TOPIC: Causes of World War II Foreign policy in the 1930s The worldwide economic depression of the 1930s took its toll in different ways in Europe, America, and Asia. In Europe, political power shifted to totalitarian and imperialist governments in several countries, including Germany, Italy, and Spain. In Asia, a resource-starved Japan began to expand aggressively, invading China and maneuvering to control a sphere of influence in the Pacific. The United States, on the other hand, chose to withdraw from world affairs and concentrate on its own economic problems. During the Great Depression, Americans were in favor of isolationism, believing that problems at home could only be exacerbated by engagement in international affairs. Thus, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's engagement in foreign affairs was limited, even as the gathering storm of Japanese and German military aggression dimmed global prospects for peace. Even after war broke out in Europe following Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, Roosevelt, reflecting national sentiment, maintained US neutrality. Neutrality Act of 1935 • Forbade sale of munitions to all belligerent nations • Warned Americans not to travel by ship in case of outbreak of war Neutrality Act of 1937 ! Forbade loans to belligerent nations ! Forbade Americans to travel on belligerent ships On July 18, 1940, Roosevelt was nominated for a third presidential term at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago. The president received some criticism for running again because there was an unwritten rule in American politics that no U.S. president should serve more than two terms. The custom dated back to the country’s first president, George Washington, who in 1796 declined to run for a third term in office. Nevertheless, Roosevelt believed it was his duty to continue serving and lead his country through the mounting crisis in Europe, where Hitler’s Nazi Germany was on the rise. The president went on to defeat Republican Wendell Wilkie in the general election, and his third term in office was dominated by America’s involvement in World War II. Indirectly, however, Roosevelt supported the British and the Allies in their fight against Nazi Germany. In 1942, Roosevelt made a speech declaring that the United States would serve as an “arsenal of democracy” for the Allies by supplying them with American-made weapons and equipment through the Lend- Lease program. Cash-and-Carry/Neutrality Act 1939 Selective Service Act (1940) ! Allowed for the cash-and-carry of arms to help First peacetime draft as US Britain defend itself prepares for war ! US neutrality shifts toward aiding the Allies from German aggression Step Towards World War II Lend-Lease Act (1941) ! US will lend or lease war materials to any nation whose defense was vital to the United States • “if your neighbor’s house was on fire…” –FDR • US ships begin to patrol the Atlantic to help Britain and ordered to shoot-on-site German vessels • US becomes the “arsenal of democracy” defending the Allies By the mid 1930s, some Americans viewed the two great oceans on either side of the continental United States as adequate protection from the hostilities in Africa, Asia and Europe. After all, the United States was in the midst of the greatest economic crisis it had ever seen. Solving those problems seemed more urgent. Other Americans compared that attitude to an ostrich sticking its head in the sand when confronted by danger. Below are excerpts from two documents. Closely read the excerpts, then indicate whether or not the author/speaker is arguing for neutrality or for intervention. THINK OF at least two reasons they use to make this argument. Document 1: Charles Lindbergh, Des Moines Speech, September 11, 1941 It is now two years since this latest European war began. From that day in September, 1939, until the present moment, there has been an over-increasing effort to force the United States into the conflict. That effort has been carried on by foreign interests, and by a small minority of our own people; but it has been so successful that, today, out country stands on the verge of war… When this war started in Europe, it was clear that the American people were solidly opposed to entering it. Why shouldn't we be? We had the best defensive position in the world; we had a tradition of independence from Europe; and the one time we did take part in a European war we left European problems unsolved, and debts to America unpaid… it is obvious and perfectly understandable that Great Britain wants the United States in the war on her side. England is now in a desperate position. Her population is not large enough and her armies are not strong enough to invade the continent of Europe and win the war she declared against Germany…. If England can draw this country into war, she can shift to our shoulders a large portion of the responsibility for waging it and for paying its cost… costs we cant afford, and a responsibility that shouldn't and isn’t ours, for we are not responsible for Europe’s squabbles. The Roosevelt administration… which has been carrying this country toward war… They have used the war to add unlimited billions to a debt which was already the highest we have ever known. And they have just used the war to justify the restriction of congressional power, and the assumption of dictatorial procedures on the part of the president and his appointees… We are on the verge of war, but it is not yet too late to stay out. It is not too late to show that no amount of money, or propaganda, or patronage can force a free and independent people into war against its will. It is not yet too late to retrieve and to maintain the independent American destiny that our forefathers established in this new world… Document 2: “Arsenal of Democracy,” Radio Address Franklin D. Roosevelt The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world. In view of the nature of this undeniable threat, it can be asserted, properly and categorically, that the United States has no right or reason to encourage talk of peace until the day shall come when there is a clear intention on the part of the aggressor nations to abandon all thought of dominating or conquering the world. Some of our people like to believe that wars in Europe and in Asia are of no concern to us. But it is a matter of most vital concern to us that European and Asiatic war-makers should not gain control of the oceans which lead to this hemisphere. If Great Britain goes down, the Axis powers will control the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, and the high seas--and they will be in a position to bring enormous military and naval resources against this hemisphere. It is no exaggeration to say that all of us in the Americas would be living at the point of a gun-a gun loaded with explosive bullets, economic as well as military. The people of Europe who are defending themselves do not ask us to do their fighting. They ask us for the implements of war, the planes, the tanks, the guns, the freighters, which will enable them to fight for their liberty and our security. Emphatically we must get these weapons to them in sufficient volume and quickly enough, so that we and our children will be saved the agony and suffering of war which others have had to endure. The experience of the past two years has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender. We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice, as we would show were we at war. US neutrality in World War II ended after the Japanese (who were allied with Nazi Germany) launched a surprise attack on Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were vowing for revenge after the US cut off their oil supply (embargo on oil). Rousing the nation in a national radio address the following day, President Roosevelt declared the date of that attack, December 7, 1941, a “date which will live in infamy.” PRESIDENT FDR SIGNS DECLARATION OF WAR • December 8, 1941: US declares war on Japan • December 11, 1941: US declares war on Germany and Italy WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: ○ The Neutrality Acts ○ Purpose of Cash and Carry and Lend-Lease Act ○ What does “arsenal of democracy” mean? ○ US decision to declare war .