This document provides a timeline of key actions taken by the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan from 1931 to 1941, and the reactions and policies of the United States. It includes events such as Japan invading Manchuria in 1931, Italy invading Ethiopia in 1935, Germany remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1936, and Japan invading China in 1937. The US initially pursued policies of appeasement and neutrality through acts and arms embargoes. However, after Nazi Germany invaded numerous European countries and Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the US entered WWII by declaring war on Japan.

1. Axis Action
US Reaction
A timeline leading up to US entry into
WWII

2. Evaluation
Do you agree or disagree with
American foreign policy from 1930-
1941?
• Context – What is going on in the US and in
the world in the 1930s? Set the mood
• Thesis – How would you answer this question
in 25 words or less?

3.  Agree Disagree 
• Do you think the priority should be isolationism?
• Do you think the priority should be the US
economy in the midst of the Depression?
• Do you think the priority should arms limitations
in the world?
• Do you think the priority should be providing
humanitarian support?

4. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1931)
– Japan violates the charter
of the League of Nations
and invades Manchuria
• US Reaction
– Appeasement:
pacification – avoiding
war by making
concessions

5. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1935)
– Italy invades Ethiopia
with bombers and tanks
• US Reaction
– Neutrality Acts: no
American could sail on a
belligerent ship, sell or
transport munitions to a
belligerent, or make
loans to a belligerent

6. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1936)
– Germany violates the
Treaty of Versailles by
sending troops to the
Rhineland (border with
France)
• US Reaction
– Cash and Carry:
belligerents may buy US
products if they pay cash
and transport the
products on their own
ships

7. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1937)
– Japan invades China
after troops exchange
gunfire at Marco Polo
Bridge and brutally
slaughter 300,000
Chinese civilians.
• US Reaction
– Embargo: Do NOT
acknowledge a
declaration or war. Halt
shipment of airplanes,
parts, machine tools,
and aviation gasoline to
Japan

8. What is your advice?
• Kristallnacht (1938)
– Several dozen Jews lost
their lives and tens of
thousands were arrested
and sent to
concerntration camps
after 7,000 Jewish
businesses, cemeteries,
schools, and homes were
trashed or looted
• US Reaction
– Immigration Reform:
Roosevelt asked
Congress to allow
12,000-15,000 German
refugees who were on
visitors visas to be able
to stay indefinitely
– BUT, no changes are
made to allow more
refugees in

9. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1939)
– Germany annexes
Austria, Sudetenland,
and Czechoslovakia
• US Reaction
– Appeasement:
pacification – avoiding
war by making
concessions

10. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1939)
– Germany begins
blitzkrieg invasion of
Poland, Denmark,
Norway, Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxemburg,
France, and Britain
• US Reaction
– Destroyers for bases:
trade 50 WWI destroyers
for right to build 8 bases
in western hemisphere

11. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1940)
– The French government
falls leaving and the
German Luftwaffe
relentlessly bombs
London.
• US Reaction
– Lend Lease Act: “send
guns not sons” - Loan a
limitless supply of arms
to victims of aggression.
Accounts will be settled
by returning the used
weapons or their
equivalents when the war
is over.

12. What is your advice?
• Axis Action (1941)
– Japan attacks Pearl
Harbor damaging 200
aircrafts, 19 ships, and
killing 2,200 people
• US Reaction
– FDR’s War Message to
Congress: Declare war
on Japan

13. Message to Congress
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm
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.
…
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the
attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the
intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the
United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to
American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In
addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between
San Francisco and Honolulu.
…
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by
Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United
States and the Japanese Empire.

14. Evaluation
Do you agree or disagree with
American foreign policy from 1930-
1941?
• Context – What is going on in the US and in
the world in the 1930s? Set the mood
• Thesis – How would you answer this question
in 25 words or less?

15. Ev 1 (source/pg #)
Ev 2 (source/pg #)
Ev 3 (source/pg #)
Ev 4 (source/pg #)
Ev 5 (source/pg #)
Ev 5 (source/pg #)
SS(3)
SS(2)
SS(1)
Thesis
Name
___________________
Read chapter 13
Do you agree or disagree
with America’s foreign policy
plans from 1931-1941