1. The US Enters the War
Chapter 23 Section 3

2. The Main Idea
Isolationist feeling in the United States was strong in the 1930s, but Axis aggression eventually destroyed it and pushed the United States into war.

3. United States Isolationism in the 1930s
Many Americans questioned what the Allies’ costly victory in World War I had actually achieved. Anti-League of Nation feelings soared as people believed that the League might drag the United States into future wars.
Roosevelt was not an isolationist; however, he was focused on solving problems at home by implementing his New Deal programs. Congress did pass isolationist measures such as the Neutrality Act in 1935.
The desire to avoid involvement in foreign wars was known as isolationism. Isolationists were not necessarily pacifists. Most isolationists simply wanted to preserve America’s freedom to choose the time and place for action.

4. Isolationism versus Intervention
Why do you think the Neutrality Act prohibited the export of arms, ammunition, or any other tools of war to any country that was at war?
Isolationism
The Neutrality Act prohibited the sale of arms or making loans to warring countries.
Roosevelt needed the support of isolationists in Congress. They wanted to remain neutral.
The United States did not intervene in the Spanish Civil War or the Japanese invasion of China.
Intervention
When Italy invaded Ethiopia, Roosevelt stopped arms sales to both countries—which hurt only Italy.
Roosevelt did not want to remain neutral—he was worried about the aggressive actions of totalitarian leaders.
Roosevelt began to speak out against neutrality with his Quarantine Speech.
Might lead that country’s enemies to attack the US, draw US into war, aiding nations at war is a form of participation in the war.

5. The United States Prepares for War
Roosevelt asked Congress for money to build new naval vessels.
Congress approved despite isolationist complaints.
Congress changed the neutrality laws to a new policy called cash-and-carry.
Countries at war could buy American goods if they paid cash and picked up their goods at American ports.
Roosevelt urged a policy of “all aid short of war.”
He traded 50 aging warships for eight British military bases. Isolationists opposed the deal, but were too weak to stop it.

6. Preparing for War
What was the Lend-Lease Act?
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met secretly in They agreed to the Atlantic Charter. This document proclaimed the shared goals of the United States and Britain in opposing Hitler and his Allies.
Despite German U-boat attacks on U.S. ships trying to deliver goods under the Lend-Lease Act, isolationists continued to oppose entry into the war.
Roosevelt wanted to make the United States an “arsenal of democracy.” Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the nation to send weapons to Great Britain.
Roosevelt defeated business leader Wendell Willkie for an unprecedented third term as president. He felt world events required experience in the White House.
It was an act of Congress that allowed U.S. to send weapons to Great Britain whether they could pay for them or not.

7. THE ATLANTIC CHARTER
Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly aboard a warship off the coast of Newfoundland.
Churchill had come hoping to get a military commitment from the US.
Instead he got something called the Atlantic Charter.
The two leaders spelled out the causes for which WWII was fought. This was even before the US had entered the war.

8. The Charter Pledged Seek no territorial expansion
Pursue no territorial changes without the consent of the inhabitants
Respect the right of all people to choose their own form of government
Promote free trade among nations
Encourage international cooperation to improve peoples lives
Build a secure peace based on freedom from want and fear
Work fro disarmament of aggressors
Establish a “permanent system of general security”

9. More about the Charter
Later that year the charter became the basis of a new document called “A Declaration by the United Nations.
The declaration was signed by 26 nations, including the Soviet Union and China.
Churchill said that these groups represented 4/5 of the human race.

10. BUILDING AMERICA’S DEFENSES
Roosevelt started to ask congress to spend more money on defense.
The US had been very isolated for years and the military was fairly week.
18 countries had larger armies.
The navy could barely protect the Panama Canal.
Italy had a better Air Force than the US.
In response Congress dramatically increased spending on the military.
It also passed the nations first peacetime selective service act.
16 million men between the ages of were registered.

12. JAPAN’S AMBITIONS
Only the Pacific Islands of Guam and the Philippines that were the United States.
The US did cut off trade with Japan to protest their moving into Indochina.
This was big because Japan relied on fuel from the US and without it they could loose the war.
Japan’s leaders felt that the trade embargo would have to be lifted or they would need the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies.
New Japanese General Hideki Tojo told the emperor that he was going to try and keep the Peace with the US.
Japan had long dreamed of creating a vast colonial empire that would stretch from Manchuria and China south to Thailand and Indonesia.
They started their dream when they invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937.
They wanted to expand even more but would have to go into land held by France, Britain, Netherlands, and the US.
By 1941 they had moved into Indochina and had no resistance because France, Britain and the Netherlands were busy fighting Hitler.

13. JAPAN’S AMBITIONS
Why was Pearl Harbor Targeted by the Japanese?
If peace failed they would have no choice but to go to war.
On the day that the Japanese were flying to Washington to talk peace Tojo started preparing for an attack.
The US had broken the Japanese secret communication codes and knew that Japan was planning an attack but didn’t know when and where.
The peace talks went on for a month and then on Dec. 6, 1941 Japan quit talking and left.
Roosevelt told his friend and advisor Henry Hopkins that this meant war.
It was home to the US Naval Fleet.

14. Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Causes
Conflict between Japan and the United States over French Indochina
Japan’s alliance with Germany and Italy
Japan’s prime minister, Hideki Tojo, was hostile towards the United States.
Effects
Americans reacted to the news of the Pearl Harbor attack with anger and fear.
Californians reported seeing submarines off the Pacific coast.
Some Americans feared that Japanese Americans would assist an invasion of the mainland.
Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
The United States declared war on Japan.

15. The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Do you think the Japanese would have dared attack the US mainland?
Defenses
U.S military planners believed an attack on Pearl Harbor was possible.
Forces at the base were unprepared to defend it.
No single commander was in charge.
Routine defensive steps were not in place.
The Attack
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked.
Aircraft carriers approached the island of Oahu.
War planes loaded with bombs and torpedoes left the carriers and destroyed American ships and planes.
The attack lasted 2 hours.
No, because it was too far from Japan and Japanese couldn’t expect to surprise or succeed.
Yes, because Japanese wanted to inflict as much damage as possible on their enemies.

16. The Aftermath
The attack had all but destroyed most of the Pacific Fleet that was stationed at Pearl Harbor.
All 8 battleships were damaged; 4 were sunk.
Nearly 350 aircraft were destroyed.
Some 2,400 Americans were dead.
1,178 wounded
Japan lost only a handful of submarines and fewer than 30 planes
These losses constituted more damage than the US Navy had suffered in all of WWI.