2. INTRODUCTION
• The Second War World, far more than the first, deserves to
be called a global conflict.
• Although the First World War involved operations in Africa,
the Middle East, and in East Asia, Europe ultimately remained
the sole focus from start to finish.
• Europe felt the war’s impact much more profoundly than any
other part of the globe.
• However, the Second War World consisted of two separate
but interconnected conflicts of major proportions:
• One in Europe and the Atlantic.
• The other on the Asian mainland and in the Pacific.
3. INTRODUCTION
• The First World War plainly began in 1914; yet, the start of
the second is not as easy to determine.
• Did the conflict begin with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria
in September 1931?
• Did the conflict begin when Japan launched prolonged
hostilities against China in July 1937?
• Did the conflict begin with the German invasion of Poland in
September 1939?
4. ISOLATIONISM
• Many Americans wanted to isolate the nation from foreign
troubles.
• Between 1934 -1936, a Senate investigating committee
headed by Republican Gerald Nye of North Dakota held well-
publicized hearings on America’s participation in the First
World War.
• The Nye Committee endorsed the claim that United States had
been duped into the war to preserve the profits of American
bankers and arms makers, who had a huge financial stake in
the Anglo-French victory.
• By 1935, public opinion exposed that Americans opposed
involvement in foreign conflicts and feared being
manipulated by “merchants of death.”
5. GERALD NYE
INTERESTING FACTS
Nye was first made famous by an
early political cartoon of Dr. Seuss.
As Chairman of the Public Lands
Committee during the 1920s, Nye
uncovered what later became
known as the Teapot Dome
scandal, which haunted Harding’s
presidency.
Although initially opposed to war,
Nye would join the rest of the
Senate and voting for a
unanimous declaration of war on
December 8, 1941.
6. ISOLATIONISM
• To prevent the United States from being drawn into another
world war, Congress enacted neutrality legislation to halt any
financial ties with countries at war.
• The Neutrality Acts of 1935-1936 mandated an arms
embargo against belligerents, prohibited loans to them, and
reduced travel by Americans on any vessel belonging to a
nation at war.
• The blockade prevented Germany from buying arms from the
United States, but the embargo had the same effect on Britain
and France.
• Roosevelt appealed to Congress to revise the Neutrality Act
because of its effect on Britain and France.
7. ISOLATIONISM
• The Neutrality Act of 1937 broadened the acts of 1935-1936
by covering all trade with any belligerent, unless paid in cash
and carried the products away on its own vessel.
• This piece of legislation is commonly referred to as “cash and
carry.”
• Additionally, it barred American vessels from carrying war
material to Allied ports in an effort to avoid German
submarine attacks on American shipping such as those that
had brought the United States into the First World War.
8. CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN
• Four months after the Rhineland occupation, civil war
erupted in Spain.
• In 1931, Revolutionaries had overthrown the Spanish
monarchy and had established a democratic republic.
• Meanwhile, General Francisco Franco, a Hitler/Mussolini
sponsored fascist, led the “popular-front” Socialist-
Communist coalition against Spain’s republican government.
• Republicans in Spain appealed to antifascist nations for
assistance, but only the Soviet Union responded.
• Both the United States and Britain adopted policies of
noninvolvement.
9. CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN
• The Spanish Civil War initiated a major debate in American
foreign policy.
• As the 1930s continued, some continued to advocate
neutrality and isolation (Isolationists), but others argued for a
strong stand against fascist militarism and aggression
(Interventionists).
• Though Congress maintained a policy of noninvolvement,
Roosevelt called for international cooperation to “quarantine”
aggressive nations.
10. JAPANESE AGGRESSION
ON THE ASIAN MAINLAND
• On December, 12, 1937, Japanese planes attacked the
American gunboat U.S.S. Panay while she was anchored in
the Yangtze River outside Nanking.
• The Japanese claimed to have not seen the American flags
painted on the deck of the Panay but their quick apology and
indemnity payment defused a potential crisis.
• Although the United States and Japan were not yet at war,
the attack and subsequent Allison incident in Nanking
caused American opinion to turn against the Japanese.
• On January 26, 1938, John Allison, the U.S. Ambassador to
Japan, was struck in the face by a Japanese soldier.
11.
12. A CAUTIOUS APPROACH
• In the fall of 1940, the America First Committee was
established to unite all groups (pro-Nazi and/or pro-
isolationist) that opposed war.
• In contrast, the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the
Allies and the Fight for Freedom Committee were established
to counteract the isolationists and push ahead for war.
• The interventionists were able to win over Congress through
the passage of measures that strengthened the armed forces
and established the first U.S. peacetime draft.
13. A CAUTIOUS APPROACH
• With Congress in agreement to offer aid to the Allies,
Roosevelt agreed to provide Britain with fifty American
destroyers for convoy duty.
• In return, Britain granted 99-year leases for American naval and
air bases in British possessions in the West.
• After winning reelection for an unprecedented third term,
Roosevelt was able to provide greater aid to Britain through
the Lend-Lease Act.
• Lend-Lease authorized the president to lend or lease arms with
all payments deferred until after the war.
• The agreement had a greater symbolic importance because it
signified the start of closer cooperation between America and
Great Britain.
14.
15. A CAUTIOUS APPROACH
• Shortly after the 1940 reelection, navy planners drafted Plan
Dog, which contended that America’s chief priority was the
defeat of Germany.
• The document stated that American intervention in the
European war was necessary to achieve this aim.
• At the same time, it insisted that American forces would have
to assume a defensive stance against Japan in the Pacific.
• Both Roosevelt and the Army accepted the navy’s proposal.
• By January 1941, a public opinion poll indicated that seventy
percent of Americans favored aid to Britain, even at the risk
of war.
16. GROWING SUPPORT FOR
BRITAIN
• In January 1941, American military and naval leaders met
with their British counterparts in Washington to explore
contingency plans in case the United States should enter the
war.
• These American-British Conversations (ABC) took place in the
greatest secrecy and lasted for two months.
• In August, Roosevelt and Churchill met in a secret
rendezvous on the British battleship Prince of Wales, off the
coast of Newfoundland.
• There they drafted the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration of
policy between a belligerent nation and a technically neutral
nation.
17.
18. GROWING SUPPORT FOR
BRITAIN
• The charters idealistic terms:
• Upheld the rights of all people to choose their own
government.
• Affirms Anglo-American dedication to peace “after the final
destruction of the Nazi tyranny.”
• And rejects any territorial conquest as a result of the war.
• The Atlantic Charter was symbolic of Anglo-American
solidarity and was a propaganda appeal to the conquered
peoples of Europe, encouraging them not to lose hope.
19. GROWING SUPPORT
FOR BRITAIN
• During July 1941, Roosevelt ordered U.S. naval and air units
to patrol the Atlantic to warn Britain of the presence of
German submarines.
• AGAIN hardly an act of a neutral nation.
• In October, U-boats attacked two American destroyers, the
U.S.S. Greer and the U.S.S. Reuben James.
• The Greer suffered zero damage but the Reuben James was
sunk, which cost America 115 lives.
• Roosevelt reacted by persuading Congress to authorize the
arming of U.S. merchant ships and allowing them to carry
cargoes to Allied ports.
• By the fall of 1941, America was a participant in the war,
although on a limited basis.
20.
21.
22. DETERIORATION IN AMERICAN-
JAPANESE RELATIONS
• With Hitler mounting victories in Europe, the Japanese
sought to take full advantage of Southeast Asia.
• Roosevelt responded to this aggression by imposing an
embargo on exports of aviation fuel and all grades of iron and
steel scrap to Japan.
• On November 26, 1941, Secretary of State Cordell Hull
presented the Japanese ambassador with a note demanding
a complete withdrawal of all Japanese troops from French
Indochina and China.
• Roosevelt knew that Japan would be aggressive in their
response to the Hull note.
• On this day, the Japanese began to plan the attack on the
United States at Pearl Harbor.
23. CORDELL
HULL
INTERESTING FACTS
Best known as the longest
serving Secretary of State, Hull
held the position for eleven
years (1933-1944).
Hull was informed of the attack
on Pearl Harbor while
discussing a truce with Japanese
ambassadors, in frustrations he
uttered, “scoundrels and p***-
ants.”
Hull is the recipient of the 1945
Nobel Peace Prize for his role in
establishing the United Nations.
24. DETERIORATION IN AMERICAN-
JAPANESE RELATIONS
• How does America become actively involved in the Second
World War when its government and citizens are opposed to
such action?
• President Lincoln’s maneuver to resupply Fort Sumter
provoked the South into firing the first shot in 1860.
• This act was crucial to get the North into a fighting spirit.
• Roosevelt needed an incident, likewise, to give the U.S. the
ability to get involved militarily.
• Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, wondered, “how we
should maneuver them [the Japanese] into the position of
firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to
ourselves.”
25. PREPARATIONS FOR
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
• By far the strongest Allied naval force was the U.S. Pacific
Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
• In addition to its three carriers, Pearl Harbor held seven
battleships, seven heavy cruisers, and numerous smaller craft.
• If the Japanese could destroy this force, especially the
carriers, then they would gain naval supremacy in the Pacific.
• Their plan called for the simultaneous attacks on the U.S.
outposts of Wake Island and Guam and the British
possessions of Malaya and Hong Kong.
• Additional assaults on the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies,
and the British island of Burma would occur after.
26. PREPARATIONS FOR
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
• To deliver the blow against Pearl Harbor, Japanese planners
provided a striking force of six carriers with a complement of
360 planes.
• These consisted of high-level bombers, dive bombers, torpedo
bombers, and fighter planes.
• The six carriers would be escorted by two battleships, three
cruisers, and eight destroyers.
• Admiral Chuichi Nagumo had received the honor by virtue of
seniority although he opposed the attack as too reckless.
• Indeed, Yamamoto’s plan contained extremely dangerous
elements.
27. PREPARATIONS FOR
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
• Admiral Yamamoto’s plan required the striking force to travel 3,500
miles without being discovered.
• To avoid detection, the Japanese imposed absolute radio silence.
• Additionally, they adopted technical innovations that they hoped
would enhance their prospects for success.
• Fearing their torpedoes might sink too low, the Japanese
borrowed a method developed by the British - the use of more
buoyant wooden fins.
• They also attached fins to the armor-piercing naval gun shells,
which they substituted for bombs.
• The fins made the shells fall like bombs, but the shells could pierce
the armor of warships much more effectively than bombs.
28.
29. PREPARATIONS FOR
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
• On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese striking
force attacked Pearl Harbor.
• Of the seven battleships on “Battleship Row” – four were sank
(the Arizona and Oklahoma were beyond salvage ) while the
other three were severely damaged.
• Three destroyers were sank, 160 aircraft were destroyed and
128 others were disabled.
• 2,400 American personnel lost their lives.
• Pearl Harbor was a disaster for Americans but it could have
been far worse.
• Three carriers had left for other destinations, seven heavy
cruisers were also at sea.
• The Japanese failed to destroy the Navy’s submarine base, fuel
storage tanks, and maintenance facilities.
30.
31.
32. PREPARATIONS FOR
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
• Japan had won a remarkable tactical victory but did not
score the strategic triumph Yamamoto had gambled on.
• Instead of convincing the American people of the futility of
war, the attack on Pearl Harbor united the government and the
people in the determination to pursue the conflict to a
victorious conclusion.
• Roosevelt went before a joint session of Congress on
December 8, 1941, to deliver a grim but stirring speech.
• He referred to the previous day as “a date which will live in
infamy” and called for a declaration of war.
• The House responded 388 to 1 in favor, the Senate was
unanimous.
33.
34. JEANNETTE
RANKIN
INTERESTING FACTS
Rankin, a Representative from
Montana, is the first ever
woman elected to the United
States Congress.
A lifelong pacifist, Rankin
opposed entry into World War I
in 1917 and opposed declaring
war against Japan following the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
“As a woman I can’t go to war
and I refuse to send anyone
else.”
35. PREPARATIONS FOR
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
• Japan’s assault on Pearl Harbor caught Hitler by surprise as
much as it did the United States.
• The Japanese asked Hitler to honor his pledge and he
complied without hesitation.
• It is quite remarkable that Hitler honored his commitment.
• On December 11, both Germany and Italy declared war on
the United States.
• The three Axis Powers failed to foresee America’s ability to
mobilize swiftly and effectively in a united war effort.
• America’s involvement, alongside Great Britain and the Soviet
Union, virtually assured that Germany would lose the war.
