Peace in Peril (1933-1950)

  1. Neutrality Acts (1935-37)
/ 1. mandatory arms embargo with belligerents
2. mandatory travel ban on belligerent ships
3. mandatory loan ban to belligerents
4. mandatory ban on arming of American merchant ships trading with belligerents
  1. Spanish Civil War
/ 1936-39 Francisco Franco and fascists v. Socialists/Communist. US stay uninvolved except for Abraham Lincoln Brigade-volunteers US.
  1. FDR’s Quarantine Speech
/ Speech suggesting democratic nation’s band together to halt aggressors. Not well received in US.
  1. Appeasement: Munich Conference 1938
/ Hitler voiced active support of the highly publicized demands of the German population of the Sudetenland in the Republic of Czechoslovakia, for annexation of the region into Germany. Fearing the outbreak of war, European leaders met in a conference at Munich. England and France”Appease” Hitler, selling out the Czechs to avoid war.
  1. Triumph of Aggressors
/ Italy, Japan and Germany leading aggressive military actions, Japan into SE Asia, Italy into Africa and Germany in Europe. Germany's invasion of Poland finally kicks off WW2 in 38.
  1. Neutrality Act 1939
/ Keeps US neutral but will sell arms on a cash-and-carry basis. 1 step closer to joining war.
  1. Lend-Lease Act
/ Arrangement for the transfer of war supplies, including food, machinery, and services, to nations whose defense was considered vital to the defense of the United States in World War II. Passed (1941) by the U.S. Congress, gave the President power to sell, transfer, lend, or lease war materials.
  1. Atlantic Charter
/ It established a vision for a post-World War II world, despite the fact the United States had yet to enter the War. The participants hoped in vain that the Soviet Union, since June invaded by her previous ally Nazi-Germany, would adhere as well. Vision of a democratically ruled world.
  1. Pearl Harbor
/ Dec 7 1941-Japan attack US and Us declares war on Japan, Germ declares war on us.
  1. Rosie the Riveter
/ Increase of 4M women working during war. A leap forward for equality for women.
  1. The Draft
/ Protests to the draft were particularly forceful among African Americans who felt they shouldn’t fight a war for Democracy when they weren’t allowed to vote or serve with white troops.
  1. Manhattan Project
/ US raced to create the first atomic weapon. Project run by Robert Oppenheimer and had many Jewish scientists who fled Germany. Begins the age of nuclear power and nuclear weaponry.
  1. HiroshimaNagasaki
/ First use of atomic bomb. Truman decides to use the weapon to do 2 things: Save American lives that an invasion would cost and to prevent the USSR from gaining any more territory.
  1. Macarthur constitution in Japan
/ Macarthur (General in charge of Pacific theatre) rewrite Japanese constitution as a democracy and requires that they no longer have a military (requires US to protect them).
  1. Korematsu v US
/ Incarceration of West Coast Japanese-Americans; Executive Order 9066; Japanese Americans on west coast were rounded up and sent to internment camps. US supreme court rules that it is legal in times of war. (see court packets)
  1. Nuremberg Trials
/ Nazi war criminals are tried for their role in the Holocaust. Sets precedent for holding individuals responsible for war crimes.
  1. GI bill
/ GI Bill provides medical, pension and educational benefits for veterans. Sends a whole generation to college who may not have gone otherwise.