Download APUSH – Road to Revolution

U.S. History – U.S. Entry into WWII
I.
Interwar Diplomacy
a. 1920’s
i. aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles
1. no U.S. ratification
2. League of Nations?
ii. focus was on disarmament & peace
1. Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) – renounced the aggressive use of force to achieve
national ends, but it:
a. allowed for defensive wars
b. did not specify action that would be taken against the “violators” of the
agreement
2. Dawes Plan (1924) – adjusted plan for payment of German reparations
(amounts, schedule, U.S. as “loan-officer”)
b. 1930’s  International aggression & rise of DICTATORS!
i. American isolationism…
1. leftover “distaste” for WWI – never wanting to involve ourselves in another
global conflict
2. Neutrality Acts
a. 1935 – authorized the president to prohibit all arms shipments and to
forbid U.S. citizens to travel on ships of belligerent nations
b. 1936 – forbade the extension of loans and credits to belligerents
c. 1937 – forbade the shipment of arms to the opposing sides in the civil
war in Spain (was illuminating the struggle between fascism &
republicanism)
II. WAR!
a. Series of events leading to its outbreak … TIMELINE!
b. U.S. neutrality?
i. FDR believed that British survival was critical to our economic survival
ii. he began chipping away at restrictive neutrality laws until practically nothing remained
iii. most Americans agreed with strengthening our defenses, but giving direct aid to Britain
was another story
c. changing U.S. policy:
i. “cash & carry” (1939) = less restrictive Neutrality Act that allowed a “belligerent
country” to buy U.S. arms if it used its own ships and paid in cash (heavily favored the
British)
ii. Selective Service Act (1940) = provided for the registration of all American men between
the ages of 21 & 35 AND for the training of 1.2 million troops in just one year; had been
military conscription in the Civil War and WWI, but only after they had begun … some
opposition to this peacetime draft, but most were beginning to lean towards it
iii. Destroyers-for-Bases Deal” (1940) = in desperate need for destroyers, Britain arranged
for a “deal” … FDR would give them 50 older U.S. destroyers in return for U.S. ability to
build military bases on British Caribbean islands
iv. America First Committee – further mobilization behind the American anti-war initiative;
speakers would travel the country in attempts to warn the American public about the
dangers of getting involved in yet another global fight … speakers were unhappy with
FDR’s pro-British speak
d. further U.S. involvement…
i. FDR’s want  “We must be the great arsenal of democracy.”
ii. Lend-Lease Act (March 1941) = and end to the cash-carry agreement and allowing
Britain to obtain U.S. arms if needed on credit – like “lending a neighbor a garden hose to
put out a fire”
e. Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
i. due to continued strained relationship with Japan & increasingly favorable action toward
Allied powers
ii. devastating loss of American lives and resources
iii. December 8, 1941 – declaration of war on Japan … and then three days later, Germany &
Italy honored their agreement with Japan and declared war on us
iv. Grand Alliance was formed  U.S., Britain, Russia … all agreed on a “Europe First”
(“Germany First”) campaign, belief being that Hitler needed to be conquered first before
he took over ALL of Europe, even defeating the U.S.’s allies…
III. The Home Front
a. “total war” effort
i. mobilize economic and military resources for the wartime crisis
ii. the wartime boom far exceeded production of the 1920s
iii. by 1944, unemployment had practically disappeared
iv. Office of Price Administration (OPA) regulated almost every aspect of civilians’ lives by
freezing prices, wages, and rents, as well as rationing commodities such as meat, sugar,
gasoline, and auto tires
v. unions all agreed to a “no strike policy” during the war; government even passed a law
allowing it the right to take over businesses in danger of a strike (to carry out the wartime
effort)
vi. taxing was also introduced at a new level – income taxes were to be paid by all (an
increased income tax) as well as war bonds
b. social groups affected by war effort
i. Women
1. over 200,000 served in military in noncombat roles
2. almost 5 million women entered the workforce, many involved in industrial jobs
(shipyards, defense plants, etc.)  “Rosie the Riveter”
3. was more about the principle vs. the pay
ii. African Americans
1. more than 1 million men left for the armed services
2. more migration from South to industries in North and West
3. white resentment in urban areas led to race riots and further tension
4. adoption of the “Double V” slogan  Victory over fascism abroad and victory
for equality at home
5. increased organizational membership (NAACP & CORE)
iii. Mexican Americans
1. many served in the military or worked in defense industries
2. an agreement made in 1942 allowed for Mexican farm workers to enter the U.S.
in the harvest season without going through formal immigration procedures
3. sudden influx of Mexican immigrants caused many riots in cities (i.e. the zootsuit riots in the summer of 1943)
iv. Native Americans
1. many served in the military or worked in defense industries
2. Navajo Codes!
3. having left reservations, many never returned to living on them
v. Japanese Americans
1. close to 20,000 native-born Japanese Americans served in U.S. military
2. however, more than 100,000 were ordered to leave their homes and businesses
to live in internment camps along the West Coast
a. Japanese Americans living in other regions of the U.S. did not come
under this order (even in HI)
b. Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) – Supreme Court upheld the U.S.
government’s interment policy as justified in wartime
c. in 1988, the federal government declared the internment to be an
injustice and granted financial compensation to those still alive who
had been interned