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Trying to Refuse Foreign Conflict, but No Luck
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The Hawley- Smoot Tariff
Congress had passed the Hawley-Smoot tariff to protect American industries from foreign competitors. This raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. Although thee Act was reduced in 1934, these trade barriers prolonged the Depression and isolated the United States. -
President Rooselvelt
President Roosevelt was elected, beating out Hoover. While the Great Depression was going on, Roosevlt still favored for more international involvement. The demands of carrying out the New Deal kept Roosevelt focused on domestic issues, however. He was more concerned with lifting the United States out of the Depression than with addressing foreign concerns. -
The Neutrality Acts
Congress took action to enforce U.S. neutrality. Congress passed the first Neutrality Act prohibiting the export of “arms, ammunition, and implements of war” from the United States to foreign nations at war and requiring arms manufacturers in the United States to apply for an export license -
The New Neutrality Act
Three weeks after the invasion of Poland, Roosevelt asked Congress to revise the Neutrality Acts to make them more flexible. Congress did so by repealing the arms embargo and providing Britain and France with the weapons they needed. A later amendment allowed American merchant ships to transport these purchases to Britain. The neutrality legislation was effectively dead. -
Cash and Carry
A policy adopted by the United States in 1939 to preserve neutrality while aiding the Allies. Britain and France could buy goods from the United States if they paid in full and transported them. (Required nations at war to pay cash for all nonmilitary goods and to be responsible for transporting the good from the US) -
America First Committee (AFC)
The America First Committee (AFC) was organized to oppose America`s potential intervention in World War II. Formed by isolationitsts to block further aid to Britain. It was one of the largest anti-war organizations in American history. -
Lend Lease Act
A law that authorized the President to aid any nation whose defense he believed was vital to American security. The principal is means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. (It authorized the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to “the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.”) -
Pearl Harbor
American army radar operator on Oahu noticed a large blip on his radar screen. Japanese planes bombed and strafed (attacked with machine-gun fire) the fleet and the airfields nearby. In less than two hours, some 2,400 Americans had been killed and nearly 1,200 wounded. -
US Declares War
The attack on Pearl Harbor stunned the American people. Calling December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy,” Roosevelt the next day asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Within hours after Roosevelt finished speaking, Congress passed a war resolution. Only one of its members, pacifist Jeannette Rankin of Montana, voted against declaring war. -
Germany and Italy
Due to the US declaring war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. For the second time in the century, Americans had been drawn into a world war. Once more, their contributions would make the difference between victory and defeat for the Allies.
