America Enters World War II
1 As the rest of the world rushed toward war, the United States was unwilling to become involved in another European conflict. Following World War I, the United States had refused to join the League of Nations and adopted a policy of isolationism. Many Americans believed that the country should stay out of other countries’ problems. The Great Depression strengthened this belief. Americans found themselves more worried about their next paycheck than some madmen half a world away. However, the actions of other countries soon made it impossible for the U.S. to remain neutral in the conflicts. Even though the nation tried to stay out of the war, the American people began to take sides. Many of them supported Great Britain.
1. What policy did the United States support at the end of World War I?
2. Who were the three “madmen half a world away”?
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2 As America closed its eyes, the German Army stormed across Europe conquering countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and France. Great Britain fought on but was increasingly threatened by the German advance.
3 President Franklin Roosevelt hoped for peace in Europe; however, he knew that Americans should prepare for war in case the U.S. was attacked. FDR asked Congress to budget billions of dollars for defense and called for the nation’s first peacetime draft to make sure there were enough American soldiers.
4 President Roosevelt also searched for ways in which the U.S. could help the Allies but stay out of the war. In September 1940, the U.S. gave Great Britain war supplies and old naval warships in return for military bases in Bermuda. With the future of its Allies at stake, the United States also began to offer economic aid. President Roosevelt acted quickly to push the Lend-Lease Act through Congress. This legislation gave the president the authority to sell, trade, lease, or transfer $50,000,000,000 worth of military equipment to help any country defend itself against the Axis Powers.
3. The ______-______Act allowed President Roosevelt to sell, trade, lease, or transfer military equipment to help any nation defend itself against the Axis Powers.
4. The U.S. also received ______in Bermuda in exchange for war supplies they gave to Great Britain.
5 Unable to maintain a policy of isolationism, the United States would soon be drawn into direct conflict. Throughout the 1930s, relations between Japan and the U.S. grew worse. The U.S. protested when Japan aggressively took control of regions in East Asia. Its growing industries depended on supplies of iron, rubber, and oil. As a result, Japanese military leaders began conquering neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific to meet this demand. In response, President Roosevelt called for an international embargo to cut off all shipments of foreign resources, such as oil supplies and scrap iron, to Japan. Japan depended on the U.S. for more than half of its oil. The American government hoped that cutting off part of Japan’s oil supply would stop the Japanese from invading more countries and retreat to its own soil. Unfortunately, it did not.
5. Japan became more aggressive with its neighbors in ______in order to gain needed supplies of natural resources such as iron, rubber, and oil.
6. President Roosevelt responds to this Japanese aggression by calling for an international ______that would cut off all shipments of needed resources to Japan.
6 The Japanese government had other ideas, however. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese naval and naval air forces launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, home to the Pacific Fleet The Japanese wanted to make sure the U.S. would not prevent them from forming a huge empire. Over the next two hours the Japanese military dropped bombs that would kill over 2,400 U.S. military men, destroy about 150 planes, and sink or badly damage nineteen warships.. As terrible as the losses were, they could have been worse. The Japanese bomber planes did not hit the valuable oil supplies nearby. Plus, the Pacific Fleet’s three aircraft carriers were out of port on training exercises and escaped the attack.
7 The United States had been caught totally unaware. America could no longer maintain neutrality. Calling it “a date which will live in Infamy,” President Roosevelt addressed Congress on December 8, 1941 to ask for a declaration of war against Japan. He said,
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in
Infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan . . . I ask that the Congress declare that since the . . . attack by Japan . . . a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”
8 Three days later, Germany and Italy responded by declaring war on the United States, and Congress declared war on them, also.
7. What date will “live in Infamy”?
8. What event occurred on this date?
9. Who called this date “a day that shall live in infamy”?
10. What did the President ask Congress to do the day after the attack?
11. How did Germany respond to Congress’s action against the Japanese?
9 Upon entering the war, the United States became a member of the Allied Powers. The Allies included the democratic nations of the United States, led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and at the end of the war, President Harry S. Truman, Great Britain, led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Canada. The Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, joined the Allies after being invaded by Germany.
12. What form of government did the Allies support?
13. What two men led the United States during World War II?
14. What man led Great Britain during the war?
15. Which country formed an early alliance with Germany, only to join the Allies after being attacked by the Germans?
16. What man led the country you named in Question #15?
17. List the four main countries that made up the Allies in World War II.