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The Approach of World War II
By the 1930s, a growing majority of Americans believed that U.S. entry into the First
World War had been a mistake, and there was a growing conviction that the U.S. should steer
clear of the military confrontations that were developing around the world. This increasing sense
of "isolationism" inspired Congress to pass a series of laws between 1935-37 – known as the
Neutrality Acts – designed to prevent the U.S. from making the same "mistakes" it had made in
1917.
According to the Neutrality Acts:
1. When a state of war existed between two countries (technically known as "belligerents"),
Americans could not sell arms to either side.
2. This ban was later extended to include loans to belligerents.
3. The acts implemented a Cash and Carry Plan: Belligerents buying nonmilitary goods had
to pay cash for them and take them away in their own ships.
4. Americans were prohibited from traveling on the ships of belligerent nations.
The feeling was that these acts would keep the U.S. from being dragged into another
major war. Step by step over the next few years, however, the U.S. retreated from neutrality.
Europe
Adolf Hitler took power in Germany in January 1933. Almost immediately he began
steps to escape the strict provisions of the Treaty of Versailles in order to rebuild Germany as a
military power. France and Great Britain waffled uncertainly as Germany pulled out of the
League of Nations (1933), began to rearm (1934), reoccupied the Rhineland (1936), forced a
union with Austria (1938), swallowed up Czechoslovakia (1938-39), and shocked the world by
signing a nonaggression pact with the country that was supposedly Nazi Germany’s arch enemy,
the Soviet Union (1939). With the Soviet Union neutralized, Hitler felt free to focus on Poland,
demanding the return of territory that Germany had lost as a result of the First World War.
Poland refused, with the support of Great Britain and France. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany
invaded Poland. Two days later Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War
II – by far the bloodiest and most destructive war in human history – had begun.
The U.S. was bound by the provisions of the Neutrality Acts, but FDR did not pretend to
be disinterested, stating that "Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or his
conscience." A majority of Americans by now agreed with him, and in November Congress
revised the Neutrality Acts to allow the sale of weapons to belligerents. In the new Cash and
Carry Policy the purchasers would still have to come to the U.S. to purchase weapons and then
transport them back on their own ships. Even so, a majority of Americans remained opposed to
active involvement in the war, even if it appeared that the Allies (Fr. and GB) would be defeated.
For months things were quiet in Western Europe, but in April 1940 Germany began to
move with terrifying speed. Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, and finally
France all fell within seven weeks, leaving Britain alone to face a Nazi Germany that now
controlled a great chunk of the continent. FDR did all he could to help Britain. In Sept. 1940 he
approved the transfer of 50 old but useful U.S. destroyers to GB to help the British defend
themselves against a potential German invasion.
In November of 1940, FDR was elected to an unprecedented third term as president.
Shortly thereafter he promised to increase aid to Great Britain and to make the U.S. the Arsenal
of Democracy. The U.S. would use its enormous industrial capacity to produce the weapons that
the Allies needed to fight the war. This would actually be the United States' greatest contribution
to Allied victory -- by the end of 1943 the U.S. was producing more weapons than were all of the
rest of the countries at war -- Allied and Axis -- combined.
In Jan. 1941, as the British scraped the bottom of their treasury, FDR proposed – and
Congress approved – the Lend-Lease Plan, which provided that if GB didn’t have the cash for
goods, it could in effect lease them, returning or replacing them at the end of the war. The "cash"
half of Cash and Carry was thus discontinued. In July 1941, FDR announced that the U.S. would
take over the defense of Iceland for the remainder of the war, and would protect British convoys
to that point.
In August 1941, FDR and Churchill met at sea on a British destroyer. There they drew up
the Atlantic Charter, which listed "certain common principles" that would insure "a better
future for the world." In other words, the Charter was a statement of the principles for which the
two men claimed that the war was being fought. Among the major principles listed in the
Atlantic Charter were:
1. No territorial aggrandizement (Great Britain and the U.S. were not interested in gaining
additional territory as a result of the war).
2. Self-government for all peoples.
3. Free access for all nations to trade and raw materials.
4. The abandonment of war as an instrument of international relations.
In Nov. 1941, after American ships had been sunk or damaged, Congress authorized U.S.
merchant ships to sail well-armed and to carry Lend-Lease supplies all the way to Britain. The
"carry" half of the Cash and Carry policy was now ended as well. Thus, by the end of November
1941, the U.S. was all but officially at war with Germany in the Atlantic Ocean.
Meanwhile, in June 1941, Germany had launched a massive, surprise invasion of the
Soviet Union – in spite of the 1939 nonaggression pact – and by November the U.S. was
providing lend-lease supplies to the Soviets as well. Germany was now at war with Britain to its
west and the Soviet Union to its east, with the U.S. on the verge of entering the war.
Asia
The major conflict in Asia involved Japan’s determination to conquer China in pursuit of
an empire of its own to match those of the European powers. The United States was determined
for a variety of reasons that Japan should not dominate China. This was the issue that eventually
brought the U.S. and Japan to war.
Japan first invaded Manchuria, a Chinese province, in 1931, and by July of 1937 Japan
had overrun northern China, despite protests by the U.S. and the League of Nations (from which
Japan, like Germany, simply withdrew). FDR was uncertain how best to deal with Japan. On the
one hand, the U.S. was supplying arms to China, but on the other hand the U.S. continued to sell
large quantities of scrap metal, steel, copper, oil, lead, and machinery to Japan. FDR could have
stopped the sales, but feared that this would simply encourage Japan to conquer more territory to
replace lost resources. As a deterrent to the Japanese, in May 1940 FDR did order the transfer of
the U.S. Pacific Fleet from San Diego to a new base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Over the course of 1940-41, relations between the U.S. and Japan worsened, as Japan
continued its war against China and Southeast Asia. Trade between the countries was eventually
paralyzed, though negotiations between the two countries in pursuit of a peaceful resolution of
their disagreements continued.
In December of 1940, U.S. Naval Intelligence had broken the Japanese diplomatic code.
It was clear from intercepted diplomatic messages that the Japanese government was determined
to conquer China. At the same time, the U.S. had no intention of abandoning China.
By Nov. 3, unbeknownst to the U.S., Japan had decided to attack the naval base at Pearl
Harbor if the U.S. didn’t allow Japan to have its way. At the same time, Japan chose to continue
talks with the U.S. government. From intercepted diplomatic messages, the U.S. government
knew that if a satisfactory agreement was not reached by Nov. 29, "something" was going to
happen. But just what that would be was unknown.
Talks between the U.S. and Japan went nowhere, and in late November a Japanese carrier
force secretly set out toward Hawaii. Washington knew of Japanese troop movements, but
thought that they were aimed elsewhere, not at U.S. territory.
On Dec. 6, FDR sent a personal appeal for peace to Japanese Emperor Hirohito. But early
the next morning, Dec. 7, 1941 – in FDR’s words, "a date that will live in infamy" – Japan made
its move, as Japanese airplanes swarmed down upon Pearl Harbor. American forces were taken
completely by surprise, and most U.S. planes were destroyed on the ground. Nineteen U.S. ships
were sunk or disabled. 2,355 American servicemen (and 68 civilians) were killed, along with
1,178 servicemen wounded.
The next day a shocked Congress approved FDR’s call for war. On Dec. 11, Germany
and Italy declared war on the U.S., and Congress responded immediately with U.S. declarations
of war on those countries. The U.S. was now officially among the Allies as it officially entered
this horrible and momentous war.