US War Policy & Pearl Harbor1939-1941

United States Policy 1939

• Neutrality Acts (1939)• Issued by Roosevelt after Germany invaded Poland• Official statement of neutrality

• Cash and Carry Provision (1939)• Allowed nations to buy American arms as long as they paid in cash

and carried supplies home in their ships

• US Builds a Defense• US military was weak following its isolationist period• Increased military spending• First peace time draft was put in place

US Policy 1940-1941

• Roosevelt’s Reelection in 1940• “No War plank”• US would not participate in foreign wars unless

attacked 

• Lend-Lease Plan (Early 1941)• Replaced the Cash and Carry provision because Britain

didn’t have the cash to buy weapons• The president would lend or lease arms and other

supplies to any country whose defense was vital to the US

• US becomes known as the “Arsenal of Democracy”

US Policy 1941

• Atlantic Charter (August 1941)• Signed by US (Roosevelt) and Britain (Churchill),

establishing the principles of the Allies• Main goals• The destruction of Nazi tyranny• Pledge to support the right for people to choose

their form of government (self-determination)• Called for a permanent system of general security

• US had not officially entered the war yet

Growing Tensions with Japan

• Since the late 1930s, Japan had been trying to conquer China• They occupied much of eastern China, but the Chinese

would not surrender• The European war gave Japan an excuse to capture

European possessions in Southeast Asia

• 1940 Japan advanced into French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies• In an attempt to stop Japanese aggression, the US

banned the sale of war materials to Japan (iron, steel, oil for airplanes)

Pearl Harbor

• Japan and the US held talks to ease the growing tensions• Extreme militarists, like General Tojo, were gaining power in

Japan• The US was interfering with their goal of seizing land in Asia and

the Pacific• The talks came to a standstill

• Japan’s general ordered a surprise attack on the American fleet station in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941• Japanese airplanes damaged or destroyed 19 ships and killed

more than 2,400 people• The following day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare

war on Japan• On December 11, Germany and Japan declared war on the United

States