CHAPTER 34

1. CHAPTER 34 Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of the War

2. Essential Questions • What foreign events led up to WWII? • What actions did Franklin Delano Roosevelt take to try to allow the United States to stay out of the war? • What major events caused the United States to enter the war?

3. Vocabulary • London Conference • Tydings-McDuffie Act • Good Neighbor Policy • Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act • Johnson Debt Default Act of 1934 • Nye Committee • Quarantine Speech • Panay Incident • Munich Conference • Neutrality Acts • Cash and Carry Policy • Havana Conference • Destroyer Deal • Lend-Lease Bill • Pearl Harbor

4. America in the 1930s • Americans tried to turn their backs on the worlds problems • America had its own burdens to bear(depression, etc.) – the cost of foreign involvement seemed too much • War was in the air in Europe • Americans realized that no nation was safe in the era of international anarchy

5. The London Conference • Met summer of 1933 • Goal: to organize a coordinated international attack on the global depression • Roosevelt originally intended on sending a delegate but withdrew because he had second thoughts about the conference’s agenda • He was unwilling to sacrifice the possibility of domestic recovery for the sake of international cooperation • Decision played into the hands of dictators who wanted to shatter world peace

6. Freedom For the Filipinos • American Taxpayers eager to get rid of expensive tropical land in Philippines because of Great Depression. • Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934: provided for the independence of the Philippines after a 12 year period of economic and political support • Not so much giving freedom to Philippines as freeing themselves from Philippines • Worried about own economic status – Philippines = major economic responsibility

7. Recognition for the Russians • Roosevelt formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933 • Motivated partly by the hope for trade with Soviet Russia • Also motivated by the desire to gain an ally in Russia to possible threat of German power in Europe and Japanese power in Asia

8. Good Neighbor Policy • Roosevelt wanted to be a “good neighbor” Latin America • Wanted to show that the US was content being a regional power, not a world power • 1933- FDR renounced armed intervention in Latin America • US also lifted troops from Panama but had to take drastic measures when Mexican forces seized US oil properties • Managed to work out a peaceful deal in 1941 • Good Neighbor policy was a great success

9. Reciprocal Trade Agreements • Secretary of State Hull thought had Congress pass the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Actin 1934 • Activated low-tariff policies while aiming at relief and recovery by boosting American Trade • Lowered rates by as much as half, provided that other countries did the same for them. • Reversed the traditional high-tariff policy that had damaged America before, paved the wayfor the American-led free-trade international economic system that was implemented after World War II.

10. Storm-Cellar Isolationism • After WWI many dictators came into power • Joseph Stalin – Soviet Union • Benito Mussolini – Italy • Adolph Hitler – Germany • Most dangerous – great orator and persuader. Made people think he could lead the country out of poverty and depression • 1936 - Nazi Hitler and Fascist Mussolini allied themselves in the Rome-Berlin Axis.

11. Storm-Cellar Isolationism(Cont.) • Japan slowly began gaining strength, refusing to cooperate with theworld and quickly arming itself by ending the Washington Naval Treatyin 1934 and walking out of the London Conference. • In 1935, Mussolini attacked Ethiopia and conquered it – League of Nations failed to take effective action against the aggressors. • America continued to hide behind isolationism - believed that everything would stay good if the U.S. wasn’t drawn into international embroilments. • 1934 Johnson Debt Default Act forbade any countries that still owed the U.S. money from borrowing any more cash.

12. Congress Legislates Neutrality • 1934 Nye Committee - formed to investigate whether munitions manufacturers were pro-war (existing for the sole purpose ofmaking more money and profits) • Press often accused them of dragging America into the first world war • Neutrality Acts of 1935-1937 • Passed by Congress to prevent America from being sucked into war • Stated that when the president proclaimed the existence of a foreign war, certain restrictions would automatically go into effect • No American could legally sail on a belligerent ship or sell or transport munitions to a belligerent or make loans to a belligerent. • The flaw with these acts - designed to prevent America from being pulled into a war like WWI, but WWII would prove to be different.

13. America Dooms Loyalist Spain • Spanish Civil War (1936-39) • mini-WWII • Fascist government led by Gen. Francisco Franco fought a republican democratic government. • U.S. wanted the republican government to win. • Isolationism - U.S. offered no help. It was their war. • Italy and Germany did help Franco. • Hitler used the Spanish Civil War as a testing ground fortanksand planes. Franco and the fascists won and this helped embolden the dictators, especially Hitler. • America didn't build up her military for defense. U.S. actually let the navy get weaker. • Congress passed a law to build up the navy in 1938, very late in the game and only one year before WWII broke open.

14. Japan • 1937 – Japan invaded China. • FDR did not name the action a war, so the Neutrality Acts were not invoked and both China and Japan could still buy American war-stuffs. • 1937 - FDR gave “Quarantine Speech." • Asked for America to quarantine the aggressors (Italy and Japan) and to morally side against them. • This was a step away from isolationism. When isolationists complained, FDR backed off a bit in his words. • Japan bombed and sank the American gunboat the Panay. Two killed, 30 wounded—possible grounds for war. • Japan apologized, paid an indemnity, and the situation cooled. • Americans in China were jailed and beaten as the Japanese took out anti-American frustrations. • The "Panay Incident" further supported American isolationism.

15. Germany • In Europe, Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles by • making military service mandatory • marching troops into the Rhineland region by France. Britain and France watched, but did nothing. • Hitler's book Mein Kampfabout a German "master race“ convinced Nazi Germany to begin persecuting the Jews. • Persecution started out with restrictions on Jews, then corralling into "ghettos", then relocation into labor camps, then to death camps to carry out the "final solution." • About 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, about 11 million people total.

16. Germany (Cont.) • Hitler took Austria in 1938. • Next he declared he wanted the Sudetenland, a section of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by Germans. • At each step, Hitler said this would be his last. Britain and France were eager to give in to Hitler. • At the Munich Conference (Sept. 1938) British Prime Minister Neville agreed to let Hitler have the Sudetenland. • Chamberlain returned and gave his infamous claim that he’d achieved “peace in our time.” • Hitler broke his promise and took over all of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939.

17. Hitler’s Belligerency and U.S. Neutrality • August 23, 1939 - U.S.S.R. signed a nonaggression treaty with Germany. • In essence, the nonaggression pact opened the door to Poland. • 1939 - Hitler invaded Poland • France and Britain finallydeclared war against Germany but America refused to enter the war, • Americans = anti-Hitler and anti-Nazi and wanted Britain andFrance to win, would not permit themselves to be dragged intofighting and bloodshed. • European powers needed American supplies, but Neutrality Acts forbade the sale of arms to nations in war • Neutrality Act of 1939 - allowed European nations to buy war materials,but only on a “cash-and-carry” basis, which meant Europeanshad to provide their own ships and pay for the arms in cash. • Since British and French controlled the seas, Germans couldn’t buy arms from America

18. The Fall of France • When Poland was fully under German power, there was a pause in the war as Hitler moved troops and supplies to the west for an attack on France. • The only action = when USSR attacked Finland. U.S. gave Finland $30 million for nonmilitary supplies; Finland lost to Russia. • April 1940 - “Phony war" ended when Hitler attacked and conquered Denmark and Norway, then the Netherlands and Belgium. • The Germans used blitzkrieg ("lightning warfare") - hit with planes, tanks and ground troops very fast.

19. The Fall of France(Cont.) • Attack on France came very quickly and surrender came quickly - June of 1940. • Britain was now the only major European country left standing between the U.S. and Nazi Germany. • FDR called for America to build up the military. Congress appropriated $37 billion, a huge number. • A conscription law was passed—America's first peacetime draft. It would train 1.2 million troops yearly and 800,000 reserves. • Havana Conference –U.S. warned Germany not to try to take control of the orphaned countries because it wouldn’t be tolerated

20. Destroyer Deal • Britain = next on Hitler's list. • Began bombing, but British Royal Air Force fought back and halted Germany in the world's first all-air war, -Battle of Britain. • In America, two voices spoke to FDR on whether the U.S. should get involved: • Isolationists -America First Committee. Charles Lindbergh was a member. • Interventionists -Committee to Defend the Allies. • Both sides campaigned positions; FDR chose a middle route at this time. • Destroyer Deal (1940) - America transferred 50 old destroyers from WWI to Britain. In return, the U.S. got eight defensive bases in the Americas, from Newfoundland down to South America. • Showed the U.S. was clearly taking steps from isolation toward intervention.

21. FDR Shatters Two-Term Tradition • 1940 = election year • Wendell L. Willkie = Republican nomination. • Franklin Roosevelt set aside the two-term tradition, and was nominated for a third term. • Willkie's main point of attack was the two-term tradition which was around since George Washington. • FDR's camp came back with, "Better a third term a third-rater" FDR also promised to not send "boys" to "any foreign war" • FDR won again, 449 to 82

22. Lend-Lease Bill • Britain needed money & FDR wanted to help, but didn't want another debt mess. • Solution - loan weapons and ships to the British. They could use them, them return them. • Senator Taft said that lending tanks would be like lending chewing gum—you don't want it back afterward. • Lend-Lease Billpassed - U.S. would become the "arsenal of democracy." By 1945, America had sent about $50 billion worth of arms and material to the Allies. • Lend-Lease marked almost official abandonment of isolation. Germany had avoided American ships until this point. • May 21, 1941 - German sub destroyed an American ship, the Robin Moor.

23. Destroyers and U-boats Clash • Sending war materials to Britain = be risky with German sub fleets prowling around. • FDR decided that a convoy system would be used—merchant ships would be escorted by U.S. warships to Iceland. Then the British would take over the escorting. • Incidents happened, including German attacks on the American destroyer Greer. FDR declared a shoot-on-sight policy. • The American Kearny saw 11 men killed and was damaged. • Destroyer, Reuben James - torpedoed and sunk off of Iceland, killing over 100 Americans. • November of 1941 - Congress ended Neutrality Act of 1939. Merchant ships could arm and enter combat zones.

24. Pearl Harbor • Japan still marching toward vision of an “empire of the rising sun”. Still beating the Chinese. • In protest of Japan's actions in China U.S. put an embargo on Japan. • Main blow =cutting off oil • Japan's solution was to attack. • American code-breakers knew Japanese were up to something but thought that they would attack Malaysia or the Philippines • Did not think that there was a chance on an all-out attack on Hawaii

25. Pearl Harbor (Cont.) • Attack on Pearl Harbor - one of the most surprising in history. • December 7, 1941 - Japanese bombers surprise bombed Pearl Harbor • FDR's "date which will live in infamy" • Several ships sunk or damaged; 3,000 Americans killed or wounded. • Good news: American aircraft carriers out at sea. If they'd been destroyed, American naval situation would've been hopeless. • December 8 – U.S. declared war on Japan • December 11 - Germany and Italy declared war on U.S. and U.S. declared war back

26. Pearl Harbor Video Pearl Harbor Video — History.com

27. America’s Transformation from Bystander to Belligerent • Until Pearl Harbor attack, most Americans still wanted to stay out of war • After attack most Americans were infuriated into wanting to go to war • The U.S. had wanted to stay out of war, but had still supported Britain more and more. They had been against the Japanese aggression but had failed to take a firm stand on either side. This led to the inevitable war. • Finally, people decided that full war was needed to keep the world safe for democracy and against anarchy and dictatorship.

28. Review • What was the London Conference and why was the United States not involved? • What was the Tydings-McDuffie Act? • Who was the Good Neighbor Policy focused toward? • Who had Congress pass the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act? • Why was Hitler the most dangerous of the rising dictators of the 1930s/40s?

29. Review • Why was the Nye Committee formed? • Who did the United States support in WWII? • What did the Lend-Lease Bill say? • Who bombed Pearl Harbor, and how did the United States react?