Chapter 35 Reading Guide

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of the War 1933-1941

Terms: Cordell Hull, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Francisco Franco, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, Wendall Wilkie, reciprocity, totalitarianism, isolationism, London Economic Conference, Good Neighbor Policy, Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act, Nazi Party, Rome-Berlin Axis, “merchants of death”, Nye Committee, Neutrality Acts of 1935, 36, and 37, Spanish Civil War, China Incident, “Quarantine” speech, Hitler-Stalin Nonaggression Pact, “cash-and-carry,” “phony war,” Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, America First committee, lend-lease, Atlantic Charter.

  1. Return to Isolationism
  1. The London Conference

Why did FDR torpedo the London Economic Conference?

B.Freedom for (from?) the Filipinos and Recognition for the Russians

  1. How did the Great Depression affect the status of Philippine independence? How were the Philippines to be granted their independence?
  2. Why did FDR recognize the Soviet Union?

C.Becoming a Good Neighbor

  1. How did FDR’s policy towards Latin America differ from previous policy?
  2. How did this benefit the U.S.?
  1. Secretary Hull’s Reciprocal Trade Agreements
  2. What was the purpose of the Reciprocal Trade Policy? How did it work? What did it lead to?
  1. Impulses toward Storm-Cellar Isolationisms
  2. Why were the 1930’s known as the Age of Dictators?
  3. Why did the Japanese terminate the Washington Naval Treaty?
  4. How did the American experience in WWI contribute to isolationism in the 1930’s?
  1. Congress Legislates Neutrality
  2. How did the Nye Committee contribute to isolationism?
  3. How did the Neutrality Acts of 1935,1936, and 1937 legislate neutrality?
  1. America Dooms Loyalist Spain
  2. How did the Neutrality Acts affect Loyalist Spain?
  3. How could the Spanish Civil War be considered a practice for WWII?

II.World War II begins

  1. Appeasing Japan and Germany
  2. Why did FDR make the “Quarantine Speech” in 1937? What did it entail?
  3. What was the response?
  4. How and why did the Munich Conference fail?
  1. Hitler’s Belligerency and U.S. Neutrality
  2. Why did Hitler and Stalin agree to the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939?
  3. What did it entail?
  4. How did WWII begin?
  5. How did the Neutrality Act of 1939 reverse previous policy?
  6. How did the war affect the Great Depression?
  1. Refugees From the Holocaust
  2. Why did America fail to aid Jewish refugees in the 1930’s?
  3. Why didn’t the U.S. bomb the concentration camps?
  1. The Fall of France
  2. How did the U.S. respond to the Fall of France?
  3. How did Havana Conference of 1940 change the Monroe Doctrine?
  1. The U.S. Emerges from Isolationism

A. Bolstering Britain with the Destroyer Deal (1940)

Why did the Destroyer Deal occur?

B. FDR Shatters the Two-Term Tradition (1940)

  1. What was the platform of both parties?
  2. Who were the candidates? Why did FDR win?

C. Congress Passes the Landmark Lend-Lease Law

  1. Why did FDR propose the lend lease program? What did it entail?
  2. Who was the recipient of lend lease? Who got what?
  3. Assess the neutrality of lend lease?
  4. How did Germany respond to lend lease?
  1. The U.S. Enters the War

A. Hitler’s Assault on the Soviet Spawns the Atlantic Charter

  1. Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union? What resulted?
  2. How was the Atlantic Charter similar to the 14 points? How did it differ?

B.U.S. Destroyers and Hitler’s U-boats Clash

  1. Why did the U.S. decide to convoy its merchant ships? What resulted?
  2. How was the Neutrality Act of 1939 altered in 1941?

C.Surprise Assault on Pearl Harbor

  1. Why did the U.S. embargo Japan? What effect did this have?
  2. Why were U.S. forces surprised by the Pearl Harbor attack?
  3. What were the effects of Pearl Harbor on U.S. unanimous stance?

D.America’s Transformation from Bystander to Belligerent

Explain the author’s assessment of why the U.S. went to war.