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Black Sunday
One of the worst storms to ever hit the Dust Bowl. This only made farmers lives worse because they were already struggling from the damage WW1 had done to them. They were all incredibly poor and it was nearly impossible for them to earn money because the Dust Bowl killed all their crops. -
FDR signs the Social Security Act
The Social Security Act was part of FDR's Second New Deal that tried to help Americans out of the Great Depression, and help with unemployment. This purpose of this act was to get more Americans employed and helps provide money for people who have retired. -
Congress Passes the Neutrality Act
This made it so that Americans could not export war related materials to foreign nations at war or go in belligerent ships. This Act was passed because the United States wanted to stay neutral during the war. They were still trying to isolate themselves after World War 1. -
Neutrality Act of 1937
This act and expanded the already existing Neutrality Act primarily by adding the "cash and carry" provision. This allowed other nations to buy other things from the United States that were not war related as long as they could pay immediately and carry them on non-american ships. This act helped Great Britain and France, but was made to expire in two years. -
Amelia Earhart Disappears
Amelia Earhart disappeared while trying to be the first women to fly all the way around the globe. She helps represent America's interest in aviation at the time. It also shows the advancements for women at the time. Women had been given more freedom to work, especially during World War 2 because all the men were gone. but once the men came back most women were kicked out of their jobs. -
Naval Expansion Act of 1938
This mandated that the United States Navy's strength must be increased by 20%. This was in response to Japan's recent invasion of China and Germany's seizure of Austria. -
Neutrality Act of 1939
This expands the previous Neutrality Act to include the selling of arms in the "cash and carry" provision. But American ships still could not deliver these things to belligerent nations. -
WW2 Begins
Germany in invades Poland on September 1st, which leads Great Britain and France to come together and declare war on Germany on September 3rd. -
Congress Revises Neutrality Act
This allows American merchant ships to be in war zones and could arm themselves. -
The Manhattan Project
Einstein heard about Germany's recent scientific developments and was concerned so he wrote a letter to the president. At first they worked slowly but then later it was clear that an atomic bomb was possible so it became a top priority of the U.S. -
U.S. Declares War
The day before, Japan purposefully attacked Pearl Harbor. FDR gives his famous speech that tells the American people of this act and tells them they will be victorious. This is also were the United States starts being discriminatory towards the Japanese, they are no longer trusted.
(http://time.com/4593483/pearl-harbor-franklin-roosevelt-infamy-speech-attack/) -
The U.S. Island Hopping
In order to attack Japan, the United States developed a strategy called island-hopping. They slowly took over the islands of Japan in order to establish bases closer to Japan's mainland. This strategy was very costly but ultimately successful. But the U.S. was still not sure that Japan would surrender which lead to the atomic bombings. -
FDR dies
While FDR was getting his portrait painted he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died soon after. This left vice president, Harry Truman in charge. FDR had left Truman in the dark about the Manhattan project, so he now had to decide if he would like to continue it or not. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
The U.S. dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. At this time Germany had already been defeated by the Allied powers, but Japan refused to surrender. So to end the war the U.S. dropped the bomb. Three days later the united States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. -
V-J Day
Otherwise known as victory over Japan day. On this day Japan surrenders the Allies. For Europe the war had ended on May 8th, but the U.S and Japan issue had not been resolved yet. They also call V-J day to be September 2nd because that was when Japan officially surrendered aboard the U.S.S Missouri.
