930s, most Americans wanted to avoid another “meaningless war” • Munitions makers & bankers were labeled “merchants of death” & were blamed for American involvement in WWI • Passivism swept across college campuses; Students staged “walk-outs” & anti-war rallies Historian Walter Millis’ America’s Road to War blamed Wilson & British propaganda for “duping” the U.S. into WWI

17. The “Lost Generation” All Quiet on the Western Front portrayed WWI as brutal

18. The Neutrality Acts The Neutrality Act of 1935 banned arms sales to nations at war & warned citizens not to sail on belligerent ships • The “merchants of death” charges were led by North Dakota Senator Gerald Nye from 1934 to 1936: • Reaction to the Nye Committee report led to popular support to avoid making the same mistakes that led America to enter WW1 • Congress passed 3 neutrality acts to avoid future wars The Neutrality Act of 1936 banned loans to any warring nation The Neutrality Act of 1937 made the 1935 & 1936 acts permanent & required all trade to be on a cash & carry basis

19. Essential Question: • How did the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor alter the course of World War 2? • Reading Quiz Ch 25A (888-904)

20. The Road Towards American Intervention

21. From Neutrality to Undeclared War But…FDR was able to get $1 billion from Congress to expand the U.S. navy • As Europe headed toward war, FDR openly expressed his favor for intervention & took steps to ready the U.S. for war • In 1937, FDR unsuccessfully tried to convince world leaders to “quarantine the aggressors” • Everything changed in 1939 with the Nazi-Soviet Pact & the German invasion of Poland

23. From Neutrality to Undeclared War “The destroyer-for-bases deal is the most important action in the reinforcement of our national defense that has been taken since the Louisiana Purchase” —FDR Still attempting to avoid more “merchants of death” in the banking industry • When WW2 began in 1939, Congress imposed a cash & carry policy to aid the Allies: • The U.S. would trade with the Allies but would not offer loans • The U.S. would not deliver American products to Europe • In addition, FDR traded 50 old destroyers with England for 8 naval bases in Western Europe FDR responded with all-out aid to the Allies but did not call for war Based upon the Neutrality Acts of 1935-1937 Still attempting to avoid losing American lives at sea by German submarines

24. Isolationists Were appalled by this departure from neutrality & FDR’s involvement of the U.S. in foreign war Their “fortress of America” idea argued that Germany was not a threat to the U.S. Interventionists Groups like the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies called for unlimited aid to England They argued that the events in Europe did impact the security of U.S. From Neutrality to Undeclared War “The future of western civilization is being decided upon the battlefield of Europe” —CDAAA chair, William Allen White St. Louis Dispatch headline: “Dictator Roosevelt Commits Act of War”

25. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • By 1940, “interventionists” had the majority of American public sentiment on their side: • in 1940, Congress appropriated $10 billion for preparedness • FDR called for America’s first ever peacetime draft • In the election of 1940, FDR was overwhelmingly elected for an unprecedented 3rd term

26. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • By 1940, England remained the only active opposition to Hitler but was running out of money • FDR called for a Lend-Lease Act: • U.S. can sell or lend war supplies to Allied nations • Congress put $7 billion to allow EnglandfullaccesstoU.S.arms U.S. Cash and Carry Program X

27. Lend-Lease Supply Routes

28. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • England desperately needed help escorting U.S.-made supplies throughtheu-boatinfestedAtlantic • FDR allowed for U.S. patrols in the western half of the Atlantic • German attacks on U.S. ships in 1941 led to an undeclared naval war between USA & Germany U.S. Cash and Carry Program X X

29. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • In 1941, FDR & Churchill met to secretly draft the Atlantic Charter: • The U.S. & Britain discussed a military strategy if the USA were to enter the war • They discussed post-war goals of free trade & disarmament • In 1941, Germany broke the Nazi-SovietPact&invadedRussia

30. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • FDR brought U.S. to the brink of war & opened himself to criticism: • In Sept 1941, polls showed 80% of Americans supported remaining neutral in WW2 • FDR had to wait for the Axis to make a decisive move…which Japan delivered on Dec 7, 1941

31. Pearl Harbor

32. Showdown in the Pacific The U.S. now faced a possible 2-ocean war… • Japan took full advantage of the European war to expand in Asia: • Attacked coastal China • Seized French & Dutch colonies in East Indies & Indochina • Signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany & Italy in 1940 • FDR retaliated against Japan with fuel, iron, & oil sanctions …but Germany was still seen as the primary danger

33. The Greater East Asia-Prosperity Company Rich in Tin, Oil, Rubber

34. Showdown in the Pacific • In 1941, the U.S. & Japan were unable to diplomatically resolve their differences, so the USA: • FrozeallJapaneseassetsinUSA • Banned all oil sales to Japan • Hideki Tojo sent an envoy to negotiate for a resolution…but secretly ordered an attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor This was really a stall tactic intended to hide Japanese military preparations for an attack on Pearl Harbor U.S. wanted the Japanese removed from China Japan wanted an end to sanctions & a free hand to China

35. On Dec 7, 1941, the U.S. naval fleet in the Pacific was crippled by the attack; 8 battleships were sunk & 2,400 Americans were killed

36. Showdown in the Pacific • After Pearl Harbor: • Congress declared war against Japan on Dec 8, 1941 • Italy & Germany declared war on the U.S. on Dec 11, 1941 • American public opinion was now fully behind the war effort to defeat the fascist threat in Europe & to seek revenge against Japan