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Pearl Harbor
Chapter 24, Section 4
The United States Chooses Neutrality
• FDR was more concerned with domestic
affairs than international affairs on the eve
of World War II
• Congress passed the Neutrality Acts
• These prevented the US from selling arms
even to nations that were trying to defend
themselves from aggression
• FDR didn’t agree with the Acts
American Involvement Grows
• FDR looked for ways to send aid to the
Allies
• We now could lend weapons to Britain and
France, but not money
• US gets more involved once France falls
• America First Committee forms in
response to increase US involvement in
the war
• “Your boys are not going to be sent into
any foreign wars.” – FDR, 1940
Lend-Lease
• FDR wins third election
• Britain is reaching bankruptcy and Prime Minister
Churchill looks to the US for help
• Lend-Lease Act is passed – “If your neighbor’s house is
on fire, you don’t sell him a hose. You lend it to him and
take it back after the fire is out.” – FDR
• By the end of the war, the US had loaned or given away
more than $49 billion worth of aid to some 40 nations!!!
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
• FDR began limiting what Japan could buy
from the US – placed a trade embargo on
Japan
• He ended the sale of scrap iron and steel
• He froze Japanese financial assets in the
US
• He cut off all oil shipments
• All of this was to stop Japan’s expansion
in the Pacific, but war seemed inevitable
Final Weeks of Peace
• General Tojo Hideki became prime minister of
Japan and supported a war against the US
• US code breakers knew an attack was coming
from Japan, but they didn’t know when or where
• Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu
was the target and served as the home of the US
Pacific Fleet
• Japan wanted to cripple the American fleet and
conquer Asia before the US could rebuild its fleet
and fight back
The Attack
• “A date which will live in infamy.”
• December 7, 1941
• Half of the US Pacific Fleet was anchored at Pearl
Harbor
• In less than 2 hours, 2400 Americans were killed and
1200 wounded.
• About 200 American warplanes were damaged or
destroyed; 18 warships had been sunk or damaged,
including 8 of the fleets’ 9 battleships
• Japan lost only 29 planes
US Declares War
• FDR asks Congress to pass a war
resolution against Japan
• Unanimous vote
• Germany and Italy declare war on the US
• WWII for the US officially begins