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Terms & Names

MAIN IDEA

•Axis powers

•Lend-Lease Act

•Atlantic Charter

•Allies

•Hideki Tojo

In response to the ﬁghting

in Europe, the United States

provided economic and

military aid to help the

Allies achieve victory.

The military capability of the

U. S. became a deciding factor

in World War II and in world

affairs ever since.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

One American's Story

America Moves

Toward War

Two days after Hitler invaded Poland, President Roosevelt

spoke reassuringly to Americans about the outbreak of war in

Europe.

A PERSONAL VOICE FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

“ This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I cannot ask

that every American remain neutral in thought as well. . . .

Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or his con-

science. . . . I have said not once, but many times, that I

have seen war and I hate war. . . . As long as it is my power

to prevent, there will be no blackout of peace in the U.S.

”

— radio speech, September 3, 1939

Although Roosevelt knew that Americans were still

deeply committed to staying out of war, he also believed that

there could be no peace in a world controlled by dictators.

The United States Musters Its Forces

As German tanks thundered across Poland, Roosevelt revised the Neutrality Act of

1935. At the same time, he began to prepare the nation for the struggle he feared

lay just ahead.

MOVING CAUTIOUSLY AWAY FROM NEUTRALITY

In September of 1939,

Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass a “cash-and-carry” provision that allowed

warring nations to buy U.S. arms as long as they paid cash and transported them in

their own ships. Providing the arms, Roosevelt argued, would help France and

Britain defeat Hitler and keep the United States out of the war. Isolationists attacked

Roosevelt for his actions. However, after six weeks of heated debate, Congress

passed the Neutrality Act of 1939, and a cash-and-carry policy went into effect.

Franklin D.

Roosevelt

756 C

HAPTER 24

▼

Page 1 of 8

Analyzing

THE AXIS THREAT

The United States cash-and-carry policy began to look like

too little, too late. By summer 1940, France had fallen and Britain was under

siege. In September 1940, Americans were jolted by the news that Germany, Italy,

and Japan had signed a mutual defense treaty, the Tripartite Pact. The three

nations became known as the Axis powers.

The Tripartite Pact was aimed at keeping the United States out of the war.

Under the treaty, each Axis nation agreed to come to the defense of the others in

case of attack. This meant that if the United States were to declare war on any one

of the Axis powers, it would face its worst military nightmare—a two-ocean war,

with ﬁghting in both the Atlantic and the Paciﬁc.

Hoping to avoid this situation, Roosevelt scrambled to provide the British

with “all aid short of war.” By June 1940, he had sent Britain 500,000 riﬂes and

80,000 machine guns. In September, after the Tripartite Pact was signed, the

United States traded 50 old destroyers for leases on British military bases in the

Caribbean and Newfoundland. British prime minister Winston Churchill would

later recall this move with affection as “a decidedly unneutral act.”

BUILDING U.S DEFENSES

Meanwhile, Roosevelt asked Congress to increase

spending for national defense. In spite of years of isolationism, Nazi victories in

1940 changed U.S. thinking, and Congress boosted defense spending. Congress

also passed the nation’s ﬁrst peacetime military draft—the Selective Training and

Service Act. Under this law 16 million men between the ages of 21 and 35 were

registered. Of these, 1 million were to be drafted for one year but were only allowed

to serve in the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt himself drew the ﬁrst draft num-

bers as he told a national radio audience, “This is a most solemn ceremony.”

ROOSEVELT RUNS FOR A THIRD TERM

That same year, Roosevelt decided to

break the tradition of a two-term presidency, begun by George Washington, and

run for reelection. To the great disappointment of isolationists, Roosevelt’s

Republican opponent, a public utilities executive named Wendell Willkie, sup-

ported Roosevelt’s policy of aiding Britain. At the same time, both Willkie and

Roosevelt promised to keep the nation out of war. Because there was so little dif-

ference between the candidates, the majority of voters chose the one they knew

best. Roosevelt was reelected with nearly 55 percent of the votes cast.

CARVING IT UP

The three Axis nations—Germany, Italy, and Japan—

were a threat to the entire world. They believed they

were superior and more power ful than other nations,

especially democracies. By signing a mutual defense

pact, the Axis powers believed the United States

would never risk involvement in a two-ocean war. This

cartoon shows the Axis powers’ obsession with global

domination.

SKILLBUILDER

Analyzing Political Cartoons

What are the Axis leaders—Hitler, Mussolini, and

Tojo—greedily car ving up?

What do you think the artist means by showing

Hitler doing the carving?

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24.

World War Looms 757

A. Answer

Revision of the

Neutrality Acts;

dramatically

increased

defense spend-

ing; institution of

the nation's ﬁrst

peacetime draft.

MAIN IDEA

Analyzing

Effects

What impact

did the outbreak

of war in Europe

have on U.S.

foreign and

defense policy?

Page 2 of 8

758 CHAPTER 24

“The United States must protect

democracies throughout the world.”

As the conﬂict in Europe deepened, interventionists

embraced President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration

that “when peace has been broken anywhere, peace of

all countries everywhere is in danger.” Roosevelt

emphasized the global character of 20th-century com-

merce and communication by noting, “Ever y word that

comes through the air, every ship that sails the sea,

every battle that is fought does affect the American

future.”

Roosevelt and other political leaders also appealed

to the nation’s conscience. Secretary of State Cordell

Hull noted that the world was “face to face . . . with an

organized, ruthless, and implacable movement of

steadily expanding conquest.” In the same vein,

Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles called Hitler “a

sinister and pitiless conqueror [who] has reduced more

than half of Europe to abject serfdom.”

After the war expanded into the Atlantic, Roosevelt

declared, “It is time for all Americans . . . to stop being

deluded by the romantic

notion that the Americas

can go on living happily

and peacefully in a Nazi-

dominated world.” He

added, “Let us not ask

ourselves whether the

Americas should begin to

defend themselves after

the ﬁrst attack . . . or the

twentieth attack. The time

for active defense is now.”

“The United States should not become

involved in European wars.”

Still recovering from World War I and struggling with the

Great Depression, many Americans believed their coun-

try should remain strictly neutral in the war in Europe.

Representative James F. O’Connor voiced the coun-

try’s reservations when he asked, “Dare we set

America up and commit her as the ﬁnancial and military

blood bank of the rest of the world?” O’Connor main-

tained that the United States could not “right every

wrong” or “police [the] world.”

The widely admired aviator Charles Lindbergh

risked his reputation by stating his hope that “the

future of America . . . not be tied to these eternal wars

in Europe.” Lindbergh asserted that “Americans

[should] ﬁght anybody and everybody who attempts to

interfere with our hemisphere.” However, he went on to

say, “Our safety does not lie in ﬁghting European wars.

It lies in our own internal strength, in the character of

the American people and American institutions.” Like

many isolationists, Lindbergh believed that democracy

would not be saved “by

the forceful imposition

of our ideals abroad, but

by example of their suc-

cessful operation at

home.”

COUNTERPOINT

POINT

THINKING CRITICALLY

1. CONNECT TO TODAY Making Inferences After World

War l, many Americans became isolationists. Do you

recommend that the United States practice isolationism

today? Why or why not?

2. CONNECT TO HISTORY Researching and Reporting

Do research to ﬁnd out more about Charles Lindbergh’s

antiwar activities. Present yor ﬁndings in an editorial.

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R34.

Vocabulary

lease: to grant use

or occupation of

under the terms of

a contract

“The Great Arsenal of Democracy”

Not long after the election, President Roosevelt told his radio audience during a

ﬁreside chat that it would be impossible to negotiate a peace with Hitler. “No man

can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.” He warned that if Britain fell, the

Axis powers would be left unchallenged to conquer the world, at which point, he

said, “all of us in all the Americas would be living at the point of a gun.” To pre-

vent such a situation, the United States had to help defeat the Axis threat by turn-

ing itself into what Roosevelt called “the great arsenal of democracy.”

THE LEND-LEASE PLAN

By late 1940, however, Britain had no more cash to

spend in the arsenal of democracy. Roosevelt tried to help by suggesting a new

plan that he called a lend-lease policy. Under this plan, the president would lend

or lease arms and other supplies to “any country whose defense was vital to the

United States.”

Roosevelt compared his plan to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose

house was on ﬁre. He asserted that this was the only sensible thing to do to pre-

vent the ﬁre from spreading to your own property. Isolationists argued bitterly

against the plan, but most Americans favored it, and Congress passed the Lend-

Lease Act in March 1941.

Page 3 of 8

SUPPORTING STALIN

Britain was not the only nation to receive lend-lease aid.

In June 1941, Hitler broke the agreement he had made in 1939 with Stalin not to

go to war and invaded the Soviet Union. Acting on the principle that “the enemy

of my enemy is my friend,” Roosevelt began sending lend-lease supplies to the

Soviet Union. Some Americans opposed providing aid to Stalin; Roosevelt, how-

ever, agreed with Winston Churchill, who had said “if Hitler invaded Hell,” the

British would be prepared to work with the devil himself.

GERMAN WOLF PACKS

Providing lend-lease aid was one thing, but to ensure

the safe delivery of goods to Britain and to the Soviet Union, supply lines had to

be kept open across the Atlantic Ocean. To prevent delivery of lend-lease ship-

ments, Hitler deployed hundreds of German submarines—U-boats—to attack sup-

ply ships.

From the spring through the fall of 1941, individual surface attacks by indi-

vidual U-boats gave way to what became known as the wolf pack attack. At night

groups of up to 40 submarines patrolled areas in the North Atlantic where con-

voys could be expected. Wolf packs were successful in sinking as much as 350,000

tons of shipments in a single month. In June 1941, President Roosevelt granted

the navy permission for U.S. warships to attack German U-boats in self-defense.

By late 1943, the submarine menace was contained by electronic detection tech-

niques (especially radar), and by airborne antisubmarine patrols operating from

small escort aircraft carriers.

World War Looms 759

B. Answer

Roosevelt

believed that the

best way to stop

the Axis powers

was to help their

opponents—

mainly Britain

and the Soviet

Union.

MAIN IDEA

Drawing

Conclusions

Why did

Roosevelt take

one “unneutral”

step after another

to assist Britain

and the Soviet

Union in 1941?

Science

GERMAN WOLF PACKS

On October 17, 1940, near Rockall, west of Ireland, a British

Convoy, SC-7 (shown below), was attacked by a German wolf

pack. The convoy was outlined clearly against a moonlit sky,

making the merchant ships easy prey.

A tanker burns and sinks

in the Atlantic Ocean after

being torpedoed by a

German U-boat.

U-boats used hydrophonic

equipment to pick up the

sound of convoy propellers

up to 100 miles away.

The Germans used radios

to summon U-boats into a

ﬁghting wolf pack.

German aircraft

could patrol 1,000

miles out to sea to

scout for convoys.

Convoys pinned their hopes on ﬁnding

U-boats using ASDIC—sonar apparatus

that could detect submerged submarines.

At the start of the war, the

British had too few warships

to escort the convoys.

▼

Page 4 of 8

760 CHAPTER 24

FDR Plans for War

Although Roosevelt was popular, his foreign policy was under constant attack.

American forces were seriously underarmed. Roosevelt’s August 1941 proposal to

extend the term of draftees passed in the House of Representatives by only one

vote. With the army provided for, Roosevelt began planning for the war he was

certain would come.

THE ATLANTIC CHARTER

While Congress voted on the extension of the draft,

Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly at a summit aboard the battleship USS

Augusta. Although Churchill hoped for a military commitment, he settled for a

joint declaration of war aims, called the Atlantic Charter. Both countries pledged

the following: collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic

cooperation, and freedom of the seas. Roosevelt disclosed to Churchill that he

couldn’t ask Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, but “he would

wage war” and do “everything” to “force an incident.”

The Atlantic Charter became the basis of a new document called “A Declaration

of the United Nations.” The term United Nations was suggested by Roosevelt to

express the common purpose of the Allies, those nations that had fought the

Axis powers. The declaration was signed by 26 nations, “four-ﬁfths of the human

race” observed Churchill.

SHOOT ON SIGHT

After a German submarine ﬁred on the

U.S. destroyer Greer in the Atlantic on September 4, 1941,

Roosevelt ordered navy commanders to respond. “When you

see a rattlesnake poised to strike,” the president explained,

“you crush him.” Roosevelt ordered the navy to shoot the

German submarines on sight.

Two weeks later, the Pink Star, an American merchant

ship, was sunk off Greenland. In mid-October, a U-boat

torpedoed the U.S. destroyer Kearny, and 11 lives were lost.

Days later, German U-boats sank the U.S. destroyer

Reuben James, killing more than 100 sailors. “America has

been attacked,” Roosevelt announced grimly. “The shoot-

ing has started. And history has recorded who ﬁred the ﬁrst

shot.” As the death toll mounted, the Senate finally

repealed the ban against arming merchant ships. A formal

declaration of a full-scale war seemed inevitable.

Japan Attacks the United States

The United States was now involved in an undeclared naval

war with Hitler. However, the attack that brought the

United States into the war came from Japan.

JAPAN’S AMBITIONS IN THE PACIFIC

Germany’s

European victories created new opportunities for Japanese

expansionists. Japan was already in control of Manchuria.

In July 1937, Hideki Tojo (

hCPd-kC tIPjIQ), chief of staff of

Japan’s Kwantung Army, launched the invasion into China.

As French, Dutch, and British colonies lay unprotected in

Asia, Japanese leaders leaped at the opportunity to unite

East Asia under Japanese control by seizing the colonial

lands. By 1941, the British were too busy ﬁghting Hitler to

block Japanese expansion. Only the U.S. and its Paciﬁc

islands remained in Japan’s way.

HIDEKI TOJO

1884–1948

U.S. newspapers described

Hideki Tojo as “smart, hard-

boiled, resourceful, [and] con-

temptuous of theories, senti-

ments, and negotiations.”

The Nazi press in Germany

praised Tojo as “a man charged

with energy, thinking clearly and

with a single purpose.” To a

British paper, Tojo was “the son

of Satan” whose single purpose

was “unleashing all hell on the

Far East.” In Japan, however, Tojo

was looked up to as a man

whose “decisive leadership was a

signal for the nation to rise and

administer a great shock to the

anti-Axis powers.”

C. Answer It set

forth the war

aims of the

Allies.

D. Answer

German U-boats

were attacking

American ships.

MAIN IDEA

Analyzing

Causes

Why did the

United States

enter into an

undeclared

shooting war with

Germany in fall

1941?

MAIN IDEA

Summarizing

Why was the

Atlantic Charter

important?

Page 5 of 8

World War Looms 761

The Japanese began their southward push in July 1941 by taking over French

military bases in Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos). The United

States protested this new act of aggression by cutting off trade with Japan. The

embargoed goods included one Japan could not live without—oil to fuel its war

machine. Japanese military leaders warned that without oil, Japan could be

defeated without its enemies ever striking a blow. The leaders declared that Japan

must either persuade the United States to end its oil embargo or seize the oil ﬁelds

in the Dutch East Indies. This would mean war.

PEACE TALKS ARE QUESTIONED

Shortly after becoming the prime minister

of Japan, Hideki Tojo met with emperor Hirohito. Tojo promised the emperor that

the Japanese government would attempt to preserve peace with the Americans.

But on November 5, 1941, Tojo ordered the Japanese navy to prepare for an attack

on the United States.

The U.S. military had broken Japan’s secret communication codes and

learned that Japan was preparing for a strike. What it didn’t know was where the

attack would come. Late in November, Roosevelt sent out a “war warning” to mil-

itary commanders in Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines. If war could not be

avoided, the warning said, “the United States desires that Japan commit the ﬁrst

overt act.” And the nation waited.

The peace talks went on for a month. Then on December

6, 1941, Roosevelt received a decoded message that instruct-

ed Japan’s peace envoy to reject all American peace propos-

als. “This means war,” Roosevelt declared.

THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR

Early the next morning,

a Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over Pearl Harbor—

the largest U.S. naval base in the

Paciﬁc. The bomber was followed by

more than 180 Japanese warplanes

launched from six aircraft carriers. As

the ﬁrst Japanese bombs found their

targets, a radio operator ﬂashed this

message: “Air raid on Pearl Harbor.

This is not a drill.”

For an hour and a half, the

Japanese planes were barely dis-

turbed by U.S. antiaircraft guns and

blasted target after target. By the

time the last plane soared off around

9:30

A.M., the devastation was

appalling. John Garcia, a pipe ﬁtter’s

apprentice, was there.

A PERSONAL VOICE JOHN GARCIA

“ It was a mess. I was working on the U.S.S. Shaw. It was on a ﬂoating dry dock.

It was in ﬂames. I started to go down into the pipe ﬁtter’s shop to get my toolbox

when another wave of Japanese came in. I got under a set of concrete steps at

the dry dock where the battleship Pennsylvania was. An ofﬁcer came by and

asked me to go into the Pennsylvania and try to get the ﬁres out. A bomb had

penetrated the marine deck, and . . . three decks below. Under that was the mag-

azines: ammunition, powder, shells. I said “There ain’t no way I’m gonna go down

there.” It could blow up any minute. I was young and 16, not stupid.

”

—quoted in The Good War

▼

Newspaper

headlines

announce

the surprise

Japanese

attack.

E. Answer

Japan needed

oil, and the

United States

had placed an

embargo on it to

protest

Japanese

aggression in

Indochina.

MAIN IDEA

Analyzing

Issues

How was oil a

source of conﬂict

between Japan

and the United

States?

Page 6 of 8

Tropic of Cancer

150°E 165°E 180°

150°E 165°E

15°S

0°

Kamchatka

Sakhalin

Mariana

Islands

Marshall

Islands

Solomon

Islands

Wake Island

Midway Islands

Ryukyu

Islands

Formosa

New Guinea

Caroline Islands

Hawaiian Islands

(U.S.)

Guam

Shanghai

Peking

Hong Kong

Singapore

AUSTRALIA

DUTCH EAST INDIES

MALAYA

PHILIPPINES

THAILAND

FRENCH

INDOCHINA

BURMA

CHINA

MANCHURIA

KOREA

JAPAN

MONGOLIA

SOVIET

UNION

PACIFIC

OCEAN

INDIAN OCEAN

Japanese Empire in 1931

Areas under Japanese

control, 1941

Extent of Japanese

control, 1941

0 600 1,200 kilometers

600 1,200 miles

762 CHAPTER 24

Japanese Aggression, 1931–1941

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER

Region Which countries had

Japan invaded by 1941?

Movement Notice the placement

of the U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor—

on the lower inset map. What

might the navy have done

differently to minimize damage

from a surprise attack?

At Pearl Harbor, American sailors are rescued by motorboat

after their battleships, the USS West Virginia and the

USS Tennessee, were bombed.

Pearl Harbor

Invasion,

Dec. 7, 1941

Solace

Phoenix

Nevada

Vestal

Arizona

Tennessee

Maryland

Neosho

Oglala

Shaw

Helena

Pennsylvania

Downes

Cassin

St. Louis

Honolulu

San Francisco

New Orleans

Detroit

Raleigh

Utah

Tangier

Curtiss

West Virginia

Oklahoma

California

U.S. NAVAL

STATION

Ford Island

Ships undamaged

Ships damaged

Ships sunk

0 .25 .5 kilometers

.25 .5 miles

U.S. Ships at Pearl Harbor

Second Attack,

8:55 A.M

First Attack,

7:55 A.M

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Pearl

Harbor

Oahu

Kaneohe Naval

Air Station

Pearl Harbor Naval Base

Wheeler

Air Force Base

Honolulu

158°W

21°30'N

0816 kilometers

8 16 miles

Pearl Harbor Invasion

Page 7 of 8

In less than two hours, the Japanese had killed 2,403

Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The surprise raid had

sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships—nearly

the whole U.S. Paciﬁc ﬂeet. More than 300 aircraft were

severely damaged or destroyed. These losses constituted

greater damage than the U.S. Navy had suffered in all of

World War I. By chance, three aircraft carriers at sea

escaped the disaster. Their survival would prove crucial to

the war’s outcome.

REACTION TO PEARL HARBOR

In Washington, the

mood ranged from outrage to panic. At the White House,

Eleanor Roosevelt watched closely as her husband absorbed

the news from Hawaii, “each report more terrible than the

last.” Beneath the president’s calm, Eleanor could see how

worried he was. “I never wanted to have to ﬁght this war on

two fronts,” Roosevelt told his wife. “We haven’t the Navy

to ﬁght in both the Atlantic and the Paciﬁc . . . so we will

have to build up the Navy and the Air Force and that will

mean that we will have to take a good many defeats before

we can have a victory.”

The next day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress.

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in

infamy,” he said, “[the Japanese launched] an unprovoked

and dastardly attack.” Congress quickly approved Roosevelt’s

request for a declaration of war against Japan. Three days

later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

For all the damage done at Pearl Harbor, perhaps the

greatest was to the cause of isolationism. Many who had

been former isolationists now supported an all-out American effort. After the sur-

prise attack, isolationist senator Burton Wheeler proclaimed, “The only thing

now to do is to lick the hell out of them.”

World War Looms 763

•Axis powers

•Lend-Lease Act

•Atlantic Charter

•Allies

•Hideki Tojo

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its signiﬁcance.

MAIN IDEA

2. TAKING NOTES

Create a time line of key events

leading to America’s entry into

World War II. Use the dates below

as a guide.

Which of the events that you listed

was most inﬂuential in bringing the

United States into the war? Why?

CRITICAL THINKING

3. EVALUATING DECISIONS

Do you think that the United States

should have waited to be attacked

before declaring war? Think About:

• the reputation of the United

States

• the inﬂuence of isolationists

• the events at Pearl Harbor

4. PREDICTING EFFECTS

What problem would the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor solve for

Roosevelt? What new problems

would it create?

5. ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES

Although the U.S. Congress was still

unwilling to declare war early in

1941, Churchill told his war cabinet,

“ We must have patience

and trust to the tide which

is ﬂowing our way, and to

events.

”

What do you think Churchill meant

by this remark? Support your

answer.

WAR AND THE DEPRESSION

The approach of war did what all

the programs of the New Deal

could not do—end the Great

Depression. As defense spending

skyrocketed in 1940, long-idle

factories came back to life. A

merry-go-round company began

producing gun mounts; a stove

factory made lifeboats; a famous

New York toy maker made com-

passes; a pinball-machine com-

pany made armor-piercing shells.

With factories hiring again, the

nation’s unemployment rolls

began shrinking rapidly—by

400,000 in August 1940 and by

another 500,000 in September.

By the time the Japanese

attacked Pearl Harbor, America

was heading back to work.

(See Keynesian Economics on

page R42 in the Economics

Handbook.)

Vocabulary

infamy: evil fame

or reputation

September

1940

June

1941

December

1941

March

1941

August

1941

Skillbuilder

Answers

1. Japanese

islands, half of

the island north

of Japan, Korea,

Taiwan, smaller

islands,

Manchuria,

parts of eastern

and southern

China, French

Indochina.

2. Scatter the

ships to make

them more difﬁ-

cult targets.

Page 8 of 8

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