Throughout the 1930s the US maintained a strict policy of neutrality, demonstrated by the Neutrality Acts of 1935-7. The American public did not want to be dragged into another European war; however there was a shift away from this view within the US government as Hitler’s aggression in Europe escalated—by 1939 Hitler annexed the Sudetenland, remilitarized the Rhineland, and broken several other clauses of the Versailles Treaty. When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Britain entered into war. The US was driven to break its neutrality for the Allies.
1. Roosevelt’s address to Congress in January 1939.
a. “Aggressive acts against sister [democratic] nations… automatically undermines all of us.”
b. US was prepared to use all “measures short of war” to aid democratic nations.
2. In November 1939, US ended its arms embargoes and introduced a ‘cash-and-carry’ policy for belligerent nations.
3. In June 1940, immediately following the events at Dunkirk, the US sent an initial shipment of arms to Britain.
4. The US enacts a draft bill registering 900 000 men for peacetime service in September 1940.
5. The US gave 50 WWI destroyers to Britain in exchange for eight British Atlantic bases in September 1940.
6. In November 1940, the US adopted Lend-Lease, a policy of providing arms, food, and raw materials to powers fighting against the Axis.
7. Roosevelt’s fireside chats on December 29 1940.
a. Britain was “the spearhead of resistance to world conquest.”
b. The US was to be “the great arsenal of democracy.”
8. When Hitler invaded the USSR in June 1941, both the US and Britain sent aid to the Soviets.
9. In October 1941, the US ship Greer was sunk by a U-Boat. Roosevelt used this as the grounds to order the sinking of U-Boats on sight.
a. The US was in a state of undeclared war with Germany.
10. Churchill and Roosevelt meet in Newfoundland in August 1941 to sign the Atlantic Charter.
a. Through the Charter, the men reached a commonality of purpose.
b. Douglas Brinkley , The Atlantic Charter, 1994: As a result of the Atlantic Charter, “...the president and the prime minister subscribed to a common program of purpose and principles…”
i. The men agreed to war aims, self-determination and condemnation of Nazism. The Axis powers marked this event as the beginning of a British and American alliance.
11. To protect its shipping, the US secured bases in Greenland and Iceland and convoyed Allied shipping as far as Iceland.
a. German U-boats, from 1941-1942 sunk a total of 2,961 British ships carrying a total tonnage of 8 million tonnes.
12. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7 1941. Roosevelt called it “a date which will live in infamy” and declared was on Japan the following day.
a. Pearl Harbour galvanized the American public. Now they wanted revenge and Roosevelt had the grounds for entering the war.
Douglas Brinkley. The Atlantic Charter, 1994. As a result of the Atlantic Charter, “...the president and the prime minister subscribed to a common program of purpose and principles…”
The men agreed to war aims, self-determination and condemnation of Nazism. The Axis powers marked this event as the beginning of a British and American alliance.
RR Palmer and Joel Colton. A history of the modern world, 1995. “Roosevelt was an interventionist, convinced that American security was in danger.”
FDR’s stance as an interventionist was significant in producing US efforts to aid Britain prior to the events at Pearl Harbor.
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